quotations about Republicans
The original sin of Republicans is greed. Everyone understands greed. Everybody wants to get theirs. The original sin of Democrats is pity. Greed is more attractive, and a better motivator, than pity.
JOHN SCALZI
attributed, Wake Up! You're Liberal!
The Democrats have moved to the right, and the Republicans have moved to a mental hospital.
BILL MAHER
"Republicans, religion and the triumph of unreason", The Independent, August 19, 2009
During the Republican debate, every time they mentioned Ronald Reagan, I ate a jelly bean. And now I have type 2 diabetes.
JIMMY KIMMEL
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, September 7, 2011
It's an under-appreciated point. Republicans' willingness to cause a breakdown in modern governing isn't the result of broken laws, but rather, abandoned norms. Federal policymakers have long been able to do what GOP lawmakers are now doing, but traditionally, officials saw such tactics as simply unacceptable. There were certain steps responsible adults in positions of authority just would not take -- they could go to unprecedented extremes, but a sense of propriety led to a recognition that such radicalism should be avoided. Modern Republicans, however, have no comparable qualms. Indeed, they've come to believe voters will overlook, and possibly even reward, their conduct -- and facing the very real possibility that the electorate will turn over control of the House, Senate, and White House later this year, their assumptions may be correct.
STEVE BENEN
"As Republicans abandon norms and traditions, governing fails", MSNBC, February 16, 2016
There will be dire consequences to a GOP victory. What they are saying is, let's destroy the world. Is that worth voting against? Yeah.
NOAM CHOMSKY
"Paul Krugman and Noam Chomsky Agree: Republicans Are A Serious Threat To Humanity", Politics USA, February 2, 2016
All right. So Republicans are outraged, outraged, about a brand new cause nobody even knew was a cause. They say we must protect the incandescent light bulb--how dare we try to save billions of dollars in energy cost?
RACHEL MADDOW
The Rachel Maddow Show, July 12, 2011
As a young boy, I didn't know a Republican from a Democrat, only in one way: If some man or bunch of men rode up to the ranch to sit or stay all night, and my Father set me to watching 'em all the time they was there -- what they did and what they carried off -- I learned they were Republicans.
WILL ROGERS
Never Met a Man I Didn't Like
I was raised the old-fashioned way, with a stern set of moral principles: Never lie, cheat, steal or knowingly spread a venereal disease. Never speed up to hit a pedestrian or, of course, stop to kick a pedestrian who has already been hit. From which it followed, of course, that one would never ever -- on pain of deletion from dozens of Christmas card lists across the country -- vote Republican.
BARBARA EHRENREICH
Worst Years of Our Lives
The frenzy on the right is pure fear of stepping out of line with the Republican politburo and getting shipped to Siberia. This lockstep mentality is rare in American history. Here is a grand old party frozen, suspended, mesmerized, in thrall to a gaggle of showboats and radio entertainers and small mobs of fist-shakers standing staunch for unreality, and no Republican elected official dares say, "Let us not be nuts." There will be books written about this in years to come, and they will not be kind to the likes of Rep. Boehner and Sen. McConnell.
GARRISON KEILLOR
"The Old America is Fading", Salon, March 30, 2010
For me, the most disturbing aspect of the Republican political culture is how it puts its unquenchable thirst for power, domination and a radical ideology above facts, reason and the truth.
AL GORE
fundraising letter, August 20, 2007
Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons.
FRANK ZAPPA
Spin Magazine, July 1991
Fox News and their Republican collaborators are the enemy of America. The enemy of anybody who wants anything good for this country.
ALAN GRAYSON
"GOP, FOX News 'Enemy of America'", Real Clear Politics, October 21, 2009
When Van Jones called the Republicans assholes, he was paying them a compliment. He was talking about how they can get things done even when they're in the minority, as opposed to the Democrats, who can't seem to get anything done even when they control both houses of Congress, the presidency, and Bruce Springsteen.
BILL MAHER
"New Rule: Float Like Obama, Sting Like Ali", Huffington Post, September 11, 2009
My feeling toward Republicans is like my feeling about sharks: of course they're stupid and vicious. It's in their nature to be mindless, ravening killing machines. It's nothing personal. They don't know any better. Pretty much the only thing you can do about them is stay out of their waters and, if you're unlucky enough to meet with one, shoot it through its rudimentary brain with a spear gun.
TIM KREIDER
Twilight of the Assholes
Today the Republicans are getting ready for the convention. They're busy down there in Florida auditioning minorities.
DAVID LETTERMAN
Late Show with David Letterman, August 20, 2012
In the 13 months I've been in the Senate, it has become apparent to me the single thing that Republican politicians hate and fear the most, and that is when they're forced to tell the truth. It makes their heads explode.
TED CRUZ
interview with radio host Mark Levin, February 13, 2013
The Republican Party is part of a larger American discussion about the tension between equality of opportunity and protection of property, which is sort of the point of the book, that this is a much larger American discussion, and Republicans began under Lincoln with the attempt to turn the discrepancy between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution into, at the time, a modern-day political solution. The Republican Party would manage, they hoped, to turn the principle of the Declaration of Independence, that everybody should have equality of opportunity, into a political reality. The Declaration of Independence was, of course, a set of principles; it wasn't any kind of law or codification of those principles. The Constitution went ahead and codified that the central idea of America was the protection of property, so the Republicans began with the idea that they would be the political arm of the Declaration of Independence's equality of opportunity. Throughout their history, three times now, they have swung from that pole through a sort of racist and xenophobic backlash against that principle, tied themselves to big business, and come out protecting the other American principle, which is the protection of property. That tension between equality of opportunity and the protection of property, both of which are central tenets of America, played out in the Republican Party.
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
"Not the true Republican Party: How the party of Lincoln ended up with Ted Cruz", Salon, September 29, 2014
Bob Dole revealed he is one of the test subjects for Viagra. He said on Larry King, 'I wish I had bought stock in it.' Only a Republican would think the best part of Viagra is the fact that you could make money off of it.
JAY LENO
The Tonight Show
The Republican Party has understood American voters' desire for emotional engagement, sincerity, and authenticity over reasonable argument.
FREDERICK STECKER
The Podium, the Pulpit, and the Republicans
The difference between American parties is actually simple. Democrats are in favor of higher taxes to pay for greater spending, while Republicans are in favor of greater spending, for which the taxpayers will pay.
P. J. O'ROURKE
attributed, "Letter to Our European Friends", February 4, 2008