republicans have compassion, but tend to display it with people who actually deserve it. democrats tend to believe that everybody is a victim, and it is the government's responsibility to throw money at problems to solve them. republicans are more likely to want people to act responsibly and to ask for a hand up instead of a hand out.

Incorrect. We are too smart to think that throwing tax dollars in the form of government assistance at a problem is a manifestation of compassion.

I won't comment about ALL Republicans. The Leader of the free world has no compassion. I looked in W. Bush's eyes and saw none. I've read BUSH ON THE COUCH, and I'm convinced he is a sociopath. Give it a read.

What utter horsesh!t.

How about compassionate conservatives?

I do not agree with the statement "ALL" Republicans.There are all kinds of people in both parties.However,I distinctly remember when Reagan was president,he encouraged people to give to charity.After he retired,he was paid a MILLION dollars to make a speech and someone asked him if he was going to donate any of it to charity...his reply was a resounding "No" !

I'm sure they have it, it just tends to get buried under their hypocrisy the majority of the time. Compassion certainly isn't expressed in the least when you kill to prove to the world that killing is wrong. The republication party certainly leads the world as the largest group of justified organized terrorism right now. I wouldn't exactly call that the compassionate example to follow.

Waaaa, boo hoo, boo hoo... is this better? Silly question, but I'm sure there are a few that may actually believe this.

anyone ever hear of Reagan??

See, now, I think this IS a myth. Republicans all have compassion for each other when our taxes are raised. We all feel bad for one another when some liberal weenie makes another attempt at taking away our guns. We feel oh so badly about always having to increase spending on the defense budget. We felt bad for all those people on welfare when CLINTON signed welfare reform INTO LAW! Now how can you say we're not compassionate?

Republicans have no compassion as any rational person would define it. Any compassion they do have is post hoc compassion. ClassicTVFan47 gives great examples of these. We neither went into Iraq or Afghanistan because of compassion for the people. But was the liberation of the people a compassionate act? No, because it was the result of an action that was undertaken with a completely different motive and/or reasoning. If I decide I'm fed up with the world and buy a gun with which I will kill another human being (only allowable because conservatives in their infinite compassion would allow me to buy a sniper rifle that can shoot through tank armor). I go into a shopping mall and shoot the first person I see, but as it turns out he was in the process of setting the timer on a bomb that would have killed all of those inside. Would that have been compassionate? Absolutely not! The fact that I saved peoples lives had nothing to do with my motivations for shooting the man. This is what Republican ideology is like, if their self-gratifying agenda incidentally does something good it becomes the centerpiece of a self-aggrandizing crusade.********Update: We did discuss this Mr. Political and I will repeat what I said then. Nothing that I have said implies that if Lincoln went to war to save the Union and a result was the freeing of the slaves, then freeing the slaves must be bad. I'm merely showing that Lincoln went to war to save the Union and it would be incorrect to say that he went to war to free the slaves. When Classic says that we went to war to free the afghan people it is a blantantly false statement. Were the Afghan people freed? Sure. Does that mean that Classic, Bush, or anyone else can say that we went in to free them? Absolutely not. Oh, and also I would consider the billion dollar corporations that Republicans like to spoil in less need of spoiling then the poor, hungry, and sick...but I guess to each his own.

First off, kudos to Classic for such a well thought out analysis. In regards to gmanod's post, I believe we got into a debate about a similar concept. For example, Abraham Lincoln (a Republican) went to war with the Confederates to preserve the union; not to free the slaves. Once the North won that war and the Union was restored, the slaves were eventually freed. Now by gmanod's thinking, we must have done the wrong thing because our original intention wasn't to free the slaves. See how odd that mentality is? The truth is that Republicans are just as compassionate as Democrats and Liberals are- it's just that they show their compassion is a much more balanced way that doesn't require spoiling those who don't need spoiling!

This is quite the opposite. It was compassion for the millions dead in Iraq that caused us to liberate their innocent citizens from the forces of evil. It was compassion for the women who were shot in stadiums like cattle in Afghanistan that gave us the drive to remove their country from the iron boot of villainy. It is compassion for the elderly and the future-elderly that is inspiring the excellent future-tax and social-security programs that the current Republican president has in mind. On a personal level, I feel that I'm a compassionate person and I know many conservatives that are much nicer than some liberals I know. Now, I'm not saying that there cannot be nice liberals--I know plenty--but I know alot of compassionate conservatives too.

This is definitely a weak area for Republicans. Many seem to lack empathy.

no. people with money and power (politicans, sports stars, and celebrities) that dont give a chunk to charity lack compassion. during the Tsunami i witnessed tons of regular people giving money to charity, some more than they could. but that became overshadowed when Clooney and is rich pals threw a benefit asking the public for more cash. i'm sure they put their money where their mouth is, but George Clooney giving 1 million to a disaster relief isn't enough, especially when the guy makes 10 times that per film(he was in how many flicks over the last few years? you do the math). these people should be out there on a daily basis giving money. Republicans dont like compassion in dailt life. sometimes their leaders do on a global scale. my mother is a republican and she donates more time to animal shelters than most people do their own kids.

The welfare recipients who cannot work are left in the streets because the Bush administration toughened the welfare reform bill. Due to that, poverty continues to increase in New York everyday. How compassionate? Huh.

I'm a republican precisely because I HAVE compassion.

What, like laughing at the bad guys dying?