Republicans: Taking Pride in Being Ignorant

Obama has hit back at the Republicans who have been distorting Obama’s energy policy by dwelling on his comment on the energy savings from keeping tires properly inflated. This attack on Obama fails because, not only are they misrepresenting Obama’s views by claiming this is his sole policy, but because there actually are benefits from proper tire inflation. Obama has responded:

“Let me make a point about efficiency, because my Republican opponents – they don’t like to talk about efficiency,” Obama said.

“You know the other day I was in a town hall meeting and I laid out my plans for investing $15 billion a year in energy efficient cars and a new electricity grid and somebody said, ‘well, what can I do? what can individuals do?’ Obama recalled.

“So I told them something simple,” Obama said. “I said, ‘You know what? You can inflate your tires to the proper levels and that if everybody in America inflated their tires to the proper level, we would actually probably save more oil than all the oil we’d get from John McCain drilling right below his feet there, or wherever he was going to drill.'”

“So now the Republicans are going around – this is the kind of thing they do. I don’t understand it! They’re going around, they’re sending like little tire gauges, making fun of this idea as if this is ‘Barack Obama’s energy plan.’

“Now two points, one, they know they’re lying about what my energy plan is, but the other thing is they’re making fun of a step that every expert says would absolutely reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.

“You know, they think it is funny that they are making fun of something that is actually true. They need to do their homework. Because this is serious business. Instead of running ads about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears they should go talk to some energy experts and actually make a difference.”

Maybe the Republicans really do take pride in being ignorant. Just consider the types of things many of them think. Some still believe there was WMD in Iraq or that Saddam was involved in the 9/11 attack. Some are ignorant of science and believe that intelligent design or creationism is a valid alternative to evolution. Some also demonstrate their ignorance of science by believing that the scientific consensus on climate change can be ignored because they don’t like the findings. Some are so ignorant of our own history that they are unaware of the intent of the founding fathers to create a secular government with separation of church and state. Some are so ignorant of economics that they really think that all tax cuts will pay for themselves and do not realize that this is just a con used by those who want to pay lower taxes at the time without regard for the fiscal consequences. The really ignorant ones believe all the conservative smears against Obama, just as they believed the Swift  Boat Liars and other smears against John Kerry in 2004.

Obama really is on to something in this response. Without ignorance we couldn’t even have the current Republican Party.

16 Comments

  1. 1
    Jody says:

    Sen. Obama was wrong, the GOP is not ignorant, they are STUPID.  If one is ignorant, they do not know better since they do not know the facts; A STUPID person knows the facts and still ignors them.
    I am an RVer and EVERYONE who RV’s knows you must check the tires each morning before rolling out, otherwise, one can be killed when the tire blows.  Truckers know this, race car drivers know ths, most drivers of passenger vehicles know this.  Even the stupid GOP knows this, but they want to make dumb jokes about it.  I see commercials every day reminding people to air up the tires,  If McCain acts so STUPID on something like this, what would he do as president about something that is serious, make a joke about it?  This man is at the door of dementia and is unfit to hold office.

  2. 2
    kaylie says:

    *Sigh*
    I just plain feel bad for those republicans. I just want to teleport to the RNC to ask them, “WHY did you even run for public office!!!???” Their ‘plans’ and ‘visions’ for America are so cold and cruel it makes me SICK! And how can anyone be against a man (Obama) who only wants the absolute best for this country. Sure we might not agree on some or even a lot of issues. But like I said, Obama just wants to turn this country the right way. I am done believing in politics.
    I now believe in the spirit of human goodness.

  3. 3
    maria says:

    i believe republicans are collectivly mad..and 4 more years of this and america will have third world conditions……i hope people get a grip…….and vote these thiefes out of office

  4. 4
    maria says:

    lol..did i not say it ..now we have the results ..look at the banks……look at our infrastructure…look at our non exsistant jobs……and the rich top 1% got almost 700% richer than 8 years ago……we have jobs that do not offer maternity leave…lol but woman should not have abortions..REALLY…i understand if we woman stop being slaves working in jobs with no vacation no health care no maternity leave …what would the poor rich do ….and america has a clear history …making people work for free remember slavery…now the rich dont care if you are black or white..as long as they get theirs…so go ahead vote mccain..and see if he enacts any work laws that support the workforce if his wife is stock holder of a major corporation…..republicans.the poor ones are utterly retardet……

  5. 5
    Mark says:

    U poor souls…. so easily misled ..  Study our (US) history and U will understand what the pilgrims were running from!

  6. 6
    Ron Chusid says:

    Mark,

    Misled–it is the conservatives who regularly rewrite history to promote their policies.

    As for the Pilgrims–they were running away from the same types of religious intolerance we are now seeing from the Republicans.

  7. 7
    Fritz says:

    Ron, everyone rewrites history.

    And the Pilgrims were as much running to a place where they could be intolerant as they were running to escape intolerance.

    I guess it is some mark of human improvement that the intolerant Republicans can have Catholics, Protestants, and Mormons in the same camp.

  8. 8
    Ron Chusid says:

    Fritz,

    Everyone rewrites history, but the Republicans have taken it to an Orwellian level.

    Good point regarding the Puritans. Many would have made good Republicans.

    There may be something good to be said about the Republicans including multiple religions. They certainly could be worse if they discriminated against more religions.

    The problem is that they contain large numbers from various religions which seek to use the power of government to impose their religious views on others. The divide increasingly isn’t between different religions but a divide between the more fundamentalist versus more tolerant and secular individuals within each religion.

  9. 9
    Birdzilla says:

    Liberals are so darn ignorant they must still think the world sits on the backs of four elephants that stand on the back of a large turtle that walks slowly around the sun and the stars are little lights lit by the sky people at night and blown out at daytime AND THEY ARE EDUCATED AT OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS RUN BY THE NEA

  10. 10
    Ron Chusid says:

    Birdzilla,

    You only verify my point that conservatives say things which are counter to fact to make arguments. Saying something which is untrue does not make it so, even if many conservatives believe this is the case.

    There are no liberals which hold the beliefs you claim, yet you have no qualms about making such a statement without evidence. Facts mean nothing to far too many conservatives.

    In contrast, there are many conservatives who believe in creationism. There are many conservatives who hold the other untrue beliefs I noted in the post.

    Both many liberals and conservatives are educated in the public schools. Conservatives who ignore facts such as yourself might do better if you paid more attention to what is taught in schools. When schools do have a problem with teaching facts it is often because of conservatives who attempt to force schools to substitute their religious beliefs for science.

  11. 11
    Eclectic Radical says:

    This is a very old thread, which I only noticed because of the recent activity. However, I have to state that there is a certain facet of American society (primarily, but not exclusively, Republican) that does take pride in ignorance after a fashion.

    This segment of American culture is aggressively anti-intellectual. They pride themselves on ‘pragmatism’, ‘common sense’, ‘faith’, and ‘knowledge of the way the world really works through hard experience’ while putting little value in ‘book learning’ or ‘egghead theories.’ Sometimes they even prove some of these virtues correct: Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Bill Clinton all came from this portion of American society and all were able to make use of its virtues, though it should be noted that President Clinton was an intellectual disguised as a bumpkin rather than a real bumpkin. Richard Nixon, for all his virtues, vices, successes, and failures, was also a product of this American subculture.

    The problem is that, today, this portion of American culture is overwhelmingly represented in negative fashion by unworthy exemplars entirely lacking in many of the virtues they advocate. They praise hard-hearted, tight-fisted greed as ‘pragmatism’. They extol stubborn resistance in the facts as ‘common sense’. They validate pitiless judgment of the their brother man as ‘faith’.

    These people form the hard core of social conservatives who make up the Republican base of today. Mostly they are poor, and angry about it, and facing economic disaster, and afraid of it. In their fear and anger they look for the comfort offered by the known values of their segment of society and reject the frightening unknowns which intellectualism and humanism present as they open doors these people believe best left closed.

    Some of this statement is horribly condescending and elitist and I recognize that. However, it can be important not to shrink from difficult truths. Perhaps it not politically convenient to speak these truths, but they must be known and confronted for things to change.

  12. 12
    Alexander Price says:

    For the longest time, I was under the beleif that i was un-American. However recently I came to the realization that people of my similar mindset are America. We hold the true ideas that the founding fathers held close to their heart when drafting the idea of this nation.
    A nation of the people, by the people, and for the people. Republicans are so scared of the government, as if it is a being not made of human flesh and mind, but of a sadistic terrible orginazation needing to be trimmed and held down by the people.
    The governement consist of human beings, of you and me. As a nation of human beings I see no reason to fear the government as a slummbering beast.
    The hiliarious part i find in this, is the republicans fear a big government consisting of their own parties ideas. Rich white christians getting richer at the expense of a religious tolarant nation, when they hold down America to there mentally handicapped ideals.
    I trust Obama.
    He is not an antichrist
    He is not the devil
    He is a man
    A human being with the love of this country that extends far beyond what the ignorant cynical republican party could comprehend..

  13. 13
    Ron Chusid says:

    Government is made up of people as you say. Therefore it could do bad, but can also do good. Often it is a necessary evil. Government must be watched, and protested when it does wrong. The problem with the right wing is that there is little correlation between what they protest and what is actually happening. They will protest legitimate actions by government but overlook the worst evils in recent years including going to war based upon lies and torture.

  14. 14
    John Barro says:

    » Republicans: Taking Pride in Being Ignorant Liberal Values: http://bit.ly/a9sms7 via @addthis

  15. 15
    Bill says:

    You people are very dumb if you think that putting obama in office for another 4 years is a good idea. You realize that with the HHS bill passing your taxes are going to sky rocket, or the fact that his energy bill is spending an additional 15 billion dollars a year that America doesn’t have. Who do you think has to pay for that… Its you, not obama, in fact many of his party members have been EXEMPT from paying into the HHS taxes, including himself. I will leave you with this, if you vote him in this year, you and more so your children will suffer for it dearly.

  16. 16
    Ron Chusid says:

    You really shouldn’t call people dumb when you are repeating right wing scare stories which are total nonsense. Since taking office, Obama has cut taxes for the middle class and small business. His proposed tax increases would affect about two percent of the country. In contrast, the Republican plans would increase taxes on the middle class in order to give larger tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy.

    Obama is not spending money we don’t have. In contrast to Republicans, who do have a history of spending money without funding, Democratic plans do take funding into account. If you are concerned about fiscal responsibility, it is important to vote against Romney, whose plans would increase the deficit due to cutting taxes on the wealthy while increasing military spending.

    If you want higher taxes on the middle class and an increase in the deficit, vote for Romney. If you want fiscal responsibility and lower taxes on the middle class, vote for Obama.

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