Kind of a follow up to the last post — Actor 212 and David Frum both discuss the destruction of the Republican Party as we know it. By “as we know it,” I mean a political party in the tradition of American political parties.
This is not to say that the GOP is going to disappear; far from it. It’s saying that the thing we call the Republican Party is being replaced by an alien entity that is a political party only in the broadest and loosest sense of the word.
The last post was about how the direction of the party is being steered by a self-selected external committee and not the elected Republican National Committee. Today, Actor and Frum write about the destructive influence of the Tea Party. But the Tea Party is a kind of Frankenstein’s Monster fabricated directly or indirectly by some of the same outsiders on the self-select committee, such as the Koch brothers and Karl Rove.
(Karl may not like the baggers, but he made baggerism possible. They were spawned in the toxic swamp of Karl’s brand of politicking.)
The Republican Party is rapidly turning into the wholly owned instrument of the 1 percent of the 1 percent, with a base made up of zombie baggers trained to lurch in whatever direction the dog whistles tell them to lurch. The party is no longer responding to the opinions and needs of voters at all, and it represents no one but its owners.
Happy Halloween.
Thanks, both articles are great.
It looks like the “Unholy Holy Alliance” that Reagan created when he blended the Religious Right into the traditional Pro-business, Anti-Communist (from all levels – John Birch to Henry Kissinger) Republican Party is starting to come apart at the seams.
I do think there might be a 3rd Party “vanity” run by a Teabagger which may help further tear it apart. Bachmann? Maybe Palin because she can continue her grift without too much heavy lifting. Ron Paul’s a possibility, too. And I can see Santorum trying a ‘Jesus!Jesus!Jesus! – Did I mention Jesus?” Party run. He doesn’t have anything else to do.
And that’s why voter disenfranchisement is so important to them. They may need even less Democrat-leaning people to be able to vote to make up the votes that the Republican Party candidate will lose.
So, maybe we’re seeing the death of it as we now know it. Remember, though, what they say about cornered rats. That’s when they’re the most dangerous. And the only thing further right than the party as it currently exists would be combination of Jesus & Hitler – God and Godwin forgive me.
Yes, CUNDGulag, and we all know how that came out last time.
Beautiful title, Maha. Yeah, Bachmann is a prime example of how far into the deep end the repugs have drifted.
“A jury trial is about assigning blame.” from ‘A Few Google Men’s.
Substitute ‘election’ for ‘trial’, and you have pretty much described every election since 2006. The zombie republicans (evangelical, libertarian, neo-con, fiscal) are united against government. The moderate voter has abandoned party ideology and is voting against dysfunctional government, but the moderate is unwilllazy (too lazy) or unable (too stupid) to identify WHY government isn’t working for him.
This election is going to be a trial. The voters are going to blame government or blame the 1%. The state of the economy has to be somebody’s fault. The voters are contemptous of both parties in Congress, because both paties seem to be in the pocket of the 1%. IMO, democrats, including Obamas, are only LESS GUILTY, and far from innocent, of being in the service of the 1% – dIfferent constituencies of the 1%, perhaps, but not governing for the 99%.)
This election could be a jury trial with the 1% as defendants IF democrats had the balls to swear off big
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