Republicans cannot understand what reality is and what it isn't

[MrScorpio]

This the only conclusion that I can arrive at after observing them.

This is more than just differences of opinion, like Macs are better than PCs or vice versa, but whether or not certain fundamental truths even exist for them, like evolution, basic math and civil rights for all citizens.

They invented a Barack Obama that didn't exist and ran against this fictional character, while an all too real Obama organized a campaign that ran circles around them to eventual victory.

These are people who can't even cope with the fact that, not only did they lose the last election, they lost it by wide margins and it wasn't a secret that it was going to happen that way at all. They should have known, but all they did was live in a delusional fugue state until the results came in to their incredulous surprise.

Today they're debating with themselves about the prospect of a shrinking voter base by, of all things, doubling down on same behaviors and policies that lost them this last election.

They're having the hardest time in coping with the fact that the Bush tax cuts for the rich are going to expire.

What is clear is that they have absolutely NO idea how to talk about the real world. They're used to being coddled by people who gave credence to the fantasies, as if their nonsense is equilateral with the reality based world. Now that much of that coddling has evaporated after the election, they're lost, confused and disorganized.

Much of their message discipline is gone. There's no real guidance from the GOP leadership, which has been widely discredited after their poor performance in the election.

These are not people whose minds are currently operating in the real world right now.

This is a perfect opportunity to exploit their delusional and confused state of mind. Simply cease patronizing them.

They'll figure out that the world has changed eventually and sustained exposure to REALITY is the best way to make it stick.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Absolutely. Prior to the election, I thought

that the leadership was basically a bunch of relatively clever psychopathic authoritarians (à la Bob Altemeyer; see http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/) who fostered a delusional system among their followers as a means of maintaining control.

I saw the lower-level politicians like Joe Walsh, Akin, and Wisconsin's own Sunspot Johnson as among the deluded, who actually believed their own crap despite their obvious psychopathy. But somewhere above them, I thought, was a layer of evil men (yes, of course, men) who knew better.

However, their impressively profound denial, from top to bottom--for example, Romney's absolute state of shock upon losing--has convinced me that they were drinking their own Kool Aid as well, not just dispensing it to the drooling masses and calling it Tea.

In that respect, I find Chris Mooney's The Republican Brain to be instructive:

from Amazon; http://www.amazon.com/Republican-Brain-Science-Science--Reality/dp/1118094514/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354289314&sr=1-1&keywords=mooney+republican+brain

Bestselling author Chris Mooney uses cutting-edge research to explain the psychology behind why today’s Republicans reject reality—it's just part of who they are.
From climate change to evolution, the rejection of mainstream science among Republicans is growing, as is the denial of expert consensus on the economy, American history, foreign policy and much more. Why won't Republicans accept things that most experts agree on? Why are they constantly fighting against the facts?

Science writer Chris Mooney explores brain scans, polls, and psychology experiments to explain why conservatives today believe more wrong things; appear more likely than Democrats to oppose new ideas and less likely to change their beliefs in the face of new facts; and sometimes respond to compelling evidence by doubling down on their current beliefs.

Goes beyond the standard claims about ignorance or corporate malfeasance to discover the real, scientific reasons why Republicans reject the widely accepted findings of mainstream science, economics, and history—as well as many undeniable policy facts (e.g., there were no “death panels” in the health care bill).
Explains that the political parties reflect personality traits and psychological needs—with Republicans more wedded to certainty, Democrats to novelty—and this is the root of our divide over reality.
Written by the author of The Republican War on Science, which was the first and still the most influential book to look at conservative rejection of scientific evidence. But the rejection of science is just the beginning…
Certain to spark discussion and debate, The Republican Brain also promises to add to the lengthy list of persuasive scientific findings that Republicans reject and deny.

[longship]

2. Another book along the same line:

John W. Dean's Conservatives Without Conscience

Well researched and also covers Altemeyer's research.

Recommended.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Yes, Dean's book is largely an exposition of Altemeyer's work.

Well worth reading.

But Altemeyer's own book is available free online too.

[stopwastingmymoney]

3. k & r nt

[mac56]

4. K & R

You nailed it, Mr. Scorpio.

[Jade Fox]

5. It is so ironic that....

the Republican Noise Machine is now destroying the Republican Party, having created a whole voter base whose heads are filled with nonsense and who have lost the ability to even recognize reality, much less deal with it.

[rhett o rick]

7. Simply put, they dont get it. And I aint helping them. If they were to figure it out, with their

money, they might be a challenge.

[Nevernose]

8. I was informed today that my paycheck says "Obama Tax" on it

That Americans have never been taxed this high, and that there is a special Obama deduction line on my paycheck, next to my Medicare amount and union dues.

It's a mass insanity.

[arely staircase]

9. You can fool some people sometime

but you can't fool all the people all the time.

Eventually the "reality based community" wins because of, well, reality.

Karl Rove is at least a person of interest in this famous Suskind excerpt:

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."[2]

What we saw on election night (Rove's Fox News tantrum) was the moment when the real world swept away "the new realities they created" - the ones in which the president of the united states is a muslim who supports al-quada and a communist hell bent on destroying capitalism.

Well, traditional real reality is finally really and truly catching up with the "new reality" rove (with a sycophantic national press) conjured for his idiot prince-boss and it is shattering it. 2008 was the first blow, 2010 was the when the reactionaries struck back in a low-turnout election. But 2012, with its higher than last time turnout among hispanics and african americans and the huge gender gap shows that 2008 was the beginning of the mega trend, not an out-lier.