Dejin
6480
Not sure how a Senator saying “The Republican Party is enabling white supremacy in our country. As a lifelong Republican, it pains me to say this, but it’s the truth.” is somehow not calling out the Republican Party.
Nesrie
6481
It’s from the first one.
I of course am not suggesting that all Republicans are white supremacists nor am I saying that the average Republican is even racist.
And this one too:
We have a Republican president who continually stokes racist fears in his base.
The president is not the only one saying these things.
Sadly, yep.
We do a lot better as a country when we have at least two functioning political parties. And we sort of could use the Republican Party to start the long process of working its way out of the woods.
And people wonder “Why don’t members of the Republican Party speak out? Why don’t they do something?”
And you can see a bit of it here in this thread, even. There’s nothing to be gained for a Republican for doing so. They’ll be ridiculed by their own party and ripped and distrusted by the opposition party regardless.
Aaron Sorkin wrote a great line for Rob Lowe on that episode about the census in an early season of The West Wing. It’s the one where CJ admits to Sam Seaborn that she really doesn’t understand the census, and she’s been faking it in press briefings previously.
And Lowe/Seaborn says: “I tell you what, let’s forget the fact that you’re coming a little late to the party and embrace the fact that you showed up at all.”
I think that’s a pretty good attitude to have for Republican politicians who have the scales fall from their eyes on the road to Damascus. Also, I love that sentiment in general. :)
They also identify as Republicans, which sets them apart from people who identify themselves as conservatives who actually are conservative. Look, it’s not my political philosophy, so no skin off my back. But part of dealing with this political cancer is calling it out for what it is, and it sure ain’t conservative political values.
-Tom
Dejin
6487
I agree we need two functioning parties, but I think we’d be better off if the Republican Party died and was replaced with a different party say for example the “Conservative Party”. The change in party even if it contained a lot of the same people would serve as reminder on what happens in the 21st century when you hand control of your party to a racist, sexist demagogue.
I’m kind of hoping that the National Republican Party is going to go the same way that it did in California. The California Republicans won Proposition 187 which was the high watermark of their racist inspired policies, but it turned future voters against them so thoroughly that the California Republican Party is pretty much dead as a statewide force.
Hopefully Trump will be the high watermark that results in future Americans thoroughly repudiating the Republican Party such that it dies as a nationwide force. I thought they were gone after George W though, so apparently America has a short term memory when it comes to the Republican Party acting stupid.
KevinC
6488
But they are the conservative political values of the Trump era, as espoused by self-identified conservatives in office and self-identified conservatives who vote to put them there. I’ll grant you that they’re certainly not the conservative values of yesteryear, but this is 2019 and the politics and language has changed with the times.
I get what you’re saying, but maybe we need to refer the small minority as “traditional conservative” or some other term.
Sure, but what’s so wrong with calling them out as Republicans and Trump supporters, instead of ascribing to them political beliefs they don’t hold? It’s similar to Republicans calling people socialist; socialism has a meaning and slinging it around where it doesn’t belong just does violence to the language. If the words are better suited to the people who actually hold those beliefs, I think you should leave them those words instead of coopting them as synonyms for “Republican”.
That’s kind the point I tried to make upthread. Actual conservatism has no voice in modern American politics. Anyone with intellectual integrity who calls himself a conservative – I actually know some such people! – would be hard-pressed to be a loyal Republican and they sure as hell wouldn’t be a Trump supporter. The least you can do for these poor schmucks is leave them a single word! :)
-Tom
KevinC
6490
Fair enough! And I typically do refer to them as “Trump supporters” or, uh, less kind words.
I just want to echo trigg’s sentiment. We can’t in one breath shame Republicans for not taking a stand and then dismiss them when they do. Republican leadership are never going to take steps to address either the proliferation of guns or white nationalism until they start feeling pressure. They don’t care what Democrats or even their own Democratic voters have to say, but they might start to move if their own caucus start speaking out.
While that too is unlikely, Republican voters need to start hearing the message - these people will automatically and without question reject anything Democrats have to say. We can see how Fox and the right wing media propaganda network are covering the El Paso shooting. If only a few speak out, they’ll follow the fate of Justin Amish. If more do, then hopefully either the GOP changes or the party disintegrates. Their positions in the long term are not tenable.
“back to back shootings shake a bewildered nation to its core,” quoth the New York Times.
Is anyone bewildered? It seems pretty fucking obvious what is going on. The only confusion is that of people trying to twist themselves into rhetorical pretzels so as to avoid offending gun nuts.
kerzain
6493
This is also the NY Post.
Shocked that a politician would practice politics.
Haven’t they learned? The headline should clearly be:
Hey Trump: Obama was too much of a pussy to ban guns.
Do not politicize the politically motivated killings! That is all.
On mass shootings in the US:
By decade
1950s: 0
1960s: 1 (University of Texas tower shooting)
1970s: 0
1980s: 6
1990s: 6
2000s: 7
2010s: 19 and counting
25 of these 39 mass shootings have taken place since 2007.
There have been as many of these shootings in the last 21 months as there were in any single decade prior to this one. We’ve gone from one such shooting every thirty years to one every three months. THERE HAVE BEEN MORE IN THE LAST 20 HOURS THAN THERE WERE COLLECTIVELY IN THE THIRTY YEARS BEFORE 1980.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/08/mass-shootings-in-the-us-since-1950-resulting-in-eight-or-more-murders
kerzain
6498
Candace Owens has a take.
So, someone of no importance has a take. That’s great.
