There will be no baby eating, but short of that everybody is fair game. This means you.
The question has been raised what positive issues Republicans can run on in this cycle, as opposed to Hillary-bashing. They have made their positions clear to anybody who can get past the Dog Whistles, and I have gathered them together and translated them to plain English where necessary, on all of the top issues.
Democrats who cannot win on these issues in swing and light-Red districts and states are not trying. We should also be able to flip several states, most obviously Georgia, just by registering voters who already agree with us and getting them to the polls on or before the day. The biggest question is when we can pass a new Voting Rights Act to undo the gerrymanders, but that needs to be item #1 on the Progressive Platform, which we must put aside for purposes of this Diary.
Hillary publicly showed support for women's issues, workers' issues, Marriage Equality, and Global Warming on the first day of her official campaign, and attacked gay-discrimination-enabling RFRAs, police murders, abusive payday lenders, ACA-bashing, attacks on education, Congressional obstruction, and threats against the Iran negotiations even before announcing, within the last month. Yesterday she sent out a tweet in Spanish. And unlike many in the midterms, she is not running away from the President. We would like to hear her come out on the right side of TPP, KXL, ENDA, and other issues, but again that is not the topic of this Diary.
Now follow me into the depths of The Wrong Side.
Yes, Hillary Clinton has some issues. But compare her with this. The GOPosaurus consensus has been clearly and publicly stated, as well as a number of powerful and even more vicious minority positions within the party where the tail has had some success in wagging the dog.
Feel free to add more issues, and to provide more examples.
Full Snark Version
- We are for jobs and growth, which we will create by wrecking the economy with tax cuts, deregulation, and military spending, and not investing in education, health care, or infrastructure. Or better still, a vicious minority holds, by shutting down the government completely and cutting off its funding, both.
- We are for balancing the budget on the backs of the poor by imposing regressive taxes and by indiscriminately wrecking both welfare programs and programs that people pay for, including unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare.
- We are for women's health, which we will improve by denying access to reproductive services.
- We are for everybody's health, which we will improve by denying access to any health care services that we don't need or want for ourselves, especially Medicaid, ACA subsidies, and medical marijuana.
- We are against racism so much that it is already over, apart from reverse racism.
- We are for life, which we will protect by measures that will kill women and babies, and increase teen pregnancy and abortion rates.
- We are for students learning real-world economics by starting their careers in crushing debt peonage after substandard for-profit college educations, after substandard for-profit charter schools and teaching to the high-stakes testing regime. No civics class for you!
- We are for LGBT rights, specifically the right to not be LGBT, which we will protect via quack conversion therapies.
- We are for workers' Right to Work, that is, to mooch off union organizing without paying dues, or not to have a union at all.
- We are for freedom and democracy around the world, which we will enforce at gunpoint by breaking down all existing public institutions in your country and feeding massive corruption. Did you hear Marco Rubio call for yet another New American Century?
- We are for peace, which we will achieve by !!!More Wars More!!! starting with boots on the ground in Iran.
- We are for gun safety, which can only be achieved when everybody has enough guns to defend themselves against
everybody else'sthe bad guys' guns, especially the US military and the UN and the FEMA Death Camp goons.
- We are for immigrant rights, back wherever you came from, even if you are legitimate refugees fleeing for your lives.
- We are for religious freedom, especially freedom to impose our religion on others.
- We are for Muslim rights, which we will protect by demonizing all Muslims until they shape up and deserve them.
- We are totally for the right of Israel to be a Jewish, democratic state secure within the borders of Palestine, and to nuke Iran (and, according to a particularly vicious minority, start the Armageddon War).
- We are for freedom of speech—for money: One dollar, one vote.
- We are for
Global Warming I mean Climate Change I mean…Oh, you know what I mean! CO2 is plant food! Who needs snow?
The Actual 2016 Republican Platform Questionnaire
For realz, no snark. How could I improve on this?
Republicans are preparing to win back the White House and expand our majorities in 2016. The Republican Party is growing and is as strong as it has ever been — and our recent historic election victories prove it.
We want to hear from you: what do you want the Republican Party to talk about and focus on in the 2016 elections?
2016 ELECTION CAMPAIGNS
1. Should the national Republican Party only support candidates who adhere to our conservative principles of low taxes, small government, strong values and unwavering defense of our Constitutional freedoms?
Yes
No
2. Do you believe the Republican Party needs to do a better job of exposing the Obama record and his radical liberal agenda?
Yes
No
VALUES ISSUES
3. Should federal funds be provided to non-profit organizations whose primary function is conducting abortions?
Yes
No
4. Do you support allowing parents to use government vouchers to send their children to the school of their choice be it public, parochial or private?
Yes
No
HEALTH CARE ISSUES
5. Are you worried that ObamaCare will cause a cancellation of your health insurance, forcing you to purchase new insurance that provides coverage you don’t need, raises your deductibles and limits your choice of doctors?
Yes
No
6. Do you believe you can receive the same quality of health care and accessibility to quality care through a federal government-run health care system?
Yes
No
NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
7. Do you agree that President Obama’s weak foreign policy leadership has made our allies nervous and our enemies emboldened?
Yes
No
8. Should the Obama Administration have done more to stop the Benghazi attacks, which a bipartisan report has now determined were preventable?
Yes
No
ENTITLEMENT SPENDING
9. Should retirees be exempt from property tax increases on their primary residences?
Yes
No
10. Would you support allowing individuals under the age of 50 to opt to put a portion of their Social Security withholdings into private accounts that they control, but cannot access without penalty until their retirement?
Yes
No
ECONOMIC ISSUES
11. Do you believe Congress should demand that President Obama offset any increase of the federal debt ceiling for borrowing with equal reductions to federal spending?
Yes
No
12. Do you believe that the uncertainty surrounding the mandates and requirements of ObamaCare have caused businesses to hold back on hiring?
Yes
No
PRESIDENTIAL PERFORMANCE AND ISSUES
13. Do you believe Barack Obama has used the presidency and the powers of his office to look out for the concerns and interests of Americans like you?
Yes
No
14. Is our nation on the right track towards economic stability and prosperity?
Yes
No
Need I say more?
(This Diary began as a comment in Republicans stay focused on their caricature of Hillary Clinton, not the campaign she's running)