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Cheney becoming GOP de facto leader

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by Trickster, May 11, 2021.

  1. danmann65

    danmann65 All American

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    If you honestly believe this I don't know what to say. If governs least is your goal the modern Republican party isn't getting you there.
     
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  2. oragator1

    oragator1 Premium Member

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  3. gatorknights

    gatorknights GC Hall of Fame

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  4. mdgator05

    mdgator05 Premium Member

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    And this is a pretty good example of what the Republican Party is actually doing. "muh Russia!" as you put it is a description of the scandal in which Russia aided a Presidential campaign through illegal means. That is just factual. Beyond that, we now know that the Trump campaign shared internal information with a Russian agent. That is pretty bad for the Republican Party.

    So what do they do? They sell the deep state conspiracy theories for the crazies. But that isn't going to work on the smarter folks that are Republicans, who often aren't voting for Republicans for these reasons but for either single issues (guns, abortion, etc.) or some generalized cultural identity. So how do you hold together a coalition in the face of such facts? Well, you figure out a way to just eliminate the cognitive dissonance. So you just figure out a way that you can paper over the issue in a manner than just eliminates (or at least limits) the cognitive dissonance of supporting this stuff so that they can get their single issue.

    And that is the new Republican playbook at this point for dealing with trying to hold together their coalition. Let the crazies do what they are going to do (back deep state theories, go down Q rabbit holes, violently try to stop or delay the process of completing the election, while the President advocates for overturning an election, etc.). Then slowly, over time, build a way for the smarter Republicans to deal with the cognitive dissonance and pretend that things like a violent insurrection by the supporters of a guy who still snaps his fingers and gets Republicans to do exactly what he wants aren't really important (mostly because they are inconvenient).

    We saw the beginnings of that today. They got rid of the person that isn't helpful in preventing cognitive dissonance on the same day that they held a hearing in which multiple Reps. tried out a variety of excuses for why the insurrection wasn't really so bad. By a year from now, we will hear about "muh Insurrection" when somebody expresses dismay at the fact that a major political party in this country will still be falling in line behind a guy who encouraged his supporters to shut down the official counting of the election and got them to do so violently.
     
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  5. swampbabe

    swampbabe GC Hall of Fame

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    So Republicans don’t really believe in government so therefore they aren’t very good at it. Checks out.
     
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  6. AndyGator

    AndyGator VIP Member

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    Modern Republicans are nothing more than mindless brown shirts.
     
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  7. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    Those are the same thing. You can’t do what’s ‘right for the country’ without power. There’s no mandates given how our system works. How can there be with an EC, representation caps in congress, etc? Any mandate anyone claims is complete fiction meant to create legitimacy for their agenda.
     
  8. murphree_hall

    murphree_hall VIP Member

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    Having and exercising power is one thing. Opposing the other party just to do it, and not based on principle is something I cannot get jiggy wit.
     
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  9. Trickster

    Trickster VIP Member

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    No one is suggesting Kumbaya. We all expect our elected officials to vigorously represent our interests. Primarily, however, we expect them to govern for the overall good of the country. (My, what a quaint notion!) Unfortunately, what has happened during the McConnell Era is twofold. First, I must acquire and keep power at any cost. Second, this is so because only I have the correct solutions. This is the corrosive arrogance of certainty which chokes off compromise and prevents governance. I would suggest this is currently at its zenith in the GOP, or at least I hope so. I see a milder version of the affliction among the Dems, though a few also have a serious case of it.
     
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  10. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    No one does it just to do it. You do it to regain power so you can use it to achieve your goals. Helping the opposition achieve their goals doesn’t always help your own. In fact it almost never does. If the opposition is intransigent you should retaliate in kind. Playing a rigged game fairly to show how good you are compared to the person cheating is for suckers and losers. Unless you like moral victories. But again, those are for losers.
     
  11. docspor

    docspor GC Hall of Fame

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    Didn't Reagan say something like that? Dude was massive gov.
     
  12. PD

    PD VIP Member

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    Do you really think that’s going on? If so, why is it secretive? And why are they being so incredibly loud with their public support of Trump? Seems an impossible contradiction.
     
  13. PD

    PD VIP Member

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    They are lying to Trump and their constituents about internal polling, yes, just as they did leading up to the 2020 election. But how does that work in the direction of getting rid of Trump? On its face it looks like they are his lackies and like a those little sycophantic worms on “The Apprentice,” they are afraid to ever give him bad news.
     
  14. PD

    PD VIP Member

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    I’ve never understood that conservative ideal.

    Get out and vote for a bunch of people who will go to Washington and get paid six figure salaries from our taxes to not do their jobs.

    Never understood anyone who thinks the best management is no management. Or least management. Least management only works in an incredibly responsible, moral and liberal society (the real definition of liberal, specifically the part about being open-handed and caring about their fellow man). America has not been even a moderately responsible, moral and liberal society for a long time (if it ever was).

    Even if we adopt the least-is-best approach, you always have to increase governance when there are too many problems to fix by doing nothing (dang, how stupid does it sound to expect problems to fix themselves by doing nothing?).
     
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  15. murphree_hall

    murphree_hall VIP Member

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    I don't think that having integrity is an attribute of being a sucker and/or a loser, but to each his own.
     
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  16. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    It is when you let your opponent run you over by bending the rules while you tut tut them for not playing fair.
     
  17. Gatorhead

    Gatorhead GC Hall of Fame

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    For a bunch of "Hater's of Government" they sure are killing each other to get at the "trough". What a bunch of hypocrites!
     
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  18. BLING

    BLING GC Hall of Fame

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    The GOP idea of govt has apparently devolved into intentionally sabotaging any pretense of good governance and getting paid grifter money to do it.

    When do the rubes get their cut?
     
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  19. murphree_hall

    murphree_hall VIP Member

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    Democrats get their way as much as Republicans. The difference is that Republicans are more prone to using dubious methods.
     
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  20. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    Maybe we live in different countries or something.