Every Republican I have known during my entire lifetime had the exact same flaw

[NNN0LHI]

They always assume everyone around them is as stupid as they are. Always. Never fails. It is a built in flaw they are born with. They can't help themselves.

President Obama uses that flaw against them every chance he gets.

We should too.

Don

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Every one I've ever known has been afraid. "Mortal terror" afraid.

Yet they express this fear in terms of courage; e.g. we need to spend every single dime we have on national defense to prove how courageous we are. To the extent that they project attributes onto other people, it's that others are as crooked as they are.

I think the smart people use exploit that flaw. Insurance salesmen, gold coin salesmen, "preparedness" salesmen, gun salesmen.

The problem with irrational fear is the fact that it's irrational. We know that there's a strong likelihood that most of the planet will be uninhabitable in 100 years, so lets do something about the rational fears first.

[lonestarnot]

10. You left out the amway salesmen. Snort.

[Johonny]

2. Everyone of them assumes they are the smart one

and the others are the sucker stupid ones. They never get it is all a scam and they're just as stupid as big a sucker as the lot of them.

[hlthe2b]

3. Additionally, they always assume everyone is as selfish as they are.... n/t

[Surya Gayatri]

4. There are known unknowns and then

there are unknown unknowns.

IOW, how can you even imagine how dim-witted you are if you're so dim-witted?

Got that? Rumsfeld made this perfectly clear over a decade ago!

[lonestarnot]

11. Red Rummy belongs to the comb licker institute for endless war.

[Surya Gayatri]

24. And that f-ing war criminal is still out

there on the Repuke surrogate circuit. He should be in jail.

[SharonAnn]

20. That is actually a legitimate management analysis tool. Here it is:

Part of good management planning includes the situations listed below. They are important!

There are:

Known knowns: Things that are real and that we know (are aware) that are real. For example, the sun rises in the East (reality) and I know (am aware) that it does. Therefore, I can build this in my plans.

Known unkowns: Things that are real but that we are aware that we don't know. For example, it is known the Hollandaise sauce is mixture of ingredients that are emulsified, but I don't know how to make it, nor what the ingredients are. Therefore, I know that I need to find a knowledgeable person to make Hollandaise sauce when I need that as part of my plans. Or, I or a team member need to learn how to make it.

Unknown knowns: Things that are real but that I don't know (or am not aware of). For example, one of the critical team members on my project is terminally ill. He knows it, but I (as Project Manager) don't know it. Therefore, there is knowledge in the group but I don't know it so I cannot consider it in my plans. Perhaps I need to build in a backup position to reduce the project risk but I don't do it because I don't know that I need to.

Unknown unknowns: These can be absolutely most dangerous of all. There is something that is not known and none of us know that we don't know it. We may think we have covered all contingencies, but we haven't. This is what can bring down a project, a system, a company, a government, etc. For example, we're going to have fishing tournament as the major fund-raiser of an important charity. We don't know that there is a company upstream that could, on purpose or accidentally, discharge toxic chemicals into the river/lake in sufficient quantities to kill all the fish within hours. If that doesn't happen, then we may think that our planning covers all possible contingencies for future events. But it doesn't!

In military planning and operations, all of these are important but the last one is the most dangerous and can be life or death to the participants on both sides.

[Surya Gayatri]

22. Yes, I've seen versions of this in

management textbooks. It's the last category that's relevant to NNNOLHI's premise:

Unknown unknowns: these can be absolutely most dangerous of all. There is something that is not known and none of (the repukes) know that (they) don't know it.

Disquieting level of self-imposed stupidity and ignorance.

[kentuck]

5. They know a little about a lot of subjects and issues...

But they know a lot about very few... They have a surface knowledge, just enough to be dangerous.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. That is so incredibly true.

Just received a call from someone who had read my website. I don't have all the information up yet, but I know where the conclusions are leading: My neighbors are crooks, I told him. And he replied, Aw, no, it was just ignorance.

Eh, no, no it wasn't ignorance. They fully knew what they were doing. It was a crazy era where entrepreneurs thought it was their right to take whatever they wanted. It wasn't ignorance. It was Republican polices which had reached their natural conclusion.

[lunatica]

7. Exactly

Of course, they don't think they're stupid though.

[Capt. Obvious]

8. It's a bit more complex than that

They can be broken down into several categories (the ones I've known)

- They come from money and taxes is their thing.

- They are lower/lower-middle class whites who are struggling to get by and they are angry. They are angry at non-whites for getting everything "handed" to them and "rewarded" for being lazy - and they blame Democrats.

- They find comfort in talk radio feeding their anxieties about their paranoid conspiracies

- They believe Democrats want to take their guns away. (this is the end-all, be-all for these voters)

- They imagine a simpler and better time that never existed in the 1950's and think Republicans will return us to the set of Leave It To Beaver

- Republicans keep us safe from terrorists while Democrats don't (actual conversation I had)

- They hate black people (never admit that openly - most - but if you just let them talk they just spew unbelievably racist shit)

- They hate brown people (they don't hide that)

[lonestarnot]

12. They kill people and then sometimes kill themselves.

FBI questions Hughes in Gilbert mass shootings

http://www.kpho.com/story/18155525/friends-help-raise-money-for-gilbert-shooting-victims

Then they raise money for funerals.

[Populist_Prole]

14. Precisely. Every single point.

I never saw a more accurate, and yet condensed, summation of just about every conservative I know.

[Capt. Obvious]

18. Thank you

And like I said below - never call them stupid.

I have flipped a few of these voters (not the gun nuts - they are lost, and that's fine) just by talking to them; continuously.

One conversation doesn't flip them but several can and usually will flip. Many of those categories just need to let them talk and listen to them. Then ask them to explain why they feel the way they do. This is usually the opening - they realize that what they believe is indeed stupid/crazy/racist when they have to articulate it.

And then go from there.

[Vattel]

19. very accurate list

some also are hard core pro-life and so can't imagine voting for the pro-choice party.

[Capt. Obvious]

35. I forgot about the pro-lifers

But then again I haven't known too many. The ones I have known will vote for Dems if they're pro-life too.

[GoCubsGo]

26. Yep, and I know some real bed-wetters.

Yesterday, one of them was just carrying on about how bad "Obamacare" is going to be because, get this, it's going to cause a shortage of doctors. He claimed that nobody was going want to become a doctor, because doctors would no longer be making lots of money. I shit you not. I thought he was going to piss his pants over it. Everything that ever comes out of this clown's mouth is nothing but right-wing talking points or some reason we should all be afraid. And, he's just one of many around here like that.

[Capt. Obvious]

37. People (my parents being just two) are freaking out about the requirement

to buy health insurance - even though this has never been a problem for my parents. They've always had insurance through my dad's union job and are now on medicare.

They are just outraged.

[raccoon]

33. Great post. You nailed it. nt

[Capt. Obvious]

36. Thank you

[FarCenter]

40. You left off a few

- Schools are teaching evolution and other radical ideas and destroying religion and traditional beliefs.

- Life begins at conception and all abortion is murder.

And other social issues.

[Capt. Obvious]

9. And telling them they are stupid is bad politics

No one wants to hear that. That will only make them dig their heels in more.

That's a guaranteed vote loser.

[NNN0LHI]

17. LOL. In case you missed it the Republicans were dug in over 3 years ago friend

Their problem is there isn't enough Republicans to win a national election.

They have to bullshit enough non-Republicans using the tactics I described in my OP to have any hope of actually winning.

Dug in?

Don

[HangOnKids]

29. The Stupid repukes Don't Care What ANYONE But One Of Their Brethren Says

Democrats should blast away at those morons, FULL BLAST. We will never change their shallow STUPID minds, so who the fuck cares if we offend them? Really who the fuck cares? They will NEVER vote for a Democrat, I say give them a knock out punch every single chance we get. It might help engage our base, you know the voters we have a chance with. YMMV.

[Capt. Obvious]

30. My mileage does vary

If you want to convince someone to stop voting against their own best interests, calling them stupid is not the way to go.

[HangOnKids]

31. Sorry. They Are STUPID.

The strong message of Democrats has been out there for decades, and those fools do not listen. Time to call them for what they are, STUPID. I'd call them Motherfucking Stupid Fuckwittages every chance I got, but hey that is why I am not running for office. You might think it is time worthy to try and reach the Neanderthals, and THAT is why you are not a political strategist.

[Capt. Obvious]

32. Oh, who do you work for?

As a political strategist do you go on political shows to espouse this brilliant strategy of calling potential voters stupid fuckwittages?
Meet The Press? Face The Nation? This Week? All of them?

Maybe some podcasts?

I'd love to see this strategy get some air.

Although I seem to recall Obama's outreach to disaffected Republicans and independents in 2008 with the slogan, VOTE FOR ME YOU FUCKING NEANDERTHALS. Was that your work?

[HangOnKids]

34. See Ya Later

Thanks for the chat.

[Capt. Obvious]

38. Make sure you give David Gregory hell

I can't wait to see it.

[MH1]

13. Not just 'stupid'. They assume that everyone has the same circumstances and experiences as they.

For example, they seem to think that, if they managed to overcome a low-income background and do well, it was ONLY due to their hard work, not luck or any assistance/subsidies of the government, or the absence of certain limiting factors in their specific case. Therefore, EVERYONE can overcome poverty, because they did it so you can too. Therefore, everyone who fails to overcome poverty is just a lazy loser.

It's a bullshit attitude. Sadly, I sometimes see its siblings show up in people who call themselves democrats or progressives, when an assumption is made that if it worked for you, it will work for everyone. (not referring to anyone specific here, just that I've seen it in action.)

[mac56]

41. +1

[etherealtruth]

15. I don't know if its good or bad ...

Last edited Sun May 6, 2012, 02:24 PM - Edit history (1)

... but, the republicans that I am (and have been) close to, are not stupid by any definition. They do have a tendency toward greed, however.

Many republicans that I am merely acquainted with do tend to share the characteristics you describe ... and its not pretty.

[wilt the stilt]

16. the two traits I always see are fear and cheating

they are sacred of everything so they need guns and secondly they cheat on everything so they think everyone is a cheat.

[GoCubsGo]

27. Exactly right.

And, fear is the overwhelming trait. And, they think everyone else is as afraid as they are. I believe many of them suffer from sleep deprivation, as I don't know how they get any sleep in those piss-soaked beds of theirs.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

21. I wouldn't agree that most Republicans are stupid

a lot of Republicans have college educations and are successful but the problems that I see with most Republicans is that they are typically ill-informed and/or misguided. My other observation has been that many of them just believe that everybody has had the same advantages, privileges, upbringing, etc. and that the only possible reason why everybody can't/doesn't enjoy the same standard of living as they do is because they are lazy, shiftless, whiny, or worse. Even though they complain about liberals/progressives wanting to simply give everybody a 1% existence (at their expense, of course), it's really about trying to ensure that everybody has "equal opportunities" to be successful and they seem to believe that everybody has that already and (probably) a large part of the reason that they don't believe that things like affirmative action are simply not necessary any more. They fail to recognize that there is NOT true equality of opportunity in this country.

[slackmaster]

23. You've never met my mom

She's a former Republican now, but she figured out a long time that about 99.9% of the people around her are less intelligent than she is.

[TheKentuckian]

25. You can't forget the evil and greedy ones.

I believe the greedy are the majority and they go along with the stupid and evil in pursuit of coming out ahead in some fashion or screwing the next guy to put them lower to "raise" themselves in comparison.

There is also a natural 30%ish authoritarian toady contingent in the population and they lean strong TeaPubliKlan.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

28. They don't waste time with the facts. Their goal is orthodoxy, and they are happy with that.

If you want to make them happy, don't rely upon facts while trying to reason with them.

Instead, appeal to a higher authority. That's a concept that they can understand. A primary issue for them, if at all, is "Which higher authority?" A secondary issue is "How long should this authority be followed?" Think of those who followed authority figures before Copernicus. And before Darwin (although some still follow those types of authority figures). They can stop following authority figures when it suits them. Think of Nixon and Tammy Faye's husband, Jim Baker.

For them, facts, by themselves, don't matter. Orthodoxy does.

Compromising with your principles to try to get them to meet you half-way, without the endorsement of a higher authority figure that they will accept, doesn't work.

They understand orthodoxy. They understand ranking.

If you want to make yourself happy, keep your principles and don't try to reason with them while using just facts. If you cannot identify an authority figure that they will accept, don't try to reason with them at all.

[lpbk2713]

39. Willfull ignorance.

That's what makes them easy targets for the RW Media Hatemongers. People like Limbaugh, Hannity
and Beck use their profound ignorance and their paranoia as one of the tools of their trade.

[mac56]

42. They do seem to view ignorance as a virtue.

Putting it on a par with educating oneself. Even higher, because staying ignorant is easier.

[lonestarnot]

43. They embrace it.