What the *#@% Is Wrong With Republicans?!
In any case, a storm more perfect than Isaac (it seems impossible to discuss Republicans in non-biblical terms) has formed to the benefit of Democratsand not just the metaphorical kind. That hallelujah chorus you hear is coming from David Axelrods Chicago office, where he and other campaign strategists were seen performing grand jetés in celebration of their good fortune. What more delicious manna than the opportunity to conjoin in the publics mind the idiocy of Akin, who weirdly serves on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and Romneys sixth son, Ryan. Such a GOP twofer can only be a gift from You Know Who.
Alas, Akins comments were not in isolation. They followed a year of explosive events and remarks involving Republican lawmakers and leadersand the women they seek to protect. A one-man firing squad, Akin simply provided the exclamation point at the end of a Faulknerian paragraph of Republican offenses, from laws attempting to require transvaginal probes for women seeking abortion to promises to defund Planned Parenthood to Rush Limbaughs calling law student Sandra Fluke a slut when she testified about the need for insurance coverage for contraception. Agree or not with her argument, powerful men shouldnt call young women sluts for attempting to participate in a grown-up debate about health care. Agree or not with a womans decision to end a pregnancy, elected officials shouldnt parse the definition of rape as legitimate or otherwise. For the record, the bill to redefine rape as forcible had 227 Republican cosponsors.
Reality Check
77% of Americans believe birth control shouldnt be part of the national political debate.Bloomberg National Poll
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Conservative Donor Foster Friess:
Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The Gals put it between their knees, and it wasnt that costly.MSNBC
The cumulative effect of these episodes, combined with Democrats carefully crafted GOP war on women narrative, have boxed Republicans into a corner of stubborn self-defeat. Hackneyed and contrived as this war is, theres a reason it has gained traction. Because its true, says Margaret Hoover, a leading voice in the young conservative movement, CNN contributor, gay-marriage advocate, and author of American Individualisma call to arms for her great-grandfather Herbert Hoovers rugged individualism tempered with a community spirit suitable for the millennial generation.
Opting for a vernacular expression of her frustration, Hoover queries: What the (*#@%) is wrong? What has happened within the party infrastructure that has malfunctioned so desperately, so that this minority of representatives are in such positions of power that are so out of step with the majority of Republicans?
Original Story: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/26/what-s-wrong-with-the-republican-party.html
Warpy
(111,254 posts)How about having their party dogma tried for 30 years? There is nothing like having everything you believe in fail so miserably right in your face to make you flop and flail trying to find some issue, any issue, that will keep you in power and keep the cash flow positive.
The party is intellectually, morally and ethically bankrupt and has nothing left to recommend itself but dehumanizing gays, Democrats, women, blacks, Hispanics, the aged, the infirm, and everybody who isn't a healthy 35 year old hetero Christian white male earning at least a 6 figure salary.
In addition, factionalism led by the Paulbots and teabaggers is tearing them apart, the seeds for a total bloodbath in 2016 being sown as we speak as they try procedural wrangling to prevent the Paulbots from grabbing the nomination away from Romney.
That's what went wrong with that party. They seem to be right on schedule to rip themselves apart once again, following their earlier incarnations as the Federalist Party and the Whigs.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)for our sake. It'll be fun to watch.
rock
(13,218 posts)It has served it's usefulness. They have no reason to exist.
Sentath
(2,243 posts)I think it needs to be talked about, supported and destigmatized.