Originally posted by Ira "Mommy, please make the bad lady go away!"
No offense to my Republican friends (Conservative or not), but if this is the best your party can do, all the rest of us can do is laugh.
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It's not the best they can do - the Republican party actually has some smart folks in it, and capable leaders, but they're being drowned out right now by the hayseed, borderline-racist, reactionary, historically-ignorant "Tea Party" crowd.
And the Republican leaders I mention are basically walking a tightrope, because the are torn between wanting to manipulate these people enough to win a congressional majority, and not wanting to completely lose power to what's basically an out of control, aimless meme. The Tea Party is capable of eating their own if they are found to be not "conservative" enough, although that term loses much of it's meaning when it becomes this radicalized.
David Frum nailed it - in response to the health care bill, but this can be generalized:
Quote: We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.
There were leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal. But they were trapped. Conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or – more exactly – with somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder their grandmother?
Sarah Palin personifies these ignorant,
radical voices. She's cancerous to her party and the country.
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