Out of the mouth of a merely far-right-winger comes a cry of pain at the peril from far-far-far-right-wingers in West Virginia

"Career-long tool of the mining industry" Shelley Moore Capito

by Ken

As I've mentioned, I sometimes get my best insight into the minds, such as they are, of the far-far-far-right-wingers from the merely far-right-wingers. (Wasn't it Freud who said, "It takes one to know one"?) By now it's no surprise to hear the MFRWs tsk-tsk-ing the FFFRWs. Ever since the screaming insanity of the FFFRWs began reaching deafening proportions during the later years of the reign of "Chimpy the Prez" Bush, the sound finally began to reach the nervous systems of the MFRWs.

Among the more prominent MFRWs is the Washington Post's certified-conservative columnist Kathleen Parker. (Remember, the Post actually tells us who its left- and right-wing columnists are.) And today Miss Kathleen is here to tell us, or rather them, that the FFFRWs are at it again ("There they go again"; lotsa links onsite):

After ending 2013 with tails tucked, thanks to a series of errors, blunders, glitches and misstatements of true-ish-ness, Democrats were poised to lose control of the Senate. Instead, tea party Republicans seem bent on helping Democrats win.

The formula is familiar by now: Republicans who aren't conservative enough, meaning they might deign to work with Democrats, are targeted for primary challenges by folks who often couldn't win a staring contest, much less a statewide election.

(I suppose what Miss K has to say about the blundering and glitchy Dems is true enough. Left out, however, is that the Rs are a party that has committed itself to a formula whereby no sworn member may ever tell the truth about anything, and decency is pretty sternly frowned on too.)

Our guide through the thicket of the FFFRWs harks back to the 2012 senatorial fiasco in Delaware, which unquestionablyl caused the R's a Senate seat, but lingers note the demonstrated electability of hopeless crackpots Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in Texas and Utah. (Has anyone worked up a theory that the FFFRW yearning for simplicity-to-the-point-0f-imbecility may be a blessing for candidates who can fit their entire names in no more than seven letters?)

Which brings Miss K back to 2014, "a rare -- undeserved, some would say -- opportunity for Republicans," with 21 D and 14 R seats up for grabs in the Senate, and several of those D seats held by retirees in what looks to be awfully congenial R territory: Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia. "What smart Republicans are aiming for," she says, "are candidates who can win both a primary and a general election, actual human beings who can appeal to a wide swath of the electorate, not just the purity-proof hard-liners on the right" -- among them WV seven-term Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (whom Howie described as "a career-long tool of the mining industry when he wrote about this race in late November, "Shelley Capito Isn't The Only Conservative Being Targeted by Lunactic Fringe Teabaggers")

"But," she says, "recruiting and training good candidates may not be enough for a Republican Party still dogged by the purity plank."

Tea party organizers have vowed to take on more-mainstream candidates, including seven of the 12 Republican incumbents. If a Republican failed to support Cruz's procedural motion to defund Obamacare (beware, John Cornyn), it's outsville.

Capito could be Exhibit A when it comes to a winning candidate undermined by her own party. She's from a state where President Obama isn't very popular, and she has won reelection handily to serve a total of seven terms. She is a strong advocate for the coal industry and should have no trouble securing her party's nomination. She is also favored to win the general election against Secretary of State Natalie Tennant.

Except. Guess who doesn't like Capito?

The conservative Club for Growth and the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC), which calls itself the "conscience of the Republican Party." Last August, a "Too Liberal for West Virginia" campaign was launched against Capito because, among other things, she is pro-choice and voted to raise the debt ceiling. In her stead, the RLC is supporting Republican Pat McGeehan, who served in the House of Delegates from 2008 to 2010 but has lost two state Senate elections.

Despite having tailwinds at their back, Republicans stand to lose to proud purists while Democrats, feet up, admire the shine on their shoes. To put it kindly, pride in losing does little to contradict Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's observation that the GOP needs to "stop being the stupid party."

Wonder what the fat lady will sing?

We always have to remember that the split between the FFFRWs and MFRWs is almost entirely strategic rather than ideological. All the same, out of the mouths of MFRWs . . . .

#