The latest attempt to normalize the Republican Party - The fringe of the GOP is the mainstream.

[moondust]

2. Some say it started with Newt.

I've heard David Gergen say it. Last night Fareed Zakaria had a special that implicated him.

Newt and Tom Delay are the first I recall of the GOP adopting radical intolerance and marching in lockstep as their way forward. It seemed strange to me that the voters back home would keep electing them when they were so subservient to the lockstep obedience of the party bosses rather than serving the voters in their districts.

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...In 1994 (Delay) helped Newt Gingrich orchestrate the Republican Revolution, which gave the Republicans the victory in the 1994 midterm election and swept Democrats from power in both houses of Congress, putting Republicans in control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. In 1995, he was elected House Majority Whip. With the Republicans in control of both chambers in Congress, DeLay, along with conservative activist Grover Norquist, helped start the K Street Project, an effort to advance Republican ideals. DeLay was elected House Majority Leader after the 2002 midterm elections. DeLay was known as a staunch conservative during his years in Congress.

In 2005, DeLay was indicted on criminal charges of conspiracy...
~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLay