Why do conservative voters tolerate Republican lies?

[RedStateLiberal]

R&R are running the most despicable campaign for president I have ever seen. They lie about almost everything. Romney is clearly willing to say anything to get elected. Ryan has shown that he's not above doing the same thing.

Republican politicians in general have decided lying is perfectly okay and it doesn't matter how many times the lie is debunked, they just keep on lying. This doesn't seem to sway conservatives at all and they happily parrot the lies and keep on voting for Republicans.

I just don't get it. Why doesn't it bother them when politicians from their side are exposed as blatant liars time and time again?

Why do conservative voters tolerate all of the blatant lies from Republicans?

15 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	They honestly don't think they're lying.
	3 (20%)
	They realize they're lying but the end justifies the means.
	2 (13%)
	They think both sides do it so that makes it okay.
	0 (0%)
	The 'us against them' mentality. (They hate Dems and vote R no matter what.)
	7 (47%)
	Motivated reasoning. (They believe what they want to believe.)
	3 (20%)
	No interest in checking the facts.
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[Scootaloo]

1. Hatred, pure and simple.

No matter what, we are "the enemy" to them. They have been trained for thirty year to fear, loathe, and despise anything that hteir trainers say is "liberal." That's all it's about.

[RedStateLiberal]

20. According to the poll results so far

most DUers agree with you. It's all about hate for liberals. Then they blame us for being divisive and hateful.

[former-republican]

2. Some has to do with just hate

Sometimes people are brought up in a family where parents vote republican .
So it seems the natural way to vote. A lot of people don't research what they hear .

They get their information from talking heads like Hannity , Rush , Fox news.
If you try to argue a level headed position with a die hard republican and show him facts to back it up.
They get angry with you.
I have a lot of friends that vote republican . Now I ask them why?

I ask them , how has the republican party made your life better ?
Most really can't answer.

[RedStateLiberal]

3. Yeah, it's really a combination of reasons.

I've experienced everything you mentioned first-hand many times. They tend to treat politics like a sport where they've chosen their team and nothing will ever convince them otherwise. They need to realize it's a lot more important than that.

If Dems were to lie as much, and as brazenly, as Repubs do, I'd stop voting for them because it would be a clear indication to me that they have no legitimate argument. If that were to be the case I'd have to stop voting altogether.

[former-republican]

5. I hear your argument but

never stop voting . It's the only thing we have.

[RedStateLiberal]

17. Oh I won't.

I don't think Dems could ever become as bad as Repubs have become so it's really not an option for me. Every politician lies every once and a while. Almost all Republicans lie whenever their lips are moving.

[Mariana]

4. Do you really believe they tolerate the lies?

I don't think that's true at all. Conservatives don't tolerate the lies, they LOVE the lies. They demand and expect to hear the lies, and they actually get angry if the lies aren't forthcoming. This is what they want.

Most of them already know most of the bullshit they hear from their candidates, their talk show hosts, and their Faux Nooz personalities isn't true, so debunking isn't going to have any effect. Prove lies to them beyond a shadow of a doubt, and they'll shrug and say, "So what? He/she is going after Obama/the Democrats/the left, that's all that matters." That's the mentality of the conservatives and it has been so for quite a while

[RedStateLiberal]

16. No, I just couldn't think of a better way to phrase the question.

They sure do seem to love the lies. Almost everything I hear from them is a lie - especially about Obama.

It's a sad commentary on our society that so many have come to accept and actually encourage lies due to partisan politics. It pisses me off to no end that Republicans let their party turn into this cult of lies and propaganda. That is un-American and just plain wrong.

[Skittles]

26. I agree

they know they are being lied to but they LOVE THE LIES - WANT them to be true. It really is the only explanation why a conservative cowoker with two degrees would forward to me a rightwing email that could be easily disproved with 10 seconds of research on the web

[flyguyjake]

6. Living in the past

I think that the tea party and the extreme repubes are living in the past. They want things to be like "they used to be". They don't like progress and don't accept change. They listen to puman like Rush Limpdick, Glenn Pecker, Don Imma-ass and Ann Cunter and are fed nothing but lies, hatred and disdain.

*They want no government
*They want everyone to carry guns like the old west.
*They want smog like China & India.
*They want to pump oil out of our kitchen sinks.
*They want zero taxes on the rich and 110% on the poor
*They want no immigrants
*They want no trees
*They want no clean water
*They want cars that get 1MPG
*They want women to have babies from rape & molestation because "it's life at conception"
*They want a military that rules the world AKA Dictatorship
*They want only white men for President
*They want the poor & disabled to starve
*They wanted the auto industry to crash & burn
*They didn't want any bailouts, except for their friends on wall street & the oil companies
*They think our mountains are just piles of coal, ripe for the harvest
*They think there's no such thing as animal extinction... eat them all... God will make more
*They think only Christians will go to heaven and the rest of the religions and the atheists will burn in hell
*They think eating at Chick-Fil-A is a path to righteousness
*They think that women should stay at home and pop out babies

Golly-gee I'm exhausted... It's hard thinking like a Republican...

[RedStateLiberal]

19. It's not only hard thinking like a Republican...

...it can make you crazy. How they keep from going totally insane is beyond me. I guess when they have their own 'news' network telling them what they want to hear 24/7 it's easier to belive that stuff as well as the lies.

[Skittles]

28. sometimes I feel like I am living in Bizarro World

and it just gets worse and worse - I keep wondering when these conservative idiots will wake up

[Fumesucker]

7. ...

[RedStateLiberal]

21. Love it!

And it makes a really good point. It's much easier to believe what you want to believe and difficult to confront the truth - even from someone as insightful and funny as George Carlin.

[JNelson6563]

8. I think it's like Christianity.

There are some horrible Christians out there. They get away with all sorts of hate mongering, yet where is the hue and cry from those Christians who supposedly are strongly against that sort of thing? I suspect many think that their fellow Christians, the more extreme ones, while perhaps a bit over the top, wouldn't do any *real* harm...I mean they're Christians, right?

I think the same applies to "conservatives" (who are anything but)...they seem to let the extremists among them run amok while they remain relatively silent. I gotta believe it's the same...them thinking the crazies in their camp can't do any *real* harm, they're just using some crazy methods to get us to a more reasonable place.

Once one is completely conditioned to a certain mindset, they are so not likely to see a problem with other "true believers".

Julie

[RedStateLiberal]

13. Good point.

The way the Repub party has convinced some people they are the only choice for Christians makes it easier to let the lies slide and even believe the lies because they're used to having faith. The faith they have in religion has become faith in a political party. The GOP is like a cult.

[wickerwoman]

9. They don't watch or read the news.

They just show up on election day and vote for the ticket they've always voted for.

[cali]

10. I believe that many humans, if not most, believe the lies

they want to believe.

[dimbear]

11. I have plenty of rightwing relatives, and they're perfectly sincere in their goofy beliefs.

They just don't grasp reality. Rightwing info sources have drowned out truthiness.

[Selatius]

12. It's psychologically easier to tolerate a world of black and white than a world of gray.

The lies they disseminate are created to help reinforce in the minds of some voters that their view of the world is the correct one despite its overly simplified outline.

There will always be that subset of the population that will view the world in absolute terms; however, the sheer number of people who vote Republicans can also be attributed to being grossly misinformed about the nature of the country and the world.

The fact that George W. Bush got more than 48% of the vote in any of the elections he ran in is as much a testament to the woeful lack of information citizens have as much as it is a testament to the power of corporate propaganda in shaping the opinions and ideas of the population at large.

[RedStateLiberal]

14. I've noticed conservatives almost always

frame issues in absolutes. They just can't see the gray when it comes to abortion or the 2nd amendment, etc. You're right, it's a lot easier to see the world that way. To challenge that mindset is too difficult or troubling for them so they accept any info that contributes to that way of thinking.

[annabanana]

15. They only trust sources that lie to them.

They have been conditioned for years that the "liberal media" cannot be trusted, that only FOX and RW commentators will tell them the truth. They really really DON'T KNOW that they've been fed crap for decades.

[hifiguy]

18. It reinforces beliefs that they have never critically examined

largely because many of them lack the mental acuity to engage in self-examination or critical thought. Once bigotry and hatred are accepted and internalized they are a permanent part of the programming despite all evidence to the contrary. Much like the crazy shit people believe in the name of religion (immaculate conception, miracles, arising from the dead). That these things are impossible by all the laws of physics and science has no meaning. Same for the repukes.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

22. They're Stepford Wives

Any piece of excrement that falls from a Republicans mouth might as well have been chiseled onto a granite tablet and handed to Moses on a mountaintop, as far as they're concerned.

Kinda like how Jerry Sandusky's wife claims she never heard anything coming from her basement, their reality is however they want to make it in their heads.

[gollygee]

23. Us vs Them, but also because they need something to hold onto

If there is no valid reason for their vote, they need to have at least something they can pretend or fool themselves is the reason.

[flyguyjake]

24. Light

"Come to the light Carole Ann"

[Jamaal510]

25. I think it's a combination of several factors.

Of course, there's the "us vs. them" thing. They probably fear their political ideology being debunked, plus nobody wants to feel as if they are being lied to.
However, there's also the fact that conservatives get their information from people who mislead them, then train them to distrust any other source of information, such as the notorious myth about the "liberal media bias." Never mind the fact that all of the media conglomerates are pro-business. And even when there are countless sources of information that prove that trickle-down doesn't work or that the working class would be in better shape with socialized health care for example, they refuse to accept that. It's almost like willful ignorance.
They have been trained by the G0Pee masters to not believe anyone outside of Fox News or conservative talk radio.

[_Liann_]

27. A more important question: Why Do Major News Orgs Allow Themselves to be a Megaphone for Liars?

A more important question: Why Do Major News Orgs Allow Themselves to be a Megaphone for Liars? DOH, the liberal media is only as liberal as the conservative billionaires who own most of it. And then, let's not forget, that corporations are people too.

[cleduc]

29. Ignorance & hate

[JohnnyRingo]

30. I saw a bumper sticker today

It said; "I don't believe the liberal media".

That's all it said. It was a clear message that the driver only believes that which confirms what he already accepts as truth. The rest is garbage from liberals to him and he thinks the rest of us are fools.

With that viewpoint, it's clear many otherwise intelligent people don't think republicans lie at all.

incredible.

[oldsarge54]

31. Is Karl Rove the new Goebbels?

It is an old saw that if you repeat a lie often and loud enough, it becomes truth. Take the slogan "illegal is illegal." That ends the mental process right there. Bumper sticker mentality. They use the word Amnesty like it was found on some bathroom wall. What really frightens me is that it is not the only resemblance to fascism I perceive. This primary season struck me as a gentler version of "the Night of the Long Knives." The basic fascist positions of anti-liberalism and government being subservient to industry. Of course, scapegoating is part of the fascist process itself. Two last points, the first being someone is out there trying to rehabilitate fascism. I've spend hours arguing with youngsters that believe that the Nazis were socialists, thus associating Nazis with the left. Second, I until recently, I took solace that Romney lacked the charisma to be a Hitler. However, Hitler did not top the ticket that got him into power, Hindenburg did. Hitler was in the number two spot, chancellor. You see, his party had already peaked (like the Tea Party), and Ryan does have the charisma with the new Republicans to pull it off.

Please tell me I'm wrong and why. This is a case where I hoping I'm wrong.

[bhillygoat.6]

32. Is Karl Rove the new Goebbels?

I believe conservatives are sociopaths with a common trait: Overly susceptible to fear. Fear for their money. Fear of losing their undemocratic status quo. A sorry belief in American Exceptional ism, which is rooted in the concept of the Ends Justify The Means. I believe in the big picture, I think many Americans believe that people in third world countries don't exist in their sphere of reality as to what constitutes a human being. That we can invade their county, murder innocent non-combatant woman and children with bombs, drones etc, rip off their natural resources, and the idiots in this country limit their objections to abortion rights?! That simple phrases like "They hate OUR freedoms" is enough to rile them up without thinking: Could We have done something to deserve this? That we in the U.S. might be the terrorists? That a few single or abandoned mothers with kids (as the right wing propaganda goes) are ripping off the tax payers by abusing the "system". These people appear blind to corporate abuses like subsidies we give them while they make huge profits. Like more and bigger propaganda blame shifting directed at the post office and social security etc. With never a thought to if we stop having all of these Military/Industrial complex wars for profit with huge budgets (If the dept. of Energy-those marvelous folks who make the atomic weapons-are not included in the pentagon budget, then that makes military spending even larger) then we would have more than enough money for Social Security, Universal Health care, affordable education, jobs, etc. etc. The term "working class republican" is the absolute weirdest oxymoron I have ever heard, followed closely on its heels by corporate person hood etc. Why is the American public so easily, constantly fooled? Who runs the media? Who owns our national debt? Not just paying down the debt, but who owns it? The rich. Those who pay no taxes, but have no qualms about calling the police resources in to get us, that we, the little guy tax payers pay for, to have us arrested for trespassing on their private property when we go to (peacefully) protests their crimes and excesses. Karl Rove always seems to come up with a counter move to foiling the people. And our corrupt, and vile anti-people Supreme Court lets these crimes persist. Money corrupts, or as Bob Dylan wrote: Money doesn't talk, it swears.

[hrmjustin]

33. Welcome to DU!