"These republicans are hard" Are they?

[lazarus]

The Foul Core Of The GOP

30 Nov 2007

If you want to know why many of us have come to feel that the current Republican party is not our cup of tea, consider this anecdote from Joe Klein, sitting in on a focus group of Republicans during last Wednesday night's debate:

In the next segment--the debate between Romney and Mike Huckabee over Huckabee's college scholarships for the deserving children of illegal immigrants--I noticed something really distressing: When Huckabee said, "After all, these are children of God," the dials plummeted. And that happened time and again through the evening: Any time any candidate proposed doing anything nice for anyone poor, the dials plummeted (30s). These Republicans were hard.

But there was worse to come: When John McCain started talking about torture--specifically, about waterboarding--the dials plummeted again. Lower even than for the illegal Children of God. Down to the low 20s, which, given the natural averaging of a focus group, is about as low as you can go. Afterwards, Luntz asked the group why they seemed to be in favor of torture. "I don't have any problem pouring water on the face of a man who killed 3000 Americans on 9/11," said John Shevlin, a retired federal law enforcement officer. The group applauded, appallingly.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/11/the-foul-core-o.html

[there buster]

Quote:

When Huckabee said, "After all, these are children of God," the dials plummeted. And that happened time and again through the evening: Any time any candidate proposed doing anything nice for anyone poor, the dials plummeted

That's his interpretation. Maybe the dials plummeted becuase "After all, these are children of God" is really stupid reasoning for a government policy.

Should we give drug addicts free needles, "After all, these are children of God"

Should we pay women to have children out of wedlock? "After all, these are children of God"

Should we legalize polygamy? "After all, these are children of God"

Murderers are "children of God." Does that mean we should pat them on the back and send them on their way?

Thieves are children of God. Everybody's a child of God. Yet government cannot do everything for everybody.

To paraphrase C.S. Lewis: nonsense does not become sense by putting the word "God" in the sentence.

And policies don't magically become compassionate or wise by appending the words, "After all, these are children of God"

There is a foolish assumption here, that providing government assistance for someone is always kind and good.

Government assistance killed my brother-in-law, and damamged many others I know.

It's a twisted compassion that says taking money from you to help him demonstrates how caring I am. Forced 'goodness' is the method of the devil, not of God.

[Dr. Shane]

I don't think a lot of Republicans that listen to Limbaugh and Hannity all the time really comprehend the gravity of waterboarding.

[lazarus]

I think most republicans/conservatives who listen to right wing talk understand that waterboarding is torture but I think when dealing with "enemies" its more important to get results. If Jack Bauer finds out where the weapons are who cares how he gets the information.

The GOP these days reminds me of John Major's Conservative party in the UK before the '97 election. They suffered a landslide defeat. They had adopted several key policy positions that ideologically too far to the right.

The GOP, I feel, is in danger of doing the same.

[Dr. Shane]

When I have heard Limbaugh and Hannity talk about waterboarding, they minimize it. They are not presenting it to their listeners as torture. O'Reilly, on the other hand, does present it as torture and presents the ethical dilemma - does the ends justify the means?