At what point did you decide you were against the GOP no matter what?

[bucs90]

Saw the thread asking the opposite about Obama. And thought I'd answer another question. At what point did you realize you were against the GOP, no matter what, OR decide that you would never vote GOP again, no matter what.

My moment:

The buildup came as the right wingers across the country slowly began slashing funds for police and firemen. Some were necessary, such as bloated Cali and Jersey union deals. Others, like MOST cops and firemen who aren't union, were not. But slowly the GOP at the local level kept attacking cops, firemen and teachers. It made me sick.

And I live in Charleston, SC, smack in the middle of right wing, red state country. We are non-union, and pay very low wages to cops and firemen compared to national levels.

Then, I opened the paper, and saw a local Republican mayor GO OFF on his cops for, well, simply doing their jobs and he went nuts with the disrespect. And this GOP mayor isnt a small podunk town mayor, he oversees the 4th largest city in SC, part of the Charleston Metro area. ALL POLITICS ARE LOCAL, and local Republicans have driven me away from the entire party:


Chief and Mayor do not want speed traps | Moultrie News | Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, News, Sports, Education, Crime, Weather and Photos
Best Example of Napoleon's Rule That All Pigs Are Created Equal But Some Are More Equal Than Others
Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails critical of police – The Post and Courier

If the national GOP wants to start a comeback, they should start by getting their local yahoos in line. But...they wont. The national party is just as bad as the locals. Fuck 'em. Im glad they lost.

(BTW, the highest paid police and fire departments in the state of South Carolina are both the City of Charleston departments....led by Joe Riley, one of the very few Democrats in office in the entire state of SC).

 

[bucs90]

And what did this GOP mayor want cops doing, instead of enforcing the law??? He says

"Swails said he wants to get back to neighborhood policing where officers know who lives in each house and they warn them about leaving their garage doors open or the key in the golf cart. He said he wants to see officers reminding kids not to leave their bikes in the front yard."

He also added the "anyone can do" their job quote, along with a host of other insults.

OH....he had just slashed the healthcare benefits of his cops, and his wife got a speeding ticket for, well, going way over the speed limit.

 

[bucs90]

And, this is a video of a snobbish friend of that same mayor acting like a jackass to a police officer who was simply doing his job: UPDATE - Video Released: Discussion between officer and citizen regarding horn honking incident caught on tape | Moultrie News | Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, News, Sports, Education, Crime, Weather and Photos

Notice the story below the video, where the Moultrie News obtained emails in which it is obvious the mayor forced his chief to direct officers to, well, stop doing their jobs.


THIS is the moment I knew the GOP was no longer for me. POLITICS ARE ALL LOCAL FOLKS.

 

[TheOldSchool]

I'll bite.

I was 'against the GOP no matter what' until a couple of years ago. It started the night we invaded Iraq, the same night my war cherry was metaphorically popped. I remember watching the news and feeling really sick to my stomach and expecting the worst to come.

Then it snowballed as the GOP used their super majority to slash social rights, create the Dept. of Homeland Security (a useless money pit), the Patriot Act, abusing reconciliation, and the countless times that Bush embarrassed the office of the Presidency.

My feelings on the GOP are pretty much back to neutral. I bash them more than Democrats because, honestly, the things Republicans get outraged at are funny to me.

I could see myself voting Republican even as early as the next election cycle.

 

[Mustang]

It's a long list.

Their rejection of science and rationality.

Their rejection of pragmatism.

Their repeated attempts to inject fundamentalist Christianity into governance and attempting to reinterpret the US Constitution as being based on Biblical values.

Their rejection of governance as an effective tool for solving problems.

Their abandonment of the search for OBL.

Their push to begin the Iraq War based on a manufactured reason to disarm Saddam Hussein of his nonexistent WMDs by using scare tactics (like "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.") meant to scare Americans into supporting a war we otherwise would not support.

Shredding US Constitutional rights (for real, not metaphorically speaking) by allowing imprisonment of Americans (like José Padilla) without formal charges or a trial, embracing the torture of prisoners, and allowing the wholesale spying on Americans without court orders or court supervision.

Turning our wars into the looting of the treasury by well-connected companies while cutting taxes on the wealthy and saddling the country with the debt.

Their complete and utterly abysmal response to Hurricane Katrina despite the fact that everyone saw the hurricane coming and they told us the gov't was ready to respond.

Their abandonment of their responsibility of governmental oversight of the financial sector because they embraced the conservatives ideological fiction that the markets could and would police themselves and therefore be self-correcting despite hundreds of years of evidence to the contrary regarding human nature and greed.

Their continuous use of hyper-partisan rhetoric meant to inflame passions and divide people in a cynical attempt to divide and conquer the electorate.

Their not too thinly-veiled attempts to suppress the vote in numerous ways through laws and rules that would effectively drive down voter participation.

I could go on...

 

[dblack]

It was around the time I made the same call about the Democrats.

 

[konradv]

When they nominated Reagan. I almost voted for Ford, but four years later that was the end.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

The Faustian bargain with social conservatives, Christian fundamentalists, and the radical fiscal right; followed up with the Southern Strategy.

 

[LeftofLeft]

Saw the thread asking the opposite about Obama. And thought I'd answer another question. At what point did you realize you were against the GOP, no matter what, OR decide that you would never vote GOP again, no matter what.

My moment:

The buildup came as the right wingers across the country slowly began slashing funds for police and firemen. Some were necessary, such as bloated Cali and Jersey union deals. Others, like MOST cops and firemen who aren't union, were not. But slowly the GOP at the local level kept attacking cops, firemen and teachers. It made me sick.

And I live in Charleston, SC, smack in the middle of right wing, red state country. We are non-union, and pay very low wages to cops and firemen compared to national levels.

Then, I opened the paper, and saw a local Republican mayor GO OFF on his cops for, well, simply doing their jobs and he went nuts with the disrespect. And this GOP mayor isnt a small podunk town mayor, he oversees the 4th largest city in SC, part of the Charleston Metro area. ALL POLITICS ARE LOCAL, and local Republicans have driven me away from the entire party:


Chief and Mayor do not want speed traps | Moultrie News | Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, News, Sports, Education, Crime, Weather and Photos
Best Example of Napoleon's Rule That All Pigs Are Created Equal But Some Are More Equal Than Others
Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails critical of police – The Post and Courier

If the national GOP wants to start a comeback, they should start by getting their local yahoos in line. But...they wont. The national party is just as bad as the locals. Fuck 'em. Im glad they lost.

(BTW, the highest paid police and fire departments in the state of South Carolina are both the City of Charleston departments....led by Joe Riley, one of the very few Democrats in office in the entire state of SC).

As a Conservative, I find myself against the GOP many times.

 

[Seawytch]

I'm not against the GOP. I still have faith in what they can become. Every yin needs its yang. The GOP just needs to be a tad less yangy.

 

[BillyV]

Saw the thread asking the opposite about Obama. And thought I'd answer another question. At what point did you realize you were against the GOP, no matter what, OR decide that you would never vote GOP again, no matter what.

After reading your posts about your conversion, I was struck by an epiphany!

I've seen the light, man!!!

(Not)

 

[Oldguy]

I'm a slow learner.

I voted for Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, Dole, and Bush again before I finally came to realize, "These bastards are NOT the Conservative's I thought I was voting for." That occurred sometime during the first term of G.W. Bush and had an awful lot to do with the Patriot Act, GITMO, indefinite detention of American citizens and warrantless wiretapping.

After reading the original "Project for a New American Century," and learning about the connections between the Evangelical fundamentalist's and Tom Delay's "K" Street Project, it finally dawned on me that I had been supporting nothing less than American Fascism all along. During the first term of Bush II, they came out in the open and didn't even try to hide it anymore.

I'll NEVER knowingly vote for another Fascist again!

 

[konradv]

When they nominated Reagan. I almost voted for Ford, but four years later that was the end.

I must admit I have voted for Republicans twice since then. MD used to have a great Senator named Mac Mathias. The Dems only ever put up token opponents against him. I also voted Republican in a mayoral election, because I didn't like the incumbent. It was only a protest vote, since there was never a chance the Republican was actually going to win. In Baltimore the real election is primary day.

 

[RosieS]

When Katherine Harris threw the state to Bush when all the votes weren't counted yet. Then the Florida SC said the counting would continue. Then the SCOTUS threw the election.

The GOP is all about power for themselves and the rich and corporations. Bush stole the WH in 2000 and Wall Street and banks finished cleaning out average Americans in 2008.

A party with no respect for the American people needs to die. And soon.

Regards from Rosie

 

[LoneLaugher]

I am not.

But there sure are a lot of assholes in the GOP. I don't support assholes whenI have a choice.

 

[Zona]

My moment was when the right decided to defend bush and him attacking Iraq. To this day they still say he was right.

I dont understand that one.

 

[TheOldSchool]

My moment was when the right decided to defend bush and him attacking Iraq. To this day they still say he was right.

I dont understand that one.

Easily explained...
It's because they know Bush was... (a failure, stupid, embarrassing) ...so many awful things... but they are super really pissed at Obama for not being those previously mentioned things.