"Dumb Question. (But real.) Are Republicans mean just to be mean?"

...they're "mean" to be greedy, I-got-mine, self-serving assholes.

When your policies are against the economic self interest of the vast majority of your voting base, you have to use emotion-invoking tactics to undercut your opponents and override the self interest of your target audience. New Deal programs and policies are "soft" "compassionate" "feminine", kicking the needy to the curb is "hard" "strong" "masculine". They play these memes all the time and with great success.

"No it isn't that simple. It is about appearing "hard" "masculine" "strong" etc."

...they just hide behind that to be greedy, I-got-mine, self-serving assholes.

And, if they don't have anything yet ... its not because they did not earn it ... you stole it from them.

Ends justify the means. Those people I think are the ones concerned with saving your soul.

People come second and poor people come DEAD last. They feel if you have it you keep it. If you don't have it then you are either lazy or useless. Either way you are a liability and we can't have that. If you are out of work it's your fault so we don't have to help you. Can't afford house or rent? Again it simply has to be your fault so we don't have to help you. Wages too low? Get a second or a third job. It's not our fault if you can't a family, a car, food.
It is all ours and we won't share.
Just what they are getting paid is the big question. Since they only represent themselves we should get a refund!

They do have to get elected. But these days, they seem intent on consistently alienating various constituencies one-by-one.

They do not see themselves as the "bad guys", they see themselves as virtue in a sea of iniquity. They generally have little grasp of factual history and seldom think through the consequences of their actions. Religion gives them the excuse that they are just doing "God's will" and if they are wrong, then "God" will make it right in the "Heaven".

If you have a supreme being that will undo your mistakes, then you do not have to worry about the horror you cause.

Oh, and cognitive dissonance is pretty much a standard requirement.

I realize the GOP strategy has been to pander to angry white males over the years by appealing to the resentment factor against minorities and the disadvantaged.

But increasingly that seems to be less targeted to just make life more difficult for everyone (except the 1 percent).

Hopefully this will eventually bite them in the ass politically. I emphasize hopefully, because experience has shown that the harder they push the envelope, the more the envelope seems to stretch.

it's oddly half-amusing, half-frustrating, when someone does something that ultimately harms themselves out of ill-advised greed.

Did you ever know anyone back in high school that would take a contrary position to what everyone else believed just to be contrary? Most young people are idealistic, hopeful, and believe in the power of progress, so they tend to be pretty progressive. Some young people may be idealistic conservatives, but I think a fair number of young conservatives are just conservatives out of spite.

Clean air...Against
Feed the Hungry.....Against
Voting rights for all....Against

You name anything positive and they'll be against it.

... after all the atrocities were outlined.

People tend to gravitate towards the familar

... made me understand that their base laps that shit up. They love to be mean to anyone who they believe is a "lesser person" whether it be one of a different religion, culture, income class or simply someone they've been taught to hate (teachers, union members, etc.).

Punishing the weak is Scott Walker's stock in trade, and his base loves him for it. If you've got the stomach for it, read the comments on articles at www.jsonline.com to see just how much they love the red meat.

They are slipping into lesser personhood themselves by losing jobs, getting wages cut, etc.

Too bad they don't realize it.

of mind and heart.

or a bunch of someones...spend a lot of time trying to thwart one's ideals/agenda, if course they're going to look like a lot of mean shitheads.

Does anyone here actually think WE don't look like shitheads to the Republicans?


Of course, some (most?) here will probably say, "But we're NOT shitheads! WE are the ones with all the right answers!"

I think people generally want mostly the same things, but have different ways of getting what they want. And that makes them look like shitheads.


In any event, I've known some kind and compassionate (i.e. not shithead) Republicans, and some mean, shithead Democrats.

I inherited my Dad' s proclivity to be able to see all sides of situations. And I have friends who are conservatives and try to give them the benefit of the doubt.

But things have seemed to go beyond a defensible point. The pattern of shittiness has become more consistent.

They think if we completely ended food stamps, unemployment benefits, etc that help the poor, the poor would be magically transformed from lazy-good-for-nothing reprobates and "takers" into hard-working admirable citizens who got ahead by pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney did.