Is The GOP Committing Suicide?

[babylonsister]

Is The GOP Committing Suicide?
Thomas B. Edsall
September 30, 2007 10:23 PM


After convention speeches by the two Pats - Robertson and Buchanan - in 1992 helped elect Bill Clinton, organizers of the GOP's quadrennial gatherings effortlessly replaced Holy Roller hellfire with Happy Days hip hop.

In theory, political parties, whose function is to win first and govern later, are constantly evolving and adapting to changing demographics, issues and culture shifts.

But in practice in 2007, the Republican Party is diving for bottom. George Bush, the party's presidential candidates, and Republicans in Congress have set about destroying virtually everything they built.

They are defying all theories of rational self-interest, with behavior comparable to that of the Mets, that have in just 18 games thrown away a seemingly insurmountable advantage. Or, in the world of poker, behavior comparable to Mike "Full Tilt" Matusow, who has blown millions in stunning displays of ineptitude.

In fact, it is hard to find a match for the GOP's hodge-podge of manic stupidity:

The Supreme Court nomination of Harriett Miers; the mangling of New Orleans; the perseverating support of Rumsfeld and Gonzales; the insulation of Tom DeLay from ethics inquiries; the shunning of a presidential debate at Morgan State, a historically black college; the meticulous cultivation of corruption on Capitol Hill; the derisive treatment of such appointees as Paul O'Neil and Christine Todd Whitman turning them into attention-getting critics of the administration.

Nothing however, better exemplifies the compulsive irrationality that has taken over the Republican Party than its handling of the Hispanic electorate.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/30/is-the-gop-committing-sui_n_66528.html

[liberal N proud]

1. We can always hope so

[yellowdogintexas]

3. you beat me to it. my gut reaction:'One can always hope" nt

[Capn Sunshine]

12. I was going to post that exact thing

! :hi:

[Greeby]

2. "win first and govern later"?

With the GOP it's "win at all costs and govern never" :eyes:

[Vickers]

4. If they are, they are more accurately suicide bombers.

Taking hundreds of thousands with them, and burning stacks of money in the process.

[Norrin Radd]

5. We could hope,

but they'll actually slink away amid the chaos they caused, to come back another day. Same wolf, different sheepskin, when there are profits at the cost of lives to be had. Stay vigilant.

[Chulanowa]

6. I wish they'd get on with it

Just. y'know... die already. Cease the 20-minute dialog. Who do you think you are, Trinity?

[Lasher]

7. Forgot to mention the Terri Schiavo fiasco.

I look back on that as a turning point.

[Lucinda]

13. I do too n/t

[zbdent]

8. Buy rope futures ...

they're getting more and more to hang themselves with ...

[n2doc]

9. They seem to be dragging the rest of us with them

So far, for all of the articles predicting the demise of the Republicks, they still seem to have no trouble at all getting the things they want passed. And blocking those they don't want passed.

They are like an alligator: even after you cut their head off, it can still bite days later.

[yodermon]

10. The Repukes are no longer profitable, so the corporatocracy

is shifting their favor to corporate-friendly Democrats.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, except at least the Supreme Court should be safe.

[seafan]

11. The GOP is committing murder/suicide.

.....

But in practice in 2007, the Republican Party is diving for bottom. George Bush, the party's presidential candidates, and Republicans in Congress have set about destroying virtually everything they built.

They are defying all theories of rational self-interest, with behavior comparable to that of the Mets, that have in just 18 games thrown away a seemingly insurmountable advantage. Or, in the world of poker, behavior comparable to Mike "Full Tilt" Matusow, who has blown millions in stunning displays of ineptitude.

In fact, it is hard to find a match for the GOP's hodge-podge of manic stupidity:

The Supreme Court nomination of Harriett Miers; the mangling of New Orleans; the perseverating support of Rumsfeld and Gonzales; the insulation of Tom DeLay from ethics inquiries; the shunning of a presidential debate at Morgan State, a historically black college; the meticulous cultivation of corruption on Capitol Hill; the derisive treatment of such appointees as Paul O'Neil and Christine Todd Whitman turning them into attention-getting critics of the administration.

Nothing however, better exemplifies the compulsive irrationality that has taken over the Republican Party than its handling of the Hispanic electorate.

.....

Of course, there could be a more subtle strategy at work here.

Perhaps Republican kingpins consider the best possible long-term strategy letting Democrats take over responsibility for the extraordinary mess Bush will leave behind. The next president will have to deal with Iraq, Iran with the bomb, biological and chemical threats, $8.98 trillion in national debt, global warming, rising gas prices, a Mideast on fire, overstretched troops, a legion of returning wounded soldiers, a country unprepared for its aging population, North Korea's supply of nuclear technology to Syria, a steadily eroding dollar, a surging China, and an exponential increase in the number of those who wish America ill.

.....

Grover Norquist: 'Field Marshal' of the Bush Plan, April 26, 2001

.....

Yet even while emerging as a Washington power broker, Norquist has held on to the irreverent, in-your-face style that has been his trademark since his earliest days as a college activist in the 1970s. "I've been a 'winger' from way back," he says. "I was an anti-Communist first, and then I became an economic conservative. I think I've gotten more radical as I've gotten older."

Today, he can barely suppress his glee at how much the movement has succeeded, saying that politics is shifting to the right while he remains constant. "I started out as a right-winger, and when I retire I want to be a squishy middle-of-the-roader," he jokes, chortling at the thought.

To Norquist, who loves being called a revolutionary, hardly an agency of government is not worth abolishing, from the Internal Revenue Service and the Food and Drug Administration to the Education Department and the National Endowment for the Arts. "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years," he says, "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

.....

And he has very nearly reached that goal.


It has all been a monstrous game of thuggish brutes, all of one mind: to rob, to murder, to pillage, to torture, to deprive, to hold the world hostage to the GOP's malignant, unbridled greed and carnal lust for power.

[bvar22]

14. The Democrats appear to have joind them in the Suicide Pact.

Nominating a conservative ProWar/AntiLABOR/Corporatist will destroy the remains of the Party of the Working Man.

"So what are you gonna do? Vote for a Republican? Hahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha!"
Jokes on YOU Sucker!!!Hahahahahahahahaha"

[Festivito]

15. Nope. WORSE. Don't forget that Americans forget.

Instead they'll let furious George do as much PROFITABLE-FOR-THEM damage as he can effect, then later either blame him or minimize his actions and let forgetfulness go lost in fast-paced talk formats.