Why most conservatives are secretly liberals

The Washington Post's The Monkey Cage ^ | March 6, 2014 | John Sides

[tflabo]

They’re confusing RINO’s for conservatives.

[TigersEye]

The MSM demonizes conservatives and Republicans 24-7 for fifty years straight and ‘liberal’ is a dirty word? Mr. Sides is a lousy con man.

[DManA]

I’m burning up.

[Bob]

From “The Monkey Cage”??? An appropriate source, to say the least.

Since it’s not the complete works of Shakespeare, I can only surmise that the WP has a bit fewer than an infinite number of monkeys in their employ.

[ConorMacNessa]

Liberal? Not in this lifetime!

Pro-Life, free enterprise, small government, Free Speech, Freedom of Religion, Right to Bear Arms, and in support of all our basic Freedoms.

My ancestors came here to secure those rights - I fought to maintain them - my descendants will fight to preserve them!

America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi!

O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[cloudmountain]

Surveys are the LEAST valid way to get opinions.
I learned THAT in my stat class long ago.

[Sloth]

There’s no question that many people who self-identify as conservatives are actually liberal. Otherwise every election would be a right-wing landslide.

[dowcaet]

This article is a reach, isn’t it? We’re all closet liberals, yeah right! It’s more like most Americans are closet conservatives. Keep trying Mr. Sides. I know your liberal world is crashing all around you and you’re desperate to keep it afloat.

[KGeorge]

Bad is good.

[DManA]

No. By which I mean yes.

[KGeorge]

And then, there’s that. But I’m actually serious. My batcrap SIL is a flaming liberal feminist & this is her favorite premise. Sick stuff.

[j. earl carter]

A question for those FReepers stuck in liberal wastelands ... do the Democrat candidates use the term "liberal" in their advertising...

I think the answer is: they don't call themselves liberals because they are "moderates". Republicans are "far right", and Tea Party types are "extremists".

This position is backed up by the "unbiased" media, so it all fits together nicely.

[logi_cal869]

Does the Washington Post come in ‘quilted’, or does it only come in ‘chafe’???

[Reaganez]

There are a lot of people who are philosophically conservative but operationally liberal.

In general they support the idea of low taxes and small government.

In practice they vote for politicians that promise low taxes for people like themselves and expanding government programs for people like themselves.

A farmer who makes $100k a year supports higher taxes “on the rich” like people making more than $500k or $1m per year but lower taxes on regular folk like themselves.

They are against welfare queens in the inner city having more and more children at the taxpayer expense but support farm subsidies because “other countries are doing it and this just brings us to a level playing field.”

[xrmusn]

This position is backed up by the “unbiased” media, so it all fits together nicely.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This is just payback because a few ‘dared’ mention that 2 of their icons JFK and MLK Jr would be Conservative by today’s standards, though ‘far left’ back in the 60’s....

[warsaw44]

They use the word Progressive.

You see it on campaign brochures and yard signs.

I live in Massachusetts.

Use of the word is to let potential voters they are extreme left wingers.

[sergeantdave]

Scratch a liberal and he bleeds swastikas.

[thecodont]

Probably better to use that quiz that results in someone’s political views mapping them to some area of a quadrant.

[Frank_2001]

“What is the meaning of this cold winter?”

It’s global warming in action! /s;)

[maplenut]

As President Eisenhower once said in a speech, “growing up in Abilene, Kansas, to talk about a liberal
was like talking about the town drunk”.