Americans now rate the Republican party at an all-time low

[KingOrfeo]

The Republican Party is already dead to me. Not because its "too far right" but because its obviously going to try to do the Stephen Harper, David Cameron thing and get rid of any actual conservative or rightist policies, particularly on social issues. That's clear from what is coming from the party leaders.

Stephen Harper is too LW for you?!

Reasons to like him
* Led Canada through the Great Recession[11]
* While he prefers to mingle with the anti-abortion crowd (see below), doesn't want to re-open debate about it.[12] Considering his religious beliefs, Harpo may be doing so only to prevent pissing off the general electorate, but it's something.
* Discontinued the minting of pennies.
* Made scholarship and fellowship grants to students non-taxable.

Reasons to "meh" him
* Put the "Royal" back in the Canadian military[13]
* Negotiated the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) with Ontario, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia, which combines the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Provincial Sales Tax (PST) intending to "improve the competitiveness of Canadian businesses."[14]
* Is in the process of establishing free trade links, from the EU to China

Reasons to dislike him
* Started creating significant deficits before the banking crisis,[15][16] and sent * Action Plan checks disproportionately to important party ridings[17]
* Eliminated the long form census which powers Statistics Canada,[18] considered one of the best of its kind today[19]
* Reduced GST rates everywhere else, a move criticized by almost every economist in the country[20]
* Appears to be a hardcore fan of supply-side theory[21]
* Reagan-smashed the Canadian Wheat Board while the majority of farmers said otherwise,[22] possibly putting them at risk to harmful agribusiness practices
* Has taken a weird stance on Israel, saying that he will "defend it whatever the cost"[23]
* Seems to have zero idea of what a logical fallacy means[24][25]

Reasons to hate him
WARNING: This list is not for the faint of heart. RationalWiki will rebate any breakfasts/lunches/dinners etc. that are lost while reading this section.
* Blindly supported the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, and has now begun to quietly emulate Dick Cheney[26]
* Is sleeping around with Blackwater[27]
* Attempted to reinstate a gay marriage ban immediately after taking office,[28] then shut down 12 out of 16 federal Status of Women offices[29]
* McCarthy-esque crackdowns on government dissenters[30][31] and liberal university professors[32][33]
* A dismal record on global warming,[34][35][36][37] muzzling climate scientists[38][39] and calling Kyoto "a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations."[40][41] He then formally withdrew Canada from its commitment to the Protocol, making it the first country of the 191 ratifying signatories to do so.[42]
* Enacted controls on the Ottawa press gallery,[43][44] thus effectively limiting (or even silencing) journalists from asking questions
* Prorogued Parliament twice in two years, the latter in fear of facing oppositional criticism over the Afghan detainee scandal[45]
* Wasted almost $1 billion in three days for security and other costs during the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto.[46][47] The resulting protests were the largest mass arrests in Canadian history, making the the 1970 FLQ crisis under Pierre Trudeau look like Quebec never wanted to separate from Canada (just watch this). If you're not raising pitchforks yet, G20 military records were found to equate "embarrassment to the Canadian government" to terrorism,[48] which speaks for itself.
* Tried to steal ballot boxes, make stimulus plan signs permanent,[49] filled the government lobby with photos of just himself,[50] continues to have the Government of Canada listed as the "Harper Government" in official communications,[51] and used Fox News lookalike Sun News to concoct an act of propaganda worthy of Failblog mention.[52]
* Was influential in halting a UN resolution to declare water as a basic human right,[53] has pressed to maintain the freaking asbestos industry[54] reluctantly ended funding for the Chrysotile Institute in May 2012 after international condemnation[55] (plus a good mocking by Jon Stewart), drastically cut foreign aid to Africa,[56] and literally wants the poor to starve[57]
Negligence over the $7 million Bev Oda scandal[58] and the "In and Out" scandal
* Let the Treasury Board President take $50 million from the G8 fund to spend on gazebos in his own constituency[59] and allowed the Defence Minister to use a search-and-rescue helicopter as a personal limo[60]
* In a terrifying hilarious move, fully copied one of Tim Pawlenty's 2012 presidential ads[61]
* Blatantly lied about the cost of 65 F-35 fighter jets (you know, the ones loved by John McCain[62]), expected to be tens of billions of dollars more than official projections[63][64] Oh, and they also have a nasty habit of losing communication in the High Arctic. Good thing Canada isn't trying to enforce its ownership of the North!
* Is in the process of imposing American "tough on crime" laws, while all evidence points to the current system working since the 70s.[65] And fibbing about the cost.[66] Shocker!
* Fired all non-Christian chaplains from Canadian prisons.
* Apparently stuffed the ballot box, using robocalls to send Liberal voters to the wrong voting locations, in the very election where Stevie won his majority government.[67][68]
* Used his majority to ram a 400-page "budget bill" through Parliament, damaging everything from the environment to social protections and opposed by almost every scientist and constitutional expert in the nation.[69][70] Once the Harper-instituted budget office realized it was probably illegal, they were told to fuck off.[71]
* Made John Lennon cry out in terror from beyond the grave

...and finally, after all of that:
* Being the first ever PM to be held in contempt of Parliament, something never before seen in the British Commonwealth.[72] Enjoy, eh.

 

[KingOrfeo]

In short, the Republican Party cannot re-invent itself as Democrat light and expect to maintain enough of its base and peel off enough Democrat voters to win . . .

OTOH, the GOP cannot swing hard-right and alienate its moderate wing and win, either. A truly (by your standards) conservative party cannot win, outside a few solid-red counties. There are not enough hard-right voters in America to form a majority or plurality.

You do understand that, don't you?

 

[tactful]

Yeah there is. Obama on the economy is 49 approve, 48 disapprove. That number had been as low as 37/59.

Yeah, well thanks for the feed back, as I didn't notice it your previous post

The opinion poll on the economy was November 6th. The people spoke loud and clear and made their opinions known.

Oh, you're speaking about the 47% ers, got ya, must have been all those hand outs, it usually works.

Of course there is. Like a typical clueless right wing Rush-lover you can't even do a modicum of research.

First off never was a Rush fan.

Economic confidence is up.

Polls are nice, but reality is better.

Unemployment is down.

And those shithead republicans tricked themselves into voting for a tax increase.

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of their campaign, and voting on taxes, as they just didn't push the right buttons, not that it would have helped all that much anyway.
It's still gonna hurt the middle class more than the big earners, but you knew that, right

You suck. Read a newspaper.

Thanks for the euphemism of suck, good to know what your family life was like. As for the newspaper, read it last night, and it disagreed with your poll, a lot, unless you're talking about gun sales and immigration rights. Now hopefully Mr. Obama will focus on the Economy just a bit more then he did in his first term, and maybe, just maybe, the Economy will pick up. And by the way, now you suck, and that would be the verb.

 

[hogjack]

Ratings of Americans are also at an all-time low, barely over 25%. Compare that with post-World War II numbers up in the 80s.

Sad.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Ratings of Americans are also at an all-time low, barely over 25%. Compare that with post-World War II numbers up in the 80s.

Sad.

By what poll?

 

[hogjack]

By what poll?

Several international and regional polls have Americans rated in the 20-30 range. It's been that way for at least a decade. Asians, Africans and Europeans all view Americans as a failed people.

However, not all agree on WHY Americans are so disrespected. But that's another topic altogether.

 

[KingOrfeo]

However, not all agree on WHY Americans are so disrespected. But that's another topic altogether.

Well, is either party particularly more to blame than the other for that, or more often mentioned? (The answer might make that topic distinctly thread-relevant.)

 

[mercury14]

Several international and regional polls have Americans rated in the 20-30 range. It's been that way for at least a decade. Asians, Africans and Europeans all view Americans as a failed people.

However, not all agree on WHY Americans are so disrespected. But that's another topic altogether.

Link?

 

[RobDownSouth]

He won't reply...

Link?

Hogjackass is not gonna beholden to you benighted fact-checker types.

 

[LJ_Reloaded]

Hogjackass is not gonna beholden to you benighted fact-checker types.

It's his reality and we're just paying rent.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Several international and regional polls . . .

More specifically, please, with cites and links.

 

[mercury14]

What's a regional poll?

 

[hogjack]

What's a regional poll?

In the case of ranking United States' citizens a "regional poll" collects polling data from the immediate and nearby neighboring countries [Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Caribbean nations [Jamaica, Bahamas, etc.], the northernmost South American countries [Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana] and Central America.

What is most amazing - though not altogether unexpected - is the consistency of how non-Americans all over the world view Americans across a variety of traits like manipulative, arrogant, hypocritical, greedy, phony, dishonest, condescending, dependent, bullying, etc. The numbers ain't good!!!

So while Americans proactively seek to spread their values globally [militarily, charity, pop culture, business, religion] it doesn't seem like the rest of the world really wants those value thrust upon them/us. However, there is very little choice. There's always some American with a gun, a shovel, a religious text or a film camera poking around.

 

[KingOrfeo]

In the case of ranking United States' citizens a "regional poll" collects polling data from the immediate and nearby neighboring countries [Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Caribbean nations [Jamaica, Bahamas, etc.], the northernmost South American countries [Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana] and Central America.

What is most amazing - though not altogether unexpected - is the consistency of how non-Americans all over the world view Americans across a variety of traits like manipulative, arrogant, hypocritical, greedy, phony, dishonest, condescending, dependent, bullying, etc. The numbers ain't good!!!

So while Americans proactively seek to spread their values globally [militarily, charity, pop culture, business, religion] it doesn't seem like the rest of the world really wants those value thrust upon them/us. However, there is very little choice.

Well, if you have that much specific information about these polls, then you must have the cites and the links.

 

[dan_c00000]

Now hopefully Mr. Obama will focus on the Economy just a bit more then he did in his first term, and maybe, just maybe, the Economy will pick up.

My whole point has been the economy has been picking up. It's just that because republicans live in a bubble they fail to see that: since Obama's been in office the U.S. has added 4.6 million jobs, have had positive job numbers for 28 straight months, and lowered the unemployment rate to under 8%.

Since you've read the newspaper so much you'll know that Obama's attemtps at job bills, small business bills, and infrustructure projects all were attacked by republicans.

Remember this was the republican plan from the start and it failed.

 

[mercury14]

In the case of ranking United States' citizens a "regional poll" collects polling data from the immediate and nearby neighboring countries [Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Caribbean nations [Jamaica, Bahamas, etc.], the northernmost South American countries [Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana] and Central America.

What is most amazing - though not altogether unexpected - is the consistency of how non-Americans all over the world view Americans across a variety of traits like manipulative, arrogant, hypocritical, greedy, phony, dishonest, condescending, dependent, bullying, etc. The numbers ain't good!!!

So while Americans proactively seek to spread their values globally [militarily, charity, pop culture, business, religion] it doesn't seem like the rest of the world really wants those value thrust upon them/us. However, there is very little choice. There's always some American with a gun, a shovel, a religious text or a film camera poking around.

You've clearly seen many of these polls. How about their links?

 

[hogjack]

My whole point...

Being fuck-stupid should not be accompanied by pride.

Please cease-and-desist.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Being fuck-stupid should not be accompanied by pride.

Please cease-and-desist.

No, sir, 'tis for you to cease-and-desist from the stupidity, and from the pride.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Moo moo buckaroo!

Being fuck-stupid should not be accompanied by pride.

Please cease-and-desist.

Can't provide any links to back up your claims, can you little lady?

Down here in Texas that's known as a classic case of "all hat and no cattle".

 

[dan_c00000]

No, sir, 'tis for you to cease-and-desist from the stupidity.

Can't provide any links to back up your claims, can you little lady?

Down here in Texas that's known as a classic case of "all hat and no cattle".

We all know he's a putz because he lists poetry as useless. I'm assuming he's never read The Raven. If he has he'd know poetry isn't useless. I don't suppose he's going to be adding himself to his own list anytime soon.

 

[KingOrfeo]

We all know he's a putz because he lists poetry as useless. I'm assuming he's never read The Raven. If he has he'd know poetry isn't useless. I don't suppose he's going to be adding himself to his own list anytime soon.

The usefulness of poetry is the same as that of art generally, i.e., esthetic . . . How is "The Raven" special?