None of panelists on Scarborough-not Joe-not David Gregory-not Chuck Todd, none dared to answer...

[JHB]

136. That's the thing, Frum thinks the Republicans have deviated from a more ideal course...

...conveniently forgetting that Ronald Reagan won the presidency using the same set of tools. He himself was part of it: isn't his big claim to fame writing the "axis of evil" speech for Bush*? Did he really believe AEI was nonparitsan?

Ever since the Voting Rights Act the Republicans have laid out a nice comfy LaZBoy for rank bigots and nutbars, made sure they had all the drinks, snacks, and smokes they could want, all in front of a big screen with top-notch audio to tell them how right they were. They fed this beast, even as guys like Buckley put up and painted some drywall so they could invite in Very Serious Respectable People while pretending the Crazy Room was in some other house (if it existed at all and wasn't just a nasty smear by those hippy liberals).

And now there's too many people making too much money off feeding the beast, and the people who have the incentive to put it on a diet are not part of the supply chain. They outsourced it, and the vendors don't need the middleman anymore.