Do Right-Wingers deliberately choose people like Palin, O'Donnell, etc

[Cal33]

to be their leaders? Is there a trick up their sleeve, or is there a method to their madness?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I think it's ignorance.

One part is mistaking federal government with the local town council. Rightwingers see Palin and O'Donnell as one of them, no smarter, no better, but equivalent. A hockey mom with an attitude and a loud mouth with whom they can identify. And what's the difference between a vote on a variance to build a fence on private property and a vote to invade Pakistan? I mean, really? They are voting for the personality, not the issues. And THAT'S the true problem.

[Cal33]

7. I agree with you, ignorance must play a role with the majority of

the right-wingers, but the bigwigs backing them up have only one thing in mind:
money and the power that goes with the money. And, of course, their chosen
ones must do as they say in order to get more money and power.

[scrubthedata]

26. It's the old "I'll vote with someone I'd want to have a beer with" thing, no? nt

[baldguy]

2. RW "leaders" aren't chosen by the rank & file. They're manufactured by organizers behind the scenes.

Palin, O'Donnell and others like them were nobodies, until they were given - handed, granted, gifted - a national spotlight they did nothing to earn.

[Cal33]

8. True, and why were they chosen? The "kingmakers" must

believe that they are of use to them somehow - an asset to them in terms
of money and power.

[arbusto_baboso]

3. Hell, this goes back to Reagan. He was an idiot and buffoon, too.

This is no new phenomenon.

[Cal33]

9. Correct, the driving power behind the Neocons has always been

money and power. Reagan sure did help put both into the pockets
of the corporatists and other right-wingers -- by hook and by crook.

[RainDog]

4. they are too stupid to be leaders - they're just megaphones

Bill Kristol, neo-con putz, loved Palin from the moment he met her - she's so obviously stupid but charismatic and useful among the religious idiots that he loves to manipulate in order to enact policies that are harmful to this republic.

Bush was obviously Howdy Doody to Cheney's McCarthy.

Ronald Reagan was so brain-addled his wife had to whisper to him so he could remember what he was supposed to say.

[Cal33]

16. The late Irving Kristol, Bill's father, one of the Neocons' founding

fathers, taught that lying to the masses for political gains was a recodmmendable action.
Bill got that early in life from him, I suppose. So he "loved her from the moment he met
her" probably because he thought her so useful to his requirements.

I'd bet Bill himself is probably considered by the corporate bigwigs as being useful to
them and suits their purposes. I imagine the corporate bigwigs combined form the real
power-base of the Neocon world, and what they say, goes.

And what's the dominant political principle behind these corporate bigwigs? National,
and eventual world domination, perhaps? (This requires lots and lots of money). If so,
they're not exactly going about it in the right way. They are trying to kill the middle
class in America, right? And who does most of the work in our country? The middle class!

So, does it help them to kill the goose that's laying the golden eggs? Hardly. Something
is missing. Unless their way of thinking and logic is different, and this deserves
some study and examination.

[treestar]

18. They are fronts, or window dressings

Managed from behind the scenes. We can't even be sure who is really in charge when they have the WH.

[Cal33]

20. Corporate executives, very likely. But then these executives

most likely also have some differences in opinions. I think they are unanimous in wanting
more money and power, but they may differ on HOW to get more money and power.

[Wickerman]

5. They are chosen to be distractions

from the mess the party is actually. Bereft of ideas, they throw red-meat candidates out there that garner a lot of attention while the actual heads of the party sit somewhere and find another way to hoodwink the populace.

[Cal33]

21. That sure could be one of reasons. The Neocons don't or choose not

to see the big picture, though. Their compulsive greed for money and power
at other people's expense can only backfire in the end. How much harm and
damage they will cause the rest of the world is anybody's guess.

[Bravo Zulu]

6. Stupid people want one of their own,

to lead them!

[Cal33]

22. Stupid people are easily fooled by criminals in high positions.. Yes!

[DevonRex]

10. I think there's a method to their madness.

They know who'll energize the most conservative voters and that the more moderates will hold their noses and vote Puke in the end.

My teabagger sisters LOVE Sarah Palin. She's like the Charlie's Angels' girl for Pukes. They see her as beautiful but tough. Doesn't matter that she's as vapid as the Charlie's Angels girls were. She looks good with a rifle and that's all that counts.

[Cal33]

23. Unfortunately, the higher-up Neocons seem to be able to

twist the masses of their followers so easily around their fingers. And I suppose
you are right, the more moderate Republicans will vote Puke in the end while holding
their noses. Just as I hope that the many Dems. who are angry at the Democratic
leadership would refrain from voting for the greater evil than the lesser.

I'nm glad that in my family, we are all progressives. I've lost a couple
of friends who are Republicans. I didn't think the split would become so
deep as to interfere in one's personal life. I'm okay with the old-timer
Republicans, but can't get along with Neocons and Teabaggers.

[DevonRex]

32. In many ways I feel like I have lost my family. I go see them but

it's with an underlying sadness and even disgust. I keep it to myself, just like I don't bring up politics. They do, though.

[Cal33]

35. Am sorry to hear that. One way to make things easier is to have your own

opinions, yet not be deeply attached to them, so that when others disagree, it's okay with
you. You just let it go. It's not personal. This looks like what you are already doing.
You seem to be the forgiving type. It's a blessing to be one.

[ladjf]

11. Yes, because they identify with their arrogance that stems from

ignorance. nt

[Cal33]

27. I think you are correct. Also I believe that the right-wingers have

been deliberately planning and organizing this state of affairs for decades.
They own 90% of the news media and have bombarded the American people with
their propaganda and lies in order to brain-wash them. And they have
succeeded quite well. It helps the right-wing leaders to dumb America
down, because ignorant people are more easily fooled and made use of.

[ladjf]

29. Those who own 90% of the media are not among the profoundly

ignorant group. They are the "puppet masters" of the ignorant followers. They are driven by blind greed and avarice. In a certain sense, those who are doing the manipulation are also ignorant. I mean by that, ignorant of the real connections between all life on the planet. In the end, even the rich will fall if they kill the middle class.

[Cal33]

33. Yes, the middle-class form the majority in numbers, and they

also produce most of the work that produces the wealth and riches. If the corporate right-wingers
are deliberately trying to destroy the middle-class, they are killing the goose that's laying the
golden eggs. Really stupid of them to do so.

Bu then, a high percentage of the corporate executives are psychopaths. Nowadays, to become a
high level executive, one practically has to be a conscienceless psychopath. They are the ones
who make the most money by hook and by crook for their companies, and they are the ones who get
promoted and climb up the corporate ladder.

Psychopaths can't help behaving the way they do, and they can't change their behavior, unless they
feel threatened by punishment. These are sick people. It's Obama's biggest mistake in trying to
have a bipartisanship relationship with them. He's lucky that they have declined his invitations
so far. If they had joined him, they'd have only worked to destroy him -- from the inside. I hope
Obama has learned, and the numbers of change of top personnel in his administration would mean a
change in his policies and style of governing.

Nov. 2 should be a time when we vote more psychopaths out of office. Having too many of them holding
high positions could only mean eventual self-destruction for our nation. They are just baaaaad trouble.

[Cal33]

34. Yes, the middle-class form the majority in numbers, and they

also produce most of the work that produces the wealth and riches. If the corporate right-wingers
are deliberately trying to destroy the middle-class, they are killing the goose that's laying the
golden eggs. Really stupid of them to do so.

But then, a high percentage of the corporate executives are psychopaths. Nowadays, to become a
high level executive, one practically has to be a conscienceless psychopath. They are the ones
who make the most money by hook and by crook for their companies, and they are the ones who get
promoted and climb up the corporate ladder.

Psychopaths can't help behaving the way they do, and they can't change their behavior, unless they
feel threatened by punishment. These are sick people. It's Obama's biggest mistake in trying to
have a bipartisanship relationship with them. He's lucky that they have declined his invitations
so far. If they had joined him, they'd have only worked to destroy him -- from the inside. I hope
Obama has learned, and the numbers of change of top personnel in his administration would mean a
change in his policies and style of governing.

Nov. 2 should be a time when we vote more psychopaths out of office. Having too many of them holding
high positions could only mean eventual self-destruction for our nation. They are just baaaaad trouble!

[SoCalDem]

12. Monied-class republicans have HAD to go to the fringiest of the fringe

because they have always been a "small" party, and in order to win elections they have HAD to invite the crazies to join them.

These are the people to who they routinely promise the moon, sun and stars, and regularly ignore once elected.

First, they invited the racists (Nixon)
Then, they invited the wacko-religionists (the famously NOT-religious Reagan)
Now they are scraping the bottom of the nut-barrel, and have embraced the gullible "low information" xenophobes, homophobes, gun-nuts, panty-sniffing busy-bodies and assorted illiterate goofballs.

It's the ONLY way they can cobble together enough people to even have a chance of slithering into office.

[librechik]

13. Nope. They got Nothing. And Nobody.

You go to war with the troops you have, not the troops you wish you had.

And to them politics is war, not the essence of civilization and peace, like it is to us.

[EstimatedProphet]

14. Yes they do. It's because they're assholes.

[MilesColtrane]

15. The rank and file Republicans are stupid, so they adore the nuts.

The leaders allow it so that when they select who will carry the party banner in a national campaign, their candidate will look better in comparison.

In a 2012 Palin v. Gingrich primary, she'd make him seem like the only sane choice.

[Cal33]

17. I've read some time ago that 90% of the Ivy League college

professors vote Democratic. This still leaves 10% among them who vote Republican. One can't
be a college professor and not be smart. The only explanation i can think of is, one can be
smart and still have warped values. Gingrich is (or was) a professor. His values seem to
be very much like those of a psychopath. I also think that a high percentage of the high-ranking
corporate executives are psychopaths. Today, one practically has to be a psychopath in order to
reach that level of the corporate world.

[struggle4progress]

19. "We'll stick an empty suit at the front desk and do our dirty work offsite"

Everyone is cordially invited to waste as much time as possible arguing with the nitwit at the front desk, who really doesn't know jack from squat: it distracts everyone from most of the criminal activity

[begin_within]

24. It's just a sideshow/distraction to give the illusion that we have a democracy.

[ladjf]

31. The number one task of the middle class is to reverse the trend

toward widening the wealth gap. In order to do that, the Senate has to either be abolished or the filibuster rules must be modified so that a handful of dissenting Senators won't be able to bring legislation to a standstill.

How do we accomplish these tasks? I don't have the foggiest idea. But, if it isn't done, ALL will sink into a terrible hole of poverty and degradation.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

25. They make Mitch McConnell seem sane in comparison

There is defintely an argument that the right promotes people like Ann Coulter with extreme arguments so they can make the "mainstream pols" seem "moderate" while still holding right-wing views.

[JSK]

28. They are perfect puppets. n/t

[Tatiana]

30. They are deliberately chosen so they can be easily controlled and manipulated.

Like Dubya.

[Cal33]

36. Yes, that does make sense, although Dubya had more help

than most people would -- the help Papa Bush. I also remember having read that
when he was running for president, his daughters were advising him not to. How
often would children ask their dad not to run for president? They must have
known he wasn't suitable for the job.