GOP Draws Internal Battle Lines Around Sarah Palin

[gatorboy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/27/gop-draws-internal-battle_n_138303.html

With the GOP looking more and more set to fracture as the possibility of electoral defeat looms, the cannibals' knives are out. Consider this quote, via Yglesias:

Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush, dismissed Mrs Palin's critics as "cocktail party conservatives" who "give aid and comfort to the enemy".


He told The Sunday Telegraph: "There's going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?"

Hold it now. They're serious about going all in with the Palin loyalty test? Uhm...apparently so! Nuzzo adds:

He said: "Win or lose, there is a ready made conservative candidate waiting in the wings. Sarah Palin is not the new Iain Duncan Smith, she is the new Ronald Reagan."

[blueclown]

1. Step off the reservation at your own peril. n/t

[n2doc]

2. With that voice she will never be the next RR. n/t

[BeyondGeography]

3. Obama/Palin in 2012 will be their version of Reagan/Mondale

Have fun with it, freepies.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. I guess Reagan and Palin share a few things - both bad actors, both dim bulbs.

[liberal N proud]

5. The republican party is betting the future of the party on Palin?

Bye-bye Republican party. No tears will be shed for the death of the GOP.

[Gman]

6. Yup... I agree. She's the new Ronald Reagan

especially in his second term when he already was showing serious signs of dementia from Alzheimer's.

[sampsonblk]

7. I love it!

Now they can have their own internal battle over who does or does not support America. Now they can fight each other who is more patriotic. Chickens are coming home to roost. And I like it.

[theoldman]

8. Like Newt said, Republicans are like cannibals..

They eat their own.

[WeDidIt]

9. They are welcome in the Democratic PArty

Let's see how the GOP does with nothing but its religiously insane base.

[Wapsie B]

11. That's it! This love affair with the fundies is killing them.

The gop fooled enough of them to win elections for a generation. That time is up.

[mwb970]

10. If the Republican Party is truly about to become the Palin Party....

...they will be a tiny, marginalized minority party for a long, long time.

First the "GOP" was hijacked by its most extreme-right elements, a small but loud minority egged on by Fox "News" and right-wing hate radio. Incredibly, this rump Republican Party is now itself being hijacked by its own small but loud minority, namely those who worship Sarah Palin as a god.

What's next? Will this party be hijacked by a small but loud minority who insist that Palin is in fact the reincarnation of the ancient Babylonian god Marduk and should be worshipped as such?

[zipplewrath]

14. Everybody forgets about Paul

Ron Paul had his small, extremely loyal group of supporters. There were many of the fringe conservatives that liked him. 2012 could easily see some sort of Huckabee, Palin, Paul triangle that has them competing for the same set of nut jobs. The question is whether Romney will wanna step into that mess. Romney probably screwed up. He chased the same right wing nut jobs that everyone else did in the GOP and it looks like their days are done. Romney coulda been the "new" republican, more economic and business oriented instead of some fundie based candidate.

[mwb970]

17. Hopefully, there aren't enough nutjobs to go around! /nt

[Cosmocat]

24. Romney WILL be the new R party ...

I agree with your economic/business orientation.

[Cosmocat]

26. YEP - the non-national defense, non-business wing ...

IF they hitch their wagons to her, they are splitting the fundies from the other two wings in a CLEAR division of the party. No ifs ands or butts.

A business guy like Romney or a national security person MIGHT be able to bring the three wings together. BUT, Palin has such GLARING, G L A R I N G holes with defense and business that can't be covered up.

[CoffeeCat]

12. My husband will be happy to hear this...

My husband scares me when it comes to Palin. He thinks that she's such a
complete Fundie whack job, and as a Democrat, he wants to head her 2012 campaign, because
he thinks the Dems would wipe the floor with her.

We're in Iowa, and he said that he will do everything to leverage her and to ensure that
she's the Republican nominee. He insists that we must donate to her campaign.

He giggles with devious glee, at the mere thought of her being the Republican
nominee in 2012.

I just sorta stand there, looking at him sideways, as he says, "It's a dream come true
honey! We must canvass and make phone calls for her! As Democrats, we must do everything
we can to see that she's the next Republican nominee. She's the Democrat party's dream
come true."

Ya have to admire that kind of twisted thinking.

[Essene]

13. It's so fun... the "blame mccain" campaign vs the "blame palin" campaign

I'm glad they are setting up all the talking points for the evening of Nov 4th. :)

[GodlessBiker]

15. Oh, please. The new Ronald Reagan? She is the new Dan Quayle.

[peace frog]

16. Hell yes, let' em throw their support behind Palin

She will be history by the time election season 2012 rolls around, having lost her relelection bid for governor and currently working as a reality teevee personality.

[high density]

18. Are the Repukes ever going to take their party back?

Over the last four years they've gone from the "moral values" social conservatism nuttiness to simply acting as the anti-intellectual party. I don't see how they survive on the Rush Limbaugh demographic alone. They give their base plenty of hate but they give nobody else any positive reasons to vote for them.

[Myrina]

19. What's with the 'cocktail party' references?

First McLame talking about Obama and the "Georgetown Cocktail Party" demographic, now Nuzzo calling fellow GOP'ers "cocktail party conservatives" ??


:wtf:

[Javaman]

20. Nothing but rjhetoric until after the election. THEN they will throw her under the bus. nt

[sofa king]

21. Oh, yes. How very... German of them.

Note to German readers: not you guys! I'm talking about the bad old Germans that we still hunt down in video games to this day.

[WI_DEM]

22. Oh, I hope that Palin is the GOP nominee in '12 vs. President Obama.

[yardwork]

23. The Republican Party made a deal with the devil back in the 1980s and now they're screwn.

Big mistake. Hugh.

[Occam Bandage]

25. The Palin folks are going to be the ones on the losing side of the GOP civil war, honey.