Friday Morning Thought. I Hate Damn Republicans. God Help Me, I Just Hate Them.
I have never in my entire life known a Republican who wasn’t smug. Think about it. You haven’t either.
Although study after study shows that Democrats as a whole are better educated and better informed on the issues (mainly because we don’t watch Fox news, I suspect), Republicans think they are smarter and at least a little bit richer than you are.
They are smug about their religion, too. I hate that part. I’m grateful for my religious beliefs because they bring me comfort, but I don’t think my religion is the only correct one. My faith is so secure that even if I were the only person on the whole planet who believed that way, it’s fine with me. Republicans don’t seem so secure. They just seem smug.
I live in a very Republican neighborhood. Bubba and I walked into a restaurant last week and one of our neighbors called us over to their table to introduce us as “our neighborhood’s Democrats.” You know, as if it were some sort of disease. Bubba smiled and obviously very jokingly and self-deprecatingly said, “Yes, there’s only one Democratic family in our neighborhood, just like there’s only one Valedictorian or one Hope diamond.” It was a visual thing. Bubba in his gimme cap and untucked shirt comparing himself to the Hope diamond was pretty darn funny. They rolled their smug little squinty eyes.
And that’s another thing. They do not “get” self-depreciating humor. Why is that? Are they really that insecure?
Anyway, I got started on this rant because Elsie sent me this article and I watched the TED that goes with it.
Nick Hanauer, self-described “super-rich” entrepreneur, gave a pretty compelling TED Talk about how the middle class—not the super-rich—are the real job creators.
It’s worth a watch.
Okay, back to the funny stuff. I just needed a rant to slide into the weekend.
By the way, I do pray that I can quit hating Republicans. God’s not doing his part in this quest because he keep putting the worst of the breed in my pathway every darn day.
Thanks to Elsie for the TED tip.
And that’s another thing. They do not “get” self-depreciating humor. Why is that? Are they really that insecure?
Yes
This has been another episode of short truthful answers to important questions. Be sure to tip your waiter.
1Your Bubba sounds like a treasure. You two, no doubt, make a terrific team. Meanwhile, I, too, worry about hating. It can split our families as well as the nation.
2Oh Juanita. That part about hating republicans reminds me of something ugly I did a couple of hours ago.
I gently told my two year old great niece, on a walk, that she shouldn’t try to step on the ants cause they’d come back as huge nasty republicans . . . . Of course she understood none of it, but I felt a little guilty.
I don’t think you can indoctrinate a two year–can you? (Of course she’d probably say, if she had the vocabulary, that I was just being mean keeping her from stepping on ants that scare her and don’t taste good).
Sometimes I just wanna be two again, even though my neighborhood is 98% democrats.
3There is a certain human nature leading to the belief of being “better” than others. When I was taught about doing cold readings for quick fortune-telling fundraiser, one of the points I most remember. Telling someone they are above average…in any number of ways…like above average intelligence is something everyone wants to hear and believe, even if they would not say it about themselves. People want to believe that they are somehow more special-in a good way-than others.
BTW: I have met and lived with non-smug Republicans. It included my father who was a genius and very much got self-deprecating humor. He would have been appreciative of the TED talk…especially as the man showed data! So perhaps one of the first steps in getting past the hate is finding one Repub you can still admit to loving, even if you don’t agree with their political view.
4@ Star – your father was, no doubt, a nice person. Republicans were nice people once. They were the party of fiscal responsibility – now they seem to be the party of hate. The party has turned into a mean-spirited mob that has no use for the type of Republican that used to represent the party. It’s been said by several that Reagan would be tossed out today, if he were to magically appear (sort of like how Jesus would be kicked to the curb by the loudest “Christians” of today, if he were to re-appear).
I can find one or two Republicans that I like or love – they seem to more bewildered by the current party than I am.
5Susan, God probably can’t hear your prayer over the cacophony of the cackling phonies. It IS the smugness that gets me the most, and it all stems from the same prayer they are drwoning yours out with:
God grant me the serenity to ignore people smarter than me, the strength to mock those who aren’t, and the inability to tell the difference.
That smug, willful, serene ignorance is a defense mechanism. Lemming number 1732 in the fourteenth row doesn’t KNOW he’s going over a cliff. He doesn’t WANT to know either. And if you show him the cliff, he will either deny its existence, or believe his leaders would NEVER take him there. To even entertain the possibility of otherwise would unhinge his little lemming mind.
A Republican’s entire sense of self and self-worth is an exercise in suspension of disbelief.
6I understand – I really do. Hubby and I have lost several (what we thought were) good friends since November 2008.
That “smugness” you observe has permeated all social interaction, and it’s not us producing the smugness. I try to avoid any conversational topic that could be construed as political (and even the weather no longer qualifies) but they just refuse to let it go.
Glad you and Bubba can still go to dinner. We have very few dinner companions left…
7Some Republicans are really nice folks, but usually those are the ones who find the Lord and become Democrats. For instance, there is a former midwestern Republican who moved to Texas that I met when she was working in the McGovern campaign (children, that was 1972). She is not only a Democrat she is also married to Uncle Dave.
8Juanita, you are the best! We love you!
9The Republicans love the Bible so much because the first Republican is in the New Testament. Smug, anti-tax, and full of admiration for his own virtue.
Luke 18:11
10My late Dad was a fox news watching republican, and I had to hold my nose when ordering books for him on the internet. He was never smug except when his ladyfriend got up on her high horse; he was full of self loathing that he was not more successful. The older and more pain wracked he was, the less empathy and generosity he could muster. I called my parents a mixed marriage because he started out a party of Lincoln Republican and Mom was a Grange Democrat – a full gospel populist who thought money was the root of most evil. After she died, he just got bitter. God, I miss them.
11Suzy, that cat claimed he was not greedy, dishonest, or adulterous. One could accuse him of lying like a Republican.
12Juanita (that was my mom’s name, too)…don’t feel bad about yourself. There is something inherently “not right” about these Bible-quotin’ folks. You can’t understand ’em. You can’t talk to ’em. And whatever you’re for..they’re against. I ranted too the other day. I came up with combinations of cuss words you’d NEVER believe…..
http://jabberwockwords.blogspot.com/
13JJ – that last line is priceless.
14A Republican friend was stripped from my list of people to hang out with after she told me that Obama wasn’t her president because she hadn’t voted for him. Mind you, this was after swearing me to secrecy when she told me in ’08 she had voted for Obama because she hated Palin. Life is too short to waste my time and trust on people who lie. I don’t hate her, but I would not spend more than one second past politeness talking to her.
Please click over and watch the Nick Hanauer video. That’s the best 5 minutes I’ve had in a long time. Maybe there are some honest rich folk out there.
15When it comes to the Rs, is there a best of breed left?
16I just had to say I just saw the Tim Leppert “empty suit” political ad and (for the umpteenth time) it just infuriated me … and I thought of this post … YES, that damn smugness is so irritating.
17For those of you not in Texas, this Republican ends his commercial by stating with a smug and condescending smile “We all know what happened the last time we sent an empty suit to Washington.” (Holding up a suit with an Obama button). I want to throw something at the TV (but then where would I eat dinner …)
My father was a white Repub who was born in Louisiana in 1925. He told me that Jim Crow laws were shameful and anytime anyone told him he should go to church he got very pissed off. He also didn’t cuss and said grace before every meal. Not at all a typical Republican. I sometimes think that he would probably have voted for Obama. My FIL is a raging wingnut but generous to a fault. So, it’s hard for me to stereotype Repubs. As far as I know, he’s never been to church. I was surprised to see him praying at his mother’s funeral.
18And then there’s my fundie cousin who detests liberals. When I told her that Jesus was a liberal she stopped speaking to me. hahahaha. I didn’t get a chance to tell her he was also a Middle Eastern Jew.
19I hate ’em, too. I swear, I can smell them from around the corner, especially during an election year. Sadly, a few family members decided to wander off into the dark side. 🙁
20Dag-nab it, you’re right! I’m registered Republican, and I’m pretty damn smug about it! I didn’t realize it until just now!
I got to vote against Pete Wilson in California’s primary (long ago), and FOR Eldridge Cleaver! I felt pretty smug about that.
I get these personal polls from the republican party asking for money. I just send every scrap of the crap right back to them; that costs them to print it, mail it, and get it back. I feel pretty smug about that.
And I love the expressions on my friends’ faces when I tell them that, too; they can’t believe it.
21Early voting is at my local grocery this year (whyohwhyohwhy) so I have to run a gauntlet of canvassers to buy a gallon of milk. It’s a sea of red here. My precinct went something like 85% for Dipsh…er, Dubya. My standard line…”No thanks, honey, I’m a Democrat.” “I know, right?? One more and we can play bridge at the meetings.”
When I’m feeling obstreperous I say, “One more and we’ll have a coven.”
22Oooh! I can’t help my self…I hate em’ too! So I am glad to learn that I’m not alone…and I only wish I could do what Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz…douse them with a bucket of water and watch them…meeelting, melting!
23I see that Dubya is going to DC for the hanging of his presidential portrait. Personally, I wouldn’t stroll across the crick to see that. Now if only they were going to hang… Wishful thinking.
Keep up the fire, Ms Juanita.
24Personally, I’d like to know how to Deal with these A-holes who’ve taken over my town and driven out the working class… I’d like to know some Tactics (offensive and defensive) I can use against them!
My hometown is being raped by the Entitled!
Most of the biggest asshole neighbors are short, fat, bald, White guys–purebred Republicans who were proud to put George W. Bush in the White House AND to have him start a war which made them all Immensely rich! These guys own young, sexy trophy wives, too. Not surprisingly
they’re virtually all hardcore Catholics of Mafia stock, or at least Mafia-minded morons. Extremely pretentious, showy, paranoid, short-tempered, and Greedy. Their worth and status is broadcast by the multi-million dollar McMansions they live in and by the luxury cars they drive.
Despite owning 4 or more garages they aren’t used. Because to use them defeats the whole purpose of owning luxury vehicles! Their massive wrap-around driveways in the front of their palaces are virtual showcases: a BMW here, a Lexus there, a Mercedes over there, and of
course there’s always at least one massive, frigging-huge gas-guzzling SUV (just in case they have to go “offroad”) to prove their Manhood. The wife frequently climbs into the SUV for the half-mile trip to Starbucks (since she doesn’t know how to make her own coffee) and Kay Jewelers (or is that Jared?) a couple times each day. And did I mention that it’s never loaded with anything, never towing anything, and never carries any passengers? Like the cars, it’s a Status Symbol to prove one’s worth. I’m still trying to figure out why a family of no more than 4 needs a freaking mansion which can house a dozen families–and has a dozen bathrooms, at that! Maybe the pet dogs and cats have to have their own…?
As I type this my super-rich neighbors is having a team of artisans hand-lay a brick driveway with each piece custom-cut on the spot and fitted. The bricks came in on several flatbed trucks in dozens of skids protected by heavy sheet metal casing from their transport from Europe!
This is about a week’s job in itself, but these pretentious assholes have money to burn everywhere.
Where are the Middle Class in America? They don’t exist anymore. It’s all an illusion. There’s the very rich (or those who want to Believe they are) and the very poor (who Serve the very rich).
I’m still here because I’m the last hold-out, for this was my home and my parents and grandparents lived here (they put the Road In way back when!). If I sellout and move, this house goes and one of the last little patches of Natural woods and wildlife will be exterminated.
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