Republican Politicians Burying Themselves?

Cheney endorses Limbaugh

I had to laugh when I saw James Carville talking-- Rove-like-- about how the Democrats would stay in power until 2049 and even sillier is the notion that the GOP could crumble completely and make way for a new mainstream party, Whigs, Libertarians, or otherwise.

On the other hand, the shrinking congressional GOP rump sure seems to be working hard to guarantee the party's demise. And the media creatures who have served them so well in spreading their twisted vision of America, particularly, Rush Limbaugh, seems to have painted them into an untenable corner, one that works well for someone looking for ad sales in a minutely fractionalized radio market but not one that works when you're interested in appealing to the American mainstream.

Today right-wing hack Fred Barnes placed himself firmly in the Limbaugh camp, urging more of the obstructionism that has brought GOP polling numbers to an all time low and costing them an upstate NY congressional seat where there are 70,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats.

Improving the party's image is a worthy cause, but it isn't what Republicans ought to be emphasizing right now. They have a more important mission: to be the party of no. And not just a party that bucks Obama and Democrats on easy issues like releasing Gitmo terrorists in this country, but one committed to aggressive, attention-grabbing opposition to the entire Obama agenda.

Many Republicans recoil from being combative adversaries of a popular president. They shouldn't. Opposing Obama across-the-board on his sweeping domestic initiatives makes sense on substance and politics. His policies-- on spending, taxes, health care, energy, intervention in the economy, etc.--would change the country in ways most Americans don't believe in. That's the substance. And a year or 18 months from now, after those policies have been picked apart and exposed and possibly defeated, the political momentum is likely to have shifted away from Obama and Democrats.

That Obama's policies are what Americans want, need and deserve seems never have occurred to Barnes. Nor would it. Barnes is a hopeless shill for all that has brought the GOP to the brink of extinction. If you didn't hit that Libertarian link above, let me quote what our Libertarian friend had to say about what's left of the Republican coalition:

The party of Lincoln, as it occasionally tries to brand itself when it notices that likely black voters are in the room, would horrify the 16th President. The “base” of the Republican party is a handful of uber-wealthy patricians who want to protect their inherited privilege at any cost... a handful of anti-Castro Miami Cubans who all claim to have spent time in Castro’s jails for political reasons, and a big mass of pork-rind eating, truck nutz sporting, bitter sons of Jefferson Davis.

Barnes writes for the patricians with the inherited privilege. After all, that is the heart of all right-wing parties before they get taken over by their sociopathic allies and turn completely fascist. Like Barnes, Cheney has also aligned himself with Limbaugh. On CBS' Face The Nation today, when asked about Colin Powell's mild rebuke of Limbaugh's suicidal extremism, Cheney made it clear once again why he is the most loathed figure in American politics: "If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd choose Rush Limbaugh," Cheney said when asked about whose vision of the GOP he'd side with. "My impression was that Colin was no longer a Republican."

Earlier today we took a look at the disintegration of Pakistan. What we didn't get into is the crucial role religious extremism has played in the collapse of civil society. If you believe-- have faith-- in God being on your side, you can do anything-- even murder women and children because... well GOD is on your side and that's what HE wants. And there are American politicians as eager to use narrowly-based religious bigotry as the Taliban are. You think I'm exaggerating? On Thursday a gaggle of far right extremists introduced a resolution (H. Con. Res 121) demanding that President Obama designate 2010 "The National Year of the Bible." So which imbciles never bothered reading the Constitution and know nothing about the history of intermingling religion and government? The resolution was the brainchild of Georgia racist and Know Nothing Paul Broun and is being co-sponsored by one of the most sickening lists of fellow demagogues and obstructionists: Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), John Carter (R-TX), Randy Forbes (R-VA), John Gingrey (R-GA), Zach Wamp (R-TN), Todd Akin (R-MO), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Mike Pence (R-IN), Louis Gohmert (R-TX), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), and Kenny Marchant (R-TX).

Unfortunately they don't have remedial history classes for members of Congress. Instead they get all the info they need from Rush Limbaugh.