U.S. Right-Wing Conservatives Attitudes Towards Tesla?

[igotzzoom]

Although I'm nominally more conservative than liberal, I don't get my news and views about EVs from Fox News or the usual right-wing outlets. The GOP lost a lot of credibility with me when Romney called Tesla a "loser" in the same breath as Solyndra in the 2012 debates. The two companies could not be more different. Trump or whoever the eventual GOP nominee is should be holding up Tesla as an example of American ingenuity and competitiveness. Also, don't forget Nevada governor Brian Sandoval was/is a Republican.

 

[brianman]

The GOP lost a lot of credibility with me when Romney called Tesla a "loser" in the same breath as Solyndra in the 2012 debates. The two companies could not be more different. Trump or whoever the eventual GOP nominee is should be holding up Tesla as an example of American ingenuity and competitiveness. Also, don't forget Nevada governor Brian Sandoval was/is a Republican.

It will be interesting to see if any of the 2016 candidates take the opportunity to stand out by specifically and directly stating "Mitt [Romney] was wrong on this one." It would definitely be the "right" move, whether or not it's politically positive for the candidate.

 

[Canuck]

Ah, sigh, I should have chosen a better example.

Yes, you should have picked a better example -- since it got me in trouble too!

I just thought it was more like "smoke out of her ears" than saying she's menstruating. That doesn't mean he's not misogynistic. Of course he is. I just never thought he actually meant to say she was attacking him because she's menstruating. But perhaps I'm wrong and he really is that much of jerk to have made that insinuation. No, wait, he is that much of a jerk, I just didn't think he meant to make that insinuation. But point taken on the push back.

 

[S'toon]

Ah, sigh, I should have chosen a better example. He's definitely misognynistic, and if he really did mean menstruation, then yeah, he should be called out for it.

Maybe the whole Al Gore father of the Internet thing? Can I screw that one up too?

For a tech maven, you should know better about that false attack as well.

Despite the derisive references that continue even today, former Vice-President Al Gore never claimed that he "invented" the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way. The "Al Gore said he 'invented' the Internet" put-downs were misleading, out-of-context distortions of something he said during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Late Edition" program on 9 March 1999. When asked to describe what distinguished him from his challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, Gore replied (in part): [SIZE=2"]

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.​

[/SIZE] Although Vice-President Gore's phrasing might have been a bit clumsy (and perhaps self-serving), he was not claiming that he "invented" the Internet in the sense of having designed or implemented it, but rather that he was responsible, in an economic and legislative sense, for fostering the development the technology that we now know as the Internet.

To claim that Gore was seriously trying to take credit for the "invention" of the Internet is, frankly, just silly political posturing that arose out of a close presidential campaign. Gore never used the word "invent," and the words "create" and "invent" have distinctly different meanings: the former is used in the sense of "to bring about" or "to bring into existence" while the latter is generally used to signify the first instance of someone's thinking up or implementing an idea.

(To those who say the words "create" and "invent" mean exactly the same thing, we have to ask why, then, the media overwhelmingly and consistently cited Gore as having claimed he "invented" the Internet, even though he never used that word, and transcripts of what he actually said were readily available.)

<snip>

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

In a speech to the American Political Science Association, former Republican Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich also stated: "In all fairness, it's something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness, Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet, and the truth is -- and I worked with him starting in 1978 when I got [to Congress], we were both part of a "futures group"—the fact is, in the Clinton administration, the world we had talked about in the '80s began to actually happen."[SUP][63][/SUP] Finally, Wolf Blitzer (who conducted the original 1999 interview) stated in 2008 that: "I didn't ask him about the Internet. I asked him about the differences he had with Bill Bradley [...] Honestly, at the time, when he said it, it didn't dawn on me that this was going to have the impact that it wound up having, because it was distorted to a certain degree and people said they took what he said, which was a carefully phrased comment about taking the initiative and creating the Internet to—I invented the Internet. And that was the sort of shorthand, the way his enemies projected it and it wound up being a devastating setback to him and it hurt him, as I'm sure he acknowledges to this very day."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_technology

 

[ggies07]

I'm neither party, I just have an opened mind about whatever is best for the situation should be the goal. Having said that, my wife and more my wife's side are very conservative and don't believe what's going on with our environment.

Mark Cuban says it best here though with what's wrong with the Republican party.

MARK CUBAN: I want to be a Republican, but the party has one big problem - Yahoo Finance

 

[S'toon]

As for the OP of the thread. I've found the RW to have no unified response to the Tesla.

There's the RWers who are in global climate change denial crowd, who view electric cars as catering to the "treehugger" crowd, and therefore hate it.

Then there's the RWers who believe in innovation and American jobs, who are pro-Tesla.

Then there's the RWers who cater to entrenched business interests (the auto dealerships) who are anti-Tesla.

Then there's the RWers who are above the fray of particular interests who look at Tesla as a vehicle with great performance, who are pro-Tesla.

There's no one specific response that the whole "RW" believes in. It's all depends on the particular point of view of the individual.

Gee, just like the LW. Each person has their own point of view. Go figger.

 

[bonnie]

Ah, sigh, I should have chosen a better example. He's definitely misognynistic, and if he really did mean menstruation, then yeah, he should be called out for it.

Yes, you should have picked a better example -- since it got me in trouble too!

I still love you guys.

 

[dsm363]

Very few people are actually against subsidies and tax loopholes. They just don't like subsidies going to people or things they don't like or agree with.

 

[Canuck]

I still love you guys.

Thanks. Love you too!

 

[Ludus]

The Republican and right wing attitude toward business can be pretty conflicted and confused. Right now every R presidential candidate opposes renewing the ex-im bank despite it working well for many decades, costing taxpayers nothing (actually making a significant profit) supporting a lot of high paying jobs and not being involved in any scandals or problems. A majority of republicans and most democrats in congress support it.

However, the Koch brothers seem to have for some bizarre reason selected it as something they want to destroy.

 

[FlasherZ]

And now that we've brought in the Al Gore / Internet things, this topic wouldn't take a complete walk around the bases without a reference to the McDonald's coffee lawsuit, so I'll do it: Perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation if that lady had recognized that coffee is *gasp* a hot drink.

Cue Bonnie's response...

...then we can move on to Godwin and things will be done.

 

[perkiset]

And now that we've brought in the Al Gore / Internet things, this topic wouldn't take a complete walk around the bases without a reference to the McDonald's coffee lawsuit, so I'll do it: Perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation if that lady had recognized that coffee is *gasp* a hot drink.

Cue Bonnie's response...

...then we can move on to Godwin and things will be done.

Interestingly, my then-next-door neighbor was a neurologist who contributed to the work on her medical condition. The water was just shy of boiling. When it came in through the window, it tipped and landed in her crotch. Her nylons were essentially melted into her skin and her privates will never even be close to the same. McDonalds, at that time, argued that their extremely hot liquid made for a more efficient delivery procedure - the counter argument was that, although coffee is hot, we should have a reasonable expectation that food delivered through a window would not be so dangerous.

The media took that one really far and, AFAIK, the woman didn't want her privates, now horribly disfigured, all over the media. To say nothing of the fact that I'd not have wanted that imagine on the tube during dinner either.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Let's try to keep on the original Tesla-oriented topic rather than straying too far into pure politics.

 

[bonnie]

And now that we've brought in the Al Gore / Internet things, this topic wouldn't take a complete walk around the bases without a reference to the McDonald's coffee lawsuit, so I'll do it: Perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation if that lady had recognized that coffee is *gasp* a hot drink.

Cue Bonnie's response...

...then we can move on to Godwin and things will be done.

Aww, FlasherZ. Of course I have to respond. It's one of those things that perpetuates on the intermyths™ and shouldn't continue. For SHAME that you are contributing!

Interestingly, my then-next-door neighbor was a neurologist who contributed to the work on her medical condition. The water was just shy of boiling. When it came in through the window, it tipped and landed in her crotch. Her nylons were essentially melted into her skin and her privates will never even be close to the same. McDonalds, at that time, argued that their extremely hot liquid made for a more efficient delivery procedure - the counter argument was that, although coffee is hot, we should have a reasonable expectation that food delivered through a window would not be so dangerous.

The media took that one really far and, AFAIK, the woman didn't want her privates, now horribly disfigured, all over the media. To say nothing of the fact that I'd not have wanted that imagine on the tube during dinner either.

Not to mention that McDonald's had been warned by the local health inspector that the coffee temperature was too high - they chose to keep it there because it meant they could pour the cup earlier in the workflow & still deliver it hot.

Once someone reads the actual case, it's clear the correct verdict was reached.

- - - Updated - - -

Let's try to keep on the original Tesla-oriented topic rather than straying too far into pure politics.

But but FlasherZ started it.

 

[rolosrevenge]

One of my favorite lines. I first used it on a young engineer, fresh out of college, who was doing his best to school all of us. I finally sat him down and explained that, like him, we were all the smartest in our class. But we, unlike him, had actual experience & he might want to cool his jets that were on full blast.

He looked so confused that day.

Reminds me of something one of my favorite professors in grad school liked to say at the beginning of the school year. "Right now, some student at MIT is realizing he isn't the smartest one in the room..."

 

[FlasherZ]

Aww, FlasherZ. Of course I have to respond. It's one of those things that perpetuates on the intermyths™ and shouldn't continue. For SHAME that you are contributing!

It wouldn't be as fun without my contributions.

But but FlasherZ started it.

DID NOT!

 

[Skotty]

I'm somewhat convinced that the average right-wing conservative is happy with Tesla, or at least neutral towards them, with only a small handful of vocal folks who are against it due to perceived government support or general negative attitudes towards things that try to be environmentally friendly.

Thank you all for your participation. I'm fine if this thread dies now; might be for the best.

 

[eye.surgeon]

Right wing conservative and Tesla owner here. Love my car but not a fan of government picking winners and losers in the marketplace via subsidizing one industry over another or even one player in an industry over another. That didn't stop me from buying a great car, and frankly I think the widely held belief that most Tesla owners are Liberal is a fallacy.

 

[nwdiver]

frankly I think the widely held belief that most Tesla owners are Liberal is a fallacy.

The geographic distribution of Tesla owners can probably prove that most Tesla owners ARE liberal.... unless it's all the conservatives in liberal areas that buy them... we could always put up a poll if you'd like :wink:

 

[tomas]

Right wing conservative and Tesla owner here. Love my car but not a fan of government picking winners and losers in the marketplace via subsidizing one industry over another or even one player in an industry over another. That didn't stop me from buying a great car, and frankly I think the widely held belief that most Tesla owners are Liberal is a fallacy.

Agree that a century of oil subsidies is atrocious as is US lending Ford and Nissan > 10x what it lent Tesla.