The Real Problem with the Demented Republican Party

[applegrove]

The Real Problem with the Demented Republican Party


By Charles P. Pierce at Esquire

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/republican-problem-14582852?click=pp

"SNIP.............................................

You lost because your party has become demented.

The Republican party is a cascade of symptoms right now. And it's very hard to see a way out of it. It has managed to construct an almost perfect Newtonian hall of mirrors — for each solution, there is within the party an equal, but opposite problem. There is almost no way to function within the party structure as it has been redefined by the various elements of the conservative "movement" without rounding a corner and colliding with the image of itself coming in the other direction. For example, let us consider the problem of "demographics," which is the polite Republican way of talking about the browns, and the blahs, and the ladies with their ladyparts potions. I wish I had a nickel for the number of people I heard tell me how ready the Republican party is to adapt to the changing face of America. The evidence always cited for the plaintiffs: Marco Rubio, "Bobby" Jindal, and the newly elected Ted Cruz down in Texas.

Okay. Even leaving aside the utter tokenism of the basic argument, Rubio is a pro-life fanatic. Jindal is even more of a pro-life fanatic, plus he's bringing into Louisiana through his charter "schools" a veritable torrent of Jesus-on-a-dinosaur propaganda textbooks, and he has all the charisma of a handball at this point. And Ted Cruz is completely batshit:

Cruz is a conspiracy theory character. He is convinced billionaire George Soros is funding a secret agenda to shutdown golf courses because they harm the environment and is conspiring with the United Nations to eliminate national sovereignty and private property. Cruz is convinced sharia law is an enormous problem in the U.S. and that extending unemployment benefits creates more unemployment and that churches ought to be able to keep their tax exemptions even as they endorse candidates from the pulpit.

.............................................SNIP"

[struggle4progress]

1. Short version: they cobbled together an incoherent coalition of lunatics, and they're stuck with it

My reaction to their problem: cuz it serves them right

[flamingdem]

2. I'm thrilled to learn that Cruz is a full on Soros fearing nutjob

That and Rubio being a pro-life fanatic and I have hopes that Cuban Americans will be kept out of higher office. Thus, we might see some movement on US-Cuban relations.

[applegrove]

4. Cuba is a tragedy. If the US had kept trade open with Cuba all along,

they would have become a capitalist democracy 20 years ago.

[flamingdem]

5. Agree, and think the US owes them an apology

It will never happen though, it's all going to be about making Cuba crawl, at least a little, to please the aggressive right wingers in Miami. I think things will improve over the next four years as logic takes over as a trend in US politics.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. So, they've created something that they can't control.

What's that old saying, be careful what you wish for.

[Iggy]

6. Extremism-- to the extreme

it's hard to empathize with morons who deliberately painted themselves into a clownservative corner...

[IAMTOM]

7. The "real" problem with the GOP? let's see...

1. Pro-"life" (read anti-choice)
2. Completely alienating every minority group
3. Talk radio loons essentially representing the party (Limbaugh, Savage, Levin, etc.)
4. Oh and the fact that if you disagree with any of the foundations of their "platform" you are considered to be un-patriotic and un-American.

There are more but I'm short on time and can't list them all!!