The Tea Party is getting worse: Media may want a new narrative, but GOP is still nuts

[xchrom]

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/13/the_tea_party_is_getting_worse_media_may_want_a_new_narrative_but_gop_is_still_nuts/




It is a cardinal rule of horserace-style political journalism in the U.S. that no two elections can have the same narrative. That’s not to say certain tropes aren’t repeated ad nauseam. But it is to say that that the press corps’ desire to mitigate the unavoidable, soul-crushing monotony of a campaign often causes it to flip the script from one election to the next, despite politics in the real world changing much more slowly. If you look at the way the media’s covered the ongoing “invisible primary” to be the GOP’s next presidential nominee, you’ll see the narrative for 2016 is being pre-written already.

So, because the most important story of the 2012 cycle was the surprising potency of President Obama’s so-called Rising American Electorate, the story in 2014 concerned the Republicans’ electorate, which also proved itself to be alive and kicking. And because the story after 2012 focused on the Tea Party pulling Mitt Romney too far to the right, the narrative for 2016 will be about the Republican “establishment” throwing its weight around to nominate an ostensibly more moderate, electable candidate. The bland, cautious, managerial Republican Party of yesteryear is back! The crusading, militant and extremist Tea Party is over!

Except, well, it isn’t.

It’s not over in the U.S. Congress, where a shutdown-in-miniature is unfolding between the White House and the Tea Party wing of the GOP. It’s not over in Wisconsin, where a Tea Party-darling governor is slashing the state university system’s funding, changing its mission statement (while lying about it), and fighting tooth and nail to humiliate people on government benefits. It’s not over in North Carolina, where a billionaire-backed Tea Party government is also going after the public university system in its effort to turn the state into Kansas. And it’s not over in South Carolina, where one state representative hopes to mainline National Rifle Association propaganda to a generation of public school students.

Let’s stick with the South Carolina example for a moment, because I think it tells us much about the contemporary GOP’s character. According to Kimberly Johnson of Al Jazeera America, the recent decision on the part of PTR Industries, a gun manufacturer, to move its headquarters from Connecticut to South Carolina has inspired Republican state Rep. Alan Clemmons to propose what he’s calling the “Second Amendment Education Act.” As the name implies, the bill would “provide all public elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools” with “instruction in the Second Amendment” for no fewer than “three consecutive weeks in one grading period in each academic year.” The curriculum would be written by the NRA, of course.

[underpants]

1. Boehner also has no control of his House caucus

That was on full display when he blew up.

[blackspade]

2. Great OP

[Nitram]

3. Then they should spend 3 week on each of the other amendments in the Bill of Rights.

If they succeed in passing the bill it will only reduce SC's ability to educate their children, reducing SC's influence in the long run.

[Victor_c3]

4. That's kind of what I was thinking n/t

[cstanleytech]

5. No, they would still have the same # of reps in congress and the senate so the republicans true

goal in the state and I suspect nationwide is more along the lines of keeping themselves in power by making good quality education next to impossible to obtain for everyone except those with the money to pay for it because a good educated voter base is far harder to manipulate and control.

[Yorktown]

6. That's what happens when you rely too much on super-PAC super wealthy donors

the Bush tax cuts are madness, but the super-PAC super wealthy donors won't agree to that.

And that's half the GOP problems.

Darwin and Big Bang anyone?