I certainly agree with the jist of Something The Dog Said's currently front-paged essay at DocuDharma, which suggests that the grand OLD ?Party? is sucking itself into a black hole of self-immolation, at least on the national level, and will not be back to relevance and serious competition until at lesaet 2014. Their base won't support anyone who has the slightest chance of getting elected outside of the South and/or the Mormon belt out West; and they despise moderates who might ostensibly have a shot at it.
While in certain way, this of course fills me with glee, I think there's potential downsides that need to be addressed as well.
I don't know, it's hard for me to see ANY light at the end of the tunnel for the Rad Right, at this point. Their leaders in the House and Senate, and in Statehouses across the country, for the most part, seem pretty comfy where they're at, and wary of "rocking the boat" against the increasingly isolated far-right base. They know that they're going to be re-elected because all that's left at this point are the most conservative districts and states in the country. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are basically just political museum oddities - the last surviving Moderate Republicans.
Will the GOoP EVER realize that extreme rightism isn't what the country wants? And if they do, will their base be willing to suck it up and accept some level of moderation? I'm not so sure.
What's worrisome that is that we're now dealing with a desperate movement, one which has fallen mighty quickly from the highest heights of political strength, and is now splattering all across the political pavement. The movement is alive, but the political equation has moved to such a degree that this conservative movement is unlikely to be politically viable, on a national level, for the foreseeable future. Desperate movements, who feel they have no electoral options left, are not known for making rational decisions, and accepting defeat at the ballot box.
I'm afraid these rumblings of secession, and that violent outbursts like the one that killed Dr. Tiller, are only going to increase. They're starting to realize they can't win at the ballot box. And without electoral options, violence and extremist "solutions" may be the options they feel they have left.
It's troubling.
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I dunno, I feel like they are playing the chess game as planned. Solidify the extreme Right edge that W. was able to root. Act helpless and wounded at losing the White House to Obama while pulling just as many strings underneath. Make periodic tests of their base, both among their class AND their mass media, to gauge the temperature out here. Continue working at Armagedeeon-based foreign policy as planned, just quieter than Palin et al would have.
All of which is why we gotta quickly and strongly stop stuff like the Tiller Execution in its tracks...
I agree that they're playing the game, although I'm not so sure how "planned" all of this politicking is for them. Something about the 'Cons' behavior lately doesn't strike me as particularly "planned."
I think they're grasping at straws and lashing out desperately . . . hence the Tiller murder.
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