I have maintained for some time - going all the way back some years ago when I resigned from the Party - that the Republican Party's increased intertwining with the lunatic elements of the "Christian" Right - which is neither Christian nor right on the issues - would have disastrous consequences in terms of driving away moderate Republicans and independents. With the constant coverage of the true hate, religious extremism and and anti-intellect nature of the Republican base over the last couple of months, moderates and independents are learning just how scary these people are in fact.*
What I pray will be John McCain's losing bid for the White House seems to be bearing out my prediction from seven some years ago even though it sadly took 8 years of the Chimperator to set the stage. Now, leading Republicans who do not fall into the Kool-Aid drinker element of the Party are jumping ship as if they were fleeing the Titanic or Lusitania. David Frum, who was a speechwriter for George Bush and now works at the right wing American Enterprise Institute, has a column in today's Washington Post that basically trashes McCain/Palin and - if one reads between the lines - ultimately the lunatic Christianists of the party who are proving themselves to be radioactive with moderates and independents. Here ar some highlights:
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There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him. . . .[I]n August, McCain tried a bold new gambit: He would reach out to independents and women with an exciting and unexpected vice presidential choice. That didn't work out so well either. Gov. Sarah Palin connected with neither independents nor women. She did, however, ignite the Republican base, which has come to support her passionately. And so, in this last month, the McCain campaign has Palinized itself to make the most of its last asset. To fire up the Republican base, the McCain team has hit at Barack Obama as an alien, a radical and a socialist.
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Sure enough, the base has responded. After months and months of wan enthusiasm among Republicans, these last weeks have at last energized the core of the party. But there's a downside: The very same campaign strategy that has belatedly mobilized the Republican core has alienated and offended the great national middle, which was the only place where the 2008 election could have been won.
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I could pile up the poll numbers here, but frankly . . . it's too depressing. You have to go back to the Watergate era to see numbers quite so horrible for the GOP. McCain's awful campaign is having awful consequences down the ballot. I spoke a little while ago to a senior Republican House member. "There is not a safe Republican seat in the country," he warned. "I don't mean that we're going to lose all of them. But we could lose any of them." In the Senate, things look, if possible, even worse.
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In these last days before the vote, Republicans need to face some strategic realities. Our resources are limited, and our message is failing. We cannot fight on all fronts. We are cannibalizing races that we must win and probably can win in order to help a national campaign that is almost certainly lost. In these final 10 days, our goal should be: senators first.
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What should Republicans be doing differently? Two things: 1. Every available dollar that can be shifted to a senatorial campaign must be shifted to a senatorial campaign. . . . . 2. We need a message change that frankly acknowledges that the Democrats are probably going to win the White House -- and that warns of the dangers of one-party, left-wing government. . . . It's the only argument we have left. And, as the old Washington saying goes, it has the additional merit of being true.
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