Reasons to Vote for Republicans? Or blindness from Dems?
My good sparring partner Fleshy posted 10 farcical reasons to vote for Republicans. I recommend you go read them from him.
I had to respond, since some of them are funny (but he actually believes them to be true) and some just factually, and historically, wrong.
My reply is listed below.
Let me cut to the bottom line here: One should not cast one party as being “corrupt” when your house is made of very brittle glass.
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Fleshy wrote:
” Sorry you found the list skewed and inflammatory. I’d be… well… I’d be amused more than anything else… to listen to you try to defend or refute any of the issues on that list? Go ahead… defend Foley, Haggard, Rumsfeld, DeLay, Abramoff, Taft, Frist, Burns, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Gibbons… need I go on?”
Actually, I wouldn’t need to refute most of them. Just publish a list of names on the Dem side that are just as guilty. It’s interesting. Apparently Democrats are able to either imagine themselves pristine, or else excuse their own failing because they never claimed to be anything otherwise.
But honestly, if you think a vote for a Republican is a vote of “hate (of) the military” then I would ask how many years of service you put in… And why you would think that John Kerry is somehow now to be seen as a Republican.
But if you wish… here we go:
1. ACLU–rarely seen as a conservative organization, has been opposed to any and all censorship over the years. As you may recall, stories about whether these sorts of things should be publicly available have been around for many many years (read, at least 30) and typically it’s the ACLU that defends a person’s right to speak, even in publishing these sorts of things (There was a funny episode from Barney Miller in the 70s with this very issue.)
2. “Stay the course” Hmmm… and the alternative is? I believe I DO support Bush’s view that we can’t just pull out and leave Iraq to implode. And I believe we need a to get out when the goals are met, and not when a date/time is met.
3. So, you think the President KNEW the pastor was doing this at the time? Now THAT would be quite a story! Are you suggesting that conservatives need to actually conduct an in-depth check into the sex lives of all their advisors? Hmmmm… Is that what the Democrats do?
4. Cover our ass with a Child Predator? (are you sure this doesn’t fit more with item 3?) Hmmm… last time I checked, FOLEY was gone, and Studds stayed in for another 13 years. Remember, Studds actually had SEX with a minor, and was left in office, while Foley only exchanged emails and IMs. (THE POINT: Dems are just as guilty…)
5. Hate the military? Give me a f’ing break. Talk to a military member or 500 before going to THIS one…
6. “Say literally anything“–like this list? Again, lying isn’t uniquely Republican. And distorting the facts with witty (or not so witty) sound bites seems to be your favorite style…
7. Beat up a questioner? For example, arresting a protester who voices an opposing view to the President at a rally? Oh wait–that was Clinton’s Secret Service that did that…
8. “Laws are for Other people” hmmm… Isn’t that the logic that got that senator from NJ elected when Torricelli had to withdraw? I commented on this on my blog back in 2004–pointing out that the Dems actually argued that some things are TOO IMPORTANT for rules… I wrote: “If you remember the US elections in 2002, the Democratic Candidate for the US Senate seat for New Jersey withdrew from the race inside the window allowed by law to find a replacement candidate. Simple enough. In fact, one would think more simple a decision than sporting rules–just abide by the law. But that was too obvious a solution. Somewhere in our convoluted world, we decided that the “law” was too constricting. The Democrats went to court, not to challenge an illegal action by their opponent, but rather to seek justification for their desire to break the law.”
In fact, this particular point of yours seems to be one that is more readly “owned” by the Dems than the Republicans, but if you would prefer, I would call this one a draw…
9. Pay their mistresses to be quiet? Hmmm… is this a Kennedy reference? Gary Hart? (Remember the good ship “Monkey Business?”) Again–not uniquely Republican, but if you insist…
10. And since in this one, you actually ended it with “in your life” perhaps I should appeal to age… and remind you all of Jim Wright… Tip O’Neill, Ted Kennedy… John Glenn and the Keating 5… I think the Dems in the 70s and 80s are quite corrupt… and hypocrital… (and given the large number of viable Democrats running on largely Conservative platforms, like Ford Jr… one has to wonder if there is a new style of Hypocrisy on the horizon!)
I did find it interesting that your list of names supporting your points are mostly gone or outgoing Republicans. They misbehave–they are gone. My list of examples includes people that are left to remain in office, despite transgression after transgression.
Perhaps I can sum this up best by saying When Republicans are bad, they are gone… when Democrats are bad, they are re-elected. Perhaps it’s just because we expected more from Republicans, and never deluded ourselves about the ethics or morality of the Democrats.