Googlin' the Playa Haters

My mom says she would never vote for a Republican, because "Republicans hate people." I am a quasi-Republican, but I love my mom -- and I was a bit concerned by her theory. Was I in danger of becoming yet another soulless misanthrope cog in the GOP humanity-hating machine? So I decided to test it with empirical data gathered through Google.

First, I enumerated a list of political names (and nicknames) and divided them into a rightwing group and a leftwing group.

Rightwing names:

Bush, George Bush, George W. Bush G. W. Bush, Dubya, Shrub, Cheney, Dick Cheney, Ashcroft, John Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Donald Rumsfeld, Republicans, the Republican Party, the GOP, (the) Repugs, Rupuglicans, Repugnicans

Leftwing names:

Clinton, Bill Clinton, Slick Willie, Slick Willy, Hillary (not Duff), Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John F. Kerry, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Janet Reno, Gore, Al Gore, John Edwards, (the) Dems, Democrats, the Democrat(ic) Party, Democraps, Demorats

Next, I did two exact-phrase Google searches on each name, preceded by either "I love" or "I hate." For each "I love leftwing name" result, I awarded one leftwing love point; for each "I hate rightwing name" I gave one leftwing hate point. Opposite scoring for rightwingers.

Rightwing results: 3415 love points, 2053 hate points (62.5% love)

Leftwing results: 1733 love points, 12,030 hate points (12.6% love)

I'm not sure the data entirely convinced Mom, because she kicked me in the nuts when I showed them to her.

Comments

[Doug in VA]

I just hate it when Republicans resort to facts!
/sarcasm

Great site, BTW.

[lauraw]

Lots of wrong-headedness on the Left regarding what Republicans really stand for.

[sillyquiet]

I do agree that there are a lot more 'playa-hatas' out in the leftwing world. I just don't know if this test is entirely accurate. We are in a time when Republicans have a majority in Congress, and in the White House. I think that tends to draw out the anger a bit. One difference that I've found, however, is that leftwingers' anger tends to be much more of the 3rd Grade nannernannernanner variety, rather than anything based on logic or reasoning.

[Mr. Bingley]

now, is publishing this data a 'hatecrime'?

[Amritas]

I suspect that a lot of the Rightist love points are really hate points in sarcastic disguise. My site is FULL of fake Leftist love.

Being negative isn't necessarily a bad thing. Railing against phantom enemies (e.g., a Bush theocracy or a Kerry Communist regime) is a waste of time, but I don't believe in giving "equal time" to dangerous ideologies.

[iowahawk]

True, I didn't count sarcasm either way. But it's instructive to type "I hate Bush" into Google and sample the rich smorgasboard of derangement that pops up.

BTW, I enjoy your site.

[Randal Robinson]

This is exactly why I always wear a cup when testing empirical data.

[ashley g.]

im a republican, so when i typed in kerry and dean haters at google, this popped up. my god i hope bush wins.
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