Billmon (yes! Billmon!) writes,
There simply is no getting around the fact that the mentality of the modern grassroots conservative movement is in almost all particulars the spitting image of a 20th century totalitarian political party–an “epistemically closed” loop of self-reference and self-delusion. In other words: a cult.
The upshot is that one of America’s two main political parties has managed to turn itself into the proverbial insane asylum run by the inmates. And, unless the doctors want a quick trip to the electroshock table, they damned well better tell the patients that they, too, can see the same pink elephants (wink) tapdancing on the walls:
I’ve been more or less saying movement conservatism is a cult of crazy since I started this blog more than ten years ago. However, I have only recently appreciated how much the Bush regime was able to control Teh Crazy even as they fed it and grew it. Back when the Bush cult of personality was at its peak, Dubya, Turd Blossom et al. were able make the GOP appear to be a normal political party, at least enough so that the media establishment politely looked the other way when Teh Crazy was showing, the way you do when your elderly uncle forgets to zip his fly.
A lot of the media are still doing that, of course, but not all of them. Not any more.
Dubya can’t, or won’t, play the role of Respected Elder Statesman, a role that Big Bill fills so very well. And nobody has taken his place as the Big Giant Head of the cult. Yes, many of them gave their love to Sarah Palin four years ago, but Palin needed a Karl Rove to channel and manage her to keep her cult of personality going. She lacks the smarts and discipline to do it herself (so did Dubya, but he did have a Karl Rove).
(Looking back, it’s a bit surprising Karl didn’t have somebody groomed and ready to step into the role of Trilby to his Svengali when Dubya stepped down. Maybe he didn’t fully appreciate the importance of the cult of personality to manage the masses, either. We may have Dick Cheney to thank for that, though. If Dubya had had a veep with any charisma at all, that person likely would be POTUS now.)
Anyway, now nobody is in charge, and there’s nobody telling Teh Crazy when to zip its fly and behave correctly in public. And the question is, can the toothpaste be persuaded to crawl back into the tube?
Jonathan Bernstein writes that some on the Right may be stoking Teh crazy for personal gain —
Many of us argue that there’s something really wrong with the current GOP. It’s not that it’s conservative; it’s that, well, to be blunt, it’s nuts. Or, to put it more gently, it’s that there are strong incentives for being dysfunctional, such as the profit motive for those who stand to make a lot of money from the party being out of office (when talk show ratings go up and wacky conspiracy theory books about Democratic presidents sell like hotcakes).
In other words, he’s saying feeding Teh Crazy has become an end in itself, instead of just a means of gaining and hanging on to political power. So Teh crazy continues to grow, but no one Big Giant Head is controlling it. And this is not sustainable. No compounded thing remains in stasis for long; it either grows or it decays.
The result is a party more hospitable to, say, Sarah Palin than to Richard Lugar. And a party which takes presidential candidates such as Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain at least somewhat seriously. That is, it’s a party which frequently ignores reality and rejects the normal compromises of the U.S. political system. And every candidate the GOP nominates either shares in the crazy or is hostage to it — which is what we’ve seen from Mitt Romney throughout the campaign.
Bernstein thinks the only thing that might save the Republican Party from self-annihilation would be a leader who could have their loyalty and who would then work to marginalize Teh Crazy. His example is the way President Eisenhower, working partly behind the scenes, marginalized Joe McCarthy. But now the GOP has been infested with countless Joe McCarthys, and I don’t see anyone of the stature of Eisenhower who could both gain their trust and call a halt to it. And McCarthy wasn’t being funded by a 1950s equivalent of Sheldon Adelson and supported by a vast network of think tanks and dedicated media outlets; he was pretty much a one-man show.
Further — if we go back to the McCarthy example, we see that McCarthy was supported by the Republican establishment until he became a political liability, and then they dumped him rather abruptly. And that was the end of his public career. At least part of the current Republican establishment seems to understand their party is out of control, and I bet they would like to tone it down if they could, but Teh Crazy isn’t listening to them any more.
The 20th century totalitarian political parties were eventually defeated, but it took war to do it. Watching Soviet soldiers loot one’s house can help one wake up to the reality that maybe the war isn’t going well, and maybe some political leaders had one snookered.
However, I am inclined to think that Teh Crazy will fade slowly rather than go down in a blaze of inglory. The question is, will the GOP itself survive? Can this party be saved? Or will it break up and go the way of the Whigs? The original Republican party was made up mostly of ex-Whigs plus a contingent of anti-slavery Democrats, I believe, so you could argue that the original GOP was something like the Reformed Whigs. I could see a coalition of moderate Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats challenging the crazy-infested GOP someday. I think that’s at least as likely to happen, eventually — not right away, but in four to six years, maybe — as the GOP coming back to its senses.
And have we reached peak wingnut yet? I didn’t think so back in 2008, when the peak wingnut theory was first kicked around, but now I think wingnuttism is pretty close to maxing out, short of armed and violent insurrection.
I think that we’ll likely reach peak wingnut in 2014. See, in 2010, going full-wingnut helped. So, they’ll do it again. The trouble is, it worked in 2010 because economic misery was still widespread. Now, they’ve already lost that – the economy is hideously underperforming, but people are doing better, and seeing more signs of hope. In 2014, it should be firing on all cylinders, and they should attempt to go full wingnut, and lose in droves.
That’s my hope… I could be very wrong.
I agree with LHW about 2014 maybe being peak wingnut.
But I think that will carry itself over into 2016.
Obama will be out. The Presidency, ripe for the taking. Biden will be 74, Hillary, 68, and if either of them run, they’ll stand a decent chance in the general – but they’ll face some competition in the Primaries. O’Malley, Cuomo, and others will be testing the waters in the next few years. Hopefully, Warren and Gillibrand will as well.
But who will the Republicans have to choose from?
It won’t be Rubio – at least not yet. The Republicans are still to anti-Hispanic. He’s likeable enough for the general election – but none too bright.
They’ll still be in the “Denial” and “Anger” stages of grief and loss, so they’ll be looking for ‘The Last Angry Man.’
Christie is very likely going to be on of their top choices. But NJ’s not exactly thriving under him – and who knows if he’ll even be alive in 4 years?
Paul Ryan may be able to de-stink himself from Stench. So he’s still a distinct possiblity – in their Primaries – I don’t think the rest of the country will want a Ryan Redux, this time with him at the head of the ticket.
Scott Brown? Not if he loses to a chick professor this year.
DeMint? I don’t think even the most angry Dominionist Christ-freaks will think he’s electable.
Santorum? Too much of dick, even for the party of dick’s. Besides, Rickamada’s unelectable in the general.
Huck? He’s a possiblity. They can try to make him into an older version of Bill Clinton – a bass playing good ol’ boy. But, having TV and radio shows provide a lot of ammunition – and not just for Democrats.
Maybe “The Whore of Babblin-on” will figure it’s her time. But that may only be in Sarah’s own feeble mind. She’s already making herself irrelevant – even FOX is sick of her act.
Jeb will probably still be too sane for them – and he’s still slimed with the stench of W, so the rest of the country is unlikely to want to vote for ANOTHER Bush.
Jindall? Look at the skin color. Maybe later on, like Rubio.
Rand Paul? Any party that would push this feckin’ idiot to be at the head of their ticket, deserves to be disbanded immediately, mocked, and have turds thrown at it in the public square.
Maybe Scottie Walker, if he gets out of WI alive.
Maybe Ted Cruz, the soon-to-be Senator from TX, he’d have the Teabagger bona fides, AND some smarts. Sure, he’s Hispanic, but he’s not as nice as Rubio, and not as dark.
Or, maybe McDonnell, VA’s current Governor.
My guess is, McDonnell, Walker, or Cruz. Maybe Rubio, with Ryan still having a chance – he may still wind up being loved in the Primaries, despite losing with Stench.
All are crazy in their own ways, but all may be sellable – depending on who the Democrat’s pick.
The problem is, outside of Rubio, I don’t see any even semi-sane candidates if they lose in ’16. And by then, there will be a lot more dead old white males, their wives will be set free, so the fever may have broken.
And what SANE candidate can they run in ’20 or ’24, if the fever DOES break?
The up-and-comers have all been steeped in Rush, Newt, W, FOX, Ayn Rand, and Ryan.
If this does happen, and they can’t find anyone – it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of hate-and-fear-filled, feral assholes.
When discussing 2016, keep a few things in mind. First, “Obamacare” will have been fully in effect for a couple of years, and I think most people will like it. And most will have noticed there are no death panels. Second, the economy likely will continue to improve. Third, the percentage of the electorate consisting of rural white people born before World War II, or who are at least old enough to remember watching Elvis on Ed Sullivan, will be a great deal smaller than it is right now. Barring some unforeseeable catastrophe, wingnutism is going to look even more ridiculous to most Americans than it does now.
I don’t want to speculate about who might run in 2016, because a lot can happen in four years. Most of the crew in the recent GOP primaries will be all but forgotten by then, IMO. Santorum and Gingrich will be too long out of office to be viable candidates for anything. Rick Perry will be lucky to win re-election as governor of Texas in 2014. Bachmann’s re-election race is very close right now; she could be out, too. Ron Paul and his groupies will go the way of Lyndon Larouche. Herman Cain? Please.
Chris Christie might still be a contender, if he’s still around. I can’t say what will happen with Paul Ryan. Other than that, IMO in 2016 the Republicans will have to do what they did with Dubya in 2000 — find someone who can be marketed as a moderate, even if he isn’t. To do that, the establishment will have to be back in charge.
I’m thinking peak wingnut in 2014 may be about right.
I am worried to some degree about insurrection, or at least de facto secessions from legitimate authority in some areas. I doubt it will turn into an attempt to overthrow a second Obama administration, but I can picture parts of Arizona or other high-wingnut districts basically ignoring Washington. Or worse, picking a fight with the federal government and daring DC to “make them” obey.
If Obama wins again, I can imagine it’ll make a number of those tenth-ers and sovereign citizens out there decide it’s time for their last stand.
The good news is that I think we’ve crossed a point, thanks to the GOP primaries and Mitt’s campaign, where most of the country will see them as kooks, and not as visionaries.
biggerbox,
If the Republicans keep the House, they’ll start Impeachment hearing right after they’re sworn in.
Huch-a-dumb-f*ck’s already call for impeachment over the death of the Ambassador in Libya.
Anyone read this yet? It made me chuckle.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/07/what-happened-to-the-obamacons.html
OT:
And then there’s THIS horrible tragedy – a wingnut defemse contractor, with mental problems and a history of suicide in his family, shot his family and then himself over that idea that President Obama might be reelected:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/28/virginia-man-kills-family-and-himself-over-fear-obama-would-be-re-elected/
WTF IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!?!?!
I leave these tragedies amongst the paranoid right at the feet of Fox, Limbaugh, the NRA and others who have sought, and succeeded, to enrich themselves at the cost of so many American lives.
Lynne ..Excellent link. A must read.
I can’t say what will happen with Paul Ryan.
If there is any truth to the power of prayer..Paulie will be a squeegee man in downtown Janesville.
Teh crazy has me… I am reminded of the saying “me think you doeth protest too much” I think the polls are skewed the other way(the perfect karl rove dirty trick). If you are a rightie this should be great news for you..because the left will see these “polls” and figure – Barrack has got this he doesn’t need my vote. This would be the perfect way(even better than purging voters cause no liberal judge has to be counted on to side with you) to eliminate the largest number possible of Obama voters from going to the polls…So I am joining the bat shit crazy train – I don’t trust the polls either!!!!!! I am a very jaded bitch and I won’t breath any kind of sigh of relief tell the election is done and over. Anyone who would trust the right not to use any and every dirty trick in their book to regain power has to be on another bat shit crazy train of their own. Don’t trust ANYTHING – thats all I am sayin.
I’d love to know how many people currently screaming “TEH POLLS ARE SKEWED! ROMNEYS WINNING!” spent the spring screaming “WE CAN’T NOMINATE ROMNEY! HE’S NOT A REAL CONSERVATIVE! HE’LL LOSE!”
Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose. They thought they could control the brownshirts, but they failed.
I think Karl Rove very much understood how necessary it was to keep the cult of personality from getting out of control if the GOP wanted to remain relevant. I think that is why he pushed so hard for immigration reform. The failure of that initiative, and the realization that he could make a shit ton more money playing to the interests of a few paranoid billionaires post Citizens United, are probably the main reasons he doesn’t directly advise the Republicans any more.
That’s also probably why there was no apprentice Sith to step into his dark lord shoes: they are all to smart not to see that the real money is to be made working for the SuperPACs.
I’m not seeing the connection. What does the cult of personality that surrounded Dubya have to do with immigration reform? From what I saw, it was Bush’s attempts at immigration reform that first began to put a chill on his cult status.
I wasn’t talking about anyone replacing Rove. I doubt Rove expected to need to be replaced. I was wondering why Rove didn’t have someone else ready to step into Bush’s role as the object of the cult of personality. Rove can’t be the personality; he doesn’t have it in him. He needs someone he can control to be the front man, so to speak.
Jesus might have associated with sinners and tax collectors, but he didn’t associate with losers… The stench parody is fast becoming a stench prophecy. Paulie might be having to hang up his young guns..
http://www.tnr.com/blog/107829/47-was-bad-romney-ryan-has-been-deadly#
Until the “we’re all in this together” narrative clearly articulated at the Democratic convention takes hold in a deep way in this country, and supplants the “I’ve got mine, fk you” narrative that’s been in effect ever since Reagan, and is promoted everyday on Wingnut Media, we will have yet to see maximum wingnut.
And until the generation that swallowed the Reagan Kool-Aid (I’m talking to you Paul Ryan, and to every kid I’ve ever met who grew up on Reagan) is heading toward retirement, turning over what’s left of this country to the next generation, we will will have yet to see maximum wingnut.
I’ve said it before – the economy is jiggered up, as best as it can, as is normal for an election year. I’d like to believe that things will get better, but the long term problems this country is facing are huge. I don’t expect them to get better by much during the next four years.
The title of your post is “GOP – A Cult Looking for a Personality”. My money is on them finding one by 2016, 2020 at the latest. It’s a vacuum and demands to be filled. Know that money plays the long game. It can afford to. It’s gotten nearly everything it’s wanted with an Obama presidency, despite the protesting. If it can’t win 2012, no big deal. 2012 is a trial run – of the latest in plutocratic sponsored election rigging, in all its latest and varied forms – for 2016.
Paulie is soooo excited.. He’s gonna be bringing hot dogs and gummy bears to debate camp. And he’s going to earn his meit badge in debating.
You mentioned Sheldon Adelson… I think he’s an important point… or maybe an important milestone… Jared talks about keeping the crazy stirred up being profitable when Dems are in power… but what happens when Crazy meets Profits? Money is Power. Now the crazy aren’t being stirred, they’re doing the stirring.
They threw every crazy they had at Mitt Romney and they failed. Now Mitt Romney’s going to fail and the crazy’s going to have four more years to organize and raise money. Think they’re done?
No, they aren’t done. But what makes you think all the money and organizing in the world is going to make any difference? Believe it or not, the majority of the American people are neither crazy nor stupid. They can be fooled, for a time; they often are not that well informed. But there comes a time when enough people see the snake oil is snake oil and stop buying it, and that’s where we are coming to. That’s what is changing. If the Right is losing elections under the current conditions, what makes you think they will be more salable in four years? Let me repeat what I wrote in an earlier comment:
So, yes, they can organize, and they’ll probably get all the money they need. I’m saying it won’t matter.
what makes you think the democrats have been so p e r f e c t…NOT…including Bclinton and his whore etc…and i am certain history if you researched it would show that dems are just as bad as any political party…HISTORY JUST REPEATS ITSELF in all parties.
What makes you think I think the democrats have been so perfect? I never said such a thing. The operative word, dear, is “sane.” The Dems are often deeply flawed, but they are generally in touch with reality. The GOP is living in an alternative universe these days.
As far as history repeating itself, this is the sort of argument stupid people fall back on. Yes, history does tend to repeat general patterns, but it never repeats itself exactly. Pay attention. Also, don’t comment here until you learn to think.
Sharon Brenenr, what are you talking about? NO presidency compares with that of George W. Bush. AS far as Clinton and his whore goes, do you mean Monica or Hillary?
If you mean Hillary, please explain how she is a whore.As far as Monica goes, she’s more of a mole than a whore, but that’s beside the point.
Regular commenters and the host of this blog are quite critical of the Democrats as well, no “rubber stamping” here.
Please take the time to do some research, and check back in a year or so……
Right wing talk radio and FOX will continue poisoning minds for the next ten or so years until the baby boomers are either gone or drooling.
America has only two real political parties.
One welcomes racists, misogynists, xenophobes, homophobes, Christian religious nuts, and/or ageists.
The other has some of these people, too, however, they are not suffered gladly, and in fact, are told to get with the program or be gone.
As America gets more “mixed,” with people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, and as dogmatic religious belief itself is weakening, and as homosexuals grow more and more accepted in our society, the Republican Party has two choices:
-Adapt to the demographic changes and provide a legitimate alternative way to govern beyond deregulating everything, providing tax cuts to the wealthiest and corporations, and giving rights to those corporations that only humans should have, or,
-Die off, withering on their vine of hatred, fear, and intolerance.
Right now, the Republican Party is both murderous AND suicidal, and that’s dangerous for all of us.
There are still Old School Republicans out there in this country – the ones who liked Ike and the first George Bush, and realize that Reagan was a man and not the myth he’s now made out to be by some in their own party, and they’re the ones who will have to disarm their party, and talk it off the ledge.
They’re to ones who, if their party is to survive, will have to boot out the Bircher/Teabaggers – and send them back to the attics and basements, where they belong; let the Halliburton/GE war manufacturers know there may be a time and place for them, but it ain’t every day, and that they don’t get to choose the targets – “We the people” do; tell other corporations that they have a place, too – just not in the Bill of Rights; tell the Thurmond/Helms segregations to cool their human heels; and make clear to the the Falwell/Robertson Dominionists that the church and the state were made seperate for a reason – for the protection and survival of both.
Whether or not they can do that, will determine their parties, and our, future.
If all of our futures weren’t dependent on it, this would be highy entertaining.
But this ain’t fiction, much as we’d all like it to be.
We DO live in interesting times. Wherever, however, and whenever possible, let’s help our Republican friends make them less interesting.
WAY OT – even for me – the Minnesota Vikings punter throws a touchdown, hits a homer, pitches a perfect game, nails a three, and hits that little dimpled ball right on the screws and then drains it for an eagle, when he answered some homophobic bigot’s letter to the editor:
http://blogs.twincities.com/outofbounds/2012/09/28/out-of-bounds-blog-no-13-dear-mr-balling/
I’m a diehard Giants and Dolphins fan, but this guy is someone very easy to root for.
Marco Rubio/2016. That would go a long way toward solving the republican’s problems. But that’s also assuming that they have some sense about them, which all readers of Maha know is not a certainty. That’s their best bet of coming back to reality, he’s the only one that wakes me at night in a cold sweat. Other than that, I am convinced the repugs are on their way out, if they keep their same teahadist approach. People just don’t like what they have to say, and as Maha pointed out, their base is dying off.
“No, they aren’t done. But what makes you think all the money and organizing in the world is going to make any difference? Believe it or not, the majority of the American people are neither crazy nor stupid. They can be fooled, for a time; they often are not that well informed. But there comes a time when enough people see the snake oil is snake oil and stop buying it, and that’s where we are coming to.”
I hold this opinion myself. I hold it somewhere between a believe and a hope. It recalls some friends of mine who were exchange students from eastern Europe, before the USSR broke up. They loved to tell jokes and it seemed most of them by far, and the funniest of them all ridiculed Soviet propaganda. Where it had once been so convincing, apparently, it had become a feckless joke. They had become savvy enough to see through it and to discard it for what it was. It no longer had the desired effect on them. I believe we can come to the same understanding.
A few of those articles and subsequent links really hit home. Thanks.
Obviously that should be “between a belief and a hope”.
Anything worth a damn, is worth sharing.
Robert Reich on the 7 Deadly Economic Lies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM5Ep9fS7Z0&feature=player_embedded
buckyblue .. Marco Rubio is just not fully fledged. He has enough sense feel his way around and not come out of the starting gate completely rabid, but he’s already shown signs that he’s tainted by Teh Crazies.. During his speech at the RNC he said..The people of Cuba have no liberty or freedom. It’s an easy statement to swallow whole given the prevailing wingnut frame, but upon close examination he’s either being deceptive by using a philosphical abstraction as a political truth or his thinking process has already been corrupted.
How do you rise to prominence in the GOP without getting covered in Teh Crazies slime? That’s the question.
A closed ideological bubble is based on contradictions and lies, but it can defend itself against the truth, provided that it can predict which lie to remember when. Therefore ideology’s notorious immunity to reason; for reason is predictable.
Therefore the truths that pop a bubble are the unpredictable truths; the revelations from chaos. They could be big, like Hurricane Katrina, or little, like a video-phone hidden behind some crystalware at a fundraiser. Size doesn’t matter to chaos; it’s scale-invariant, and sensitively dependent on initial conditions.
Ideology is about control, but the real world is out of control. Always has been, always will be. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong; that’s Murphy’s Law, and in the fight against mental tyranny, Murphy’s Law is your friend.
“Murphy’s law is your friend” 🙂
In my case, a constant companion…………..
I’d like to make a point about peak wingnut. By definition it reaches the point where it can’t get any wingnuttier and subsides. Unfortunately I think there’s a good chance peak wingnut will involve violence.
Essentially there’s two ways for peak wingnut to happen – the system exhausts itself or the system is destroyed by internal or external factors. Right now the system is fueled by money, political interest, and crazy, so I don’t see that peaking for awhile. On the other hand, other factors push wingnuttery to the point where it falls apart.
Extenrally, I can see it happening due to demographic factors, but the thing is the wingnut phenomena includes no idea of peaceably changing or adapting. So even a demographic decline is going to fuel the crazy.
Thus I come to the conclusion that peak wingnut will involve violence, probably a case where some loudmouths either encourage a horrific act or acts of violence, or then laud said acts. This will be a case of wingnuts vastly overstepping their bounds, and then this creates a downward spiral of disgust and mistrust over said acts.