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Kevin DrumJun. 22, 2017 10:25 PM

Heres a story for you. My mother grew up in a Republican family.1 When Herbert Hoover was on the radio, everyone listened. But later she became a Democrat. What happened?

Well, she went off to college. But not some bleeding heart lefty bastion. She went to USC, which was even more Republican in 1950 than it is now. She didnt get indoctrinated by a bunch of fuzzy liberal professors.

So what caused the switch? I asked her once, and she said that during her college years she came to the conclusion that Republicans were just mean. So she became a Democrat.

This struck me because Ive long used the exact same word in the privacy of my own thoughts. I can write a sophisticated critique of conservative ideology as well as the next guy, but the truth is that it mostly boils down to a gut feel that Republicans are mean. Ive never said this out loud because it sounds so kindergarten-y, but there it is. I think Republicans are mean, just like my mother did.

But now our time has come. Donald Trump started it, with his contention that Paul Ryans health care bill was mean. Today, Barack Obama picked up the ball, writing on Facebook about the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation. And then Chuck Schumer weighed in with a big red poster calling the Senate health care bill meaner.

So thats that. Its now OK to ditch the ten-dollar words and just spit it out. Republicans are mean.2

1Ive never figured out what the deal was here. My grandfather was very much a working-class guy, an electrician for Western Union. But he hated FDR. I dont know why.

2The weird thing about this is that I live in Orange County and I know lots of conservatives. For the most part, they arent mean. But put em together in a single political party, and its all torches and pitchforks.

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Republicans Are Mean - Mother Jones