Still more proof that Republicans are assholes.

Want more proof that Republicans are dicks? Here it is, straight from the Gallup poll:

“Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent… Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, compared to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats.”

How does this prove that Repubs are assholes? One word: arrogance. You could break it down a few different ways. Here’s two:

— Democrats tend to be more open minded – and therefore more open to the concept OF mental health, and having less than perfect mental health, and seeking help to maintain or uplift it as needed.

— Republicans carry around the enormous weight of maintaining an image of total reason, control, certainty etc., etc., when in fact they’re just as confused as the rest of us.

The Gallup poll clarifies that the relationship between party identification and self-reported excellent mental health is consistent even when income, age, gender, church attendance, and education are looked at independently. So we can’t blame it on the fact that those with lower incomes are more stressed out, that women and other minorities harbor resentment that they consider to impair their mental health, that educated people go, “Well, I’m educated – what could be wrong with my brain?” or perhaps even that men are too macho to admit when they have a problem.

It’s interesting to note that independents too reported more “excellent mental health” than Democrats. How do I interpret this? Well, we all know that smug nonpartisan who thinks they’re just so clever for considering themselves nonpartisan because “both parties suck.” Of course they’d be more likely to declare excellent mental health than the hand-wringing Democrat. (This is assuming that the poll means ‘nonpartisans’ when it says ‘independents,’ based on the fact that ‘independent’ is not capitalized and there probably aren’t enough members of the actual Independent Party to provide a good sampling for this poll.)

In the end, though, the most glaring part of the poll is just the fact that, even in the face of so much evidence mounting against their ability to reason (Iraq, dwindling economy, impending enviro catastrophe, not to mention public opinion) and emotional health status (conflicting emotions about the toll of the Iraq war, the state they’re leaving the environment in for their children and grandchildren, the fact that they love their gay daughter/son/relative yet vote against their best interests), even when it’s SO OBVIOUS how wrong wrong wrong they are, Republicans can still – STILL! – think of themselves as Oh So Right.

It reminds me of one Walter Sobchak, of The Big Lebowski. In the movie, after pulling out a gun on a fellow league bowler and riling the unrile-able Dude, insists in the car that he IS relaxed.

“I’m perfectly calm. I’m perfectly calm. Calmer than you are.”

I’m sure that if you asked the tightly-wound Sobchak about his mental health, he’d say it was impeccable.

–Natalie

14 thoughts on “Still more proof that Republicans are assholes.”

Or maybe this proves what I’ve always believed: that liberalism is really a mental illness.

In all fairness, I think anyone who has taken a basic stats or logic class can tell you polls such as this are fallible and mostly meaningless.

And I think it’s a little petty to identify non-partisans as thinking “they’re just so clever for considering themselves nonpartisan because ‘both parties suck.'” It could be possible that well-educated, informed citizens who realize subscribing to party politics blindly actually recognize the merits of both or neither … as I do …

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Great work, Natalie! This ties in well with that psych study that came out in September that says Liberals are smarter than Conservatives. In fact, that study says that liberalness and conservativeness may be tied to certain parts of the brain and how it functions, wherein a conservative brain uses less of its abilities to reason or be open-minded.

Look at the info for yourself here: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/09/20/liberal-conservative-brain-differences/

Or how about that Liberals read more books than Conservatives:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/21/liberals-books/

All sort of assholes benefit from sendahole.com.

naieve me,having just discovered the vast majority of repubs are assholes.58% of which consider mental health to be excellant as opposed to 43% independant,38% liberal.how arroggant can you be

Republican Politicians are liars, they are complete sellouts, they believe in nothing but self interest, gimme gimme gimme
They are assholes in the sense that the grade school bully is an asshole, they just beat up people for their lunch money, figuratively of course.
They shout and say the same lies over and over hoping it sticks, they have no decency, and they know it.
I think Republican voters are mostly just not very bright, not well informed, vaguely patriotic and maybe they read some Ayn Rand
at some point( at best.)
Here’s something I heard, I don’t know who the speaker at the convention was, but it was something like this
” I’m not waiting for the government to bail me out!” Applause…..
Why did Bush send everyone 600 dollars if the Republicans don’t believe in handouts?
Why do they bailout corporations time and time again, not to mention subsidizing them, lowering their taxes, and giving them no bid contracts?
And why do we even PAY TAXES, and then when things are bad, not expect the government to do something?
Come on Republican voters, it’s common sense. If you were mugged on the street you wouldn’t swear your allegiance to him, you’d want him arrested. The Republicans are stealing your money, the’v e stolen your country. But you are too thick headed to realize this. So just die already…….

Actually, they rate their mental health as excellent because they do not know what mental health is or means!!!!

Way to plagerize a book title Bill. You arrogant Asshole

Great letter… I think it proves what you were basically saying—based on the first couple responses here–that Republicans are also too often in major denial! They are often so spineless to defend themselves and their ego–even when it can be proved over and over again how WRONG they are. Seriously, think about that.. Some of them could catch Bush dropping their own mother in a huge pot of boiling water and still find a way to say it wasn’t him or find a way to rationalize the act. They won’t stop for one second to see that it is this self righteous attitude that can never look in another direction–is a big part of what invites division in this country and hatred from our world peers.

I also love how Republicans bastardize the word “Liberal” associating it with all that goes wrong or is bad here–when in fact if it weren’t for the “Liberal minded” we’d still be a British colony. They have been conditioned to think, probably from their parents repeating ‘fart-in-the-wind’ parrot statements for years, that anything “Liberal must be bad” I doubt some of these people are aware of the world much farther than their church’s front doors! I also laugh when I see the neo-cons and zealots out there, who have hijacked the Republican party, pose for all it ever stood! They have given the party a whole new definition and identity. WACKOS… Brainwashed!