Republicans/conservatives : No one eats their own like we do.

[BuckeyeGOP]

I don't post a lot here but I do pop in and skim threads frequently from time to time especially during politically charged periods like now. I expect this to be a place where people of like ideology can discuss the good and bad about our candidates always keeping the greatest vitriol reserved for the other side. That's not the case though. If I were reading many of these threads posted here without an identifier of what website they were from, I honestly wouldn't be able to tell whether they were Dummies thread or Freeper threads. Threads here are filled with lib-like pack mentality attacks on our candidates. Someone posts a nasty comment about Jeb, or Fiorina, or Rubio or whoever and suddenly there is an explosion of hateful, often personal, attacks attempting to lay a case for why they are unfit to be POTUS. You never see this on the other side. It's as though on one hand we discount the bias media, but on the other we run with their criticisms, legitimize them, and act as though it's fine as long as WE are the one's spewing it.

I wonder how Reagan would be criticized now by our own if today were his time, and not 1980. The 20/20 hindsight knee jerk is to say we would love him. I call BS on that. Many of the same people bashing the good candidates we currently have in the bullpen today would be bashing candidate Reagan just as hard for the same superficial crap or irrelevant and inconsistant past flaws, no doubt feeding out of the trough of the MSM.

Ultimately this country cannot stand another obama-esque liberal administration. That is the most basic, fundamental goal we all need to embrace and fight against. There is a well coordinated army on the other side bashing and palinizing our candidates with surgical precision and methodology. They don't need us, but they certainly love us for helping them.

Don't misunderstand, there's nothing wrong with criticizing, I freely admit I hope Jeb fades away on one hand, while Trump the character worries the hell out of me on the other. That being said, I refuse to use the tactics of the other side to destroy the ones I don't agree with on OUR side...(and yes, they are still on our side whether you like it or not). Party loyalty is not an option, it's a necessity for us to win...that is reality. The Dems have mastered that, while we continue to fail at it. Loyalty not only by the candidate but more importantly by the voters...(us).

Whoever makes it out of the Dem nomination will no doubt be a propped-up, heavily flawed, injured, and most importantly an EASILY beatable candidate. Let's not beat ourselves...because that's the only way a dem wins again.

[MarchonDC09122009]

I agree Cruz & Trump seem to be the most conservative candidates to date.
IMHO the reason why Republicans / Conservatives are perceived as “eating their own” is due to their tendency to seek truth and have a long memory, which happens foster being critical.
Republicans devouring their own is nothing new and goes with the conservative critic ideology psychology.

On another note, has anyone mused about the political animal (exaggerated) traits ascribed to our party’s a century ago?
The Republican elephant is characterized as strong, highly intelligent, inclined toward herd and hierarchy, potentially clumsy destructiveness in stampede or stepping on things, very long memory, and are cartoonishly scared of little things. However, we now know little bad things often turn into Big Bad problems, ie Nat’l debt, adversaries, social and moral ills, bad policy, etc.

On the other hand, democrat donkeys have little admirable traits, other than being hard working beasts of burden.
Donkeys are not intelligent, don’t have a highly developed organizational structure, are super subborn, and their kicking fits cause great injury.

Today’s democrats should adopt a new animal mascot that better aligns with their role and contributions in today’s society. How about someone starting a graphic meme depicting democrats as parasitic ticks? After all the gimme-dat / gov’t worker folks are overwhelmingly democrats..

[COBOL2Java]

I’m so tired of this talk of “circling” the wagons around the GOP. Every election cycle we’re told, in essence, to vote for the lesser of two evils and we end up with an establishment candidate for president like McCain, Dole, and Romney who get hammered in the election. Conservatives gave the GOP huge votes in 2010 and 2014 and for what? Nothing. The House and Senate have done nothing to stop the administration and now you’re giving us a lecture about sticking together.

Sorry pal. No way. The establishment of the GOP has said FU to conservatives and wants no part of taking on the president and the Democratic Party. Why then vote for a Republican Party that has no principles, and no BACKBONE to fight the left!!!! If the party splinters or crumbles to ash it’s their fault. You want to keep fighting for that Buckeye then that’s your business. The conservatives, who are keeping the Republican Party afloat, have been made to feel unwelcome and won’t vote anymore for a political party that openly despises them and their ideas.

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[woofie]

In 1980 the ACU and CPAC were extremely vitriolic in their personal attacks on the B movie star union official who was really a Democrat and only recently claiming to be a Republican.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

RR became a conservative and in 1962 switched to the Republican Party.

Ronald Reagan was the governor of California for two terms, once in 1967 and again in 1971. He left office in 1975, declining to run for a third term.

Reagan was hardly an outsider to the Republican party like Trump is

[WENDLE]

Let me try to explain why the GOPe is finished in our party. Like Bill Kristol announced ,the GOPe will be going third party. What happened was they ran on abolishing obamacare and funded it 4 times. They actively and in concert with the dictator changed the Iran TREATY to a crappy statue so the dictator could veto it. They funded AMNESTY !!!!! by the dictator. They are passing a budget with baby killing in it!!!They are liars!! We are now cramming Trump right down their gagging throats and we are loving every minute of it. I come here just to read the GOPe bashing. I can’t wait until they go pathetic third party. Get OUT!!

[nomad]

Agreed, I was tempted to answer this 'lesser of two evil' hack, but then I perused the responses and saw he`s a GOPe bomb thrower.

Go ahead and check this thread out, no responses to good answers like yours. But then again we`ve answered these GOPe sell-outs before, gets tiresome.

[Norm Lenhart]

“I view the GOP as my enemy.”

Their actions are what they are. Enemy is exactly right.

The enemy of everything America ever stood for. And the enemy of everyone who values what America USED to stand for.

“USED” to because it no longer stands for those things with GOPDNC running it. A country is its leaders. Afterall the majority of it’s people elected them.

[KC_Conspirator]

Oh any of these folks we have is better than whoever the dems put up. And we do eat our own, but I would not have it any other day. We actually think and have standards - those servile drones on the left just pull what ever lever has a (D) next to it.

[woofie]

I wish like hell we had McCaine or Romney instead of Obama in office
They were were the lesser of the 2 evils

Obama was the greater of the 2 evils.

If you can’t tell the difference I can’t help you

[norwaypinesavage]

"I support Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz, and the rest of them can go to Hell. I view the GOP as my enemy."

The last time I looked, Ted Cruz was in the GOP.

[woofie]

Also we now have plenty of “conservatives” on FR who think GW Bush was evil incarnate

I guess they would be happy with Al Gore or John Kerry

Life is like that ...you don’t always get what you want.

But a bit of discernment doesn’t hurt

[Oklahoma]

Some of these Trump cultists make up stuff whole cloth. Reagan was supported by many of the ones they condemn as GOPe and RINO now. If Reagan were running this time they would be trashing him like they are Walker and Rubio.

[Georgia Girl 2]

“Someone posts a nasty comment about Jeb, or Fiorina, or Rubio or whoever and suddenly there is an explosion of hateful, often personal, attacks “

I guess nobody told you FR is a full contact sport. :-)

[chris37]

You could be right about that. It’s certainly possible that he is.

Right now my support for him hinges on my belief and faith in him that he isn’t, and that he isn’t deceiving me.

I hope that I am not proven wrong.

I am also not willing to place that belief and faith in any other candidate. I view Trump as outside of the GOP.

[RFEngineer]

You wouldn’t happen to be a Kasich supporter, would you?

[LottieDah]

“...the Repugnant party is finished.”

That sounds conservative to me....but only in Bizzaro World.

[spintreebob]

Both in direct mail I received, and in mainstream media (no cable, no FOX or Rush then) I remember continual ad hominem attacks from both the Eastern Establishment and the Conservative ACU types.

Yes, after he took office in ‘81 is lessened. And after he won re-election ACU, CPAC, etal came kissing his rear. So in ‘85 he was “warmly” received at CPAC. But the reality is that Reagan was not in the establishment; was a threat to them; and they did not like him; and by virtue of that, Reagan was very divisive within the party.

All Reagan had were the voters outside the establishments.

[Zeneta]

Here's the deal in a nut shell.

Conservatives will find the one thing they don't like about their candidates and will never vote for them, ignoring all the rest.

Liberals will find the one thing they like in a candidate, and will vote for them and ignore all the rest.

[bestintxas]

Boy, you just do not understand history.

Go read about the Whig Party which elected 4 US Presidents.
They were REPLACED because they became irrelevant, just like the Whig’s successor party, the GOP is behaving.

[bestintxas]

How can you ever call the GOP a party when its leader in the House goes against his own party by soliciting Democrats to vote in his legislation?

that is not a party, that is just plain idiotic

[TheTimeOfMan]

I no longer vote the lesser of two evils. I will vote for Cruz with enthusiasm. I will vote for Walker with reservations. I will vote for Trump but I suspect if elected he will move to center left. Carson is pretty much off my list after his last few statements. No way I will vote for any of the others.