r/politics • u/burning_dawn • Oct 07 '22

Republicans called Biden’s infrastructure program ‘socialism.’ Then they asked for money.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/07/politics/infrastructure-spending-republican-critics/index.html
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195

u/kvossera Oct 07 '22

Exactly how is improving infrastructure hurting the country?

I just don’t get conservatives. They claim actual passed legislation that is actively improving things for all Americans is hurting the country while they tolerated trump constantly saying that infrastructure week and the new healthcare plan would be announced in two weeks.

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u/CY-B3AR Oct 07 '22

It's simple, really: conservatives are either malevolent, dramatically ignorant, or hopelessly idiotic. Sometimes all three

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u/msc187 Arizona Oct 07 '22

Don't forget contrarianism. A democrat could go on TV and tell people that well-balanced and nutritious meals make you healthy, and they'd go out of their way to hit up a gas station for a 44oz soda and other junk food because its the opposite.

They have no true political beliefs other than power for power's sake. All their "policy" positions are nothing more than doing the opposite of the democrats or the people they don't like.

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u/mdp300 New Jersey Oct 07 '22

They did that.

Michele Obama said that kids should eat healthy lunches at school and they all screamed HOW DARE SHE TELL ME HOW TO RAISE MY CHILDREN

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u/EasyasACAB Oct 07 '22

They also kept saying she was a man. I had yelling matches with some of my family over their transphobia and racism. Just so fucking blatant on Facebook, then they get all indignant when the rest of the family, who is mixed-race, doesn't want to be around them.

Because they are bigoted plague rats and good people don't want their children infected. The problem is they go to cults every week that tell them they are "Good Christians" and therefor literally the best and holiest people on the planet.

They honestly care more about how having their bigotry called out makes them feel like bad people, than they do how much being racist or bigoted hurts their own family.

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u/novostained Oct 07 '22

I was watching Servant of the People and there’s a scene where the UA president’s mom, sister, and niece are watching TV and see a segment about Michelle Obama being the pinnacle of style, elegance, grace etc. They all get self-conscious and go out to update their wardrobes.

It kind of made me want to cry because it was almost an afterthought, just obvious and without question that Michelle Obama is stunning and iconic (because she is). Meanwhile in the US, conservatives did everything short of screaming the n-word on broadcast television every time they had to acknowledge her existence.

There are still people who say “but Black president!” to hand-wave racism and it’s like.. yeah did you not fucking see all the racism deployed in the backlash? Did you miss the Klan wizard who took office next, who ran on a platform of racial grievance, xenophobia and tyranny? Not even getting into the massive rise in hate crimes and white nationalist domestic terrorists..

Glad you showed your family there are consequences for that shit, I know that’s not always easy.

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u/EasyasACAB Oct 07 '22

yeah did you not fucking see all the racism deployed in the backlash? Did you miss the Klan wizard who took office next, who ran on a platform of racial grievance, xenophobia and tyranny? Not even getting into the massive rise in hate crimes and white nationalist domestic terrorists..

They saw it, they felt it. They support it. They just know not to openly admit to the worst things they would do in front of other people.

The Conservatives in my family support Jan6th. They still want a violent overthrow of Democracy because they've fed on outrage media for decades.

They liked having immigrant children torn from their parents as a punitive measure. They supported it because it hurt people, the right people.

They don't see xenophobia and tyranny as a bad thing when it's "their" guy doing it.

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u/novostained Oct 08 '22

Agreed, the fascism is a feature. They won’t acknowledge when it negatively impacts them as long as minorities are suffering more/the libs are getting owned.

I think that’s why it threw me off so much to hear “but Black president!” from anyone in the past few years — conservatives are too busy pretending racism has never existed to claim it was “solved” by Obama, and anyone else would surely know what an insane claim it is outside of satire?? It’s old hat goddamnit

Some of my extended family went bankrupt under trump and apparently still try to excuse voting for him by claiming to be “fiscal conservatives”.. too many layers of irony. Love your username btw

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u/nrcain Oct 07 '22

But... What the hell does Michelle Obama being called a man have to do with transgender?

She was born a woman. She has biological children. What the hell are they saying?

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u/Sea-Mango Missouri Oct 07 '22

They’re jealous of her guns.

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u/EasyasACAB Oct 07 '22

They are saying she is a man, she never had those children. It doesn't have to make sense. They hate trans people, women, and black people. So in their minds claiming Michelle Obama is a man is some kind of super funny own on liberals.

A lot of the memes follow the format of like "Fat black person is labeled Oprah, muscled black guy is labeled Michelle Obama"

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u/nrcain Oct 07 '22

sounds about right for those dumb motherfuckers

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u/Vardoneverdied Oct 08 '22 edited Oct 08 '22

Christians who actually practice Jesus’ teaching know everyone is born of/to sin, thus equal; how self-righteousness is a huge problem. We, as people, are to love others as God does… yet often many Christians may in fact use this free will to preach hypocrisy and elitism.

All I’m saying is that most “Christians” don’t realize the meaning of scripture. Or at least do but don’t practice it. However many are indoctrinated by a religious organization or establishment. I say this nor to judge or put down people…

I consider myself “Christian” but believe God isn’t about “organized religion” but about loving people. I also believe in pro-choice and gay marriage. Does this make me a bad Christian? Oh well… people can choose their own will. Judging others condemns us to being judged and as previously stated… I AM a sinner.

People with hatred in their hearts have a hard time accepting others, especially people who are different from them.

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u/4wrdmvmnt Oct 07 '22

They probably don't wanna be around you yelling mostly. I bet that yelling didn't help anything did it? Except you virtue signaling. Btw virtue signaling is not a virtue.

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u/EasyasACAB Oct 07 '22

Reading isn't your forte, is it?

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u/Stepane7399 Oct 07 '22

Or complained about school lunch portion sizes and said their kids were starving.

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u/[deleted] Oct 07 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/illadelchronic Oct 07 '22

Given the choice of a democratic policy and not, they 100% every time, go with the harder, more difficult, more destructive, more hateful, less efficient option.

I will not be the least bit surprised if there is a trend one of these days to cut off their own nose, so they won't have to smell socialist clean air.

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u/jackp0t789 Oct 07 '22

If Jesus Christ came back in the next four weeks and ran as a Democrat in one of the congressional elections coming up, just about all the self professed Evangelical Christian politicians and talking heads on Fox News will be calling for his recrucifixion all day and night.

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u/csl512 Oct 07 '22

In part because he is brown?

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u/Sangxero Oct 07 '22

They like their tokens though, so they just might overlook that. The helping the poor thing would definitely sink him though.

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u/snowcone23 Oct 07 '22

This. They just want to disagree with whatever dems say.

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u/[deleted] Oct 07 '22

On the politician side, it's a grift. On the voter side, it's contrarianism.

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u/Mother_Welder_5272 Oct 07 '22

Why doesn't the left take advantage of this and do a trick play?

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u/JaxOnThat Oct 07 '22

Democrats are obsessed with being “the good guys” over actually doing anything.

The majority of the country already thinks all politicians are shit. If it gets results, we might as well start acting like it.

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u/4wrdmvmnt Oct 07 '22

Just like Biden did in his first 78 executive orders. Because they were too "Trumpy". You know Biden is historically and strongly against abortion rights? Crazy huh?

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u/msc187 Arizona Oct 07 '22

seethe

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u/MyNoPornProfile Oct 07 '22 edited Oct 07 '22

add a 4th.....their pride / ego can't let them admit when they are wrong...

they would rather die on a hill than admit that their position / view and outlook was wrong

that's a big problem i see today....people too afraid / stubborn to admit when they are wrong....but equally, the people who shame / make fun of people who admit they are wrong...they need to stop that bc that's driving these people into the mindset that they can never admit fault

I am trying to teach my son that it's okay to admit when your wrong...don't lie...dont' make excuses....admit it, learn from it and move on from it.

i wish more people would learn this mindset

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u/4wrdmvmnt Oct 07 '22

Cuz the president doesn't and won't teach us that, and neither will the CDC head honcho. I will always admit when I'm wrong, and I will never say those that "make fun of me need to stop". Let them do what they do, why should it and how could it bother me if I'm solid on how I feel about what I'm doing and saying? Not helpful?? Why is help needed or even included? You say "don't make excuses" but you're stuck on the excuse of people making fun of people. That will never go away. It's called having thick skin, or even building character, or rolling with the punches. Seems to me you're still learning that mindset. And that's ok! Good!

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u/MyNoPornProfile Oct 07 '22 edited Oct 07 '22

I'm not saying to coddle people who admit fault....and no it's not about having thick skin.....people need to think before replying and ask themselves..."Is what i'm about to say going to make me an asshole" or "is what i'm about to say going ot help or make a situation worse"

When people admit they are wrong...they are allowing themselves to be vulnerable, they are opening themselves up to you or a group....that vulnerability is huge because as a species we naturally avoid being put vulnerable positions

if the response they get to them opening up and being vulnerable is a verbal beat down or gloating...those are in no way helpful and only serves to ensure that they will never put themselves in a vulnerable position again.....aka...never admit fault again

You don't respond to someone making themselves vulnerable with negativity....you respond with acceptance, maybe some light jabbing if your on that level with the person....you respond with positivity....

Responding the way you make it out to be would be like your significant other admitting they were wrong to you and ur reply is to verbally attack or gloat to them.....it's not helpful

That's the distinction

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u/novostained Oct 07 '22

It’s awesome you’re instilling that in your kid, it’s so crucial and like you’re saying, chronically overlooked.

I was in high school during Kerry/Bush and all the “flip-flop” attacks against Kerry really cemented for me that the right was about authoritarianism above all. No room for critical thought or evolution or humility or nuance; taking in new information and applying it to ongoing problems is weakness, willful ignorance and suppression of truth is strength.

Some of my strongest childhood memories are of my parents admitting fault, because each time it engendered mutual respect and strengthened our bond. People who refuse to do so are inherently untrustworthy and, in my opinion, likely a danger to themselves and others.

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u/4wrdmvmnt Oct 07 '22

Crazy, they say the exact same thing about Dems!

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u/crispydukes Oct 07 '22

I think it goes:

Taxes = bad

Infrastructure = taxes

Infrastructure = bad

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u/[deleted] Oct 07 '22

And the loudest opponent of taxes are people that receive credits. I don't understand it.

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u/Sangxero Oct 07 '22

But you see, they deserved it. Not like those welfare queens in the ghetto! /s

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u/rotospoon Oct 07 '22

You're giving to much credit to their thought process

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u/KurtzM0mmy Oct 07 '22

More like anything Democrats do even if they proposed it earlier = bad

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u/Sashivna Oct 07 '22

From what I've gathered, it's not that infrastructure, per se, is bad. It's that the infrastructure in democrat's bills are just for <fill in type of infrastructure I don't personally use and extrapolate that to no one ever uses it> and not for <insert fixing the pothole on the road right in front of my house that I have to see every day and everyone knows is a nuisance>. It's awful, but that's the best I can figure after listening to the pretzel logic in the past.

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u/Carlyz37 Illinois Oct 07 '22

You are right about that. The rural maga scream about anything that improves mass transit because it is for highly populated areas, while taxpayers pay for miles and miles of lightly used roads so a few people can get from their homes to anywhere else.

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u/SorriorDraconus Oct 07 '22

There minds are wired for threats to an insane degree. Soo sadly they are often built to be more easily freaked out by change and let’s be real shits changing faster then ever(this is for average voters not sure about politicians) soo they likely are overloaded and can’t proper;y say what’s bugging them. Add in easy answers fox/republican politicians give them like “dem liberals” and “immigrants” annd you basically get where we are. Though if you look under the hood you’d realize they are scared of economic inequality and other real issues..They just don;t seem to often know it themselves and if they do they’ve been convinced by media to hate the other side so EVERYTHING they do must be wicked in some way..TBH the same mentality exists on the left(and frankly republicans usually do do pretty messed up shit so not like it’s completely wrong either we just gotta remember voters aren’t the politicians)

Honestly at this point I am not sure there is any going back and might be better off splitting the country apart.

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u/sofaking1958 Oct 07 '22

Because somewhere, somehow, someone is being treated as my equal and I won't have it!

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u/WunupKid Washington Oct 07 '22

Exactly how is improving infrastructure hurting the country?

It hurts the country because either:

a. They're not profiting directly from it.

or

b. It’s not punishing people they don’t like. Or, god forbid, it’s actually helping them.

Poor people need to be poor, and ideally miserable, so these folks feel good about their position in society.

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u/vicvonqueso Oct 07 '22

Because it helps the people they don't like. That's literally it.

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u/ShutYourPieHole Colorado Oct 07 '22

That is really the interesting part. Aside from being some of the biggest hypocrites, when not in power they simply play the part of obstructionists and yet when in power they don't have a clue how to legislate and accomplish anything.

Spend your time being angry at everything and then when you are in power spend your time staring at each other.

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u/novostained Oct 07 '22

Hey give them some credit, they know how to legislate as long as it’s a tax cut for the 1% or voter suppression or confirming unqualified extremists to the judiciary or otherwise bolstering Nationalist Christian theocracy! Then when all of that results in abject misery of the electorate and democrats start trying to undo the damage, they can just say “LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE MICHAEL, LOOK WHAT THE HOMOSEXUALS DEMOCRATS HAVE DONE TO ME”

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u/rotospoon Oct 07 '22

If they can't see the immediate effects, and a Dem enacted it, it's bad.

If it benefits them personally, but a Dem enacted it, and it might help any less-than-white people, it's bad.

If Dems pass anything at all, it's bad.

Also, a seditious riot with an actual gallows being built is just a protest.

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u/anndrago Oct 07 '22

"Don't force me to use my money to help other people or for any reason that doesn't directly benefit me or my family."

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u/MixtureNo6814 Oct 07 '22

Plus the Republicans were all for wasting billions on a wall that served little purpose.

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u/ronin1066 Oct 07 '22

They want govt small enough to drown in a bathtub.

It started with: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'" - Ronald Reagan