Talking meanly about the poor and jobless is back en vogue for republicans

[quinnox]

I read an interesting article in USA Today, it was about how the current trend for the republican party is to talk trash against the poor and jobless in America, and they are dropping the "compassionate" conservatism that used to be a theme.

Here it is - I found it online, an excerpt - http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-01-29/compassionate-conservatism-bush-santorum-republican/52873150/1

"There is a meanness to the way many Republicans talk about the poor these days that was not en vogue during the Bush years. Unlike Huckabee, they are angry conservatives.

Gingrich spits out the words "food stamps" and implies they are gold coins showered on undeserving recipients. When debate moderator Juan Williams asked Gingrich whether his comments are "intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities," he was roundly booed by the conservative audience in South Carolina.

The conservative Heritage Foundation released a report last September arguing that those living under the poverty line in the U.S. aren't really poor because they have refrigerators and microwaves.

In addition, the Tea Party movement has embraced what political writer Jill Lawrence calls "Darwinian conservatism." You could also call it "Ayn Rand conservatism," after the libertarian philosopher whose work many congressional Republicans praise. In 2010, Republican Senate candidates attacked programs such as Social Security, student loans and unemployment benefits, saying they made Americans lazy.

Just before the South Carolina primary, a progressive Christian group called the American Values Network released an animated video, "Tea Party Jesus," to mock the disconnect between popular conservative rhetoric and Gospel teachings. In a "Sermon on the Mall," a cartoon Jesus stands flanked by GOP politicians and pundits as he declares, "Blessed are the mean in spirit … blessed are the pure in ideology." It didn't take long for a Tea Party site to promote the video instead of taking offense.

Tea Party activists might not have gotten the joke, but if the Republican Party rejects completely the idea of compassion for struggling Americans, it will be no laughing matter."

[lonestarnot]

1. and when did it leave vogue for the pigliCONs?

[pamela]

2. This is the real "class warfare."

Republicans go around saying nasty things about the poor and even the middle class but if someone says anything against the rich (like "Hey, maybe they should pay their share,&quot all of a sudden it's class warfare.

[Louisiana1976]

3. K&R!

[Incitatus]

4. That's a real stupid idea with so many Americans living check to check. nt

[Populist_Prole]

5. And they're condradicting themselves on employment.

On one hand they're throwing barbs at the unemployed as though they are willingly shiftless lazy slugs looking for a handout - Then without missing nary a beat they claim to be job creators and cry crocodile tears for the jobless who are so ostensibly because corporations still don't have completely free reign over public policy.

Not rational at all.