Who is really responsible for the Republicans now in power?

[kentuck]

Is it the Democrats who didn't vote the last election? The liberals who were angry at Obama? The ones that just didn't feel like voting?

Or is it the people that voted for those power glutton Republicans? Why would they get a free ride?

Did they not know what they were voting for? Why are they still supportive, even as we fight to save their way of life as well as our own?

Are they ignorant or stupid? Or do they actually believe in what these so-called "conservatives" are selling? They deserve no sympathy. They are the ones that voted these rascals in.

We can see the damage done. Why can't they?

Let us put the blame where it belongs. Right in the lap of Republican voters.

[LaurenG]

not me, that's all I'm sure of though. nt

[Kurmudgeon]

1. How about all of the above? If you don't vote, they win.

[Zoeisright]

2. All of them.

[Taverner]

3. This is why I think we should prevent the Tea Party from doing anything

If they want to bus in protestors, we destroy the tires of the bus
If they want to meet on the White House lawn, we let loose fire ants
If they want to put plants in our midst, citizen's arrest on them for fraud and handcuff them to a fence

In short, bring a gun to a knife fight

[Lucky 13]

4. Well... I voted for Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) with pride, BUT...

...I certainly understand other people not voting for some douchebag "centrist" liberal hating DINO.

I refuse to accept the paradigm that my only chances are between bad and worse. The minute we let that thinking set in, we're toast.

[gateley]

5. I think we share the blame - too many of us sat by and didn't even bother to

vote when, if we had, we probably wouldn't be buried in Republicans now. We KNEW they were energized! :grr:

And the people who bought into their BS are responsible, too -- too easy to jump on the hate bandwagon and not THINK.

[Drale]

21. Exactly

no matter how bad the "evil stoopid" Democrats are that some people didn't vote for, any Republican is 10000% worst.

[Horse with no Name]

40. I don't believe that is true

Because by electing weak and ineffectual leaders, their lack of initiative has opened the doors for these types of power grabs.

[Blue Owl]

6. Paper ballots now

Remember in California how ZERO Repukes were elected after they did away with their paperless non-verifiable voting equipment?

[old mark]

7. K&R- ALL of the above. I am not one of Mr. Obama's greatest fans,

nor am I a fan of the "New" Democratic party, but I know what the GOP is all about and I would never do anything to advance their cause, even if it means voting for a Democratic candidate who is not my first choice. I did vote for Obama in the primary and the GE, and will do so again in '12, and I voted the straight Democratic ticket last November.
I certainly wish a lot more people had done that.

mark

[Horse with no Name]

41. Now just something I read once

My county still affords me the opportunity to vote on paper. I utilize that option.

BUT I read something and please don't ask me to quote it because I can't, BUT by voting straight ticket it is easier to manipulate the vote.

Take the time and mark EACH name on your ballot.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

8. They're All Complicit

Who's worse: the ones who actively do the bidding of evil, or the ones who, for whatever reason, just plain do nothing to STOP evil?

Before you answer that question, let me ask you this: Who is more hated, even to this day? The Nazis, or the French who laid down and did nothing to stop the Nazis? Have an order of "Freedom Fries" while you sit and ponder your answer.

[kentuck]

9. Very good question.

One we should all ponder.

[raouldukelives]

10. Exactly

Who is more evil? The person who bombs the poor people, the people who make it or the people who invest in the MIC companies through 401ks and profit from it?

[kentuck]

11. Or the people that do nothing to stop it?

I guess we all share in the responsibility.

[Kennah]

12. No one. They have no adult supervision.

[RegieRocker]

13. Dumbfuckisstanies that is who.

[kentuck]

15. The Dumbfuckisstanican Party?

:-)

[Mist]

14. Diebold? nt

[Fly by night]

36. ... and ES&S and all the other reich-wing unverifiable voting equipment vendors

It would be nice if even one voting machine company was owned by someone (anyone) who was not a far-right Dominionist. Unfortunately, they are not.

I agree with other posters here. Stop blaming the voters when our god-damned votes are cast on "vapor ballots".

"It's not who casts the votes that count. It's who counts the votes."

Joseph Stalin once said something of the sort. Rethugligans know just what he meant.

If Democrats want to save our democracy, they need to support Congressman Rush Holt's Voter Confidence Act which bans unverifiable voting equipment. Otherwise, they need to be ready for more of the same. If you don't know what that is, come walk in our Tennessee shoes a while. Our legislature has been taken over by overt racists, pug-ugly jackals and Hooters girls (really.) Our State Election Coordinator is a proud graduate of Pat Robertson's Regent University Law School (really), the same law school that gave us Monica Goodling.

Andrew Jackson wouldn't even recognize the state these days. But if he returned, he'd damned sure be organizing a second Battle of Athens.

And I'd be signing up.

[Kip Humphrey]

38. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

[Lastactiongyro]

16. It was me, I did it, all part of

My master plan, for the Republicans to create mass starvation... So Americans might wake up to what Repukes really are...


Muhshshahaa

[kentuck]

18. And none of them will ever go hungry...

..or so they think.

[JoseGaspar]

17. Just more blame the victim...

If people don't vote for a political party, it is not their "fault". That is just another variant of the standard bullshit. In politics, people are not stupid, or brain-washed, or apathetic. They will vote if they believe that voting makes a difference. They will support a political party if they believe that a party represents their interests... and has a credible possibility of delivering on those interests.

If people don't vote or if they don't vote correctly, that is entirely the fault of the political party that lost... it cannot be anything else. The problem is not education; it is representation.

Look around you. Even among the "hardcore" Democrats around these parts, over half do not believe in the integrity, the program or the interests represented by the current Democratic Party. That is not their "fault" either.

This is not a problem to be spun away, nor can it be brow-beaten out of the voters, nor can it be triangulated into oblivion.

"Which side are you on?" is the question of the day. It is not answered by "New Ideas", or "Change", or "serving all the people". It is not answered by words, and certainly not by words which have the half-life of an election season. It is answered by deeds.

The deeds were measured and found wanting.

They still are...

[kentuck]

24. It's pretty damn depressing...

..that so many voters believe this Republican Party represents their best interests.

[JoseGaspar]

31. Some people do...

A few have money and believe correctly. I think you are speaking of the others. Some believe that their interests are aligned with an older version of America (read "white version") and think that the changes in demographics align with a change for the worse in their own fortunes. Some believe that they have no chance in the general population and identify with independent avenues like "small business". Some believe that you have to pay the rich in order to get anything "back"... they have a scab's perspective on the universe. And some are just drowning and will go for anything that helps them personally to whatever small degree (like "lower taxes"), because they have no hope of influencing wages (let alone, defense spending or globalization).

The question is moot, though. The Democrats don't lose elections because of Republican voters. They lose because a vast sea of potential Democratic voters (who will never vote Republican) don't vote or don't vote often.

The question is whether those people are wrong in their implicit assessment. Why would anyone vote for the Democratic Party? The question is not rhetorical. Even most of the intense spin around these parts is exceedingly lame. The last good reason I can think of is FDR, and that was a very long time ago...

Politics abhors a vacuum. Even Republicans can fill one.

[txlibdem]

35. The few with money know the Republican Party is focused on their interests only

So true.

[damntexdem]

19. Or the Dem pols who lacked the spine to push through real health reform ...

and many other needed programs and laws.

[elocs]

20. In WI, Walker received 90% of the number of votes that McCain got in 2008

while his Democratic opponent, Tom Barrett, only received 60% of the number of votes that Obama received here. Had Barrett received even half of the number of votes from the people who voted for Obama, but didn't vote in our election last fall he would have easily beaten Walker. Choosing not to vote does have consequences.

We cannot stop Republicans for voting for their choice of candidate, but we can bother to exercise our right to vote and support our candidate. When Democrats choose to stay home and not vote, then they cannot complain when Republicans turn out and vote.

Here in Wisconsin I blame Democrats who could not be bothered to vote last fall for allowing the Republicans to take complete control in this state.

A sign I saw in Madison last Saturday:

[TransitJohn]

22. That's easy.

It's the fault of the Democrats who lost. It was incumbent upon them to win. Which they could have done if they had, oh I don't know, tried to enact their own fucking platform! Instead, they passed Bob Dole's health insurance plan. Whoo hoo! Damn liberals and progressives!!

[Hubert Flottz]

23. Bush...

He put them in and Obama left them in.

[kentuck]

25. Republicans suck.

bottom line.

[hlthe2b]

26. The whorish media, that constantly promoted RETHUGS takeover

as a "given," while doing very little critical reporting on RETHUGS agenda and constantly deriding the DEMS at every turn.

I think they had a major role in promoting this RETHUG disaster, just as they did in getting us into an illegal war in Iraq.

[kentuck]

27. True because...

The Repugs support their agenda, not the interests of average Republicans.

[Skidmore]

28. kentuck, sorry but Dems who didn't vote don't get off that easily.

If they had turned out in sufficient numbers, the Rs wouldn't have made up the larger portion of voters at the polls in 2012. Our side shares the blame. There are no innocents in this mess.

[kentuck]

30. I think most folks agree with you.

I guess I am thinking along the lines that while we shoot each other in a circular firing squad, the dumbasses that voted for these "Republicans", believing they are voting in their own interests and against those "evil liberals", escape all scrutiny. Yes, we are all to blame. Of course, if the Republicans are defeated in the next election, all they have to say is that they have learned their lesson and they will never do it again, and they buy the same bullshit every damn time...

[Joe Fields]

29. Let me put forth this question:

What, exactly did the dems who were elected to a "super majority" do for us?

A follow up question: Do you think it really matters who is in power anymore?

[obxhead]

32. I mostly blame the MSM.

The prime outlet for information 99% of the people use to decide on candidates is completely devoid of real and true information on our candidates.

[jwirr]

33. The real blame of course goes to the repugs who voted them in. I

have threated the DNC with not voting but up to now I have always voted. When I try to point out to others that by not voting they helped elect the repug I am not really blaming them as much as wishing that Democrats would remember that we have lost a lot to time in the past by refusing to vote because we are angry.

However, what I am really mad about is those repugs, teabaggers and the rich who want to destroy the country that I grew up in. They truly are to blame for what is going on in the world today.

[FrenchieCat]

34. Why would blaming Republican voters be something that makes any sense?

Republicans wanted Republicans to win. They got what they wanted.
So how is blaming them somehow a rationale for anything going on
with Democrats and their pitiful numbers at the last election. :shrug:

[Octafish]

37. Lousy Democratic leadership.

Leaders INSPIRE. Haven't seen much around since the mid-80s, to be honest.

[Horse with no Name]

39. Let's take our share of the blame too

I voted for Obama. Is he doing anything to change the course we are on? From where I sit, he is perpetuating their agenda in ways the republicans couldn't even do.

We should have fought harder for Kucinich.