2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe Real Problem with the Demented Republican Party
The Real Problem with the Demented Republican Party
By Charles P. Pierce at Esquire
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/republican-problem-14582852?click=pp
"SNIP.............................................
You lost because your party has become demented.
The Republican party is a cascade of symptoms right now. And it's very hard to see a way out of it. It has managed to construct an almost perfect Newtonian hall of mirrors for each solution, there is within the party an equal, but opposite problem. There is almost no way to function within the party structure as it has been redefined by the various elements of the conservative "movement" without rounding a corner and colliding with the image of itself coming in the other direction. For example, let us consider the problem of "demographics," which is the polite Republican way of talking about the browns, and the blahs, and the ladies with their ladyparts potions. I wish I had a nickel for the number of people I heard tell me how ready the Republican party is to adapt to the changing face of America. The evidence always cited for the plaintiffs: Marco Rubio, "Bobby" Jindal, and the newly elected Ted Cruz down in Texas.
Okay. Even leaving aside the utter tokenism of the basic argument, Rubio is a pro-life fanatic. Jindal is even more of a pro-life fanatic, plus he's bringing into Louisiana through his charter "schools" a veritable torrent of Jesus-on-a-dinosaur propaganda textbooks, and he has all the charisma of a handball at this point. And Ted Cruz is completely batshit:
Cruz is a conspiracy theory character. He is convinced billionaire George Soros is funding a secret agenda to shutdown golf courses because they harm the environment and is conspiring with the United Nations to eliminate national sovereignty and private property. Cruz is convinced sharia law is an enormous problem in the U.S. and that extending unemployment benefits creates more unemployment and that churches ought to be able to keep their tax exemptions even as they endorse candidates from the pulpit.
.............................................SNIP"
struggle4progress
(118,320 posts)My reaction to their problem: cuz it serves them right
flamingdem
(39,314 posts)That and Rubio being a pro-life fanatic and I have hopes that Cuban Americans will be kept out of higher office. Thus, we might see some movement on US-Cuban relations.
applegrove
(118,737 posts)they would have become a capitalist democracy 20 years ago.
flamingdem
(39,314 posts)It will never happen though, it's all going to be about making Cuba crawl, at least a little, to please the aggressive right wingers in Miami. I think things will improve over the next four years as logic takes over as a trend in US politics.
Arkansas Granny
(31,523 posts)What's that old saying, be careful what you wish for.
Iggy
(1,418 posts)it's hard to empathize with morons who deliberately painted themselves into a clownservative corner...
IAMTOM
(4 posts)1. Pro-"life" (read anti-choice)
2. Completely alienating every minority group
3. Talk radio loons essentially representing the party (Limbaugh, Savage, Levin, etc.)
4. Oh and the fact that if you disagree with any of the foundations of their "platform" you are considered to be un-patriotic and un-American.
There are more but I'm short on time and can't list them all!!