How do these fugging Rethugs do it?

[PCIntern]

They're caught in bathrooms suggesting to others what they would publicly term 'perversions'; they lie about trillion-dollar wars; they bust unions; they use prostitutes and dope; they admit to having sex with animals when they were young; they live rent-free/rent-reduced and don't pay income tax on the benefit; they sleep with/play golf with/go on junkets with billionaires or their minions; they have affairs; they quit their jobs which they were duly elected to perform in order to make money; they put their dog in a cage on top of a car and drive a great distance; they serve their cancer-riddled wife with divorce papers in the hospital; they start massive fires on aircraft carriers; they like about their water breaking and who had the baby in the family; they are accused of money-laundering; they get kicked out of school for cheating and then go on to long careers in 'public service' as purveyors of honesty and decency; they do anything they damn-well-please and just GET AWAY WITH IT AND ARE NEVER PUNISHED.

"NEW" RULE: The potential for fascism in this country is boundless...it's all OK...as long as you're a Republican, John Bircher, or Tea Partier.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I don't get it either.

And it really pisses me off!

:grr:

[SoCalDem]

2. M-E-D-I-A coverage (or non-coverage)

Condit..24-7
Scarborough..cue crickets

[polichick]

3. Good post - k&r! They get away with it because Republican voters...

...get their "news" from a propaganda network and they tend to be fear-driven - and because Dems are often too busy "looking forward" or being bipartisan or complicit to hold the other side accountable.

[AndyTiedye]

4. The Mighty Slime Machine (MSM) Thinks Republicans Can Do No Wrong

and most people believe what the Tee Vee tells them.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I've asked myself that question many times over

The only explanation I've arrived at is their voters really must be that freakin' ignorant, or blinded by hate, or both. :shrug:

[spooked911]

6. A phrase has been around for many years on blogs-- IOKIYAR

"It's OK if you're a Republican"

They are the party blessed by the people in control.

[RKP5637]

7. And much of the citizenry chooses to be willfully stupid, that's how they do it, and I

wish there were a way to change the robotic behavior of many in the US.

[Newest Reality]

8. As many agree ...

corporately owned news outlets serving their own best interests while retaining the illusion of legitimacy.

Also, bundles of hot cash from the Captains of industry who are on a takeover binge like never before. That's why I call this the Corporate Occupation of America. That may sound sensational to some, and to others it might seem to be about what has been going on for, like, ever.

The point is, current events show that the final phases of this process are in progress and it's so massive and on so many fronts that you have to be in a bubble of media illusions not to see it.

[Angry Dragon]

9. One thought

They get up on their pedestal and profess a belief in god.
They hold their bible high above their heads and yell how they believe.
The masses believe them.
They don't mention that it is not the God in the Bible that they believe in.
Their god is the god of greed, hate, lies.
The book they hold above their heads is the outside of the Bible but inside
the pages are blank because they make the words and rules up as they go.

[Faryn Balyncd]

10. They OWN the institutions of propaganda, (which in a pevious era disseminated news.)

[damntexdem]

11. Lie, cheat, steal, fold themselves in the flag, hide behind the cross ...

and have a willing MSM to help them do so; and have a still-fairly-docile Democratic opposition enabling them. The latter is changing a bit, however, at least around the edges -- a la the Wisconsin senate.

[HughBeaumont]

12. Yep.

IOKIYAR.

Arch conservative corporations control most popular media.

Education is thrown in the trash in favor of constant military action of some sort.

There's no universal health care, so employERS, particularly large corporations, will always have the upper hand. Meaning, their workers will NEED their shit jobs for insurance, and because insurance is so tethered to employment, they won't raise a fuss if pay cuts or bad treatment happens nor will they strike out on their own or to a better job. It's flawless!!

For their idiotic followers, Republican messaging is dumbed down just enough to where they don't notice they're completely fisting themselves supporting it.

Tax cuts = bribes. Which, of course, the idiots fall for, even AFTER they find their communities, their bank accounts and their chances of retiring torched like dry grass on a hot Midwestern day.

But to me, the biggest one is this:

The belief among the slap-assed in Horatio Alger. That "they're a-gonna be RICH someday, and I want all them thur laws and perks the rich get when I enter that club, heh heh heh!" That "if yew aren't successful, durn it, it's becawz ye ain't Workin' HARD ENOUGH!"

As long as they keep believing that myth, that they'll beat the odds and won't die in the same caste they were born in, they'll keep voting for the party that keeps that lie alive for them.

[spinproof]

13. It's the SCIENCE of Propaganda, plain and simple

Over a hundred years of market research, computerized in the late 70s, early 80s. Searchable and cross -referenced. Combined with advances in cognitive neuroscience, which explained HOW the tricks discovered through market research, as well as all the cons, flimflams, and humugs WORK. In my journal is a link to a site that goes into the psychological basis of this practice,complete with links to the actual research.

"Persuasion", "Framing", "Messaging", "Spin", all refer to this practice, which is simply using the same tools they use to sell you soap to sell you ideas and candidates. It is, very simply, the "Invisible Hand" that touches EVERY aspect of everyone's life to some degree.

These tools are FAR more powerful than most people are aware of, some so powerful that NO ONE is immune. But innoculation is possible. Informing ourselves and others does have an "immunizing" effect. And I think it is past time to start rejecting the use of these tools in our discourse, individually, whenever we encounter them.

[PCIntern]

14. Yes and welcome to DU!

:hi:

[librechik]

15. they realize it is easier to just take power than to try to legally negotiate for it

And they just do it, daring others with more conventional ideas of law and order to try to hold them to account (after they spend years gutting the laws and enforcement of same)

I wish we could do the same--but we aren't immoral assholes with no sens of history or conscience. Like they are.

[TheKentuckian]

16. Democrats top to bottom allow them to get away with it, excuse it, and even facilitate their misdeed

and crimes.

[Dappleganger]

17. As long as they claim that Jesus forgave them, it's all ok.

They're doing God's holy work, ya know.

[kenny blankenship]

18. The other thing you might notice about such people is their penchant for judging others in public

carrying on endlessly about the vice of their political enemies, about the dark forces their enemies represent, and generally posturing like they were badge wielding Defenders of Decency, and pronouncing Judgment on others as though they were Moses speaking from the slopes of Mt. Sinai.

Passing judgment positions one as a Judge, an expert in matters of right and wrong. That's why they do it. The act of being judgmental clothes one in moral authority - at least until people find out what you're hiding about yourself. It's a common human foible to project one's flaws onto other people to inoculate yourself against suspicion. It's also a common human foible for other people to fall for it, over and over.

[RagAss]

19. They're White.

Wake up.

[PCIntern]

20. this was a rhetorical question on my part...

it was designed to get folks to get their pet peeve(s) about Rethugs out there, so I can possibly coalesce all of them into an essay someday...

[RagAss]

21. Well use mine for a Chapter title.

[PCIntern]

23. White Like Me.

[RegieRocker]

22. Get this I am the democrat and gave never been without a job or

business of my own for longer than one month. I have a son in law who has been out of work for a year and a half. I also have a step son who is a teacher who has now been unemployed since june 2010. They both are Republicans. Living it large on unemployment and they know better than to spout off to me. I will let them have it. It boggles my mind.