Well, those tactics have won them control of the federal government, and a lot of state houses. They pay no price for it; and it lets them, as Rove reputedly said, "make their own reality".
And it's like, in rural, poor areas, nothing is going to happen to help the working class. The Republicans sure aren't going to do anything; and the Democrats have this problem with reality - they talk about it, with, you know, facts, and stuff - so they can't get up in front of a crowd and say "we'll bring back coal jobs! We'll bring back steel jobs! We'll build this big beautiful wall and make another sovereign nation pay for it because, hey, I'm a blowhard and a bullshitter, and you poor suckers will eat up whatever I say!"
So the Republicans keep saying that the Democrats are stealing people's bread, and the Republicans keep providing their circus, and unless they get badly hurt for it (in the electoral sense), they'll keep doing it.
Really, it's not much different from defending a murderer or rapist who you know is guilty - you know that what you're doing isn't "good" in some fundamental sense, but, you know, you're working the system. And part of the system (both in the courtroom and in electoral politics) is telling the right sort of lies to make your side look good, while hoping that the finders of fact (be they jurors or voters) don't see through the crap.
(The above is a bit more cynical than my usual. I do think that an individual Republican who believes s/he - hah, let's be honest, 85-95% "he" - has good ideas has every right to fight a hard political campaign. And yes, that includes seizing on false information that will help you. But there are lines to cross. I feel the Republicans crossed those lines, erased them and drew new ones, crossed those, painted a big red line, and said "but this one, this one, we won't... oh, sorry," crossed that and then drew one more with "here be dragons. And disaster. Hell, maybe even nuclear war" and tried to draw a line around it, then said "fuck it" and obliterated the ground on which it had been drawn. )
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Date: 2017-03-11 04:57 pm (UTC)And it's like, in rural, poor areas, nothing is going to happen to help the working class. The Republicans sure aren't going to do anything; and the Democrats have this problem with reality - they talk about it, with, you know, facts, and stuff - so they can't get up in front of a crowd and say "we'll bring back coal jobs! We'll bring back steel jobs! We'll build this big beautiful wall and make another sovereign nation pay for it because, hey, I'm a blowhard and a bullshitter, and you poor suckers will eat up whatever I say!"
So the Republicans keep saying that the Democrats are stealing people's bread, and the Republicans keep providing their circus, and unless they get badly hurt for it (in the electoral sense), they'll keep doing it.
Really, it's not much different from defending a murderer or rapist who you know is guilty - you know that what you're doing isn't "good" in some fundamental sense, but, you know, you're working the system. And part of the system (both in the courtroom and in electoral politics) is telling the right sort of lies to make your side look good, while hoping that the finders of fact (be they jurors or voters) don't see through the crap.
(The above is a bit more cynical than my usual. I do think that an individual Republican who believes s/he - hah, let's be honest, 85-95% "he" - has good ideas has every right to fight a hard political campaign. And yes, that includes seizing on false information that will help you. But there are lines to cross. I feel the Republicans crossed those lines, erased them and drew new ones, crossed those, painted a big red line, and said "but this one, this one, we won't... oh, sorry," crossed that and then drew one more with "here be dragons. And disaster. Hell, maybe even nuclear war" and tried to draw a line around it, then said "fuck it" and obliterated the ground on which it had been drawn. )