Is there enough decency left in the Republican delegations of the 21st century to have GOP officials stand up and say, "Enough"?

That's a hypothetical question, right?

And the answer is: HA. HA.

Au contraire. They'll be stumbling over each other in an attempt to be the first to one-up that statement. And one-up the next one etc.

This has been another edition of easy answers to easy questions ...

No. This has been another short answer a la the divine Atrios. Or was this another one of those rhetorical questions we hear so much about these days?

Universal Healthcare and a functioning welfare state are considered Socialist by the Republican party. Therefore I hope that there are much more then 17 socialists in congress.

I'm both amused and revolted by GOP's inability to get out of the cold war.

I would have thought this stuff doesn't work with anyone under 70, but shortly after the election I was walking down the street of my very big, very blue American city wearing an Obama sweatshirt, and some hiply coiffed 22- or 23-year-old muttered "Socialist!" at me in an unadmiring tone. WTF?

Can we put the people who use "socialist" as an all-purpose insult in a very big room together with people who say "SATSQ" and lock the door?

Forget the GOP demanding a halt to this asinine behavior. It's the job of the MSM to put these dorks into submission. No air time will choke-off this behavior faster than any rebuke from their colleagues. I guy can dream can'r he?...

"Is there enough decency left in the Republican delegations of the 21st century to have GOP officials stand up and say, "Enough"?"

No.

This is another simple answer to a simple question (h/t Atrios).

When people die, our bodies often behave grotesquely: we evacuate our bowels and bladder, make gurgling noises, twitch, etc. The same thing is happening to the Republican party.

I would have thought this stuff doesn't work with anyone under 70

Actually, it only works with people under 70. People over 75 remember the 1930s, when Socialism saved Capitalism, and the 1940s, when Socialism helped save Democracy and the world.

I think 30-somethings who grew up under Reagan are particularly susceptible to the Eeeek, Commies! propaganda.

People over 75 remember the 1930s, when Socialism saved Capitalism, and the 1940s, when Socialism helped save Democracy and the world.

A lot of them certainly do. But just as many older folks I hear from seem have purposely forgotten the Depression and are stuck in the 1950s and 1960s.

It's been a while since I've had a long conversation with a very young Republican. I should do that soon.

Bachmann & Bachus?

I think anybody lucky enough to find themselves on this list should not only get a donation to their campaign but take any statement made by these idiots as a bach-handed compliment.

Ouch! Very punny...

Hey, as a 30-something who grew up under Reagan, I resent that. Contrary to the world as portrayed in Watchmen, kids in the 80's didn't really think to hard about nuclear war. We were too young to really grasp it. The 30-somethings are the ones who saw the wall fall, the USSR implode, and an era where it seemed like Communism was dead. I think we're pretty inured against the whole "better dead than red" line.

People who are now in their 40's and 50's probably have a better memory of how paranoid the world was in the 80's, and may associate that feeling of constant terror with the fear of communism. After all, while they watched the news, while we watched G.I. Joe, and no one ever died in G.I. Joe.

@ Stevio
"It's the job of the MSM to put these dorks into submission. No air time will choke-off this behavior faster than any rebuke from their colleagues. I guy can dream can'r he?..."
Whats this ...you writing for comedy central?
Au contrair, the MSM will fan the flams of this and make it a hot topic of discussion. I had to listen to CNN yesterday and Mourning Joe this morning rehash the "bow" to the Saudi prince. As mister jon Stewart pointed out - at least he wasn't holding his hand and kissing him. Durn Liberal Media they really make me puke.

And if you really want to be accurate about all this, there is a label for all those anti-government Republicans out there like Bachas who think people with money should be able to operate with no controls at all: "Anarchists"

Parallel universe - the only explanation I got! Such ridiculous polemics are unbecoming for anyone, let alone an elected congressional representative. It's as though members of the Republican party see themselves as comic book superheros - what delusions they hoist upon us!

I sense a tinge of a French farce coming next. I wonder just how tragic it will be when it arrives. -Kevo

Reenacting the McCarthy drama with yourself as Joe Walsh might be some liberals' fantasy. But I say instead of opening the crypt and letting McCarthy stalk the earth, we put the stake through his heart once and for all.

That is, let's reject outright the basic McCarthyite premise that there's anything wrong with being labelled a socialist at all.

I want him to release his list so I can start mailing checks. Hell, let's raise $1.7M for them - $100,000 per socialist - and yank that fucking Overton window off its hinges.

Detective Jones, Special Cliche Force:
"Can we put the people who use "socialist" as an all-purpose insult in a very big room together with people who say "SATSQ" and lock the door?"

Hear, hear.

Sadly, Bachus is one of the guys usually pointed to as one of the "good" Republicans down here. Sigh.

Kind of reminds me of the 1962 version of "The Manchurian Candidate." Every time Senator Iselin makes a statement about the number of Communists in the State Dept, he changes the number. Throws everything into turmoil, and distracts attention from his own plot to seize control. Great film. Much better than the remake. Every political junkie should see it.

The accuracy or truthfulness of the labels that we use is unimportant. We will keep reusing the same old ones and add new ones until we find some that stick with the base of our republican party, the Low Information Voters.

Therefore:
- liberal (just doesn't have the power it once had)
- progressive (just confuses our base)
- commie/red (shame it became outdated)
- fascist (even our voters have trouble linking Obama to Hitler & Mussolini)
- socialist (sounds like something horrible & our voters are buying it)

Over time, we will do more focus groups & polling to find other labels that our voters will think are negative & are willing to associate with Obama. We have plenty of time to test additional 'negative' labels against Obama before 2012.

That satire in "The Manchurian Candidate" was based on fact. McCarthy did in fact keep changing his numbers and finally settled on 57 as the number he could remember, because it was on Heinz soup cans. (see Richard Rovere's book on McCarthy)

Stuck in the '50s? - But, weren't Moose Skowron, the Mick, Maris, Vic Power and Bobby Shantz better?

Many thought the fall of the USSR took a major component from the RepuG's arsenal. All, some have needed is to simply bring up the code words in order to try to revive the past. Yes, may there be a majority of Socialists to correct our health system. And, may little Tail Gunners be shot down in flames. Now, back to the "Howdy Doody" show.

Steve:

I think you cited a poll the other day that showed that socialism is no longer the boogey-man it once was - it doesn't scare people anymore. Outrage over these comments would pre-suppose that "socialist" is a dreaded word. For these two lunatics, it still is, but for others it is not.

tomb, you overlooked Steve's link to that very post:see "over half the country" 4th paragraph.

the dreaded word still seems to work for their base.

[If there is actually anyone who hasn't seen the original movie of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE -- the remake was simply absurd -- or read the book by Richard Condon -- please do two things, skip the rest of this and WATCH IT! One of the really great movies.]

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The whole idea behind both book and movie -- and why the remake made no sense even to do -- was an 'extended riff' on a line popular at the time, "McCarthy couldn't have done more to hurt America and help the Communists if he really was one himself."

Prup: you mean like how Bush and Cheney couldn't have done more to help AlQ if they, themselves hated America?

I have a list of Congressmen that are undeniably idiots. It's a lot longer than Bachus' list, and far more important as well.

Reenacting the McCarthy drama with yourself as Joe Walsh might be some liberals' fantasy.

I take it you mean Joseph Welch, from the Army-McCarthy hearings. I'm not sure how a '70s rock star would confront McCarthyism.

What you seem to be missing is that there is a growing number of the right-wing who think McCarthy was a hero not a villian. There is also considerable discussion that they should secede and form their own conservative nation free of the wrong people. Afterall liberals and conservatives will never agree and why should they have to put up with them.

social security = socialism. if the GOP wants to eliminate it, they should go for it. again.

Answer to question in final paragraph: NO

(This has been another in the series of Easy Answers to Simple Questions--acknowledgment to Atrios)

The end of the Cold War has freed the word "socialism" from the connotations of that era, and is now used by "conservatives" (another meaningless term) to describe any government spending they don't like.

Rush Limbaugh once said on his show, "I consider all non-military spending to be welfare."

I think 30-somethings who grew up under Reagan are particularly susceptible to the Eeeek, Commies! propaganda.

As a thirty something, I would say this is largely not true. The only ones that are susceptible to it are the right-wing authoritarian types, and they only account for about 20% of any given population. Not enough to worry about. They're the people that still think Cheney is a great and honest man.

Is there enough decency left in the Republican delegations of the 21st century to have GOP officials stand up and say, "Enough"?

Well, with Democrats having not only liberal, but also moderate (Midwest, Mountain) and conservative (Blue Dog) members and the now largely Southern-only Republican Party being forced to professs fealty to Grover Norquist's insance Laffer Curve idiocy or be subject to primary challenges by those who do think more and further tax cuts continue to magically create more revenue, the answer to this question is clearly and emphatically, "No."

It now now OFFICIAL that there are 17 Socialists in the House of Representatives!

I know this because it is now a headline in The Homosexual Jewish NeoCon (Drudge) Report!

Drudge links to a Politico article that has fascinating comments, such as:
- it's all Bill Clinton's fault for forcing those poor New York bankers to loan money to n*ggers
- the truth of this claim is provided in 'Treason...' by Ann Coulter
- & of course a full list of the 17 socialists
1.Barney Frank (MA 4th) 2. Nancy Pelosi (CA 8th) 3. Barbara Lee (CA 9th) 4. Lynn Woolsley (CA 6th) 5. Mike Honda (CA 18th) 6. Peter Defazio (OR 4th)7. James McGovern (MA 3rd) 8. Steny Hoyer(MD 5th)9. John Conyers (MI 14th) 10. Caolyn Kilpatirck (MI 13th) 11. Bobby Rush (IL 1st) 12. Robert Wexler (FL 19th) 13. Charles Rangle (NY 15th) 14. Anthony Weiner (NY 9th) 15. Patrick Kennedy (RI 1st) 16. Sheila jackson Lee (TX18th) 17. Cummings, Elijah (MD7th)

And how is his comment(s) any different than the Obama attach machine going against Rush? Or, for that matter, do you remember the phrase "vast right wing conspiracy"? If you want to see McCarthyism at work, just have a look to Spain were US citizens are being investigated for their work product, while our government does nothing (which by itself is an act of agreement).

US citizens are being investigated for their work product

Huh?

I take it you mean Joseph Welch, from the Army-McCarthy hearings. I'm not sure how a '70s rock star would confront McCarthyism. Posted by: Vincent

Indeed. It seems to me the damn 70's rock star don't want to talk about it - seems to me he just turns his pretty head and walks away.

I think we can safely call this "Giving Socialism a Good Name", and be glad of it.

We need McCarthyism again...we could start by locking up most of the posters here.

The Homosexual Jewish NeoCon (Drudge) Report!

Because Jews and homosexuals are heinous, man, and should be lumped together with neocons.

SadOldVet, you're such an unthinking bigot sometimes.