We find out that they are no longer running for office.
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Is recognizing that Laura Bush and some other Republicans are right about this really “pushing right”?
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Nope, I didn’t even come close to praising Laura Bush. And nowhere did I indicate any sort of rightward “push” (unless of course you mean that any non-excoriating mention of a republican = total agreement with them).
It’s ironic that you quote Chuck Schumer. I’m born and raised in the coalfields of SW PA and know just a little bit about the culture and attitudes there. And I’ll tell you that one of the big mistakes that we liberals made over many years was assuming that the socially conservative blue-collar dems would follow along blindly when we demanded sweeping social change without an understanding of how to finesse those voters who have trouble adapting to a rapidly changing world.
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and
These are insults to L Bush and the right, not praise. They both begin with the premise that L Bush and the right are terrible but this one instance shows they aren’t completely amoral. This does not support your narrative.
Well, keep spinning and let me know how you and others do at spinning the story in imaginative ways which are divorced from reality.
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I don’t know that I have to be a fan of Laura Bush to be surprised that a) she voiced an actual opinion for herself and b) it counters the current Republican administration and what’s becoming shamefully status quo.
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This doesn’t undo any damage done by the Bush regime, but maybe it will help wake up some of the people who are sleepwalking through this nightmare.
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What the HELL makes you think that these people are even admitting to mistakes they made?
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Of course Trump’s policies are cruel and immoral. It’s easy for a lot of people to agree with. Laura was making a cheap shot. Wake me up when she starts supporting the Mueller investigation or Democrats in 2020, etc.
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Wow. And she personally killed a guy.
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One enemy at a time, please?
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Well, she’s considered the “grande dame” of the Republican Party, the same way that Barbara Bush was, so to a lot of Republicans, her words have merit. But it’s easy to take shots at the administration when you aren’t an incumbent; the GOP congressmembers may all feel this is cruel and immoral as well, but they’re all terrified of speaking out against Trump and know that it’ll likely end their career with one tweet.
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However, if there’s a shred of possibility that Laura Bush’s statement might cause a few reflexive republican voters to think again, I’ll take it.
There isn’t.
I agree that there’s not much point in criticizing Laura Bush over this (the Bushes already got away with their crimes and no power on Earth is going to give us justice at this late stage), but it’s risible to think this will change anybody’s mind on the right- if anything, they’ll just demonize Laura Bush because they see Democrats agreeing with her, and Democrats are The Bad Guys. These are not people who work on reason, compassion or pleas for decency. They do not self-reflect, admit fault or learn. The longer we refuse to accept this, the more we’ll keep underestimating them and the longer they’ll stay in power.
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Ooh, risible!
I humbly suggest that the more we reduce every single Republican or conservative voter to the level of unthinking animals the less we’re able to accomplish as a country. Dismissing them all as unable to use any mental judgement or human thought is not helpful and untrue.
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It’s a nice word, I like to break it out sometimes!
And yes, I realize how cold my statements sound. But I’m not trying to portray them as unthinking animals- if anything, I feel like people trying to make apologies for them are doing that, portraying them as hapless oafs who voted for Trump because they just wanted jobs. No. Trump made no secret of what he was all about when he ran. Trump promised cruelty to illegal immigrants, and that was so important to them that they voted for him without any regard for his other faults. He’s going to finally take care of those awful brown people? He’s in, no questions asked. He ran and won on a platform of blatant racism and hatred, to Mexicans in particular.
Laura Bush isn’t going to change their minds because Trump is giving them exactly what they voted for.
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I’d humbly hold my mother up as proof otherwise. She’s a life-long republican of the fiscal conservative and live-and-let-live variety (ie. not interested is what you do in the bedroom). She voted for shrub both times, but her arguments started to waiver during his second campaign, and McCain’s selection of Palin for a running mate was the nail in the coffin for her. She still considers herself a conservative (and I’m still working on some of her ingrained and unconscious attitudes), but is crystal clear that what’s currently called conservative/republican is a far cry from what it was in the past and fundamentally anti-american and anti-democracy. She donates to progressive causes and fights the good fight with her reactionary friends and I think that’s progress to be happy about for a 76 year old former republican.
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That’s absolutely one side of his appeal, but that wasn’t the entirety of his campaign or platform. I have family and friends in chunks of Trump country (rural midwest, southwest flyover country, conservative Maine/New Hampshire) and saw a lot of people swayed by his promises to “run the country like a business” and “save the farmers/miners/etc” – that idea and promises of affluence held a powerful draw; they could dismiss his blatant racism as ‘just dumb stuff / jokes’ if he could bring back the jobs and make the stock market soar. And frankly, a lot of people held their nose and voted for the guy because of just how much they loathed his competition. But pretty much across the board, I hear nothing but regrets. And conservatives are pretty fond of their Bible. Using the Bible to put children in cages is most definitely not what these people voted for.
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I would argue that the current breed of Republican are a complete different story than at any point in history. I’m specifically referring to Trump voters- I don’t think anyone would argue that Republican candidates of the past, no matter how reprehensible, still had redeeming qualities, but Trump has really thrown that out the window. If your mother still calls herself a Republican but has abandoned the Republican party, then IMO she’s an independent, regardless of what she calls herself- and good for her for making that leap. I don’t see Trump voters making it anytime soon, though. I really doubt your mother was in favor of child internment camps at any point in her life, regardless of Laura Bush’s opinion on them, so again- not really changing any minds here. The people Laura Bush’s words need to reach are the hardcore racists, and I don’t see that happening.
As a counterpoint: I work in Idaho, and hear nothing of the sort here. The CEO of our company liked to make “better eat these ribs before they get banned” “jokes” at company BBQs while Obama was in office, and frequently prefaces his racially-tinged jokes with “I know I’ll have to talk to HR about this later, but…”. Our senior programmer has swallowed the “Europe is a crime-infested hellscape because of immigration” talking point hook line and sinker. There was a “calling something white is racist” quip at the company meeting today. (Unsurprisingly, there isn’t a single POC working here.) One of the guys I work with has a custom “MAGA” license plate on his brand new pickup truck.
Everyone in this office will vote for our wannabe shittler in 2020, because what’s happening right now is exactly what they want.
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I have little sympathy for people who voted for Trump because they thought he was “just joking” or because they believed insane Alex Jones conspiracy theories about Hillary. This is exactly what I was talking about with apologists being the ones portraying them as mindless animals, and to be blunt, I just don’t believe they’re actually that stupid- they’re making excuses to cover the fact that they willingly voted for a racist and a fascist. Maybe that wasn’t their primary motivation, but it would’ve been impossible to ignore and they were absolutely fine with it, in return for- what, some transparent lies about coal jobs? If they’re not “real” racists, the distinction is too fine for me to make out. As for conservatives and their Bible, it’s been pretty clearly shown that their religion is just another veil for their racism and sexism- an excuse to act badly because God gives them the all clear. I don’t think they genuinely believe that, either.
All that said, we don’t have to agree on this. I just feel like we all made a huge, huge mistake by attributing more humanity to the opposition than they actually possessed, and that got Trump elected. I don’t want that mistake repeated. If there are Trump voters out there with a shred of decency, as you and faithnomore assert, then that’s wonderful news- I HOPE you’re right. But there’s also a hardcore fascist base who are evil incarnate by any meaningful definition of the word, and we cannot continue to underestimate their numbers or influence.
Unless you’re including yourself among that number, even your personal work environment is not monolithic.
Yes, this horrid shit is exactly what some people think they want, at least until it starts to negatively impact their own lives… but I refuse to believe it’s the majority of all Americans or that “there’s no hope period, so there’s no point in fighting.”
Fuck that noise.
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