Can The GOP Abandon Bigotry to Win Elections?

[Milchshake]

Sadly the political wing of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News uses bigotry as part of their electoral strategy. I expect Willie Gohmert to denounce these tactics immediately.

These from from two incumbent Senators of the GOP.
Republican senator deletes ad that made Jewish opponent’s nose bigger

The ad called for donations to Perdue, a Republican, by claiming that “Democrats are trying to buy Georgia.” It uses black-and-white photos of Ossoff and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is also Jewish, that have been Photoshopped to appear as if they were pulled from an old television set with poor reception.

But the Ossoff image, which was adapted from a 2017 Reuters photo of him, was also changed by having his nose lengthened and widened, even as other parts of his face stayed the same size and proportions, three graphic design experts told the Forward.

The distorted photo of Mr Ossoff was shown alongside New York senator Chuck Schumer, who is also Jewish.
"Democrats are trying to buy Georgia!" the Facebook ad is captioned.

The Atlanta director of the American Jewish Committee, Dov Wilker, also condemned the ad.
"We were shocked to see Senator Perdue's ad and to learn that Jon Ossoff's nose had been altered," he said.

In neighbouring South Carolina, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has posted an ad on Facebook which appeared to darken the skin of his African-American opponent.
The ad, intended to draw in campaign donations, made Democratic opponent Jaime Harrison appear much darker than he is.


Why cant two sitting senators and their party argue politics in good faith?

[Elegiac]

Survey says no.

My reasoning? The fact that they're having such a hard time grappling with Biden rather than someone who neatly fits the bill of the conservative identity politics boogeyman (see: Obama, Hillary, AOC). 2004 this is not.

[Antiganon]

I'm going to go with no.

[Saltysquidoon]

I mean you can't really blame them when the only republican policy position that actually matters to the millions of people they're trying to con is racist scaremongering.

Also, I get the nose thing. But why would you make your opponent (who I assume is black) more black? Surely racists don't delineate by shade?

[TexasRules]

Can't wait to see what this bait thread dissolves in to.

[Antiganon]

I mean you can't really blame them when the only republican policy position that actually matters to the millions of people they're trying to con is racist scaremongering.

Also, I get the nose thing. But why would you make your opponent (who I assume is black) more black? Surely racists don't delineate by shade?

You'd be surprised.

Racists being irrational by definition means things like how black somebody looks can actually make a difference.

[Felya]

Can't wait to see what this bait thread dissolves in to.

You think anyone will point out how the president of US accidentally retweeted a supporter screaming “White Power”?

The answer is no... Every current GOP policy is filtered through the bigotry lens. There is no other way to sell Trump helping the working class, without blaming race or immigrants. He is doing fuck all about the stimulus to help nearly 20% of Americans currently unemployed in large part due to his fuck ups. His solution? Block DACA! The Wall! China! So... no... if you remove bigotry, there is nothing left for Trump to garner support...

[Thee ANCOM]

stop it, let them sink themselves.

[Felya]

Also, I get the nose thing. But why would you make your opponent (who I assume is black) more black? Surely racists don't delineate by shade?

It’s the same exact thing... since racist are irrationally fixated on what people look like... Making people look more Jewish or more Black, has the same exact effect.

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stop it, let them sink themselves.

The solution to 20% unemployment, 150000 dead due to a virus, economy that is at a breaking point... is attacking DACA, releasing cronies from jail and sending out storm troopers to defeat the concept of Black Live Mater...

[Auxora]

It's less than 100 days to the election, neither party could drastically change their position on about anything this late in the game. But they do adapt for elections. The trend for the past 20 years for the GOP has been to shift much further to the right to try to appeal to further-right "base" voters, not the other direction to appeal to centrists.

If it becomes clear as we approach the election that the GOP is going to do badly, they might shift ad tone to be more centrist to find something that works. And if the election goes badly you may see a *slight* shift back to the center afterwards. But unless it's an absolute disaster in November for the GOP (IE Trump loses AND they lose control of the Senate) the direction tends to be like a big ship that takes a long time to change. Messages can be easily changed for ads, but actions that could risk losing their base won't happen.

[Gestopft]

It won't happen this election cycle. They're stuck where they are until the country does to the GoP what California has, and maybe they can evolve into a reasonable party.

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Messages can be easily changed for ads, but actions that could risk losing their base won't happen.

And more to the point, the base won't let the party change right now. The old, white, christian, nationalist part of the base sees this as an existential crisis for their political/cultural ideology.

[Milchshake]

Can't wait to see what this bait thread dissolves in to.

Sorry you miss the point.

It's senators Perdue and Graham engaging in cheap bait tactics. We're just pointing it out.

Why do men with with such a platform, and tremendous resources engage at such a base level?

[Antiganon]

The old, white, christian, nationalist part of the base sees this as an existential crisis for their political/cultural ideology.

To be fair, it is. They've already lost, they just don't know it yet, and losing at the polls means they can't lie to themselves anymore.

[Machismo]

Honestly, I don't know if they can. Pushing for bigger government and pandering to bigots is why I left the GOP. Sadly, there's very few conservatives like me running around, and far more authoritarians who hate foreigners and brown people.

They represent a larger market, and selling fear and hatred is a lot easier than having good policies.

[Gestopft]

To be fair, it is. They've already lost, they just don't know it yet

Yup. I actually read some of their stuff (I make an effort to read material from all perspectives)- and I came across a truly horrifying article about what the GOP should stand for. Let's just say "putting women back in the kitchen" was a fairly prominent takeaway. It was terrifying, thinly veiled theocracy, but I also thought, as a Democratic voter, that maybe the GOP should really stand for that. Hasten their demise a bit, eh?

[Stormspellz]

The worse thing I think; once they drag Donny con man kicking and screaming from the white house, like 08, The GOP's self audit is simply going to make them double down on the crazy yet again, and blame it on Trump and co saying the quiet things out loud to much

[TexasRules]

And more to the point, the base won't let the party change right now. The old, white, christian, nationalist part of the base sees this as an existential crisis for their political/cultural ideology.

Yeah, the Republican party should follow the lead of the democrats and choose an old white catholic racist as their candidate. The democrats had almost 4 years and the best they could come up with was Joe Biden. It's like the Republicans with the ACA. They had 6 years, they win the Presidency and had no plan in place. Biden is lucky he gets to hide because of the pandemic or he would be Dukakising his way out of a Presidency.

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To be fair, it is. They've already lost, they just don't know it yet, and losing at the polls means they can't lie to themselves anymore.

Like in 2016 when they were losing at the polls. You win, turn the lights off, it's over. I mean it's just July, but nothing will change, the polls.......the polls...... Just like in 2016, the polls mean everything. Keep clinging to this.

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They represent a larger market, and selling fear and hatred is a lot easier than having good policies.

You actually can post this when this entire message board for the most part admits to disliking Joe Biden but voting for their HATRED of Trump. They fear Trump and hate him, but it's just a Conservative point of view. They don't ever use fear of Trump in their speech or ever say how much they hate Trump, they never spread fear and hatred.

[Antiganon]

Yeah, the Republican party should follow the lead of the democrats and choose an old white catholic racist as their candidate. The democrats had almost 4 years and the best they could come up with was Joe Biden. It's like the Republicans with the ACA. They had 6 years, they win the Presidency and had no plan in place. Biden is lucky he gets to hide because of the pandemic or he would be Dukakising his way out of a Presidency.

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Like in 2016 when they were losing at the polls. You win, turn the lights off, it's over. I mean it's just July, but nothing will change, the polls.......the polls...... Just like in 2016, the polls mean everything. Keep clinging to this.

I mean they lost the culture war. Younger generations are nowhere near as religious, nowhere near as racist, and nowhere near as subservient to authority.

After 2016 I don't comment on election results until the polls close.

[Felya]

Yeah, the Republican party should follow the lead of the democrats and choose an old white catholic racist as their candidate. The democrats had almost 4 years and the best they could come up with was Joe Biden. It's like the Republicans with the ACA. They had 6 years, they win the Presidency and had no plan in place.

You don’t get to say shit about Biden being racist in this thread. Nor as someone who ignores Trump posting a supporter screaming “white power” by mistake... Biden was Obama’s VP, Trump removed pandemic response team, only because Obama created it.

Biden is lucky he gets to hide because of the pandemic or he would be Dukakising his way out of a Presidency.

Yes... Biden is lucky Trump is incompetent? WTF? At which point is Trump fucking up the response, the fault of Trump?

[Thee ANCOM]

I mean they lost the culture war. Younger generations are nowhere near as religious, nowhere near as racist, and nowhere near as subservient to authority.

After 2016 I don't comment on election results until the polls close.

relax, the polls in 2016 were nowhere near as favorable to Clinton as they are to Biden this time around. anyone who says otherwise is just demonstrating their ignorance.