Are Republican Voters Ignorant, Misinformed, or Evil?

[Placebo]

I often wonder which of the the three Republican voters really are?

My guess; a lethal combination of self-imposed/societal ignorance, misinformation on a massive scale, and sometimes, just a bit mean-spirited evil thrown in.

[jadedcherub]

1. Heil!

[mykpart]

2. Are Republican Voters Ignorant, Misinformed, or Evil?

YES!

[wickerwoman]

3. I'd throw lazy in as well.

It's not that hard to check your facts, but the slightest mental exertion is too much for some people.

Self-satistfied, arrogant, entrenched in their opinions.

But mostly just shit-scared that someone will take away the priviledges that they know damn well they didn't earn.

[cpa]

7. maryland Republicans

The Republicans in Maryland are very lazy. They depend on talk show hosts for news.

[lapfog_1]

4. Probably a mixture of all three traits

However if you want a breakdown of the predominant trait in the
population, my guess is 25, 65, 10.

That is 25 percent are more ignorant (by that I think you mean
unintelligent), 65 percent are not stupid, but completely misinformed,
and the remaining 10 percent are evil bastards.

[Swede]

5. It's that damn AM radio drive to work.

They get to work with their memes for the day and spread like fleas.

[SoCalDem]

6. Yes...n/t

:)

[Guaranteed]

8. They're simple folk. nt

[Droopy]

9. Dammit, I'm simple folk

And I'll be voting Kerry come November. Quit giving us simple folk a bad name.

[LordActon]

10. uh huh

ingorant and misinformed for the most part. The evil ones are those that are knowingly doing the misinforming for personal gain.

Lonely, paranoid and needy too. My bro and dad listen to Limbaugh and watch Fox all day long. They feel like they are part of an exclusive club that is boxed in by a big evil liberal world that is out to get them. Poor shame, they are good people for the most part. Just drunk too much koo-laid.

[wtf]

11. oops

sorry, it's late.

[Tight_rope]

12. Did I say that...oppps it must be true...Throw in ignorant & incompetent.

[wtf]

13. asdf

I was making another reply but I accidentally deleted what I had originally said. :(

Anyway, what I said was, it's definitely being uninformed. My sister is very smart and engaged, with not an evil bone in her body. But she's been taken in by the likes of Hannity, it's very depressing. Same can be said for a lot of my family.

[LiveWire]

14. Yes they are...

All of the above I say.

[WilliamPitt]

15. Misinformed

"When we make people think, we win." - Bill Clinton, on the Daily Show

[NJCher]

16. could we add dysfunctional?

Or does that come under "meanspirited evil?"

My parents are republicans (I just found this out recently--they tried to masquerade as "independents" to keep the peace, even at a distance of 1500 miles, LOL). They live in a little midwestern town and while they have the I'net in the house, they aren't computer-literate so they just get their news from a newspaper and also from TV news.

I've noticed that they fall right into the republican's psychological tactics, such as pitting American against American. "Welfare queens" hits home with them in a big way. Boy they loved Ronnie!

So at least in this case it's ignorance (meaning misinformed) and being stooges for right wing meanness tactics ("oooh, you're going to take my tax dollars and give it to someone who doesn't want to work!").


Cher

p.s. Thank God I controlled myself and didn't laugh right in my mother's face the other day when she said my dad figured out their taxes and figured he (a middle income guy) thought they got their fair reduction!!

Fortunately, the next day an article explaining how the middle class is now bearing the tax burder appeared at DU and I mailed it to them.

[B Calm]

17. WILFULLY IGNORANT, Is the best description of cons

[Zorra]

18. Those are the classes of republicans. Followers can be one of the above,

or combinations of 2 or all of the above.

But the leaders are purely evil.

[AirAmFan]

42. I mostly agree with you. The leaders and the greedy tax-evaders who call

the party's tune are simply mean-spirited and evil. They are the substantial fraction of the well-to-do who don't care about anybody or anything except their money. It makes sense for them to vote GOP and contribute some of their "income tax refunds" to the RNC: Republicans take good care of them, as Bill Clinton's recent Convention speech pointed out quite well.

Then there are the poor schlubs who vote Republican against their own families' interests. The Wall Streeters who really control government policies when Republicans take power mainly are pretty quiet about what they're doing to the environment, to standards of honesty for corporations, to public health and education, etc. As a diversion, they make a lot of noise about God, gays, guns, abortion, and other social forces government can do very little to control.

The truly ignorant and the misinformed eat up every bit of this GOP disinformation and vote for Dubya, Bob Dole, Ronald Reagan, and other proven Republican puppets and liars, every time. Most of the population gets confused by the fog of Republican lies and doesn't vote at all. Of the minority of Americans who vote, the Republican party represents a solid majority of whites. The last Democratic Presidential candidate who won a majority of the white vote was Lyndon Johnson.

[davekriss]

46. Great post

I do believe you've hit the Republican nail square on the head.

[klyon]

19. I think they are misguided soldiers being mislead.

I believe they are doing what they believe is right just like we are doing what we think is best. Unfortunately their leaders have trained them well, they will not listen or acknowledge the other side in any discussion so no ideas are exchanged and gridlock is achieved. A line has been drawn in the sand and you dare not cross it or you will pay the price.

America is polarized and until we have an awakening this country will make no progress.

KL

[NMDemDist2]

20. totally different world view mostly (as Clinton says)

and interesting new book is out on that very subject if you can get it

"What's Wrong with Kansas"

[baldguy]

21. "Rush sez that the sky is supposed to be orange..."

"... and the sulpher dioxide from the power plant next door is good for me! And he sez that them MI-NOR-IT-TEES want to steal my mobile home out from under me!"

Ignorant Stupid Lazy Misinformed Evil

I think some are just plain selfish & MEAN!

[Snellius]

22. They're afraid

They're afraid of all those "other people".

[JanMichael]

23. I was...and remain

Misinformed01.

Stephanie

[Misinformed01]

25. This is not as funny as when I post

under my own name instead of my husband's---

Stephanie

[JohnKleeb]

27. you confuse people when you do that Stef

Sometimes I dont know whether I am talking with you or Michael, heh its that confusing. Isnt youre anniversity coming up or hasnt it happened, whatever the case congrads.

[Misinformed01]

29. Hey! Yes, Michael and I have been married for one year

now....and one week.

It gets better everyday with him! :)

Thanks for asking,

Stephanie

[JohnKleeb]

35. congrads

[Guava Jelly]

24. Misinformed

They are lied to 24/7 by the liberal wink wink media.
there are people who watch fox and have no idea they are being spoon fed misinfo
Some people are so out of it they enjoy being lied to.

[JohnKleeb]

26. misinformed and ignorant mostly but some evil ones

like the families I knew who supported Keyes in 2000, :puke: thats what had me agonstic for a while and now I love being Catholic again but jesus fuckin christ.

[NoPasaran]

28. If they're not evil themselves

They are certainly doing evil's bidding.

[Kahuna]

30. Selfish.

nt

[bermudat]

31. I vote evil and lazy.

nt

[Imalittleteapot]

32. Add "in denial" to the list.

[Placebo]

43. Oh yes I forgot about Denial...

silly me :crazy:

[Triana]

33. "I find it very hard to believe that the all 200 are lying about kerry."

...is a recent comment one of them had about the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth".

I'll let YOU decide whether he's ignorant, misinformed, or evil or all of the above....

[IronLionZion]

34. YES

And selfish, greedy, nationalistic, militaristic, etc.

but some Dems are too.


I had a truly hilarious debate with a freeper friend. He tried to convince me that using tax money to help people is selfish!

[Cobalt Violet]

36. Willfully Ignorant, willfully misinformed and willfully evil.

Very narrow minded,

[Zynx]

37. Ignorant. Very ignorant.

And the sad part is that they don't want to know the facts. They like to believe that Bush is an all-knowing servant of God who never makes any mistakes and that there are no problems in America.

[bogey18]

38. I divide it up this way

There are the one issue zealots - gun nuts, anti abortion, anti gay, racists - the unholy alliance the Repubs have so carefully constructed over the last 40 years. These people will vote for their guy no matter what evidence is out there, because they only care about a very narrow spectrum of issues.

Then there are the willfully evil - the people who are intelligent but truly believe in restructuring America to favor corporations and the ultra rich. These are the neocons - the guys who believe that their ends justify any and all means. These are a small group, but exceedingly powerful.

Lastly, and most sadly, there are the people who believe the Republican propaganda machine is actually news. The people who watch O'Reilly, Hannity, etc, and think they are well informed. I count several of my friends among this group, but it is becoming harder for me to tolerate their blindness because the issues have become so much more critical. I have come to the conclusion that most of these people are closet racists, homophobes, women haters, etc - they never say anything overt, but they seem willing to go to great extremes to believe that Fox news is the only outlet on the planet telling them the truth. Arguing with them has become more and more like arguing religion - anything I bring up that would seem to disprove their pet theories is quickly disregarded as being concocted by a biased and liberal media.

The Republicans have done everything in their power to solidify this base, and the Bush White House are absolute masters at the code words and sneering nuances that it takes to keep these people stoked. Their tactics work, and they work powerfully, on people who are not aware that they are tactics.

I pray that Kerry wins to slow down our head long rush into fascism and the tyranny of the majority. For the first time in my life since Nixon, I am truly afraid for our country. But I know that all of the arguments have been successfully moved so far to the right that any form of government resembling anything I would whole heartedly support is a dream that will not be realized in my lifetime.

[kodi]

39. comfortably numb, & comfort breeds laziness and callousness

A E Hayek's essay "Why I am not a conservative" hits the mark as well.

http://www.geocities.com/ecocorner/intelarea/fah1.html

[Ron Green]

40. Just Afraid.

:scared: :scared:

[zanana]

41. Power hungry

They've been planning and working on Republican dominance for about 30 years. It's finally here for them, and they'll do anything to keep it. That's why the issues don't really matter that much to them; they don't care if their president lies and innocent people have to die. It's another Cold War, and they've been winning.

[Doomsayer13]

44. misinformed

I know plenty of Republicans. They're good people... just misguided. But maybe that's overly self-righteous.

[skygazer]

45. I had an epiphany about this just yesterday

My dad is a die hard Republican (still thinks Goldwater would have made a great President and insists that Vietnam was a just war). He's intelligent and reads a lot but I realized that he and I have two completely opposing views of the world.

He sees life as a competition - he wants to have the best job and the most respect and the nicest house and make the most money, etc.... It's all about how he fares in the world. It's all about whether you win, not whether you enjoy the game.

Incidentally, he drove me out of horse showing when I was a teenager because of that attitude. For me, it was a chance to hang out with like minded people, to do something I enjoyed and to try to beat my own personal best, not neccessarily the other person. But for him, if I didn't win, I was a failure. Got old.

Anyway, I want to receive a fair shake from life, not gain, gain, gain but fair. And I want everyone else to receive that, too. I don't want my happiness to come at the expense of someone else. And that's where he and I differ because he really feels that as long as things are good for him, that's all that matters. And that if things aren't good for others, it's their own fault.

Ignorant, misinformed, evil? Maybe, but I'd put selfish in there as well.

[proud patriot]

47. Selfish , short-sighted , arrogant and or wear blinders to ugliness

IMHO

[nolabels]

48. My guess would be something a little different

Demonic Possession in the Disinformation Age
(snip)
Popular notions of the nature of demonic possession have blinded society to the fact that it is a real phenomenon, and that there is a global satanic network, including people from the lowest to the highest stations in society, dedicated to leading people into this hideous trap.

This network preys especially on children, adolescents and young adults. Parents who are too occupied with making ends meet as the Establishment methodically dismantles the physical economy often have insufficient time to develop an understanding of these influences and protect their children from them.

One of the most obvious signs of possession is a lust for killing
(snip)
http://www.econcrisis.homestead.com/PossessOverview.html

P.s I just thought since I know I could never really rationalize or understand it fully and thus not be able to explain what I saw, I would just slap some kind of word to it(like they would) :evilgrin:

[Hamlette]

49. according to Justin Frank

who wrote Bush on the Couch they like his simplicity, don't want to think about hard problems, like that he doesn't use big words, they think Bush is like them. The anti-intellectualism that this country has always been plagued with.

There is also a component of not switching from someone you supported. He cited a study of car owners. If you buy a lemon, most people will by the same kind of car again thinking "the car is good I just got a bad one." For Bush I suppose it's "he's a good guy, just had unusual challenges and bad intellegence."

I also think too lazy to figure out what's going on and abortion. There are a lot of voters who vote on the abortion issue alone. They don't realize Bush can't/won't do anything about it (except around the edges with partial birth abortion for show, another thing they don't understand, partial birth abortion is only used to save the life of the mother). In my state, Utah, in the 70s the Dems controlled, by BIG margins, both houses in the legislature and the govenor was a Dem for 20 years. Abortion turn the whole state red.

There is a part of me that wants to GIVE them abortion, make it illegal, then maybe we could have some sanity about all the other issues facing us, like war, pollution, horrid tax policy, corporations taking over and on and on.

[malatesta1137]

50. Ignorant, Misinformed, Evil

and you forgot GREEDY.

[Cat Atomic]

51. They're easily frightened.

Their leaders usually turn that into hatred. Fear and then hatred of gays, minorities, foreigners, whatever.

Conservatives generally celebrate their vices and virtues, though. Hatred of gays becomes "revering marriage", hating minorities becomes "being tough on crime", and hatred of foreigners becomes patriotism.

[OnionPatch]

52. Mostly misinformed is my vote

Maybe a little self-centered sometimes. I don't see most of them as evil, only their current leadership.
I agree when people think, we win. I also think when we get our message out we win. There's been way too much time when all these right-wingers have been the only voices out there. Until recently, their message has gone out unchallenged. Many people have never even heard our views except as described by right-wing talking heads. Don't underestimate the damage that's been done by Limbaugh and his like.
(We need Air America everywhere!)