Leaderless party endures humiliating week

[babylonsister]

Friday, Aug 30, 2013 08:30 AM EST
Leaderless party endures humiliating week
Republicans' flailing spectacle during the March on Washington anniversary displayed a party with no direction
By Brian Beutler

snip//

There’s something — cough — about Martin Luther King that drives the right to distraction. Unlike Reagan to Roosevelt, Republicans today can’t bring themselves, for instance, to applaud King’s fight to end segregation, even if they know they aren’t his philosophical heirs in all respects.

But it’s not just that Republicans sent zero emissaries to commemorate King’s famous speech. It’s that 50 years later the entire movement, from Boehner to #tcot, seemed to have no idea whether the American right should conscript, ignore or lampoon King’s legacy. And if you look at its reaction, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Republicans heard the din and decided it would be best not to attend.

If you’ve been reading Salon this week, you’ve already seen some of the lowlights. You know that not a single Republican politician attended or spoke. All those invited — “to a man and woman,” according to civil rights activist Julian Bond, declined. But it’s actually worse than that.

A March on Washington event spokesperson provided CQ/Roll Call the most damning testimony: “All members of congress were invited to attend and the Republican leadership was invited to speak. Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s office was very helpful in trying to find someone to speak at the event. Making this commemoration bi-partisan was especially important to members of the King family, too.” (emphasis added)

So it’s not just that Republicans didn’t show up — it’s that none could be compelled to attend by their own leaders, and in particular the member of their leadership with the most consistent appreciation for the civil rights movement (who was meeting with oil lobbyists at the time).

That leaves you wondering whether elected Republicans felt they had nothing to say at the commemoration, or simply determined that seizing a historic minority outreach opportunity for the party wasn’t worth the backlash they’d face for sanctioning a celebration of minority rights and other progressive success stories. And the sad truth is that evidence points to the latter. If they were taking their cues from conservative activists and media celebrities they witnessed a schizophrenic reaction, but one where all voices implored, “please avoid.”

more...

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/30/republicans_skipped_the_march_on_washington_because_conservatives_wanted_them_to/

[Little Star]

1. Asses, the whole bunch of them. k&r

[spanone]

2. a party with no heart. a party with no soul. a party with no conscience.

[gopiscrap]

3. fucking repukes have lost their soul

[corkhead]

4. It went to the grave with Ike.

[gopiscrap]

9. Actually I was going to say: Lincoln.

[starroute]

5. It's the same problem as free market economics

Every one of those Republicans made their decision on the basis of individual self-interest. Many of them may have assumed that some other Republican would step up to keep the party as a whole from looking quite as bad as it now does. But they all made the identical decision, and now they have to live with the outcome.

It's the same as the "invisible hand" of the free market. It's based on the assumption that individual bad decisions don't matter because they will somehow be canceled out, or will provide opportunities for some canny entrepreneur to act differently. But when everybody makes the same bad decision at the same time, it's like all the passengers rushing to the same side of the ship.

The boat sinks. The GOP sinks. And our economy and environment are sinking -- all for the same reason.

[UtahLib]

6. Individual self interest - the death of Democracy. n/t

[caseymoz]

7. Hey, how's that outreach to minorities going?

They're stuck. If they reach out to minorities, they'll alienate their White bigot base, who are the same people who say racism is so over.

[kentuck]

8. disgraceful

bunch of idiots.