List of Republican Positive Achievements

[stepnw1f]

I would like to build a list of possible positive achievements of the Republican Party. If there are some for the last 50 or so years please list them. I can not think of any, but that may be because of my limited political education.

My question is: "What has that party done for the American People?"

[DarkPhenyx]

1. Helped to maintain a strong military.

We may not like that we need one, but we do.

Also assisted the Democrats in "defeating Communism", though I am not sold on how necessary that really was.

[EstimatedProphet]

4. I don't buy that one

The Repubs always claim they have strengthened the military, but what the've really done is boosted the defense contractors. Not the same thing at all.

[DarkPhenyx]

6. You can't strenghten the military...

...w/o the DefCons getting richer.

[EstimatedProphet]

25. But you CAN fatten the DefCons without helping the military

which is what has been going on.
All the supposed "defense" money under Regan, Bush I&II has gone into think tanks and contractors for designing new equipment. Meanwhile, our soldiers don't even have the reght equipment, half don't have body armor, their pay is cut and they are being required to stay in Iraq instead of being reinforced. This is not strengthening the military.

[DarkPhenyx]

29. They have better weapons.

They do have body armor, unfortunately is outdated. Clinton can accept as much blame for that as anyone. Pay hasn't been cut. Yes, they are required to stay in Iraq, but they are also getting replaced. Yes, they eventually are going back to Iraq. This would be because the size of the military was cut down by both Republicans and Democrats.

[charlie]

32. No, it's not outdated

They just don't have it. It's a result of Rummy's lean and mean war on the cheap fantasy.

[DarkPhenyx]

34. Funny.

It gets issued to you as a part of your gear. You turn it back in when you leave. As a supply officer I was required to make sure everyine had body armor in a good servicable condition.

[w4rma]

59. No they don't seem to have it (U.S. troops buying own armor for Iraq duty)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/03/26/body.armor.ap/index.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=447789

[DarkPhenyx]

64. They are buying a better version.

Like I said, the stuff being issued isn't the best grade available.

[strategery blunder]

41. Wasn't family separation pay and imminent danger pay cut?

Just wondering

[DarkPhenyx]

44. No, it wasn't cut.

There was a temporary increase added to it which was either removed or not renewed. It was then returned to it's previous levels. Still kind of a crappy thing to do, but...

[Warpy]

8. Change to "maintain the WRONG military"

The GOP has maintained an imperial military and has continued the Pentagon's role of showering welfare onto arms manufacturers who are still churning out weaponry suited to winning a cold war turned hot.

We need a strong defensive military. We do not need to be in 70% of the worlds countries as an occupying force, going in to intimidate elected, reformist governments wherever they may arise. We do not need a military being used as mob enforcers for multinational corporations and oligarchies of the rich.

[DarkPhenyx]

14. Blah, blah, blah.

Democrats have had an even hand in placing us into those countires. C'mon...Republicans are not the only ones to blame for this.

[Skittles]

13. ABSOLUTE BULL

read the Congressional Record, not what republicans SAY they do.

[DarkPhenyx]

16. Look at reality...

...and don't filter it.

[Skittles]

19. READ THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

and SEE who supports the military folk and who doesn't.

[DarkPhenyx]

26. *sigh*

Forget it. You don't wish to be rational.

[Skittles]

40. LOL

FORGET IT

[strategery blunder]

43. The Congressional Record can be edited too

If a politician said something for the media whores but meant something else, they can "edit" their comments with almost no one knowing, as very few people read it.

[prodigal_green]

18. I disagree

The military that * inherited from Clinton was able and efficient. The misAdministration has overextended personnel, provided inferior protection, relied upon unreliable informants (Chalabi) and consorted with corrupt contractors.

The military is so much weaker now under * that the government is now seriously considering reinstating the draft.

[DarkPhenyx]

23. And the one Clinton inherited from Regan/Bush was able and efficient.

Waht's your point?

The question is about Republicnas in general. Not Bush the lesser or even Republican Presidents.

[leftofthedial]

38. actually not true

Bush the First had just slashed the size of the military--iincluding enlisted pay--with no plan in place for restructuring it to meet the new needs of a post-COld War world.

the creation of a smaller, more mobile military was left to Clinton.

[DarkPhenyx]

42. Actually quite true.

I was a member of that military, as well as Clinton's.

[Skittles]

46. LOL

for the record, a great number of military people are horribly misinformed, trained like monkeys to believe everything repugs do and say is good.

[DarkPhenyx]

48. Ohhh, nice slam on the military and every soldier that ever served.

Way to go. Nice to know we are all stupid, club carrying cave men in your opinion, who are totally unenlightened and wholly w/o redeaming value. Sweet.

And we wonder why most service members vote Republican.

[Skittles]

52. you are being utterly silly now

most service members vote repug BECAUSE they are misinformed. I know because I am a GI brat and a veteran.

[DarkPhenyx]

53. You say they are misinformed.

They say they are better informed. You are a traitor to your uniform. They are true soldiers. Bottom line is it is your opinion. Nice fact.

[Skittles]

54. *sigh*

lost cause

[DarkPhenyx]

55. I was thinking the same thing.

Too bad really. I don't generally give up on people.

[Skittles]

56. I do

when they are lost causes. Republicans have always treated the military like second class citizens - right now they are getting SOLDIERS KILLED EVERY DAY while trying to reduce their benefits, all the while waving the war flag. *SICKENING*

[DarkPhenyx]

57. And Democrats never get soldiers killed for no good reason?

We have never treated out soldiers as second class citizens? Never spit on them? Never berated them for serving their country?

Please. You know better than that. Or I would at least hope you do.

[Skittles]

61. SPITTING

=PROPAGANDA BLOWN WAY OUT OF PROPORTION. Thank you for clarifying for me exactly where you are coming from; THIS is the last response you will EVER receive from me.

[Karenina]

65. Slam Dunk

ASS not worth kicking, ;-)

[DarkPhenyx]

67. BS.

Not even close. Avoidance of a subject and running off to pout is so not a slam dunk. It didn't even hit the rim.

[Forkboy]

69. It was a slam dunk in my eyes

and a touchdown,a wicked hard slapshot and a home run :shrug:

[DarkPhenyx]

73. running away, pouting, and refusing to respond to a question ...

is a victory? Wow! THe Bush Adminsitration is winning then. That's all they seem to be doing too.

[Karenina]

79. Who died

and appointed you ref? Do I need to KICK YOUR ASS??? :-) Skittles TM.

[DarkPhenyx]

82. Na, no need.

I am so not in charge.

[stepnw1f]

62. WOW...What a thing to say

Especially to a vet. Who the hell do you think you are!? A traitor because he doesn't agree with you opinion? WTF?!

[DarkPhenyx]

66. You misread it.

There are some in uniform who would say that her having the opinion that she does makes her a traitor to the uniform.

[Forkboy]

70. Misread it?

You are a traitor to your uniform.

:silly:

[DarkPhenyx]

71. please re-read the entire exchange.

you are missing the qualifiers about it being a point of view from others.

[stepnw1f]

72. Whatever

You are transparent and now on ignore.

[DarkPhenyx]

74. Yippie! I'm on someones ignore!

*puts another one in the win column*

Now I can crack open a beer and celebrate.

Go Me!

[dpbrown]

75. Bush Sr. oversaw the biggest military drawdown in US history

Part of trying to paper over the disaster-in-the-making that the doddering California pretender created by bankrupting the nation trying to create a bloated state-of-the-art navy.

Eisenhower warned the world about the military-industrial(-Congressional) Complex, because the Republicans in the 1950s had invented the phenomenon of "cost creep" whereby whatever was bid by military contractors would cost whatever money Congress had authorized for the system.

So, Republicans going backwards:

Bush, Jr. is a sociopath bent on world domination. Um, not good for military morale or strength.

Bush, Sr. tried to save the nation from Reagan's excess, and created a huge drawdown.

Nixon humiliated the military by subsuming it under the CIA and Kissinger and their plan to destroy Laos and Cambodia.

Eisenhower warned us the Cold War Republicans were setting up a rigged system to loot the nation using the Cold War as an excuse to funnel unchecked sums to military contractors.

Hoover was a loser.

Lincoln killed more military than any Commander-in-Chief in United States history.

Republicans royally SUCK at creating, maintaining, or building a military. All they do is PROJECT military superiority.

Here's the appropriate analogy for Republicans and the military:

Republicans are to the military as Codpiece is to Bush the Fake Airman - hollow, pretend, and all-promise-no-delivery.

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[tabasco]

78. LMAO - they waste money on corporate enrichment projects

like Star Wars which doesn't do a damn thing for national defense. And yes, I was in Reagan and Clinton's military. The repugs enrich the military industrial corporations, which does not translate into a better or more efficient military. I was in the infantry, and we didn't get squat under Reagan. Under Clinton, we got new radios, vehicles, machineguns, mortars, and boots.

[EstimatedProphet]

2. It's made them more cynical, selfish and greedy

That's about it.
Oh, and racist too.

[goclark]

3. Hummm

Nothing comes to mind.

Well,maybe I can say that Republicans have caused us to examine our core beliefs and determine what true JUSTICE is really about..they do keep us on our toes.

[displacedtexan]

5. The only things I can think of...

Coughing up phlegm as I type this...
Nixon (must have been that Quaker background) recognized the sovereign rights of Native Americans, and he began to normalize relations with China.

I never thought I would cite Nixon as a shining example of US presidential policy.

[DarkPhenyx]

10. Only thing Nixon did wrong was...

...get caught.

[EstimatedProphet]

27. The only thing?

So breach of faith with the Constitution wasn't wrong?

[DarkPhenyx]

31. No, not that it wasn't wrong.

Just not unique. The only difference between Dick and the others is that he got caught at it.

[Warpy]

30. Nixon was a mixed bag

He signed the EPA into law.

He started the war on drugs, but had rehab, not interdiction and punishment, as its cornerstone.

He was elected on a "secret plan to end the war." While he reduced the number of US troops in Vietnam, he allowed the war itself to drag on. Reducing the number of troops may or may not have saved any lives, leaving fewer to do the same job, as well as fewer to get shot doing it.

Nixon was, IMO, the last GOP president to care more about the country than rich and corporate cronies, although gawd knows he had them.

It's sad to be nostalgic for Nixon, who did a few things for us as well as many things to us. His successors have only accomplished the latter.

[rucky]

7. Lincoln Freed The Slaves

Let's set the wayback machine to the 1860s, Sherman.

[stepnw1f]

15. Ony in the last 50 years

Partys were a lot different then.

[Gildor Inglorion]

17. Sherman refusing to run for President WAS positive

What he did before that was unspeakable barbarism at its worst. I'm a Georgian and a proud liberal Democrat, but nothing will ever convince me that Sherman was anything other than a monster.

[rucky]

33. Sherman....as in Peabody's pet boy

[dwckabal]

60. While Sherman probably went too far in Atlanta

but it is well known that Confederate troops set fire to munitions plants and factories in Savannah and Columbia during their retreat to deprive the Union Army of those supplies (good example: Richmond).

Lots of apocryphal stories have arisen about Sherman, and he unfairly takes the blame for almost all of the destruction of the South.

[DarkPhenyx]

9. Let's try and give an honest look at this ok?

Letting your bigotry and bias talk for you only proves that you are bigoted and biased.

[Generic Other]

77. You want a list of GOP's positive public achievements?

Well chew on this: they are positively crooked, positively repulsive, positively avaricious, postively heartless, positively without morals, positively disgusting, positively selfish, positively without redeeming qualities, and positively ludicrous.

Sign me "bigoted and biased" against every rat's ass republican in this country. Everytime I see or hear one spout off, I want to slap him silly.

YOU GOT THAT? I HATE Republicans!!!

And people like me? We even have a themesong!

http://www.ericblumrich.com/ihr.html

[trotsky]

11. Eisenhower & the Interstate Highway System

Easily moving goods & people all over the country did wonders for the economy.

[lectrobyte]

21. and he tried to warn us

about the military-industrial complex.

[Karenina]

68. Yes, he CERTAINLY DID.

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

[SOS]

36. True, but not really the intent

The National Defense Highway System was based on the German Autobahn system.

From globalsecurity.org:

"When President Eisenhower went to Kansas to announce the interstate highway system, he announced it as "the National Defense Highway System." In 1956 President Eisenhower signed legislation establishing the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (about 41,000 miles of roads). Since then, DOD has continued to identify and update defense-important highway routes. The National Defense Highway system was designed to move military equipment and personnel efficiently."

Moving people and goods was a byproduct of the initiative, but the intent was military mobility during the Cold War.

[leftofthedial]

39. the military use was certainly key in selling it

However, its peaceful uses were well known and anticipated as well.

[Gildor Inglorion]

12. Nixon/Kissinger China policy

An incredible, almost unimaginable breakthrough at the time. Maybe it was cynical politics, but it did have a positive outcome.

[Zynx]

49. I'm not sure it is a positive thing to deal with tyrants like Mao.

On the other hand, Nixon had no trouble supporting a half dozen dictators in Latin America and elsewhere so its not surprising.

[tandot]

20. depends on who you are asking

If you ask Ann Coulter, she might come up with several hundreds "positive" achievements. The same for filthy rich people and greedy companies, or religious fanatics.

I can't think of anything that I would consider positive, but then, I might be very biased and not the most politically educated person here.

(edited to add comment)

[charlie]

22. Interstate highway

It would've been born much later without Eisenhower's relentless advocacy. A wondrous achievement, a testament to the man, a Republican at the time, not to the squalid nest of malcontents his party has become.

[mcd1982]

24. wasn't...

the Clean Air Act and the like signed by President Nixon?

[Roaming]

28. We had some really good econonic times under Reagan... also

Cold War over / Berlin wall down...

[The Night Owl]

35. Excuse me?

Try the following article on for size...

Give Ronald Reagan Credit for Ending the Cold War? What Cold War?
The myth the Politicians Manufactured

Robert Whealey

http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/2605

The Real Reagan Legacy
Debunking Myths About Reagan
by Mike Hersh

http://www.americanpolitics.com/20020319Hersh.html

[Zorra]

51. Good post. Reagan was an awful president.

RW media has convinced Americans that he was some kind of hero. The facts prove otherwise. A very corrupt administration.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

37. Our national parks system...

was originated by Teddy R. and Nixon was surprisingly strong on many environmental issues.

I'll think of some more. :)

[zbdent]

45. Dupe? Shouldn't this discussion be continued here?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x948131

[i_c_a_White_Ghost]

47. Damn! I can't think of a thing they have have done

must be something...i dunno...

[zbdent]

81. Aw crap. Nobody got my funny.

Guess next time I can't be so subtle.

[Zynx]

50. Eisenhower's appointments of Brennan and Warren.

[IronLionZion]

58. Eisenhower - highways

Nixon - relations with China (which may come back to bite us in the ass)

Teddy Roosevelt - National Parks

John McCain - campaign finance reform

The more recent Republican presidents have been ass clowns.

[MAlibdem]

63. ass clowns?

or do we just not have perspective that we have with the older ones? i believe some things might mesh out as ok that we now oppose...but, i think almost all of what the rethug party says now is wrong, so im gonna fight 'em...i dont have the audacity to believe im always right tho

[Paradise]

76. Here's what they've done for the American People:

[Sanity]

80. Do you know what's sad

On this thread people can come up with so many responses, yet on the Democratic thread, it just turned into a flamefest of how conservative the Democratic presidents were.

C'mon guys, we need to get it together.

[Taxloss]

83. They've made European people more aware of US politics

We're watching more closely than ever. That'll be good for the USA.