Political discussion thread

yes, but at the time the ideas of each party were flip-flopped

thellama73 wrote: dtguitarfan wrote: smartpatrol wrote: That's hilarious, thanks for sharing! FYI, RE: "Go follow the Klan, Ann." The KKK was an outgrowth of the Democratic Party, not the Republicans. It's a little tiresome to be constantly labelled racist by the repetition of false history.

Yes it was.  The Democratic Party of the late 19th Century.  And the Republicans were the party of racial equality.  Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, was one of the most progressive presidents this country has ever seen.   But that was a long time ago.  This ain't your great grandfather's Republican party any more. 

Hell, Nixon wanted to implement universal healthcare here.  But the Republicans have shifted far to the right, especially since 1981 and the Reagan revolution.  And the Democrats shifted to the left, at least for awhile, although now they appear to be shifting more rightward.


Edited by The Doctor - October 28 2012 at 15:40

thellama73 wrote: It outrages me that Republicans have to endure ceaseless, baseless accusations of racism without a shred of evidence.

Um, this argument started because of a line about Ann Coulter. Ann Coulter. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's racist.

Most hateful b**** I've ever heard.

dtguitarfan wrote: dtguitarfan wrote: thellama73 wrote: It outrages me that Republicans have to endure ceaseless, baseless accusations of racism without a shred of evidence. Um, this argument started because of a line about Ann Coulter. Ann Coulter. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's racist. Most hateful b**** I've ever heard. Also, I'd like to add - I've heard plenty of Republican friends of mine say that they think the only reason Obama won is because he's black. If you put any stock in polls at all, then they pretty much disprove that because there is an astounding number of white males voting the other way, so I'm pretty sure Obama won DESPITE the fact that he's black, and not because of it.

Can you give an example of Ann Coulter saying a racist thing? Even if you can, one anecdote is not enough to condemn an entire party.

Your second point is wrong, because it assumes that white people wouldn't vote for someone because he is black. It is conceivable that a lot of white people felt an obligation to vote for the black candidate to atone for America's the past sins of slavery and segregation. I'm not saying this is so, but it's a possibility and so that statistic is not "proof" of anything.

thellama73 wrote: dtguitarfan wrote: dtguitarfan wrote: thellama73 wrote: It outrages me that Republicans have to endure ceaseless, baseless accusations of racism without a shred of evidence. Um, this argument started because of a line about Ann Coulter. Ann Coulter. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's racist. Most hateful b**** I've ever heard. Also, I'd like to add - I've heard plenty of Republican friends of mine say that they think the only reason Obama won is because he's black. If you put any stock in polls at all, then they pretty much disprove that because there is an astounding number of white males voting the other way, so I'm pretty sure Obama won DESPITE the fact that he's black, and not because of it. Can you give an example of Ann Coulter saying a racist thing? Even if you can, one anecdote is not enough to condemn an entire party. Your second point is wrong, because it assumes that white people wouldn't vote for someone because he is black. It is conceivable that a lot of white people felt an obligation to vote for the black candidate to atone for America's the past sins of slavery and segregation. I'm not saying this is so, but it's a possibility and so that statistic is not "proof" of anything.

It is also conceivable that a lot of white people felt an obligation to vote for the candidate they thought would be best for the country regardless of race. 

I recommend the book "White Guilt" by Shelby Steele. He analyzes how whites have basically destroyed many of the advances of the civil rights era out of pure "guilt" and how liberals are actually not helping lift them out of poverty with their patenalistic guilt-based ideas.

He's black, too.

thellama73 wrote: It outrages me that Republicans have to endure ceaseless, baseless accusations of racism without a shred of evidence.

I know some Republican family members who I can say are definitely racist.

I would never say that all Republicans are racist, or that racism plays any role in a good portion of Republicans' viewpoints.  However, I will say that racists today tend more than not to be drawn to the Republican party and I believe that those Republicans in power do play on the racial fears and hatred of that segment of their constituency.  I am more inclined to believe that the Republicans have as their major philosophy (regardless of race) to exalt the rich and disparage the poor.    However, they can twist this last part of their philosophy to suit the racist members of their party, e.g. "it's those damned mexicans taking all our jobs," "people on welfare are bleeding our country dry" (in which case, those with racist tendencies can pretend it's mostly blacks and hispanics on welfare).  

dtguitarfan wrote: I'm not arguing that the Republican party is more racist than the Democratic party - though it does seem like it right now, but that's probably because the President for the last 4 years was a black Democrat. But Ann Coulter - she DEFINITELY is racist. Along with hating just about everyone else who is not exactly like her. It's pretty easy to find hateful things she's said - just google her and you'll find whole hosts of resources, such as: http://terryturtletuthpaste.tripod.com/Quotes.htm http://www.loop21.com/top-5-craziest-or-most-racist-ann-coulter-quotes http://newsone.com/1755255/top-10-racist-quotes-of-2011 http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/2010/03/ann-coulter-is-sexist-racist-white.html Those aren't even the best examples of her deep seated hate of everyone, I'm afraid.

I read all those quotes and saw no statement I regarded as racist against blacks.

If you're referring to Muslim comments, I would argue that you can support racial profiling in this case, since it makes little sense to treat white grandmothers the same as young, male Muslims, since almost every terrorist we've caught has been a young, male Muslim. I don't think it would have been racist in World War II to be a little bit more suspicious of people with German accents, since we were at war with the Germans.

If there is a particular quote you'd like to discuss in more detail, I would be happy to do so.

HackettFan wrote: The T wrote: HackettFan wrote: thellama73 wrote: It outrages me that Republicans have to endure ceaseless, baseless accusations of racism without a shred of evidence. I know some Republican family members who I can say are definitely racist. I know some democratic family members that couldn't be more racist. I'm trying to imagine how they might be voting.

Protip: You can be racist against white people.