Lines of the Week (“What a Difference an Election Makes” Edition)

"It won’t kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires. It really won’t, I don’t think. I don’t really understand why Republicans don’t take Obama’s offer."—Bill Kristol

"Really? The Republican Party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood and are hostile?"—Bill Kristol

“And if another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue. The college-age daughters of many of my friends voted for Obama because they were completely turned off by Neanderthal comments like the suggestion of ‘legitimate rape.'”-former Bush official, Karen Hughes.

“We’ve got to get rid of the immigration issue altogether.  It’s simple to me to fix it. I think you control the border first. You create a pathway for those people that are here. You don’t say you’ve got to go home. And that is a position that I’ve evolved on. Because, you know what, it’s got to be resolved. The majority of people here, if some people have criminal records you can send them home, but if people are here, law-abiding, participating for years, their kids are born here, you know, it’s first secure the border, pathway to citizenship, done, whatever little penalties you want to put in there, if you want, and it’s done.”—Sean Hannity.

One does have to wonder where the GOP might be today in regards to the Senate and the White House had such views been present prior to the 6th…

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Ben Wolf says:

    If they thought this way before, why weren’t they saying these things? This seems like an admission they were shamelessly shilling the whole time.

  2. @Ben Wolf: It is either an admission of shameless pre-election shilling or is now a manifestation of significant post-election disingenuousness.

    Maybe it is lesson-learning, but I have my doubts.

  3. Markey says:

    “The Republican Party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires”
    —————–
    Why not? I wanna watch….

  4. OzarkHillbilly says:

    One does have to wonder where the GOP might be today in regards to the Senate and the White House had such views been present prior to the 6th…

    Exactly where they are now… only worse. If these views had been expressed before the election, Bill Kristol, Karen Hughes and Sean Hannity would have been tarred and feathered, then ridden out of town on a rail.

  5. Janis Gore says:

    Who knew?

  6. Scott O says:

    @Ben Wolf:

    This seems like an admission they were shamelessly shilling the whole time.

    Well duh.

  7. Latino_in_Boston says:

    Prior to the election, Obama insisted that after his reelection the fever would break within the Republican party given that they could no longer try to defeat him at the ballot box. I found that to be an extremely optimistic assessment, but perhaps I was wrong. At least some in the party recognize that they cannot go on the same path they’ve been in. Of course, the entire party is not going to just come along for the ride, but we don’t need that many to pass some important legislation (particularly immigration). So, as of right now, I’m cautiously optimistic that we might actually be able to get less deadlock (especially if Reid goes through with his filibuster reform promise).

    I hope the GOP doesn’t prove me wrong.

  8. Janis Gore says:

    Speaking from some authority here, since I am (cough) a senior citizen, all this commentary about the the demographic tends being away from “conservatism” per se, are bullsh*t.

    The demographic trends are always toward conservative, because (barring bad luck or karma) we all get older, and older people are naturally more conservative of darned near everything — money, energy, health, children, property, you name it.

    I just can’t stand this brand of conservatism.

  9. Janis Gore says:
  10. Janis Gore says:

    From Elvis Presley forward, they always knew rock music would be the end of them.

  11. Just 'nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: I’ll pick option “B” from the choices you offered. I didn’t leave the conservative movement; it left me.

  12. Jen says:

    The only problem with Hughes’ comment is that the issue isn’t that these Republicans are speaking about rape. The problem is they actually *believe* this stuff. Simply not talking about it might garner them votes, but it doesn’t fix the underlying problem: they have ridiculous, crazy, and out of touch views on the subject.

  13. JohnMcC says:

    I’ve been happily cruising thru lots of right-wing, batsh*t-crazy web locations this past week. It’s wonderful! I’ve learned that Obama’s forces committed amazing election fraud, that some districts in Ohio counted 150% above the actually registered voters in those districts. It seems that also happened in Alan West’s district. Further, the United States as a beacon of liberty is dead, as anyone can see who counts tatoos on young people. And lots more fun stuff. You should all try it. Start at Townhall or Redstate and follow the links. Hilarious!

    But I did not — very specifically, did NOT — find that conservatism (as these folks think of it) is in any way flawed.

    As has been said on this site: Conservatism can not fail, it can only BE failed.

  14. grumpy realist says:

    The above would be comforting, but given that this is Billy Kristol, who has been wrong on absolutely everything, I take that any expression of sanity from him only indicates that the Rest of Teh Party is going to go further beyond the madness event horizon.

  15. Janis Gore says:

    @Janis Gore: Oh, you don’t like it. Tough sh*t.