Are the Republican candidates really this scarily dumb?

[Rum]

I was listening to the radio earlier and unfortunately missed the source for this, but they reported a debate amongst six of the republican candidates for the next US elections.

One of the questions put to the group was (rather alarmingly I thought) 'do you believe in science?' Only one of them responded that they actually did!..the rest one assumes subscribed to biblical explanations for the world around us.

Sheesh...

[MattShizzle]

Anyone who isn't a religious fanatic has a near 0 chance of getting nominated as a Rethug nowadays, as does anyone to the left of Atilla the Hun. Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco (to avoid the Godwin) would likely be considered "moderate Republcians" in the US today. Your average Democrat today would have been considered a Republican 30-40 years ago.

[Rum]

Given that the reality is that the US population is reported as actually becoming more liberal (e.g. 54% of the population now believe gay marriage should be legal) it would seem the Republicans don't stand a hope in hell... As it were.

Obama wins by default?

[maiforpeace]

It's so sad Rum. Imagine, the leader of the Republican field of nominees is a Mormon?!!?. As Bill Maher said, "Tom Cruise isn't stupid enough to become a Mormon, and Glenn Beck is."

[MattShizzle]

Yeah, it's fake, but Poe's law applies as much to right-wingers/teabaggers as it does to fundies.

[Rum]

The Republicans were great once too. Lincoln was one after all. Very sad.

[rachelbean]

Yeah, it's fake, but Poe's law applies as much to right-wingers/teabaggers as it does to fundies.

[Ian]

Huntsman seems pretty smart, but there's no chance in hell of him getting the nomination. I think he's only running to get name recognition for 2016.

I don't know about Romney - he's slick and smooth, but the only thing he consistently stands for is himself getting elected; his principles (if he even has any) have shifted by the week, and he looks like a very different candidate from the one that lost to McCain four years ago.

And while I hesitate to call Gingrich "dumb", without question he's a partisan blowhard; much of the current us-vs-them environment can be chalked up to his tenure in the GOP leadership in the early-to-mid 1990s. But all that baggage guarantees that he won't get the nomination either.

As for all the rest... yes, they really are that scarily dumb.

[Azathoth]

"believe" in science

[JimC]

Given that the reality is that the US population is reported as actually becoming more liberal (e.g. 54% of the population now believe gay marriage should be legal) it would seem the Republicans don't stand a hope in hell... As it were.

Obama wins by default?

I suspect there are quite a few Americans with rather libertarian views on individual freedoms to do with such issues as gay marriage, but very conservative on economic and military issue. They might not like some of the god-bothering stuff, but could not stomach voting for a Democrat...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"believe" in science

Well, it's just a matter of faith, just like religion.

[Ian]

The Republicans were great once too. Lincoln was one after all. Very sad.

The Republicans were once the progressive party. Lincoln, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt... those guys were very much left-of-center for their time. The parties did a political switcheroo in the early 20th century.

Your average Democrat today would have been considered a Republican 30-40 years ago.

Yes and no. In terms of social issues, the US has been moving rather steadily to the left for decades, thank goodness.

In terms of economic issues, though, we're still living in the Reagan era. Just like Franklin Roosevelt initiated a major shift in the structure of the US economy, strengthening the middle class, a shift that was refined but could not be altered by leaders for fifty years, so too did Reagan initiate a major shift after Roosevelt's policies had finally exhausted themselves by the late 1970s. The focus on generating investment from the wealthiest class will probably continue for another decade at least before it, too, finally exhausts itself and shifts into something else.

[Schneibster]

I was listening to the radio earlier and unfortunately missed the source for this, but they reported a debate amongst six of the republican candidates for the next US elections.

One of the questions put to the group was (rather alarmingly I thought) 'do you believe in science?' Only one of them responded that they actually did!..the rest one assumes subscribed to biblical explanations for the world around us.

Sheesh...

Long consideration has convinced me that the statement that the average IQ is 100 implies that more-or-less half of us have a lower IQ than 100. In other words, they're not very good at thinking. They do things like "have faith" and not-very-bright stuff like that, for example believe people who tell them they "have faith" too. The Republicans are the party that gets that vote. In order to do so they have to lie, and they do. None of those candidates are actually stupid enough to deny the fact that planes fly or refrigerators work, nor are they stupid enough to miss the implications of the fact they're not mentioned in the Babble. That is who the Republicans are, and that is why their "base" is so easily led.

[Warren Dew]

I was listening to the radio earlier and unfortunately missed the source for this, but they reported a debate amongst six of the republican candidates for the next US elections.

One of the questions put to the group was (rather alarmingly I thought) 'do you believe in science?' Only one of them responded that they actually did!..the rest one assumes subscribed to biblical explanations for the world around us.

Sheesh...

None of them actually answered "no".

Of course, if you think it's dumb to believe in god, you're going to be disappointed with all our candidates, Republican or Democrat.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

]Long consideration has convinced me that the statement that the average IQ is 100 implies that more-or-less half of us have a lower IQ than 100. In other words, they're not very good at thinking.

Actually, the scores cluster around that number. The average person has an IQ of 100.