Republicans Are Out Of Touch And In Turmoil

If you have watched even fifteen minutes of any national news,(except FOX of course), you can't help but see this giant Hindenburg of the Republican party filled with highly flammable gas, descending into its moorings. Then, as it approaches bursts into flames in horrific fashion, while the country watches speechless, and in terrified amazement.

If you need a little help with that visual click here: Hindenburg
Disaster - 1937 - Herb Morrison reports

Republicans are in a far Right feeding frenzy, and they just can't stop. As they crash and burn, you can't help but watch, but what does my analogy mean? First, we can point to the ongoing purge of moderates from Congress. This week Senator Olympia Snowe (ME-R), announced she would not be running for re-election in the fall. Her reasoning, increased pressure from the hard Right in her party, and the ongoing polarization of politics in Washington. In Indiana, long time moderate Republican Senator Richard Lugar is facing a serious Tea Party challenge in a primary there. In Utah, long time conservative Senator Orrin Hatch is facing a similar fate. In 2010, it was moderate Senator Evan Bayh (IN-R) who left siting the same reasons Senator Snowe mentioned, and it's not limited to the Republicans. In 2010, moderate Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR-D) was forced from office. This year you can add moderate Senators Kent Conrad (ND-D), Ben Nelson (NE-D), and Joe Liebermann (CT-I) to the list. All of which leads to a body in which almost every member thinks "Compromise" is a dirty word. The result, government gripped by narrow ideological dogmas that do nothing but entrench their own personal politics, over the general welfare of a people desperate for government to address their problems.

However, since 2010 when Republicans captured the House, we have seen gridlock on a scale never before seen. The only highlight, a budget battle last summer that Republicans took to the wire, costing the United States its AAA bond rating. It was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who listed the Republicans number one goal in 2010 was not to create jobs, improve education, or invest in infrastructure, it was to defeat Barack Obama. It was this same Senator who took to the Senate floor this week to support stripping all manner of women's health care, at the whim of her employer, with the Blunt-Rubio Amendment. While the amendment went down 51-48, he argued that President Obama took over the banks, took over the auto industry, and now wants to take over religion. In what can only be classified as a dispatch from fantasy land, it is this type of hard Right rhetoric that find the Republicans consistently on the wrong side of the argument. Do they realize how ridiculous they sound with comments like this?

Then we have the two Republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, or as I affectionately call him Father Rick. First, there is Mitt Romney. A man who is so uncomfortable in his own skin, I get nervous just watching him. He is a man of obvious privilege, who definitely dwells within the ranks of the 1%, and is hopelessly trying to connect with regular middle class voters. The problem is he hasn't got a clue about how middle class people live, how hard they work, or even what they like? The disconnect is so bad at this point, the gaffs are coming on a daily basis. He won't talk to the media because he's petrified he'll say the wrong thing, and continues to portray himself as a man on every side of any issue, in a desperate attempt to tell people what they want to hear. It's like when he's off stage, his handlers are constantly beating the moderate out of him, forcing him to be something he isn't, and it shows every time he opens his mouth. It is really sad to watch as an observer.

Then we have Father Rick, who has captured the ultra social conservative lunatic fringe of the Republican base. So poor Mitt Romney has to continuously pander to these loony tunes, in order to somehow create some kind of appeal for a message he is instinctively uncomfortable with. It is truly reality T.V. at its best. However, courting the crazies does have its cost. A new Super Tuesday poll from Ohio, which Santorum needs desperately, showed his lead in that state cut from 11 points to 4 with just 4 days to go. In a party that wants to party like it's 1959, rehashing issues long settled, while alienating about 70% of the women in this country. They are on a path that will leave them so damaged come November, their general election appeal will win them about 4 States. To which I can only say, "keep talking boys, keep talking."