Posted on 04/27/2012 6:57:39 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
April 27, 2012
I deal on a regular daily basis with self-identified conservatives all across America who are addicted to the Republican Party. And when it comes to the impending nomination by their party of the most liberal governor in U.S. history, Mitt Romney, their reactions are overwhelmingly in line with the classic symptoms described below. We can't make them face reality, of course. All we can do is to keep pointing it out to them, in the sincere hope that they will recover in time to help save the country.
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From Wikipedia :
Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may use:
The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction. The theory of denial was first researched seriously by Anna Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts with the ability to learn from and cope with reality. Where denial occurs in mature minds, it is most often associated with death, dying and rape.
In this form of denial, someone avoids a fact by lying. This lying can take the form of an outright falsehood (commission), leaving out certain details to tailor a story (omission), or by falsely agreeing to something (assent, also referred to as "yessing" behavior). Someone who is in denial of fact is typically using lies to avoid facts they think may be painful to themselves or others.
This form of denial involves avoiding personal responsibility by:
Someone using denial of responsibility is usually attempting to avoid potential harm or pain by shifting attention away from themselves.
For example: Troy breaks up with his girlfriend because he is unable to control his anger, and then blames her for everything that ever happened.
Denial of impact involves a person's avoiding thinking about or understanding the harms of his or her behavior has caused to self or others, i.e. denial of the consequences. Doing this enables that person to avoid feeling a sense of guilt and it can prevent him or her from developing remorse or empathy for others. Denial of impact reduces or eliminates a sense of pain or harm from poor decisions.
This type of denial is best discussed by looking at the concept of state dependent learning. People using this type of denial will avoid pain and harm by stating they were in a different state of awareness (such as alcohol or drug intoxication or on occasion mental health related). This type of denial often overlaps with denial of responsibility.
Many who use this type of denial will say things such as, "it just happened". Denial of cycle is where a person avoids looking at their decisions leading up to an event or does not consider their pattern of decision making and how harmful behavior is repeated. The pain and harm being avoided by this type of denial is more of the effort needed to change the focus from a singular event to looking at preceding events. It can also serve as a way to blame or justify behavior (see above).
This can be a difficult concept for many people to identify with in themselves, but is a major barrier to changing hurtful behaviors. Denial of denial involves thoughts, actions and behaviors which bolster confidence that nothing needs to be changed in one's personal behavior. This form of denial typically overlaps with all of the other forms of denial, but involves more self-delusion. Denial at this level can have significant consequences both personally and at a societal level.
Harassment covers a wide range of offensive behaviour. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset. In the legal sense, it is behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing.
DARVO is an acronym to describe a common strategy of abusers: Deny the abuse, then Attack the victim for attempting to make them accountable for their offense, thereby Reversing Victim and Offender.
Psychologist Jennifer Freyd writes:
...I have observed that actual abusers threaten, bully and make a nightmare for anyone who holds them accountable or asks them to change their abusive behavior. This attack, intended to chill and terrify, typically includes threats of law suits, overt and covert attacks on the whistle-blower's credibility, and so on. The attack will often take the form of focusing on ridiculing the person who attempts to hold the offender accountable. [...] [T]he offender rapidly creates the impression that the abuser is the wronged one, while the victim or concerned observer is the offender. Figure and ground are completely reversed. [...] The offender is on the offense and the person attempting to hold the offender accountable is put on the defense.
Even if that parade of horribles was as true to the same degree for Romney as it is for Obama, I would still support Romney over Obama because, while there is a chance that Romney would nominate federal judges as liberal as those he nominated in Massachusetts despite the fact that he would no longer have a 90% RAT Senate to deal with, it is a CERTAINTY that Obama would nominate ultraliberal federal judges.
I opposed Romney’s nomination with all my might, and was actually a candidate for delegate on the Santorum ticket here in Puerto Rico (drawing the wrath of all of the establishment Republicans who control the party down here and who couldn’t believe that I wasn’t backing the guy whom all the local bigshots had endorsed). But the choice is no longer Santorum vs. Romney, but Obama vs. Romney, and I have to support Romney.
As to the corruption allegations, he had been tied to the Credit Mobilier scandal (though never definitively proven)and the worst one was essentially a bribe made to him from Union Pacific over the “purchase” of some worthless railroad bonds. Though it apparently wasn’t definitively proved, there was correspondence (the Mulligan Letters) in the matter that was enough to raise legitimate suspicion.
The infamous chant about Blaine stemmed from those letters, in which he cited in one: “burn this letter !” The entire chant went, “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine: Continental Liar from the State of Maine, Burn this letter !”
Of course, too, Rev. Samuel Burchard’s ‘Romanism’ speech didn’t help matters and incensed Irish Catholic voters (the irony being Blaine’s mother was Catholic and he was viewed as anti-British, two points that Blaine expected to help him amongst Irish Catholics !). It’s quite possible that had the latter speech not been given, Blaine would’ve pulled out a narrow victory over Cleveland (and had he not declined a run in 1888, probably would’ve won as Benjamin Harrison did).
The “midterm election” rule is better stated as a rule applying to the midterm of a second term presidency. FDR 1938 (GOP gained 81 H and 6 S), Truman 1950 (GOP gained 28 H, 5 S), Eisenhower 1958 (DEM gained H 49, 13 S), Kennedy/Johnson 1966 (GOP gained H 47, S 3), Nixon 1974 (DEM gained H 49, S 3), Reagan 1986 (DEM H 5, S 8), Clinton 1998 (GOP gained H 5, S 0), Dubya 2006 (DEM gained H 31, S 5).
NEITHER major party is nominating an actual conservative this year. That made it likely that the the USA, as a republic, faces rather imminent destruction regardless of outcome. We can celebrate the destruction of whomever is the loser between Obozo and Robamney. We can celebrate the handful of victories in lesser elections such as Mourdock in Indiana, and a tiny few others. Boehner, a gutless wonder if there ever was one, will STILL be a gutless Speaker. Eric Cantor will STILL a worthless ideological treasonweasel and Majority Leader in service to every corrupt interest in the land. Kevin McCarthy will still be treasonweasel in training. All three will actively seek the defeat of conservative GOP Congress members wherever possible. McConnell and other whores will STILL run the Senate caucus in service to the same interests as Cantor.
Robamney is just as bad as Obozo on the issues that count. Being a "Republican" makes him worse because he, not Obozo, can and will destroy the GOP as the political resistance to the leftists because Romney are one. We are still hearing about the evils of Herbert Hoover a full 80 years after he was obliterated by FDR. The Demonrats know how to play this game. The evils of one term of Robamney will never be forgotten or ignored in our lifetimes, or in our children's lifetimes or in our grandchildren's lifetimes.
How much do you suppose your local bigshots were paid off to back Robamney???
That’s good enough in all respects for me to claim it as my own, but then I would be a plagarist, so I won’t. Very good work.
That is why not to elect Robamney at all much less by a landslide. His election would cause each and every corrupt person and institution in the land to be joyously speaking in tongues.
Thank you and feel free.
Whether Blaine's critics were fair to him or not, such controversies in the 19th century kept Catholics from the GOP and have residual effects to this day. My Irish grandmother who arrived at 12 years of age in South Boston from the County and City of Cork and never lived in a Blaine Amendment state was quite eloquent in denouncing Blaine for bigotry. She was probably unaware that his mother, wife and daughters were all practicing Catholics which would only have made her denunciations all the more enthusiastic. My grandmother lived to be quite old and never lived a state with a Blaine Amendment. She lived only in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Blaine was a Congregationalist.
There was once a consensus among Catholics, Protestants and Jews in this country that there was nothing wrong with the conventional moral formation of children and much to recommend such formation. The loss of that consensus is a tragedy for this nation.
I disagree....by voting conservative down ballot in 12-14-16 we load the congress with conservatives.....if Romney decides not to push for repeal of obamacare we pass it with a veto proof majority....and if he pushes back against us we run a conservative against him in a primary. It is the belief of this site owner that we should vote straight conservative down ballot. All I am saying is do that and take away the veto from Romney. If he uses it we run someone against him in 16.
Yes .... vote conservative down ballot and to L with Romney run a conservative against him in 16 no matter what.
No one doubts that we should vote conservative in 12-14-16, but is Boehner a conservative? Cantor? McCarthy? McConnell? Etc. A infinitum, ad nauseam. Like Robamney and McLame, they will absolutely refuse to give conservatives the policies we want. They most certainly are utterly incapable of rebelling against a "Republican" POTUS, as you may find out to your extreme embarrassment.
Therefore: RULE OR RUIN! Purge the GOP hard or destroy it.
As to primarying an incumbent POTUS Robamney in 2026, by then, with Robamney in office, there will no longer be a republic or a GOP. Moot point.
#391: 2016 not 2026.
Feel free 8-)
Where do you get off accusing me of despising the TP?
I DO NOT DESPISE the TP folks - I SUPPORT THEM, however, I do hear a lot of crickets when wondering about what great things they accomplished since being swept into office.
Maybe I’m just not seeing all the great accomplishments in the MSM, but even on FR I haven’t seen any great deeds reported, have you? Please do enlighten me if you have a list. Don’t you wonder just a teeny-eeny bit if they’ve been true to the TP cause or not?
And, ROMNEY is presenting himself as a LEADER - you know the kind of guy that groups like the TP are supposed to get behind and support. Will he turn out to be like all the rest of “compromisers” that have preceded him or will he stand tall and be a Statesman instead of a Politician.
Look up the definitions - if they haven’t been PC’d they are two VERY different sorts of people. Politicians are a dime a dozen, Statesmen are few and far between.
At this time in this once great country’s life, we desperately need a Statesman, not another cliche spewing, kind hearted, social progressive, compromising, imitation conservative.
We need someone who will kick ass and take names and then call out and expose the named individuals and groups.
The time for namby pamby cumbya BS is long past. Without significant changes VERY soon, this country isn’t just headed for a ditch, it’s going to zoom right off the cliff.
The scale is almost tipped towards the takers achieving their plurality.
Once that happens, and another OB term will guarantee that happening, IT WILL ALL BE OVER FOR GOOD. There REALLY are a lot of voters out there that believe OB should:
give them their gas money,
pay their rent,
give em a cell phone,
give em food stamps,
pay for their rubbers and BC pills,
etc, etc etc ad nausem.
Just look at the latest OB atrocity being used to brainwash those people. “The Life of Julia” campaign ad is sickening to even comprehend, but WILL sway a bunch of voters to hand OB another four years to finish his “fundamental transformation” of the USA.
That’s why any talk of “I ain’t voting for Romney under ANY circumstances” REALLY REALLY scares to me. If 100% of registered Pubs and a bunch of Indies don’t vote for Romney, the die is cast.
I truly can’t predict what good and bad things that Romney might do if elected. I can predict, with 100%, Cast in Marble CERTAINTY that OB WILL DO MUCH WORSE things than Romney has even considered or done in the past. Not because I’ve got some great crystal ball, but because OB TOLD US what he was going to do, and has pretty much succeeded at doing so.
AND, one LAST thing. Unlike yourself, I was not specifically attacking you personally when I posted my reply.
You stated “Just to be safe, let’s get as many Tea Partiers as possible elected to Congress and the several statehouses. Whaddaya say?”
My post was meant only to:
(a)question just how valuable and/or effective the TP group has been so far, once ensconced in the cesspool that is the seat of our Federal Lords & Masters. How many of them have already succumbed to the corruption cancer therein?
(b)stress that there is ONE and ONLY only issue of ANY significance WRT the 2012 election and that is to prevent OB from enjoying another four years to continue his “fundamental change” to the USA.
Fantastic! You’re on my Profile Page.
Thanks!
Good point, of those examples of the President’s party doing well all but 1998 (where GOP lost 5 in the House, broke even in the Senate and lost state leg seats) were first-term midterms.
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