This comment to a Washington Monthly article captures how I feel about republicans.

[mwb970]

I am a life-long liberal Democrat (58 years!) who never hated Republicans until about 2003 or so. I even voted for Ford in 1976 because I thought he was doing a pretty good job and I felt the country needed some continuity after Watergate and Nixon's resignation. I also voted for Jim Thompson as Illinois governor in the 70's and 80's because I thought HE was doing a good job and the Democrats running against him tended to be boobs. (Shades of present-day Illinois pols!)

I didn't like Reagan or Poppy Bush, but I certainly didn't hate them. But then came the 1994 Congressional Republicans - each one more venal than the last - and I began to "dislike" them. BUT, even in 2001, I stood behind George W Bush as MY president after the 9/11 attacks. I don't know a single Democrat who didn't stand by him. He had the entire world at his feet on 9/12 and he and his merry band of bandits wasted it all on that fucking Iraqi war and other misdeeds of the last eight years.

I can forgive people who voted for Bush in 2000. Maybe they were sick of the Dems, maybe they believed Bush's saying he was a "compassionate conservative", maybe they just didn't figure things could go so bad so fast.

BUT, I cannot forgive anybody who voted for Bush in 2004. By then, everyone with half a brain knew what he and his administration had wrought. My own brother-in-law, a Harvard-trained corporate lawyer in Chicago, voted for Bush twice. "Why?", I asked him. "Taxes and Israel", he replied. Luckily, because he lives in Chicago, his vote didn't "count". He actually got a clue this year and voted for Obama, with "grave reservations", he said.

But, I began to hate Republicans with a deep and abiding passion after the 2004 elections. It's as venal (sic) as my dislike for fascists would have been in the 30's and 40's. I hate them, Republican voters and politicians all, with a ferocity that's almost scary. I particularly loathe and despise Jewish Republicans like Linda Lingle, Norm Coleman, and that whiny little shit, Eric Cantor.

So that's what 8 years of Republican misrule has done to one very ordinary American. And I don't think I'm alone.

Posted by: phoebes in santa fe on February 28, 2009 at 9:06 PM

You are indeed not alone phoebes! True confession: my first presidential vote was for Nixon. By the time St. Ronald came along I had wised up and recognized the titanic folly of this washed-up actor playing a final role as president. The republicans seemed to just get worse and worse, entering a steep decline under St. Ronald that continued right through the wretched bush boys. I was astonished by the Clinton Derangement Syndrome exhibited by right-wing loonies in the 90s. I was amazed that they got away with stealing the 2000 election with such a doltish oaf as their candidate. After 2004, I hated them with a passion, just like phoebes.

(Two caveats: I myself can dislike the weasely Eric Cantor and the emetic Norm Coleman without referring to them as "Jewish Republicans". :shrug: Also, I would not have used the word "venal" incorrectly.)

The article (which is excellent) is The Root-For-Failure Caucus by Steve Benen. The comment from phoebes is here, about halfway down the extensive comments section.

How have you felt about republicans over the years?

[CanonRay]

1. Boy, does this sound like me!

I actually worked for Chuck Percy in Illinois in the early 70's, and voted for John Anderson, a moderate Republican in th '80 Presidential election. I got sick of them earlier however, under Reagan, who I saw as virulently anti-union and anti-government.

[madaboutharry]

2. I get the sense that the poster of this comment

is herself Jewish and so I understand the reference to "Jewish republicans". I loathe them as well.

And this is why: They have forgotten where they came from, which was the Shtetl (small village in europe) and steerage (which was the way they got to Ellis Island). They arrived here with all their possessions packed in a suitcase and a few dollars in their pockets.

I feel the same way about Samuel Alito, who grew up in a working class Italian family in Trenton, N.J.

[Berry Cool]

6. Exactly. If you belong to a certain group yourself,

and you see other members of it deliberately siding with and voting against their own interests, on the principle(!) that somehow they are looking out for themselves, it infuriates you even more, because you see them as traitors to your whole group.

As a woman, I think women Republicans and women who vote Republican are either crazy or need to look seriously at what Republicanism means for women. You are identifying with your captors, ladies! That whole "W is for Women" campaign was especially pathetic.

I can completely understand why Jews would be especially disgusted by Jewish Republicans who use Israel as their excuse. And why African Americans must feel like vomiting/laughing every time they see puppets like Michael Steele paraded before them--these guys are like the dictionary definition of "Uncle Tom." As for gays, I would think the whole concept of "Log Cabin Republicans" would make them ready to punch someone. It just makes no sense at all.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Another Term For Coleman, Cantor, Specter...

Around here we call them "self-hating" Jews...the minority that put money and power above all else.

I, too, have little tolerance for any asshat that dares to admit they voted for booooosh in 2004 (2000 was bad enough). I've told many over the past years how they have blood all over their hands...willingly voting for this war criminal after his con games had been exposed. And that was before all the financial shennangians (that we knew were going on) came forward in the past 2 years.

I'm proud to say in the 30 plus years I've been voting, I have never voted for a repugnican for either a national or statewide office. I have played around in GOOP primaries when I lived in areas where there was no real Democratic party or primary and had some fun, but never in a general. If I don't like the Democratic candidate, I will leave my vote blank or write in someone.

[geckosfeet]

4. You are right. Their rhetoric has become more hateful and ignorant since

since I cast my first vote in the 60's. I know that I have become more politically aware and sensitized to how they are - but it seems that the Repuglican party has morphed into a national hate group.

It seems like their rhetoric is couched in adversarial military terms (class warfare), tinged with fear, whitewashed with religiosity, and grounded in hate. Comparing them with the fascist's - in central Europe during the 30's and 40's does not seem inappropriate.

[xiamiam]

5. exactly..hateful and divisive rather than constructive..i cant bear to watch any of them..

while obama inspires me to want to agree to disagree...i have a deep seated distrust for republicans..and their thought processes...my own relatives included...

[SheilaT]

7. I agree with almost everything

said here, except that to mention that when 9/11 occurred, I felt sick at heart because I knew that Bush was perhaps the worst possible person to have as our president at the time. And in reality there were a lot of people who said he'd undoubtedly do the wrong thing in response, and he did. To begin with (not even counting his scurrying around the country in Air Force One like a cockroach avoiding the light) former President Clinton was in Australia at the time and got back to the U.S. and visited the Trade Center site a full day before Bush crept out of his hidey-hole to get there.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

8. I feel much the same way

I can handle an honest disagreement about politics/issues but most of the Republicans, particularly those in Congress, of the 1990's-onward have been simply disgusting and hateful and have completely trashed whatever remained of political civility ("tone") that might have existed between Democrats and Republicans. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be the crazies whom will be continuing to run the party- which does nothing but help us of course. I do wish that we had more Republicans like Specter, Snowe, Collins, Lugar, et. al to work with.
A lot of us (myself including) keep feeling somewhat frustrated about the (perceived) timidity of the Dems in attacking their political opponents but OTOH I'm not sure I want us stooping to their level no matter how disgusting the Newt- & Limbaugh-Pubs get and I'm not sure it's what most people seem to want anymore. I think that that is the premise that Obama ran on and, well, as well all know, he won no matter how much McCain/Palin tried to drag him down into the mud and despite our pleas for him to really "get tough" with them. I think that so far he has done a good job setting a much more positive tone for our party and the Democrats in Congress, as well as attempting to reach out to the Republicans and work constructively with them (even if he has been pretty consistently rebuffed by them) and I'm not sure we should do anything different.

[Historic NY]

9. K&R

[L0oniX]

10. Since 2004 I absolutely despise them all!