I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one:
'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.'
And God granted it.
-- Voltaire
The Republicans, they don't really like you and me very much.
Oh, sure, maybe if you're among the top 5% they might be willing to like you, provided you believe that you don't owe anything to anybody for anything, and that you alone are responsible for the fact that you're standing on third base even though you were born there. But otherwise, no, they don't much like you and me.
Even if you're willing to go along with their whole "Christian nation" thing, it doesn't really much matter: they're only using you to vote for them so that they can drain the wallets of everyone in the bottom 95% through the incredible mechanism of government - all the while putting on a very convincing (to some) show of bemoaning that very same terrible, awful, horrible Big Government that is taking money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans and giving it to lazy, bad-smelling brown people. (And if you're not willing to go along with that, why, then, they'd much rather you just not vote.)
That, in essence, is the Republican view of the function of government:
To facilitate the transfer of huge sums of money from the bottom 95% of the populace to the top 5%
.
That's it. Nothing more than that.
So - unless you're in the top 5%, Republicans have no intention of doing anything to advance your economic interests.
And, on a pretty regular basis, they say things that reveal their true agenda in that regard. They let slip a string of words that lays bare their utter contempt for working Americans and those whose circumstances are less favored than their own.
Which is what this final diary in the "In their own words" series is about.
The Republicans, in their own words (Part 1): bats#!t crazy
The Republicans, in their own words (Part 2): bigotry, hate and violence
The Republicans, in their own words (Part 3): Big Fat Liars (and hypocrites)
The Republicans, in their own words (Part 4): 'Let 'em eat applesauce'
In this series, via the miracles of the video camera and the Internet, we remind ourselves just exactly what horrors await this nation in the unthinkable event that the people quoted here should take charge of the legislative branch of our government this January. In this series we aim, to paraphrase Stephen Colbert, smear the Republicans with their own words.
Most of the quotes in these diaries are not from random Republicans; rather, they were uttered on the record by Republicans who have been elected to or nominated for office, or who are otherwise opinion leaders among the right wing.
Please bear in mind that while well-intentioned and diligently researched, these diaries by no means will comprise exhaustive lists of their respective genres. We still have five days until the election, and since every time the Republicans open their mouths a new bit of craziness or mendacity or hypocrisy or hatred or ignorance or bigotry or contempt for working Americans comes out, I fully expect that these lists could be added to, and soon. (Also, if the Republican running in your district doesn’t show up here it might be because (a) he/she is relatively sane, or (b) he/she is below the national radar, and there just hasn't been enough media scrutiny of his/her words.)
A bit of good news for those who are (as I am while at work) video-challenged: the "money quote" in each instance is highlighted, transcript-style, so there is no requirement to view the video. In fact, you can put to good use the time you save by not watching the video by sending a donation or GOTV instead!
So, occams (you might reasonably ask) - just exactly how can I best make use of this diary series?
An excellent question. And while I'm not 100% sure of the right answer, this comment from Tchrldy in yesterday's installment certainly provides one possibility:
I am sending your series to the more moderate Republicans I know. People who are generally conservative and pro-business but who oppose the crazy and the violent turn of the Repugs toward the Tea Party. Your installment yesterday convinced someone I sent it to in California to vote a straight Dem ticket for the first time ever. He thinks the crazies must be repudiated.
And so, with that tantalizing prospect dancing in your head, let's dive in, shall we? -
First, to put all of what follows into context, a look at how Republicans view the unpleasant inconvenience of the democratic process as embodied in the distasteful reality of something called "the popular vote":
"How many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome - good government? They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
-- Conservative icon and Moral Majority founder
Paul Weyrich, speaking in 1980
Now, on to the meat:
"So if you don't have any teeth, so what? What's applesauce for? Isn't that why they make applesauce?"
-- Rush Limbaugh, responding to
Rep. Louise Slaughter's telling of
a woman with no teeth and no health coverage
who was forced to use her dead sister's
dentures
"[The current recession] has hit the people closest to me the hardest . . . I see it even in the very tony neighborhoods where I hang out, like Beverly Hills and Rancho Mirage and Malibu . . . However, as the economist I am, I try to not only watch and wring my hands, but to draw lessons and rules from the experience . . . The people who have been laid off and cannot find work are generally people with poor work habits and poor personalities . . . [A]s I survey the ranks of those who are unemployed, I see people who have overbearing and unpleasant personalities and/or who do not know how to do a day’s work. They are people who create either little utility or negative utility on the job."
-- Rightwing commentator
Ben Stein
"I made my money the old-fashioned way - I inherited it. I think that’s a great thing to do."
-- West Virginia Republican Senatorial nominee
John Raese
"Full disclosure, I happen to know [West Virginia Republican senatorial nominee] John Raese. He is a part-time resident here in Palm Beach [Florida] and he has a locker right across the, right across the bench from me at a prominent local club. I've never played golf with him, but I've met him . . . He wants to eliminate the minimum wage. He actually said it's been counterproductive. Now that's the kind of thing most Republicans are afraid to go anywhere near because the minimum wage is actually seen as a welfare program for the poor and if you talk about eliminating it they can say you're being cold-hearted and mean-spirited to the poor, but the bottom line is that, to tell you the truth, it hasn't helped."
-- Rush Limbaugh
"I hate to tell you, by Washington's definitions that [Melancon]'s using, virtually everybody in this audience is 'the wealthy.'"
-- Louisiana Republican Sen.
David Vitter, on Democratic plans to restore previous tax rates
to those making more than $250,000 a year
"[I]t doesn’t make sense that our waitresses are getting tips plus the highest minimum wage in the country . . . [minimum wage is] a hot button that people don’t really understand."
-- Oregon Republican gubernatorial nominee
Chris Dudley
"With the tips that [waiters and waitresses] get to take home, they are some people earning over $100,000 a year. More than the very people providing the jobs . . . "
-- Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate
Tom Emmers
"Well, the minimum wage now in our country, I think we have set that, and so there are a lot of people who have benefitted from that, but I think we need to review how much it ought to be."
-- Connecticut Republican senatorial nominee
Linda McMahon
"They keep extending these unemployment benefits to the point where people are afraid to go out and get a job because the job doesn’t pay as much as the unemployment benefit does. ... What has happened is the system of entitlement has caused us to have a spoilage with our ability to go out and get a job."
-- Nevada Republican senatorial nominee
Sharron Angle
"This is craziness. We’re at risk of creating an entire class of people, a subset of people, just comfortable getting by living off the government."
-- Georgia Republican Rep.
John Linder, on the growing number
of Americans whose sole income is the
$200 a month provided by food stamps
PALIN: What do you do here?
GUSTAFSON: I'm a teacher
PALIN: Oh - [exaggerated eye roll and grimace, knowing look toward her husband and daughter]
-- Former half-term Alaska Republican Gov.
Sarah Palin, speaking with a former constituent
in Homer, Alaska
"We are going for a ‘Hicky’ Blue Collar look . . . These characters are from West Virginia so think coal miner/trucker looks."
-- casting call for ad produced
by the National Republican
Senatorial Committee on behalf of
Republican senatorial candidate
John Raese
"Sometimes accidents happen."
-- Kentucky Republican senatorial nominee
Rand Paul, speaking about the BP oil spill
"Maybe sometimes accidents happen."
-- Kentucky Republican senatorial nominee
Rand Paul, later in the same interview,
about a mine collapse that killed 29 miners
"I think it is a tragedy of the highest proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown . . . I apologize . . . I apologize."
-- Texas Republican Rep.
Joe Barton, to BP chief executive Tony Hayward
"Let's not tax corporations . . . I think the solution is to eliminate corporate taxes altogether."
-- Pennsylvania Republican senatorial nominee
Pat Toomey
"I believe it is a valid question to ask whether the employer of a perpetrator should also be severely damaged, or possibly destroyed, in our legitimate desire for justice."
-- Wisconsin Republican senatorial nominee
Ron Johnson, testifying against a child-abuse bill,
on behalf of the Green Bay Catholic diocese
"We can't let the people who've been hit hardest by the recession and who need to create the jobs that will get us out of it foot the bill for the Democrats' two-year adventure in expanded government."
-- Republican Senate minority leader
Mitch McConnell, arguing for a tax cut that would benefit
only the top 3% of "small business" owners
"I'm not totally opposed to some deficit spending if it had been prioritized at . . . targeted tax cuts that would actually create demand for products and actually puts money in the pockets of business people."
-- Wisconsin Republican senatorial nominee
Ron Johnson
"I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but people will lose their homes. That's the nature of foreclosure . . . Prices need to reach a clearing point."
-- California Republican congressional nominee
David Harmer, speaking about a Democratic plan to
prevent lenders from foreclosing without proper
documentation
"I've been told by businesses that if we would stop the tax increases the best thing that could happen for business after that is complete gridlock."
-- South Carolina Republican Sen.
Jim DeMint
"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
-- Senate Republican minority leader
Mitch McConnell
"I don’t think the federal government’s involvement in education has benefited the students of America."
-- Republican former House Speaker
Dick Armey
Mr. Cantor believes the American-Jewish community is overwhelmingly Democratic because Jews "are prone to want to help the underdog."
-- Wall Street Journal interview with Republican House minority whip
Eric Cantor
And, even though they're not from this election cycle, three of my all-time favorites:
"This is an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite; I call you my base."
-- Former Republican Pres.
George W. Bush
MS. MORNIN: I'm a divorced, single mother . . . I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged . . . I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.
THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?
MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)
-- Former Republican Pres.
George W. Bush
" - now watch this drive - "
-- Former Republican Pres.
George W. Bush
