When did the Republican Party lose its mind?

[kentuck]

It's hard to pinpoint a specific time but there were Republicans like Bob Dole and Bob Michel that were not insane. They were partisan but you could carry on a reasonable conversation with them. But somewhere along the way, the Republicans lost their minds?

In my opinion, it was in 1994 when Repubs won the Congress and put Newt Gingrich in charge. Crazy took over and they impeached Bill Clinton and dragged the Democrats to the right.

Now, 18 years later, they have come full circle. They are clinically insane. They are irrational and impossible to communicate with in any way. It's like being locked in a fenced yard with a mad dog.

[CanonRay]

1. I agree, Gingrich was the driving force making insanity acceptable

and compromise a dirty word. Reagan may have laid the foundation, but Newt built the temple.

[justiceischeap]

2. And I think the whole Tea bagger "movement"

gave them an excuse to drive the wagon over the crazy cliff.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. That seems about when it became obvious.

The Reaganites planted the seeds, but the soil had been tilled by Goldwater.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. In 1976 when Reagan challenged Ford in the republican primaries.

The fact that Reagan was taken seriously by a faction of the Party demonstrates a decided veering off the road. Ford may have won the general election that year but with Reagan attacking him as weak, the party regulars were lukewarm in their support in November. As for Reagan, all he had to do was to wait for another election cycle as he was in no hurry.

To directly address the original proposition, the Party was humiliated by Nixon but couldn't condemn him. In order to restore their sense of pride, their right-to-be, they were willing to get behind any strong candidate or one with the appearance of strength. They went against their prior convictions of bipartisonship, willingness to negotiate, and to accept an occasional political loss. By getting behind Reagan, they didn't have to lose at all. They'd always be winners. Add the establishment of republican thinktanks, rightwing talk radio, the consolidation of the media into conservative/rightwing corporations, and it's near impossible to turn back the clock.

IMO the republican party not only lost its mind, but also its moral compass and its political integrity.

[tledford]

8. Bingo!

Just took nearly 20 years for it to become obvious.

[MrScorpio]

20. Yep, that's my answer. nt

[LeftishBrit]

22. This is one of my earliest memories of American politics

I was still a child. and in England, but I was very aware of it - indeed I remember it far better than the Ford-Carter election later in the year. While I thought Ford was fairly stupid, I really wanted him to beat Reagan! It was a year after Thatcher beat Heath for Tory leader in the UK, and I think I saw parallels; I was also afraid that Reagan might 'blow the world up'. When Ford defeated Reagan I was very relieved, and thought that was the end fo the Reagan threat! Alas, as we all know too well, I was wrong,

[Brother Buzz]

38. It really went south when Reagan embraced the endorsement from the Moral Majority four years later

[Harmony Blue]

5. I agree with everyone

that it was during, or after the Vietnam War that the Republican party changed dramatically. I would speculate that it was because everything they grew up to believe in was turned on its head after the Vietnam War. Instead of embracing this new reality, they chose to bubble themselves in, and try preserve what they believe is what makes America great supposedly.

[TheMastersNemesis]

6. They Did Not Lose Their Mind The Believe They Have FIXED The Election

The GOP believes it can force its ideas on everyone else. They also believe that they have already FIXED this election with the massive election fraud that they have set up.

Besides the Koch's and their allies will spend $3 or $4 billion to buy the candidates they want. The plan a coup.

[Johonny]

7. When Teddy Roosevelt trust busted

After the end of the labor movement the Republican party was dead. Look at the presidency of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Harding was a corrupt as W. Coolidge and Hoover were small government isolationist, pro-business wonks that Grover Norquist would of french kissed. Both had economic policies similar to today's nut bag Republican. I think because Eisenhower was more a practical military Republican people forget the Republican party has been a pile of * for a long time.

[tledford]

10. Is "W. Coolidge" == Calvin Coolidge? eom

[Johonny]

14. W = Bush

Harding was a corrupt as Bush, Coolidge etc...

[CrispyQ]

9. When the 24x7 "news" channels started giving a megaphone to bigots & the stupid, all for ratings.

We have shows like Jerry Springer, that hold bad behavior in esteem - everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame if they act like an asshole. We have "news" stations like Fox, that deliberately mislead their audience & sell the message that it's OK to hate & blame others who make you feel uncomfortable. The media provides a megaphone to spew hate & ignorance. Limbaugh himself may not be ignorant, but ignorance is one of his products.

And the dems are partly to blame. Look how weak the dem party is. We shied away from the word LIBERAL when Reagan started attacking it & we've just gotten weaker since. We should have fought back then. We should have shouted, "Damn right we're liberal & here's why!" & started reading that Joe Conservative commentary. But no, we backed down & called ourselves progressives, instead, & now progressive is the dirty word & anything left of batshit crazy is liberal.

Our culture is a cesspool & the media fuels a lot of it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. I think slightly earlier

with Bill Clinton's election in 1992. Nothing enraged the Republican right more than the fact that the Democrats won the WH. It was then that Newt Gingrich's rise first came into view and led the rest of the party against Clinton, as well as the concept of bipartisanship. Remember, Democratic victories are always treated by them as "apostasies" and "accidents" while Republican victories are treated as bold, sweeping mandates to enact their new/old policies.

[JHB]

33. 1992 was the point where they Dittoheaded themselves

Rish Limbaugh's show the day after the 1992 election, when a lot of Republicans were stunned that they'd lost, was a day he spent rallying the troops, attacking defeatism, and doubling down on all fronts. He said Clinton was not legitimate (having "only" won a plurality of the popular vote, not a majority (insert reversal for Bush here)) and exhorted them to dig in, double down, and make the incoming Clinton Far-Leftist Apocalypse fight for every inch of Holy American Soil that Hippy Bill and Hitlery were going to try to steal. It helped set up the Republican rally in 94, and they acknowledged that by making him an honorary Congressional Freshman.

After that, Rush, the other all radio goons, and Fox became the Rube-driver for the party, or at least until they turned the tables and now have more influence than he Party establishment.

[Shankapotomus]

37. I think you are very close here

It was a slow change over about two decades and I think it was a slow brainwashing spearheaded by angry right wing talk radio first introduced by Bob Grant, then crystallized with Limbaugh. These assholes have had access to the ears of millions of older white male commuters, including my father and brother. Replacing dry but intelligent political discussion for bombastic, insult swapping, verbally violent garbage more palatible to the lowest common denominators and non intellectual lugheads. I have watched the change and I can say with certainty my Dad and brother are fucking brainwashed. They had been a captive commuter audience of right wing radio for years and it feels like I'm talking to people on autopilot. I think right radio is a cult that has done serious damage to communication in my family. It's disgusting and I think that loss of communication is most obvious between the two parties.

[JHB]

40. Grant and others did prime that pump...

...and not just on radio: Saturday Night Live's Point/Counterpoint "Jane, you ignorant slut" skits parodied the early manifestations of these guys on TV talking head shows. Al Franken was one of the writers for those; I've always wanted to hear his perspective on that parody becoming de facto reality.

It wasn't just the commuters: AM radio signals can carry much farther at night due to atmospheric effects, and repeats of the shows at night would carry Grant's show as far as Ohio (if i remember correctly), not just his usual NYC-region audience.

On a more secondhand point, but I've heard a lot of these guys benefitted from the Fairness Act. Part of why the were on the air in the first place was to be the "opposing viewpoint" guy their stations could point to in order to clearly show their compliance. But as I say, that's secondhand views, not from people with hard knowledge of how stations were run at the time.

[Mariana]

48. "... I'm talking to people on autopilot."

That's right on. My dad is the same way. Never expresses a thought of his own, every single utterance is a parroted line from one of those damn shows. It's scary. He's not a stupid man, but he's been thoroughly brainwashed. He even gets anxious if he goes too long without hearing them. When he visits me, I either have to provide him with a radio, or he'll go out to the car and listen there.

I agree with you about the timing and pace of what's happened to the Republicans. Limbaugh and his clones have always been obnoxious, but over time the level of outright craziness and paranoia has gone way, way up. The shows used to be much more tame. It used to be "the Democrats are wrong". Then it was "some Democrats are evil" (the Clintons, for example). Then, "all Democrats are evil" and now it's "all Democrats are evil, and lots of Republicans are evil, too, and President Obama is the fucking Antichrist!"

[Shankapotomus]

50. That's spot on!

I agree and you're right. It was a gradual building of finger pointing from some liberals to all. It's sad that they've turned political discussion into exchanging hatred and insults.

Sorry to hear about your Dad. It's rough. It's like an intellectual dead zone in my family. Can't discuss things or grow as a family because we can't agree on basic stuff. It sucks.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

41. If you noticed

Limbaugh did the EXACT same thing after Obama won. Remember his "grabbing ankles" comments, as well as his "fail" comments?

[JHB]

42. Yes, I did. ALL SORTS of exact same things happened...

...the most disappointing of which was the administration's "look forward, not back" attitude. With Clinton the phrase was "not on the radar screen" (to investigate the various Reagan/Bush scandals now that the targets no longer could actively obstruct investigators).

In both cases the only reward for this goodwill gesture was venomous contempt. Since they didn't have to defend themselves, they could devote 100% of their attention to ever more vigorous attacks AND claim they'd been vindicated since for all the liberal complaining no charges had been forthcoming.

[pscot]

12. Nice

I looked for the link, hoping this came from some media outlet, then saw it was native, DU genius at work. Someone needs to say this on Meet the Press.

[MiniMe]

13. When a black man was elected President

They have lost their minds since Obama got elected.

[jimlup]

15. Actually I think it started with the Reagan charade

For people who remember it - that was when the Reptilians really started acting like they didn't care about things like facts. I think it was really probably related to when they started making the Religious Right their main rank&file base which was sometime during or just before the Reagan thing began.

[Snarkoleptic]

17. I became politically aware in high school when raygun was President.

This is when I first noticed that he and Nancy were both quite insane.
Natch the new batch of rebpubliclowns have repeatedly doubled down on teh stoopid.

[fascisthunter]

26. LOLOLOLOL... good Gawd man!

That clip is perfect!!!!!! And it's TLC, "The Learning Channel", HA!

[madokie]

16. The first thing out of bob doles mouth when it was announced that Clinton won in '92

Paraphrasing here, something like he'll not get any legislation past me, I'll work against him and on and on, pretty much same shit that mcconnell said about Obama. Thats nuts talking. So their over the top goes back past viagra man.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. It went crazy when they realized how much momentum they could pick up

by stirring up the crazies. Think back to the Clinton witchhunt. It was all about taking over the media. You do that with public outrage. So, whoever had a short fuse became an allie. The subtle nuances in politics didn't matter. Christian Rights mingled with Libertarians and War Hawks. Unfortunately, they were all galvanized by Clinton's loose zipper.

I don't think that any of them realized that once in power, Christian Rightest would have little in common with Libertarians and War Hawks, and especially War Hawks when their boys and girls were being killed in a war in Iraq that was used to cover up GWBII's incompetence.

I think today everyone has sobered up. Now that money is tight, they are remembering how easily they parted with hundreds of dollars in contributions and donations to churches and political causes that didn't pay off.

They're in stun mode.

[lastlib]

19. 1866

no, really, I don't think they've ever had a mind to lose.

[Johonny]

31. I'm not sure you can argue that

The party was founded as a collection of out of power parties. Some abolitionist and reformers went on to join the women's rights and labor movement. I think DUers would have like some of the reforms of Roosevelt, Harrison, Garfield, Arthur, Taft... Looking at the last century, As the labor party slowly went to the Democratic party, the Republican party of Lincoln ended up being the party of Harding - Hoover. Then you have the great depression and WWII. Post WWII you had an influx of the traditional (since the civil war) military Republicans, when Eisenhower ran as a Republicans you had a slight move back to the party of the 1880s. You could still have your Frank Capra-Jimmy Stewart romanticized late 1800s Republicans. You could pretend Republicans really cared about governance, labor rights, civil service reform, etc..

But then the civil rights movement happened. After the civil rights movement you've basically had only Bush (your only non-WWII era Republican president). It always felt like Nixon, Reagan and Bush I had to hold back their true opinions to appeal to that Frank Capra Republican. Today what people are seeing is the WWII greatest generation of Republicans are dieing off (those left think Capra was a communist lefty liberal LOL) and you are left with the crap again. Everything old is new again. Once could argue sans Eisenhower the Republican party would have appeared a heck of a lot more consistent (consistently bad and crazy).

[Stinky The Clown]

21. I've maintained that for a long time. It had been building, but Gingrich was the start of it

Yes, there were plenty of others before him, plenty from whom he learned. Lee Atwater. Charles Colson. Others. But it was the 94 Congress that made "Crazy" a mainstream American value.

[northoftheborder]

24. Agree, Gingrich was the start of what we're calling the "crazy". A culmination also of many mentors.

[fascisthunter]

25. when it was taken over by Fascists, Neo-Nuts and the Religious Reich Wing

[Ron Green]

27. I was there when it happened. Texas state Republican convention, Dallas 1964.

Thanks to Peter O'Donnell, "draft Goldwater" was in the air. As people were waiting for the Arizonan's speech, some regular Republicans unfurled a huge banner from the upper level of the old, round Dallas Convention Center auditorium: "Nixon's the One." Amid a growing chorus of boos, the moderates were overpowered and the banner was hauled in. I realized at this point that Nixon was too liberal for this crowd, and that's when I stopped being a Republican.

[gopiscrap]

28. IMHO When Nixon laid his southern strategy groundwork

it was the beginning of the thought process "that I've got mine, fuck everyone else" also it made being a bigot ok. This was in direct contrast to Kennedy's "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" inaugural speech.

[Hatchling]

29. That's my thought.

Tricky Dicky.

[CatholicEdHead]

46. I agree

In reading The Ordeal of Power on Ike, Emmit John Hughes (Ike's former speechwriter) writes many times that Nixon is the partisan clog in the mix. He was able to be controlled during the 50's but not after that. He started the snowball rolling down the mountain which got bigger in the 70's and really big in the 80's and 00's. Now the GOP is reduced to the anti-intellectual group it is today.

[madinmaryland]

47. My thoughts exactly. Nixon's southern strategy is what go us to this point.

[many a good man]

49. Realignment gradually concentrated all the crazies

It took a couple of decades but eventually all conservatives settled into the GOP. It used to be both parties had both conservatives and liberals within their ranks, albeit on different issues. Backlash to civil rights, women's rights, and the sexual revolution led the way. Reagan then captured the white urban working man, a traditional Dem demographic. Republicans had no need to tone down their reactionary rhetoric nationwide.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. Reagan was the first Republican candidate who filled me with horror

I didn't like Nixon, but I had to admit that he wasn't stupid.

Reagan was visibly stupid, and here were all these adoring fans falling all over him.

During the Reagan era, the radical right began nurturing young fanatics to move into positions of power in the party. At this time, there were still some sane Republicans. But gradually, the sane Republicans died or retired, and the young fanatics moved in to take their place. This process was far along enough in 1994 to let the crazies dominate Congress. And it's only gotten worse since then.

The Republican politicians have become increasingly stupid and crazy, but I believe that they are only figureheads for the real powers behind the throne.

[Arugula Latte]

32. Reagan turned me into a liberal instantly.

I was 14 during that election. My parents at the time were mildly Republican (pretty socially liberal). Reagan horrified me and instantly clarified my opposition to everything he stood for.

[MisterP]

35. that also inspired a--creative--response by J.G. Ballard

http://the-purest-of-treats.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-i-want-to-fuck-ronald-reagan.html

[mick063]

34. I can pinpoint exactly when

It was in 1996.

http://www.salon.com/2011/01/27/bush_rather_fox_roots/

There’s also a much longer-term significance to the Bush-Rather showdown, in that it vividly illustrated the depths of the right’s animosity toward Rather, CBS and the major national news outlets. Remember that back in 1988, there were still only three full-fledged broadcast networks (Fox, launched in 1986, only offered sporadic prime-time programming and had no news division), and when it came to cable news, CNN (and CNN Headline News, which then looped a 30-minute newscast day and night) was the only show in town. Newspaper and weekly newsmagazines were still dominant. There was no Internet to speak of. There were also millions of intensely engaged grass-roots conservatives who hungered for political news and commentary and who hated being forced to depend on the traditional major outlets. The explosion in conservative talk radio, don’t forget, coincided with the rise of the New Right. Rush Limbaugh’s show went national in ’88, and by the early ’90s was attracting nearly 20 million listeners per week: When it came to news-related programming, conservatives represented a massive untapped market.

This, of course, is the market that Fox News sought to corner when it was launched in 1996, its “fair and balanced” slogan calibrated perfectly to resonate with conservatives who believed Rather and his cronies were anything but that. Early advertising on Limbaugh’s show surely helped, too. Notably, Roger Ailes, the man deputized by Rupert Murdoch to give Fox News its identity, was a veteran of that ’88 Bush campaign (and of the ’68 Nixon campaign). Ailes had coached Bush in the run-up to the Rather interview and was in the room as Bush talked to the CBS anchor via satellite. It was Ailes, sensing that Rather would pepper Bush with Iran-Contra questions, who insisted that the interview be conducted live — an unusual practice for a network newscast. Ailes understood that, when it came to appealing to the conservative base, playing by Rather’s rules would do nothing for his candidate. But jawing with the anchorman and even getting in a crack about “those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York”? That was a different story.

[0rganism]

36. After Nixon resigned

That was the great trauma that marks the turning point, IMHO. Their rebound with Reagan laid all the foundations of the taint we see in full force today.

[BumRushDaShow]

39. 1964

when Goldwater lost 49 states. That set the stage for Lee Atwater, the "Southern Strategy", Nixon, Raygun, and finally Getrich...Essentially the federalization of bigotry by the GOP that spawned the teabaggers (and their "caucus" in congress) of today.

[GoCubsGo]

45. Got to agree with you there.

It was the drum major whistling for the party to get in line for a march. Everything else was just a march of that party toward the cliff. What we are seeing now is the remains of that party jumping off that cliff.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

43. 1989, with the takeover by Ralph Reed

and his Christian Coalition.

Or maybe that was just one more small step into insanity.

[Tennessee Gal]

44. It was a culmination of things:

It involved Iran/Contra, Robert Bork, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes, Lee Atwater, Paul Weyrich of The Heritage Foundation, William Bennett, Jerry Falwell, etc.

I wrote an essay on this for Buzzflash a few years ago.

It is here: http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/05/09_Democrat.html