Political drunk driving

From Politico:

The hope among establishment Republicans is that the succession of [recent] events will trigger an end to what they see as the silly season — that party activists will sober up and end their flirtation with the fringe.

Three enormous problems with that.

One, so many of the party activists are the fringe; two, roughly half of the states have closed primaries or caucuses; and three, one of them is Iowa, whose caucus is both pace-setting and driven not only by the fringe right, but the fringe religious right -- a double-lunatic whammy.

Though enormous, the GOP's problems aren't insurmountable, though. For instance a borderline annihilation in 2012 could weed the party of some its influential fringe, which would drift into separate, third-(tea)-party status.

Till then, however, one thing seems certain: the party's silliness will get a lot sillier before the party wises up. At least this year and next, the lunatics have the wheel.

Comments

[Lovepolitics2008]

I hope for an epic defeat of the republicans in 2012. This would indeed lead to a true rebuilding of their party, which is SORELY needed.

However, if a remotely sane candidate comes to the forefront ( somebody stonger than Romney), it's possible that the "fringe" will quiet down more quickly than we think. They are authoritarians by nature and they will "follow" the new leader if they're told to do so. Let's face it, they don't have ANY consistency on policy, so they'll accept anything AS LONG AS they can defeat President Obama.

I keep wishing that "karma" will prevail, that the republican party will be destroyed by the monster they created, that they will pay for their decades of Southern strategy and fear-mongering and divisive tactics.

In addition to this "karma" thing, republicans have to be defeated because EXPERIENCE has proved their economic model doesn't work. As for their foreign policy, it's not in touch with the reality of the 21st century.

[reflectionephemeral]

The lunatics have the wheel because only lunatics are left there at all.

All small-government conservatives, fiscal conservatives, federalist conservatives, and foreign policy conservatives left the party during the Bush years. No one's left but "my party, right or wrong" tribalists. It can't get any better there because there's no one sane anywhere in the GOP as an institution.

[priscianusjr]

Lovepolitics, I'm not exactly sure what you're saying. In the first paragraph, you hope for "a true rebuilding of their party, which is SORELY needed." In your third paragraph, you wish "that the republican party will be destroyed by the monster they created." Maybe you were just thinking out loud, in which case your views could have evolved between the time you started writing and the time you finished.
As for me, I see the GOP as rapidly heading for the fringes of American politics -- at least I certainly hope so. They are completely out of actual ideas and just spend their time poisoning the atmosphere. I do think we need two parties in this country, but the "other" party does not have to be the GOP.