Will Republican Voters Believe Anything? The Right's Hyperbolic, Dysfunctional World

AlterNet by Gary Younge | Mar. 31, 2011 (Opinion)
To have credibility within the Republican party is to have none outside it. They act as if all their Kool-Aid has been spiked.

Throughout most of 2008, as the economy careered into depression, just over one in four believed Bush was handling the economy well. As Bush prepared to leave office in January 2009, bequeathing bank bailouts, rampant unemployment, and Iraq and Afghanistan in tatters, a quarter of the country approved of his presidency. Full Story »

Posted by Dwight Rousu

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Subjects: U.S., Politics
Topics: Tea Party
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# Tweets: 3 (as of 2011-03-31)
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Posted by: Posted by Dwight Rousu - Mar 31, 2011 - 2:03 AM PDT
Reviewed by: Kristina Chapman (review), Paul Belle-Isle (review), Jack Dinkmeyer (review), Benjamin Slade (review), Priscilla L. Davis (review)
Content Type: Article
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Edited by: Dwight Rousu - Mar 31, 2011 - 2:09 AM PDT

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Jack Dinkmeyer
3.5
 by Jack Dinkmeyer - Mar. 31, 2011

This opinion piece brings up an interesting concept: no matter how outrageous the rhetoric and actions of the Republican party (and there are legions of outrage), at least a quarter of the truly faithful will buy whatever the right-wing hucksters spout at them. Case in point: 25% of the flock think Acorn will steal the 2012 election, while 31% aren’t sure. Acorn was destroyed several years ago in a right-wing sting-bogus video. Even though I’m familiar with a few of the polls the author uses as references, his opinion piece would be more credible had he credited the polls or at least had provided appropriate links to them.

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” G.B. Shaw’s chillingly accurate description of Limbaugh, Beck, Fox, and all the other professional right-wing liars.

In short, what you need to say and do to be credible within the Republican party essentially deprives you of credibility outside it. The Republicans seem to realise this, ... More »

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Priscilla L. Davis
4.0
 by Priscilla L. Davis - Apr. 4, 2011
See Full Review » (3 answers)
Paul Belle-Isle
3.5
 by Paul Belle-Isle - Mar. 31, 2011
See Full Review » (10 answers)
Benjamin Slade
4.8
 by Benjamin Slade - Apr. 3, 2011

Insightful article highlighting a fundamentally important problem. The article mentions, but doesn't explore the causes of this problem. I.e., "unemployment still high, poverty and home repossessions growing". Does this sounds like the economic trauma post WWI Germany?

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