Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Why GOP Voters Don't Care If Romney Lies

By MARC McDONALD

"Because people hate the truth, you know; they need a pack of lies."
---From Viva Dead Ponies by The Fatima Mansions, 1990.

Mitt Romney is a brazen liar. But if Obama supporters think this is a barrier to Romney's White House prospects, they are sadly mistaken.

The fact is, Americans love a liar in the White House. Well, maybe not all Americans, but enough to count.

Americans would rather have a brazen liar like Ronald Reagan offering them "feel-good" platitudes about "America standing tall" than the bitter medicine of truth from the likes of a Jimmy Carter telling us that we needed to tighten our belts, live within our means, and become energy self-sufficient.

In the 1980s, America was in no mood to hear the painful truth. Rather, Americans wanted to feel warm and fuzzy about themselves. They preferred Reagan's carefully scripted feel-good platitudes.

Never mind that much of what Reagan told us was utter bullsh*t. He claimed his massive tax cuts would not only boost the economy, but they'd somehow balance the budget as well. Reagan was our first "Santa Claus" president, offering something for nothing for the child-like masses.

In reality, the Reagan economy was mediocre at best. During Reagan's two terms, some 18 million jobs were created in the U.S. That might sound good, until you consider than 10 million jobs were created in one term under President Carter.

So much for Reagan supposedly bringing a new era of prosperity to the nation. The fact is, only the very wealthy really ever prospered under Reagan. During the 1980s, the once Great America Middle Class came under siege and it has been gradually vanishing ever since.

Reagan urged America to not worry and be happy. The soaring deficit? Don't worry. The annihilation of America's once world-beating manufacturing base? Don't worry. The loss of good middle class jobs? Don't worry.

Romney, of course, has embraced the Reagan approach. He knows Reagan's platitudes about America's "greatness" always play well with much of the electorate. Americans don't want to be told to sacrifice. They don't want to be told that a hefty round of tax hikes on the rich is in order to stave off America's financial ruin and the coming collapse of the dollar. They don't want America to ever apologize for anything. (Actually, Obama has never "apologized" for America---but try telling that to the average low-information GOP voter).

Like Reagan, Romney can claim that he can cut tax rates sharply without increasing the deficit. Although that is demonstrably false, the average low-information GOP voter couldn't care less about that---any more than they care about any of Romney's other blatant lies.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's so great to read the truth about Reagan. How refreshing. Thank You !

Anonymous said...

Some Republicans would never vote for a Democrat. Some Americans would never vote for a black man. Many just plain hate Obama. Bottom line, they don't care if Romney lies one bit. They'd prefer a used wad of kleenex over a Democrat.

Cthulhu said...

I'm willing to admit that America ISN'T great. We have fallen far and far, mostly thanks to Republicans.

But we could be great again. Oh yes, we could be. It would take some introspection, facing some unpleasant truths, but once past that, there ain't nothing we couldn't do.

Anonymous said...

If Ryan and the rest of his Republican boys would stop calling us Moochers and stop targetting us for destruction then maybe America could be great again.

Drake Mallard II said...

The millionaire's Savior is the working man's Satan.

robert dagg murphy said...

We can have our cake and eat it too. As we recycle things we can make them even better the next time. We continually do more with less. Wealth is without practical limit. More energy coming from our Star Sun than we can ever spend. Intellect only increases We always learn more not less.

Time to recognize our good fortune our design science revolution has turned on the cosmic reservoir. What ever needs to be done can be done.

Politics of abundance instead of the tired politics of scarcity and sacrifice. From the dark ages to enlightenment. There should be no beggars,

Anonymous said...

I fear that the U.S.A. may never be great again. Clearly this country is in decline. To make matters worse, there are truly psychotic and sociopathic individuals making their into the upper ranks of Government who fully intend to place the Governance of our country into the hands of a mythical long-haired hippie up in the sky who grants them wishes if they simply pray hard enough (excluding Gay People, Brown People, Asian People, Poor People, and Non-Christian People)....If the Soviet Union could collapse from within, so to could the United States of America....For some strange reason this country simply refuses to learn anything from the successes and failures of other nations.

Green Eagle said...

This is a very important subject, that I have thought a lot about over the forty years plus that I have followed the right wing. I hope you won't mind me providing a link to a blog post I wrote recently, linking the Republican disregard for the truth to Christian apologetics:

http://largegreenbird.blogspot.com/2012/10/conservative-cant-explained.html

I'm linking to this, because I don't want to take up too much space here in your comments.

Anonymous said...

Better check the lies of Obama while you are at it. He has a ton. Also some of his lies are trying to cover Up the death of 4 Americans caused in part by this administration. Find out the truth about Benghazi and the lies told by Obama and then think if this is the kind of guy you want when it comes to protecting you or your loved ones. Me, I am done with Obama.

Anonymous said...

You better check out the lies of Obama and the administration. The gross incompetence and lies about Benghazi left 4 Americans dead. How can you trust anything from Obama? Ask yourself if this is who you would want protecting you and your loved ones in the case of a terrorist attack.

Anonymous said...

I guess this is not fair an balance comments. I have tried to post several times and my comments do not get posted about the lies of Obama and his administration about Benghazi.

k55f said...

Thanks for the link,Green Eagle. You said something that I've been seeing for a long time-the repubs aren't using the Xian right...the Xians are using the repubs. They are playing them for fools and pulling them into cuckooland.

LAURIE said...

ANONYMOUS IS A REPUBLICAN TROLL.

Marc McDonald said...

re:
>>"You better check out the lies
>>of Obama and the administration.
>>The gross incompetence and lies
>>about Benghazi left 4 Americans
>>dead"

You need to turn off Fox "News" and find a reliable news source. By the way, I address the GOP's lies about what happened at Benghazi in my Nov. 2 piece, "Benghazi Attack Scandal Blows Up In the Face of Fox News."

Marc McDonald said...

Hi Laurie,
re: "ANONYMOUS IS A REPUBLICAN TROLL."
Yes, that would appear to be the case.