John Cornyn Invents The Wheel-- A Square One Made Of Stone

Bob Menendez, the new head of the DSCC must be pinching to make sure his good fortune isn't a dream. The Republican Party has apparently decided to up the ante in the stoopid department when it comes to finding someone to run their NRSC even more out of touch with reality than Liddy Dole or John Ensign, the two losers from the last couple cycles. The new kid on the block in one of the stupidest all around members of the Senate and certainly the one least based in reality, John Cornyn (R-TX). When he isn't busy being one of the conspirators behind the Obstructionist Caucus that would rather see America fail than Obama succeed, he's trying to persuade the Inside-the-Beltway press that when you wish upon a star it makes no difference who you are, anything will come to you-- not even if you have the IQ of a cricket and you're wishing to win Senate seats in parts of the country-- everything but the Deep South and the Mormon West-- revolted by the orgy of venality and incompetence that has the hallmark of a decade of catastrophic conservative rule. This morning he was running his mouth over at CSPAN's Newsmakers bragging how he planned to recapture the Senate for the Party of Greed and Bigotry. In three words: pitch a big tent.

Nevermind the shriveled and drooling Limbaugh-Coulter-O'Reilly-inspired base and the fit they pitch when asked to support mainstream conservatives in primaries against far right extremists. “I think everybody agrees that one thing the Republican Party needs is a fresh face and new blood, and we’ve got, I think, some really promising candidates who’ve stepped up"-- and then names fresh faces like Rudy Giuliani, Mike Castle, and Peter King (average age 67).

But to bounce back against the “headwind in 2006 and 2008,” Cornyn stressed that one important factor going forward for the Republican Party was making sure the big tent is pitched.

“We cannot be a regional party and expect to get back in the majority,” the senator said. Touting the appeal of Sen. Susan Collins in a blue state like Maine, Cornyn added, “We need to find the candidates that fit those states. We can’t decide here in Washington, sort of have an ideological litmus test and say, ‘Well, we don’t want people who disagree with us about issues X, Y and Z.’ We need to find Republicans who can win in those states.

“…I’m going to be looking to broaden the appeal of the Republican Party, not to narrow it just to conservatives.”

Let's see how this strategy Cornyn thinks he invented has been working out for the GOP in the last couple of cycles. I recall that when both George and Jeb Bush and most Florida Republicans in public office-- and especially those who had to face the voters in 2006-- attempted to find a mainstream conservative to run in the primary against radical right fringe candidate Katherine Harris, all the polls were so heavily in her favor that few opponents dared run. Even with every single newspaper in the state endorsing either Will McBride, LeRoy Collins or Peter Monroe in the primary, Harris still managed to charm the base, winning nearly 50% of the vote in the 4-way race. She went on to lose to Democrat Bill Nelson 60.3 to 38.1. Not all Republican candidates are as infamous as Katherine Harris, of course, but the scenario that played out in Florida is a very familiar one. The base just loves the nuts. And when they do manage to get a mainstream candidate into the general election-- in 2006 Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle appointed one, state Rep. Cynthia Thielen (pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-environment, pro-working families... and a direct descendent of Patrick Henry) after the loon who won the primary was too ill to run in the general, they get their heads handed to them by electorates too smart to help elect someone who will get into the Senate and elect extremist leaders like McConnell, Kyl and... Cornyn. There was also a hot 2006 race in Minnesota, where the national party persuaded mainstream conservative candidates Rod Grams and Gil Gutknecht to make way for extremist Mark Kennedy who went on to win 38% of the votes against Amy Klobuchar for an open seat.

In 2008 there was another typical race that we should look at to understand the reality of the GOP model. Retiring crook Pete "Sneaky Pete" Domenici (R-NM) cleared wanted his mainstream conservative protege, Heather Wilson, to inherit his seat. (He still may wind up going to jail for illegally trying to help her politically.) But the state's extremist base preferred the unelectable lunatic fringe candidate, Steve Pearce, who blew the party's chance to hold onto an open red seat against a very liberal Tom Udall, taking a mere 39% of the vote and leading the entire party down the toilet-- New Mexico now having a 100% congressional delegation in Washington... just like Massachusetts.

So what was Cornyn talking about today? Does he plan to intervene for mainstreamish conservative Jerry Moran against radical right nutcase Todd Tiahrt in the Kansas primary to see who gets to run for Sam Brownback's seat? How far will he push right-wing loon Jim Bunning (R-KY) to get him to retire? He's already supporting an extremist, Bush rubber stamp Rob Portman for the Ohio seat. God only knows what kind of a human garbage dump he's going to get to run against Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. It should prove to be a fun cycle thanks, in part, to the John Cornyn clown show.