Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Olympia Snowe: Bob Dole is Right About Today's GOP



As noted before, some of my former GOP colleagues continue to give me a ration of shit as they guzzle the Christofascist/Tea Party Koo-Aid and close their eyes to what the GOP has become since it was taken over at the grassroots level by spittle flecked Christofascists and ignorance embracing Tea Party Neanderthals.   What's fun is that Bob Dole - a former GOP presidential candidate and former GOP Senate majority leader - agrees with me.  Now, Olympia Snowe has joined in and supports Dole's assessment.  I can only wonder when some of my former GOP colleagues wean themselves off of the Kool-Aid and open their eyes.  Yes, Karen I DO mean you!  Here are highlights from a piece in Politico:

Former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Tuesday she agrees with former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole’s critique of the modern GOP and said Republicans need to “rethink their approach as a political party.”

“I certainly do agree with the former majority leader, Bob Dole, with whom I worked when I first entered the Senate and who was a consensus builder and understood what was essential and important for the Republican Party and what was important for America,” she said on MSNBC. “And that, unfortunately, has been lost today on Capitol Hill.”

“Yes, Republicans do bear responsibility and do the Democrats,” Snowe continued. “You have to work together and obviously, the Republican party is undergoing some, you know, significant and serious changes and they are going to have to rethink their approach as a political party and how they are going to regroup and become a governing majority party that appeals to a broader group of Americans than they do today.”

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday” this weekend, Dole, who led Senate Republicans for more than a decade, said the modern Senate was “bent pretty badly” and said, “I doubt it” when asked whether he could have thrived in today’s Republican party.

“It seems almost unreal that we can’t get together on budget or legislation,” Dole said. “I mean, we weren’t perfect, but at least we got the work done.”

As the party’s onetime presidential nominee and longtime leader in the upper chamber, Dole’s words could sting for today’s Republicans. He and Snowe both belonged to a moderate, consensus-seeking wing of the GOP that seems endangered in the Senate.

If the GOP wants to become a mainstream majority party, the first thing that needs to be done is to yank the grassroots back from the hate and bigotry filled Christofascist.  After that, the most ignorant and Neanderthal elements of the Tea Party need to likewise be cast into the political wilderness where they belong.  Will the GOP rank and file - not to mention elected officials - have the backbone to do this?  Probably not.  Cowardice is a Republican trait and value nowadays.



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