UPDATED: An example of the lunacy now gripping the GOP comes from Raw Story which is reporting on Tennessee Republican John "Chip" Saltsman, a candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee, who is defending a song containing a racially insensitive term as mere "satire." These people truly do NOT get it. The song: *
[A] musical parody of "Puff the Magic Dragon" entitled "Barack the Magic Negro," sung by Shanklin imitating black civil rights advocate Rev. Al Sharpton, first played by Rush Limbaugh on his syndicated radio show in March 2007.
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Today's GOP is a faint shadow of the once respectable national party it once was. Now, one has to be either a racist, far right religious fanatic, or incredibly selfish and self-centered, caring only about one's tax rates, to belong to the GOP. And the signs are that things are going to get even worse as ultra-conservative GOP members of Congress sit poised to be obstructionists to measures much needed to help turn around the sinking economy. Rather than looking out for the best interests of the country, the increasingly reactionary GOP members of Congress seem more consumed with punishing those they dislike - e.g., the United Auto Workers - egged on by the Kool-Aid drinking GOP base. David Broder looks at the phenomenon in a new Washington Post column. Here are some highlights:
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All the signs are that the stimulus spending will be opposed by congressional Republicans, whose shrunken ranks are increasingly dominated by right-wing Southerners who care not what their stance does to harm the party's national image. The spectacle of LaHood facing off in congressional testimony against those naysayers will dramatize a split that is crippling the GOP.
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The danger became apparent as far back as 2007. With Bush weakened by the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina and the midterm election losses of 2006, a Southern-led revolt killed his immigration reform bill McConnell, unable to stem the insurgency, joined it. The price was paid in the 2008 presidential campaign. Despite his personal credentials as a sponsor of comprehensive immigration reform, John McCain was caught in the backlash of anti-GOP voting by Hispanics. It contributed to his loss of Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida and other states.
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The same thing happened this year when Bush supported a bailout for the Big Three auto companies. . . . . the defeat of this legislation at Republican hands will not be forgotten when GOP senators run for reelection in 2010 in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. It will also echo in industrial states such as Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, California, New York and New Jersey, when Republicans try to challenge for Senate and House seats.
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As point man for Obama's stimulus spending, he [transportation secretary, Ray LaHood] now poses the dilemma for his own party in the sharpest possible terms: Will congressional Republicans again sacrifice their political interest to satisfy their Southern-baked ideological imperatives?
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Having formally lived in the Deep South, I do not see much hope for moderation by the GOP. States like Alabama where I once lived have moved further to the lunatic far right over the last 20 years while the rest of the nation has tried to move forward to modernity.
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