Robert Reich chats with former Repub Congressman: "So What Do You REALLY Think of these candidates"

[kpete]

Robert Reich
8 hrs · Edited ·

The other night I phoned a former Republican member of Congress with whom I'd worked in the 1990s on various pieces of legislation. I consider him a friend. I wanted his take on the Republican candidates because I felt I needed a reality check. Was I becoming excessively crotchety and partisan, or are these people really as weird as they seem? We got right into it:

Me: "So what do really you think of these candidates?"
Him: "You want my unvarnished opinion?'
Me: "Please. That's why I called."
Him: "They're all nuts."
Me: "Seriously. What do you really think of them?"
Him: "I just told you. They're bonkers. Bizarre. They're like a Star Wars bar room."
Me: "How did it happen? How did your party manage to come up with this collection?"
Him: "We didn't. They came up with themselves. There's no party any more. It's chaos. Anybody can just decide they want to be the Republican nominee, and make a run for it. Carson? Trump? They're in the lead, and they're both out of their f*cking minds."
Me: "That's not reassuring."
Him: "It's a disaster. I'm telling you, if either of them is elected, this country is going to hell. The rest of them aren't much better. I mean, Carly Fiorina? Really? Rubio? Please. Ted Cruz? Oh my god. And the people we thought had it sewn up, who are halfway sane -- Bush and Christie -- they're sounding almost as batty as the rest."
Me: "Who's to blame for this mess?"
Him: "Roger Ailes, David and Charles Koch, Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh. I could go on. They've poisoned the American mind and destroyed the Republican Party.
Me: "Nice talking with you."
Him: "Sleep well."

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[First Speaker]

1. It would help if people like this--the "Good Republicans"--started speaking out publicly...

...the GOP *is* insane. If decent Repubs--and I know some myself--joined with the Dems, we might get a moderate-conservative governing majority in the country. That isn't my choice--Bernie represents my aspirations for the country--but it might be the best we can get for now...

[jwirr]

5. IMO I would guess that the reason the "good" Rs are not

speaking out is because their party establishment has all media, money in their hands and if they speak out or even go so far as to endorse a candidate they will be cut off from the money tree.

I think some of this is happening in the Democratic Party as well. Whenever party owners begin to ignore the people then it becomes like the Rs and represents only the rich and the corporations. And we are no longer a democracy.

[skepticscott]

13. There are no "good" Republicans

If they were decent human beings, they wouldn't be Republicans any more.

Every single person who has voted for any Republican, contributed to the Republican party in even the smallest way, spread Republican talking points and policies, or encouraged others to do so at any time in the last 35 years is complicit in what the GOP is right now. Every Single One. The GOP today is not a distortion or radicalization of anything. It is the logical, predictable outcome of what began when Reagan took office.

[hifiguy]

17. They're all gone.

Every last one. For a long while now. They now call themselves "centrist" or "Third Way" Democrats.

All that's left over there is a collection of primitive cave orks, religulously insane duck-fckers, shrieking bigots/xenophobes, ammosexuals and fly-eating, childish libertarians.

ETA:

[skepticscott]

19. Agreed...I can no longer associate as a friend

with anyone who votes Republican or supports the Republican party. The things they support simply can't be redeemed or apologized for any longer.

[LiberalArkie]

2. And the Democratic party is trying to meet those people half-way?

[FiveGoodMen]

10. That's been the insanity of our side.

Including a lot of folks right here on this site.

Big Tent.

Compromise.

Maturity.

All just excuses to give the evil psychopaths what they want without a fight.

Heck, we have groups here devoted to workshipping those that do it.

[hifiguy]

18. In every way possible. For almost 25 years.

"Remember folks, there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over." - Frank Zappa

[longship]

3. Reich is great! This one especially. R&K nt

[tblue37]

4. If that Repub were a real patriot, he and others like him WOULD SAY THIS PUBLICLY! nt

[pangaia]

6. Exactly, he/she is a coward and more of the problem than the idiots.

[tblue37]

14. Like all those mythical good cops who cover for and lie for the murderous brutes in their ranks. nt

[bemildred]

7. Yes, the rich can just cut out the middle man now and buy politicians directly.

And with automation and data mining they don't need all those consultants either.

Pretty soon corporations will have their own parties, the Oil Party, the War Party, the Drugs Party, and so on.

[spanone]

8. K&R...

[zazen]

9. I seriously hope Jim Webb runs as an Independent, giving moderate R's a viable option

I think it's too much to hope after years of brainwashing that they're going to vote for a Democratic candidate. Maybe they'll stay home.

But Webb is a "reasonable Republican," IMO. Worst case scenario--he wins--is still infinitely better than one of their crazies winning. And if he runs, moderate Republicans can have a face-saving, non-crazy candidate for whom to vote.

If the mainstream media would start a narrative pushing him as an Independent candidate and giving him half the free press they gave Trump, and poll accordingly, he'd probably grab 10% of the Republican primary vote and 20% of independents within weeks.

[LiberalArkie]

11. Hell it Reagan was alive he could run as a Liberal Republican

[Xolodno]

12. He wouldn't be electable. Not batshit crazy...excuse me.."conservative" enough.

He would probably return to the Democratic Party if he were around today.

[hifiguy]

16. Reagan would feel very much at home in the Corporate Democratic Party

of DWS. All he'd have to do is drop the anti-choice/fundy rhetoric and he'd go down a bomb with the Turd Wayers. Same economics.

[Bluenorthwest]

21. Ronald Reagan? Just cut the anti choice rhetoric? The man was openly racist and homophobic.

He and his administration actively ignored the growing AIDS crisis for 7 years until the death toll reached over 30,000 Americans. They laughed about it at one or two press conferences, to rub salt into the wounds and refused to take action.
While the Straight Folkken paid no attention and no longer remember, LGBT spent the Reagan years in full tilt activist mode, thousands in the streets. Wall St targeted, protested and shut down year after year, major protests at government offices, pharmaceutical companies, churches.

So you should tell me all that you did in the late 80's and early 90's. I know what Democrats did, even the more moderate ones, and I know how that compares to your darling Reagan.

You do not know what you are talking about. I mean, seriously. You have no idea how reckless and in fact right wing your post sounds to those of us who survived the Reagan/Bush years. I buried a large number of friends and associates who were under 40.

So this whole 'Reagan was like a Democrat' thing is a bit like saying 'Hitler was like a Rabbi'.

But hey, you straights always loved Dutch, so many on DU wax on and on about their fun times with Ronnie. The message is heard loud and clear.

[dembotoz]

22. thank you i always cringe with the praise traitor ronnie gets here on du

vile and despicable man....

high on my bucket list is to piss on his grave

[Hekate]

32. Thank you for this, BNW. When sliming Democrats, no slur is too horrible.

Disagree with a fellow Dem? Call them a Turd Wayer. Hell, bring in Reagan and Nixon. Resurrect not only those ugly ghosts but also all the lies ever said by Gingrich or Atwater about the Clintons.

What the hell is wrong with people and why are they at a site ostensibly devoted to electing Democrats, not destroying them and demoralizing their supporters?

[hifiguy]

15. The last marginally sane and responsible adult

left the Repig's freak zoo about twenty years ago.

[lonestarnot]

20. The question is how did they come up with these fuckwits. Billionaires really think they know how

to run things. LOL

[Solly Mack]

23. I think he pointedly left out the others that are to blame.

All Republicans - every last one them - share the blame.

Without regard to consequence, the GOP has pandered to the very worst in people, using nationalism as their cudgel to stir up bigotry and hate. Entwined in the taproot of the GOP political tree is the use of prejudice and ignorance to shape social policy, and venality to shape the economic. That twisted and gnarled lifeline has culminated in the current crop of GOP Presidential candidates. The rot, as they say, spreads outward.

The blame, anonymous Republican politician, belongs to you as well. You tolerated the machinations of your party. The GOP was sick with impeachment fever during your time. Even now you hide behind your words of concern; your voice nameless. Pointing fingers where they are safe to land. Citing the obvious human daggers in a long line of sharp blades that have, indeed, "poisoned the American mind".

Your party has not been destroyed - it has only become what you and your fellow Republicans allowed it to be.

Look hard at your GOP candidates. They are the direct result of every southern strategy, trickle-down/free market, Willie Horton, Whitewater/Ken Starr, Birtherism/"I want my country back" sound bite and campaign slogan your party has run.


Fuck you and your fellow Republicans.

[Egnever]

24. Spot on

But they will never admit it.

[Solly Mack]

25. True. They won't admit it. The anonymous Republican likes to pretend they're the rational ones.

They dress themselves up as establishment, calling themselves the reasonable Republicans. They even get others to see them that way. Like they're somehow better, and can't be blamed for the direction their party is going. It's not their fault the Tea Party took hold. It's not their fault for the level of vitriol and absurdity displayed by the 2016 GOP candidates. They like to forget they lifted Sarah Palin onto the national stage.

The anonymous Republican says "urban youth" & "inner cities" when talking about people of color - you know, as opposed to the openly racist ones. Never mind they're both saying the exact same thing. Just because you use the dog whistle instead of the more blatant wording doesn't make you better. A polite and politic racist is still a racist. But suddenly, when compared side by side, the one wearing the suit and using the cloaked language is seen as the more acceptable alternative - when the end result is the same.

The anonymous Republican hides his/her graft behind words and phrases such as trickle down and compassionate conservative. The bolder avarice and cruelty speaks of poor people being lazy and demanding handouts. Yet, really, there is no difference in thinking - or outcome.

It's almost as if the anonymous Republican needs us to understand that they never meant any of it to be damaging - that it's not their fault that the ignorant and the vicious answered the call of the dog whistle - that it was just politics. All about winning; nothing personal or harmful intended. And that's the problem when thinking of politics as a game. We're people, not game pieces on a board, to be moved about by a scorched earth, winner take all attitude that leaves us at the mercy of the corrupt; ever victims of their ideological whims and fancies.


Sorry. I'm in a mood.

[Egnever]

26. No reason to apologize

You see them quite clearly. Many do not.

[Dont call me Shirley]

27. And the fundamentalist Christian movement, they are batshit crazy.

[tooeyeten]

28. Star Wars Barroom. Yep. N/t

[WestSeattle2]

29. Sounds like Alan Simpson

[Hekate]

30. "They're like a Star Wars bar room," oh gods yes. KnR

[artislife]

31. #32 aufed.

[Hekate]

33. What is "aufed"?

[Grins]

34. "Roger Ailes, David and Charles Koch, Rupert Murdoch, ....

"Roger Ailes, David and Charles Koch, Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, Sheldon Adelson, Richard Mellon Scaife , Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the National Review, the American Enterprise Inst, the Cato Inst., the Heritage Foundation, a politicized Supreme Court, the American Center for Democracy, the Manhattan Inst., R. Emmett Tyrell, Richard Vigurie, Paul Weyrich, the Evangelical Reich, Operation American Spring, the NRA, Accuracy in Media, Roy Moore and the idiots who believe him, Todd Starnes, "Oaf" Keepers, Frank Gaffney, Elliott Abrams, Dick Cheney, David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, Bill "The Bloody" Kristl and his fucking father, Jonah Goldburg and his horror of a mother, Ayn Rand, Dougla Feith, Paul Wolfowicz, Capital Research Center, The Family Security Foundation, the Heartland Foundation, Focus on the Foetus, the Family Research Council, Rev. Moon and the Washington Times, Betsy McCaughey, "The Family", Family Research Institute, Bob Lonsberry, James Dobson, Bryan Fischer and the American Family Association, American Conservative Union, CPAC, Sarah Palin - and you too, John McCain, Michele Bachmann, Laura Ingraham, Anne Coulter, Phylis Schflay, Bob Vander Plaats, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay, Dennis Hastert, Joe Walsh, Michael Berry, Scott Walker, Rick Santorum, Ted Rollins, Joe Arpaio and the voters of Maricopa County, Michelle Malkin, Mitt Romney, Larry Klayman, Eugene Delgaudio and his pervert brother, the Duggars, Pat Robertson, Sam Brownback, Rick Perry, Jim Inhofe, Tim Russert, Chuck Todd, Lara Logan, Steve Croft, Fox, LEE ATWATER and hispolitical spawn.

I could go on and on, but let me leave your with one last name: RONALD REAGAN.

They've poisoned the American mind, and they destroyed the Republican Party.