Just how dimwitted are the current Republicans in Congress, anyway?

Rush has said this for years;

Most Americans are conservative in their own lives ... but somehow they’ve been ‘guiltified’ into voting liberal.

Related to - I’m doing ok, but I think my neighbor’s been laid off or whatever.

Headline = DUH

Congress is such a bunch of high horse idiots. It's like they are living in some weird parallel universe! ...And it's NOT pretty.

I'd be willing to put a LOT of money on the outcome of a questionnaire to liberals that asked them questions relating to the basics of the Republican philosophy--put in real life language/situations, that they'd answer Conservative every time.

America was founded on basic principles that most agree on. It's in our blood, but the MSM is like one great big dialysis machine and normal people hear their crap and go to the dark side.

>>>>>Overall, Americans are against the core principle behind Barack Obama's domestic economic policy -- income redistribution -- by an astounding 84% to 13%. Republicans oppose it 90%-9%, Independents oppose it 85% to 13%, and even Democrats oppose it 77% to 19%.

If that were true, then most Democrats holding office and maybe half of all Republicans in office, would never get elected again.

This Gallup poll is pure fallacy.

Whether or not the Republicans have cleaned their own house enough to take advantage of something like this remains to be seen

Ha! Just look at the "leader" of the Party: conservatives have had to FORCE him to lurch a little in the right direction. It feels like we're dragging McCain away from the edge of the cliff, and all he keeps doing is spitting in our faces and screaming obscenities at us for doing it.

Sheesh! If it wasn't for Obama and his marxist ideology I would have given up on McCain long ago..... I'd grab some popcorn and watch McCain's grumpy butt fly off the cliff.

Sheesh! If it wasn't for Obama and his marxist ideology I would have given up on McCain long ago..... I'd grab some popcorn and watch McCain's grumpy butt fly off the cliff.

You and me both. McNut is a case, isn't he? But OOOBBBBAAAMMMAAA is so dangerous it leaves us no choice.

....hmmmm..augers well for the FairTax.....

"The numbers in this poll are staggering. Overall, Americans are against the core principle behind Barack Obama's domestic economic policy -- income redistribution -- by an astounding 84% to 13%. Republicans oppose it 90%-9%, Independents oppose it 85% to 13%, and even Democrats oppose it 77% to 19%."

Yes, they are against it. Given the polls, can we conclude that the vast majority do not know it is Obama's core principle, and how commited Obama is to it? I don't know. But given my personal contacts, observations, and conversations, those people out of cash and with no retirement savings (though not the fault of their opposites) fully understand it is Obama's "core principle" and are eagerly looking forward to Big Santa's arrival on January 20th, 2009. Hopefully there are still a majority of people in this country with a positive balance sheet, and the conservative movement better get busy motivating them to support the lesser danger and to vote.

Strong “conservative economic policies” win voters. All the preaching and pounding of desks to have “conservative social values” as the center piece of the 2008 election campaign will only drives the “middle of the road” voters away.

Like it or not, face the facts, no “middle of the road voters” and YOU LOOSE!

“If that were true, then most Democrats holding office and maybe half of all Republicans in office, would never get elected again. This Gallup poll is pure fallacy.”

Your statement is false.

Liberal politicians never run on income redistribution, or on any of their true policies. They only win elections to the extent they pretend to be conservative, a fact which supports this poll.

“Given the polls, can we conclude that the vast majority do not know it is Obama’s core principle, and how commited Obama is to it?”

Maybe not the vast majority, but an amount large enough to prevent him from winning if they were solidly aware.

Just how dimwitted are the current Republicans in Congress, anyway?

I don't think they are dimwitted - I think the majority of them do not believe in limited government. From their words and actions most GOP lawmakers are statists just like their Democratic counterparts. There are very few libertarians and paleoconservatives in Congress and none that I know of in any sort of leadership position.

What's obviously the winning play for congressional Republicans is a 2008 version of Newt Gingrich's Contract with America.

Some ad hoc GOP committee should sit down and work out a short list of core principles on maybe ten or so key issues. For simple examples, on gasoline prices, drill more and refine more oil domestically, while at the same time encourage development of alternative technologies domestically. On immigration, secure the borders as a first step. On taxes, don't let the Bush tax cuts expire.

With these basic principles on paper and publicized and disseminated to the bulk of the electorate, let each GOP candidate who so wishes sign onto it and shout it from the rooftops that he or she edorses the agenda.

For crying out loud, you don't need a rocket scientist to see that this will be a productive strategy for the party as a whole. If it worked in '94, an updated version taking into account the current hot-button issues, should bring dividends come November, because even the lefties at Gallup can tell you that the majority of voters like candidates who espouse time-tested and logical conservative ideas.

Your reply is ignorant and absurd. Just because some Americans may consider themselves as "conservatives", doesn't mean they support conservative policies. Liberals want what is best for the collective, not the individual. The best way to get that is to advance bigger government.

At the core of all liberalism are policies related to the New Deal, the Fair Deal and the Great Society.

I can't think of one liberal politico who has pretended to run as a conservative in the 10 years... 20 years... 30 years... 40 years ... in my lifetime!

Can you name one?

Barack Obama—attempting to appear as though he favors gun rights and executing child rapists.

Examples of Democrats running on conservative principles:

All Democrats (pick any one of them) run their campaigns on “supporting the troops.”

All Democrats run on “accountability” and “fiscal responsibility.”

All Democrats run on some version or other of “supporting the constitution.”

Conservative principles (policies) are simply: individual liberty, the right to self defense, freedom to worship, a belief in the absolute value of human life. These (and whatever I left out) are the principles held by greater than eighty percent of all Americans. They are the principles targeted (and not in direct public view) for elimination by the Democrat party.

Why hasn’t someone mentioned this to McCain ?

The most logical scenario, I think, to explain why the Republicans can’t just do this is that each one of them is to some extent beholden to his own personal grip on power, and that somehow that grip has become ever more dependent on some form of the corruption in Washington (the corruption which both originates from and feeds into the leftist agenda).

The longer they stay in power, the deeper they sink. We should have had term limits enacted.

“Why hasn’t someone mentioned this to McCain ?”

I don’t know, but if getting yelled at is what they’re afraid of, I say just tell him anyway.

“I think the majority of them do not believe in limited government. From their words and actions most GOP lawmakers are statists just like their Democratic counterparts.”

Sad but true.

You’re one confused individual.

Democrats don’t run on conservative principles.

Democrats run on liberal principles.

Still waiting for an example of one Democrat who has run on conservative principles -— strong defense, limited govt policies of tax cuts and spending reductions, along with support for pro-life issues and tough immigration policy.

>>>>>>>Conservative principles (policies) are simply: individual liberty, the right to self defense, freedom to worship, a belief in the absolute value of human life.

Those are constitutional issues that conservatives support and liberals do not. Liberals do not believe in the right for Americans to own guns; liberals have problems with the religious right; and liberals support abortion rights and do not believe in the right to life for the unborn.

Obama is doing it now, like I explained already.

Democrats want to kill unborn babies and protect the lives of murderers and terrorists!!!

The longer they stay in power, the deeper they sink.

Yes, power does currupt, but the Republicans in Congress are not in power there now; they are in the minority in both houses. That was the situation in '94 when the Contract with America came about.

If GOP members or candidates won't sign onto such a statement of basic principles this year, let them do so at their own political risk. No reason why signing onto it would not in general be a political plus, while not signing on would be generally a political minus. Of course, ther would be exceptions, and a lot would depend on the state or district where the individual is running.

I’m referring to personal power. That’s what gets them in deep.

>>>>>Obama is doing it now, like I explained already

You explained nothing.

Obama is giving lip service --- bogus rhetoric.

Obama has offered no conservative policy that I know of.

Exactly!

There’s one Democrat Rush has mentioned, in South Carolina I think who was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives because he ran as a conservative.

“Those are constitutional issues that conservatives support and liberals do not.”

You’re being deceitful.

It’s quite obvious I don’t claim liberals believe in these principles; rather, I’m saying they pretend to believe them in order to get elected.

Undeniably, you knew that.

BFD!

I don’t know any Democrat who has run on a full set of conservative principles in my lifetime. Period. And obviously neither do you.

Again, Democrats run on liberal principles and half of America seems to like it.

Obama believes in gun control, yet he runs on 2nd amendment rights. That’s called pretending to be conservative.

I would bet Obama will come out against gay marriage, if he hasn’t already. Same pretense.

If you believe in gun control, you don't support the 2nd amendment. That is not pretending to be a conservative. That is being a two-faced hypocrite, not a cosnervative.

I’m going to have to point this out for you one more time:

All Democrats (pick any one of them) run their campaigns
on “supporting the troops.” All Democrats run on “accountability” and “fiscal responsibility.” All Democrats run on some version or other of “supporting the constitution.”

This is because they are pretending to be conservative.

The amusing thing is, what are they going to do about the Iraq war, so wrong they were! I think they will have to choose between their pride and their power (electability ) because one of these will be sunk in the wake of Bush’s success in Iraq. Liberals are such fools!

>>>>>It’s quite obvious I don’t claim liberals believe in these principles; rather, I’m saying they pretend to believe them in order to get elected.<

Then name the last liberal Democrat who pretended to run as a conservative. Should be easy for you.

“That is being a two-faced hypocrite”

You just described the favorite method of Democrats.

Of course I never said they were conservatives in fact. The whole point is that they become hypocrites in order to get elected.

So now that you’re clear on the fact that Democrats often run as conservatives, since we’ve been over and over it, I’ll just say I really hope Republicans will take the knowledge that the overwhelming majority of Americans support conservative values and try being conservative for once.

You know, it’s really just common sense to know, without needing a silly poll, that Americans support conservative values. I posted it here months ago, in fact.

Because conservative values simply means living a normal life.

Republicans should remember that Newt’s “Contract with America” won them back the House.

It’s time for another “Contract with America”, and the first item on it should be energy independence with “drill here, drill now, pay less” and nuclear energy.

>>>>>So now that you’re clear on the fact that Democrats often run as conservatives...

Are you rock dense. Democrats don't run as conservatives. They run as liberals. Using terms like "supporting the troops”, "accountability", "fiscal responsibility" and “supporting the constitution" doesn't make you a conservative.

>>>>>You know, it’s really just common sense to know, without needing a silly poll, that Americans support conservative values.

You must've been under a rock for the last 40 years. A majority of Americans may be conservative in their own personal lives, but fully half of America has shown by their votes over the years, that most of the time they're liberal and left leaning in their politics. Why do you think the federal bureaucracy has grown so large?

One more time:

I'm still waiting for an example of one liberal Democrat who has run on conservative principles of a strong defense, limited govt policies of tax cuts and spending reductions, along with support for pro-life issues and tough immigration policy.

Didn’t the dims that won last time run as much more conservative than they voted when they got to DC?

"...Gallup has just given the Republicans another gift (Americans Oppose Income Redistribution to Fix Economy)..."

Even if this was true (and it very well might be), nearly half the dimwits in this nation that vote democrap every election apparently don't care enough about the issue to become educated enough to determine which party is for income redistribution and which party isn't. It's one thing to not like a policy as stated in a poll, it's quite another to be informed enough to understand which party supports the policy you say you don't like. I'm hesistant to assume that democrap voters actually have the intelligence to understand that their pet-party is the party of income redistribution. If those morons haven't yet figured out party philosphy on that issue, they never will.

“Gallup: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Conservative Economic Policies”
But Americans are STILL going to vote for barack mcgovern right? Only in the mind of the ratmedia breathlessly panting over the idea of a socialist America. Guess what? It aint happening.

It's one thing to not like a policy as stated in a poll, it's quite another to be informed enough to understand which party supports the policy you say you don't like. I'm hesistant to assume that democrap voters actually have the intelligence to understand that their pet-party is the party of income redistribution. If those morons haven't yet figured out party philosphy on that issue, they never will.

That's all very true. But I think the problem is even worse.

Voters are not just ignorant about which parties hold which positions. Often times, they can't even see the disconnect between specific programs and the overall policies they claim to support.

For example, suppose you asked this same poll group if they wanted more Federal assistance for struggling homeowners or victims of offshoring. I'd wager that most would say "Yes." Or, cosider this other Gallup poll from a few months ago. If you explained to these people that those programs are other forms of income redistribution, you'd probably get a blank stare in return.

Unfortunately, I see this same problem on FR. Some FReepers will position themselves as ardent defenders of property rights and limited goverment. But then you'll see those same individuals sing the praises of smoking bans or calling for the government prohibit "offensive" behavior.

“Didn’t the dims that won last time run as much more conservative than they voted when they got to DC?”

Yes.

“A majority of Americans MAY BE CONSERVATIVE in their own personal lives, but fully half of America has shown by their votes over the years, that most of the time they’re liberal and left leaning in their politics”

And this shows where the problem lies. Voters don’t see the effect of politics on their personal lives. And they don’t realize they are supporting liberals because they’re not political junkies, and the liberals they vote for know just the right conservative moves to make in the months preceding the election.