Are Republicans really that bad ?

I have little knowledge about American politics so please forgive my ignorance but I do know a thing or two or at least I think I do.

Anyway on many internet boards among them being GB and other gaming communities, people are generally Democrat leaning (not always though) and will sometimes make remarks about how Republicans are ''religious nutjobs'' among other things. But surely things are not that black and white, and especially in this time politics about serious issues like how to create jobs and a stable economy, I can't remember the last time ''social/religious issues'' were discussed in my country, as they really are not important in this day and age.

On some semi social site (pathetic I know) I also found the profiles of a couple of juicy hipster girls, you know the usual late teen/early adult people, listening to weird music and talking about drugs, anyway they both said that they were Republicans which kinda distorted the image of the usual Republican voters sites like this give a person. Despite not following American politics closely as I stated earlier I am sure even in ''Jesus land'', at the centre of discussion are economic issues, is it really that much of a stretch to think that there are gay atheist Republicans etc as well who just happen to seek the means of getting a stable economy and jobs via strict neoliberalism or something similar.

Yes. They'll sneak into your home at night and kill your dog. Lock your doors; the Republicans are out on the streets.

Republicans don't have internet.

Are American politicians really that bad?

Corrected*

I am sure there are plenty of atheist or gay people with very neoliberal economic policies and they may vote Republican because of that and while I don't agree with that view of economics it's valid to hold those views if you have really thought them through.

However so much of Republican thought at the moment seems totally destorted by the anti-intellectual Tea Party tendency which almost seems to pride itself on having a backwards, paranoid, inward view of the world. Witness the current Presidential race where every candidate is having to renage on anything they might have suggested which isn't virulently right wing.

To sum up, don't confuse right wing thought on economics or anything else with the current Republican party, one has some credibility (but is mainly wrong imo) and the other is bat-shit crazy and doesn't care.

EDIT: If you want to hear a Republican who has integrity of views and some intellectual rigor to him check out Ron Paul. I do not agree with alot of what he says but you can tell it is a consistent conception of the world other than the populist, lowest common denominator ideas of his party colleagues.

Republican politicians are horrible in relation to the Ideal. In relation to other politicians they aren't that different, i.e., corrupt, stupid.

But yes, "Republicans" run the gamut from Creationist Weirdos to Dick Cheney to libertarians to Right Hegelians.

Not everyone is perfect. There are crazies in the left and right of our country.

Republicans are no different than Democrats, in that they come in many types, some of which are better than others. I grew up in a deeply Republican state, and despite what the media might portray, they aren't all backwards yahoos. There are both very bright people and incredible morons on both sides of the political spectrum.

However so much of Republican thought at the moment seems totally destorted by the anti-intellectual Tea Party tendency which almost seems to pride itself on having a backwards, paranoid, inward view of the world. Witness the current Presidential race where every candidate is having to renage on anything they might have suggested which isn't virulently right wing.

The ones that have broad appeal, like Cheney and Gingrich, are terrible terrible people. But Ron Paul, for instance, is perhaps the most knowledgeable and reasonable politician anywhere on this planet. The tiny amount of time he gets here and there in the GOP Debates (between the nonsensical bickering of the other idiots), he pinpoints exactly how the US has gotten itself into this fucked up situation, and how it has fucked half of the world up the ass for the past sixty years. He schooled Santorum on the Middle-East policies, saying that if the US had just minded their own damned business in the 1950s and 60s, the region wouldn't be the shithole it is today, which is entirely true. For me as a foreigner, he is the ideal US president: he wants to limit the US' intrusions. His internal policies, however, given the extent he wants to minimize the federal government to, might not be agreeable, but damned if his foreign policy doesn't sound like heavenly music to my ears.

They tend to be dumb, religious, hateful, greedy corrupted liars.

Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Christians, Atheists, Hedonists, Dog groomers... they're all fine. It's just the extremists and the willfully ignorant that are the issue. I lean a pretty heavy left, myself, but I'll vote Republican in a heartbeat if they are the best candidate. Honestly, I think the whole thing is hokum designed to give people an enemy to rally against. People put WAY too much stock in left vs. right.

they're not that bad.  but rick perry is.

most republicans don't like my types so yeah I'd call them bad, and even the "knowledgeable" ones, like Ron Paul, would probably dig us deeper into this recession than we already are because their fiscal policy is "fuck poors, got mine"

Republicans aren't bad but extremist Republicans are. Same goes for Democrats, vegetarians, Christians, feminists, Muslims and just about any other group of people with ideals.

@buzz_killington said:

The ones that have broad appeal, like Cheney and Gingrich, are terrible terrible people. But Ron Paul, for instance, is perhaps the most knowledgeable and reasonable politician anywhere on this planet. The tiny amount of time he gets here and there in the GOP Debates (between the nonsensical bickering of the other idiots), he pinpoints exactly how the US has gotten itself into this fucked up situation, and how it has fucked half of the world up the ass for the past sixty years. He schooled Santorum on the Middle-East policies, saying that if the US had just minded their own damned business in the 1950s and 60s, the region wouldn't be the shithole it is today, which is entirely true. For me as a foreigner, he is the ideal US president: he wants to limit the US' intrusions. His internal policies, however, given the extent he wants to minimize the federal government to, might not be agreeable, but damned if his foreign policy doesn't sound like heavenly music to my ears.

Really agree with this. My friend introduced to me to Ron Paul and I have to say it was a revelation. As you say, I think his policies would be rather unforunate for the less well-off in the US but his honesty and lack of stupid jingoistic nonsense was very refreshing in an American politician. It's truly saddening to see the GOP debates where he is so marginalised by the idiocy of his peers.

They're pretty bad, but definitely no worse than democrats or any other political party.

Democrats are exactly as bad as Republicans. The difference is you've only been listening to one of them.

Certainly most of the republicans in the media spotlight are unlikeable/come across as idiots.

@Mageman said:

I have little knowledge about American politics so please forgive my ignorance but I do know a thing or two or at least I think I do.

Anyway on many internet boards among them being GB and other gaming communities, people are generally Democrat leaning (not always though) and will sometimes make remarks about how Republicans are ''religious nutjobs'' among other things. But surely things are not that black and white, and especially in this time politics about serious issues like how to create jobs and a stable economy, I can't remember the last time ''social/religious issues'' were discussed in my country, as they really are not important in this day and age.

On some semi social site (pathetic I know) I also found the profiles of a couple of juicy hipster girls, you know the usual late teen/early adult people, listening to weird music and talking about drugs, anyway they both said that they were Republicans which kinda distorted the image of the usual Republican voters sites like this give a person. Despite not following American politics closely as I stated earlier I am sure even in ''Jesus land'', at the centre of discussion are economic issues, is it really that much of a stretch to think that there are gay atheist Republicans etc as well who just happen to seek the means of getting a stable economy and jobs via strict neoliberalism or something similar.

Most people on the internet are fucking crazy and say shit to get people upset. Not every Republican is crazy, they all don't watch Fox News, they all don't belong to the NRA, not all of them are religious, and so on. Most people who think that all Republicans are one way and all Democrats are the other are usually just sheep that go along with whatever the biggest group tells them. They lack the insight to think for themselves and have to rely on other people's opinions on the world to determine what they feel is 'right' and 'wrong' politically. They are a sad group of people and that group is likely much larger then I would like to imagine.

Welcome to the internet?

I don't like most of them. Ron Paul is probably the only one that I like out of all of the Republican candidates.

@amir90 said:

Are American politicians really that bad?

Corrected*

This. I think it's just that sometimes it's the republican ones that take up more of that "hey-look-I'm-batshit-crazy" spotlight.

How popular actually is Rick Perry over there? After watching his videos I can't believe he has any followers at all, completely ridiculous views.

From the perspective of someone from non-USA all we ever see of Republican politicians are fuckwits like Sarah Palin, George Bush(es), and that one Gary Whitta hates; and of course, that is probably due to people making big deals about how fucking idiotic they are (and the Bushes being president), but you never really hear about insane, nutjobs Democrats, so yeah.

@ajamafalous: I literally just had the link copied to paste here....damn you.

@amir90: Are politicians really that bad?

Double-corrected.

@Afroman269 said:

I don't like most of them. Ron Paul is probably the only one that I like out of all of the Republican candidates.

@Jothel said:

How popular actually is Rick Perry over there? After watching his videos I can't believe he has any followers at all, completely ridiculous views.

He's polling 4% among Republican voters right now. So yeah, he has no chance at winning.

My vote goes to Ron Paul, I'm a moderate conservative, generally agree with majority of his views. Frankly though, I'd take any Republican over Obama for another 4 years

@Jothel said:

How popular actually is Rick Perry over there? After watching his videos I can't believe he has any followers at all, completely ridiculous views.

he polled pretty high when he entered the race, but he dropped off considerably (due to the department of energy thing, that ad....). I'm pretty sure he's down at santorum, bachmann and huntsman levels (which is to say around 4%)

@AlexW00d said:

From the perspective of someone from non-USA all we ever see of Republican politicians are fuckwits like Sarah Palin, George Bush(es), and that one Gary Whitta hates; and of course, that is probably due to people making big deals about how fucking idiotic they are (and the Bushes being president), but you never really hear about insane, nutjobs Democrats, so yeah.

both republicans and democrats are pretty awful.

@tekmojo said:

My vote goes to Ron Paul, I'm a moderate conservative, generally agree with majority of his views. Frankly though, I'd take any Republican over Obama for another 4 years

even the ones that WANT to go to war with Iran?

@Afroman269 said:

I don't like most of them. Ron Paul is probably the only one that I like out of all of the Republican candidates.

Yes, yes, God yes. He's the only one that seems to understand why we're in this financial mess, and he's definitely not a bullshitter. I'm pretty damn liberal, and even I can't help but like Ron Paul. If ends up getting the nomination, I'll probably vote for him.

@AlmostSwedish said:

@amir90: Are politicians really that bad?

Double-corrected.

Touche, Svenske, Touche.

All career politicians are terrible people.

@PrivateIronTFU said:

@Afroman269 said:

I don't like most of them. Ron Paul is probably the only one that I like out of all of the Republican candidates.

Yes, yes, God yes. He's the only one that seems to understand why we're in this financial mess, and he's definitely not a bullshitter. I'm pretty damn liberal, and even I can't help but like Ron Paul. If ends up getting the nomination, I'll probably vote for him.

Same. He had some balls to admit that our foreign policy is what creates the hate that middle eastern countries have for us and he won't sugar coat the fact that the weapons they used against their own people and against us are weapons we gave them. I preferred Obama over the most of the candidates on the Republican side but Obama is a bitch who can't push his own agenda without giving up everything and calling it "compromising". I would vote for Ron if he got the nomination because he seems to be more sane than any of the other idiot candidates.

If you actually question people who are strongly affiliated with a political party, most of them tend to repeat what their favorite candidate/politician or talk show/"news" anchor spews out. When you question them further, they tend to have NO idea what they're talking about. It's representative of our national mentality: We want you to love us for pretending to give two shits, but we really don't care.

My beloved country of America is one wrapped so tightly in apathy that the only thing which supersedes it is our fear of rejection. Republicans will tell you that they value all human life, unless, of course, they're dirty immigrants or those homosexuals. On the other hand, you have Democrats who proclaim all Republicans are religious zealots, all the while every single Democrat outside of the Bay Area is dependent on their local church to help get them in office. Why? Old people go to church and, oddly enough, old people vote. College students don't.

OH, and then there's the whole: We hate big business/government facade.

In the end, Republicans are not evil. They're not very intelligent, but neither are Democrats. Oh, and the funny thing about all those protesters you see on TV in our country? None of them will vote. Well, not until they get old and find Jesus.

Republicans aren't inherently bad, unlike say... tea party-ers.

They're not socially progressive which is my main problems with them. Conservatism is driven by (by definition) backwards thinking. Of course gays should be able to marry, it's unfair to say only certain couples can and can't marry for example. But people on the right also support open markets, free capitalism and other things I appreciate.

As I've always held, I never vote for a party, I vote for the best politician, the one who will do the most good for their assigned area of political control. I vote for politicians and not ideals, otherwise you get some real idiots in power.

Yes. A majority of them. 

@tekmojo said:

My vote goes to Ron Paul, I'm a moderate conservative, generally agree with majority of his views. Frankly though, I'd take any Republican over Obama for another 4 years

even the ones that WANT to go to war with Iran?

Anyone that strongly calls themselves a part of one party, Republican or Democrat, is a complete idiot. The two party system is a joke. The two parties are the different sides of the same coin. Hey, Obama people, how has he done lately with all his former promises? And just watch, the Republican idiots will look to their next savior and he'll do all the same shit as Obama but worse, just like Bush did before him.

@tekmojo: Be real here, Ron Paul is not getting elected. It's going to be either Newt "Advocate of Civilization" Gingrich or Mitt "Flip-flopper" Romney. Romney would probably be pretty bad, but I don't see how you could prefer fucking gingrich to obama. I'd rather have the reanimated corpse of Nixon than Gingrich.

Religion is a way bigger deal in the USA politics than the UK for example. So Republicans are more hardcore in that sense, and it tends to overshadow any other policy they have. You know, 'cause they have imaginary friends still...

To make it average US voter clear, Republicans are bible thumping businessmen, and Democrats are socialists.

Yes.

@AlexW00d said:

From the perspective of someone from non-USA all we ever see of Republican politicians are fuckwits like Sarah Palin, George Bush(es), and that one Gary Whitta hates; and of course, that is probably due to people making big deals about how fucking idiotic they are (and the Bushes being president), but you never really hear about insane, nutjob Democrats, so yeah.

Obama says hi.

Most of the republican presidential candidates are idiots who wants to commit war crimes. I'm sure there are plenty of republicans who are rational people they just aren't being heard because so many people think Obama's the worst president there has ever been, which is silly. The power of the republican party now rests with crazy people who only care about keeping the rich, rich and the poor, poor. But the democrats aren't much better.

And the people who love Ron Paul, generally, ignore the things he says that are boil down to him being a little nutty and libertarian nonsense that doesn't appy to reality.