GOP Veering to the Far Right - Sen. Bob Bennett Too Liberal

First it was Florida's moderate Republican Gov. Charlie Crist who was forced to bolt from the GOP because of the teabagger and extremists in the GOP who were rallying behind the rather scary Marco Rubio. Now in Utah the GOP convention has given incumbent GOP U.S. Senator Bob Bennett his walking papers by defeating his nomination to run for an additional term. Bennett's sin? He is "too liberal." Bennett is not exactly my idea of a "liberal, but apparently, unless one is to the right of Attila the Hun, there is no room for you in today's Republican Party. Only Kool-Aid drinkers, teabaggers, birthers and religious extremists need apply. It is almost impossible to recognize the political party I once belonged to - back then logic, reason, small government and a separation of church and state were things to be proud of. Not any more. The Salt Lake Tribune has coverage on Bennett's rejection by the GOP faithful. Here are highlights:
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Three-term Sen. Bob Bennett became the first victim this year of a wave of voter anger toward Washington in a defeat that will likely send a jolt through incumbents everywhere. . . . When it was announced that Bennett had been eliminated from the race, a huge ovation swept through the convention hall and there were hoots and shouts of "He's gone! He's gone!" Other delegates hugged and tea party members waved their yellow "Do Not Tread On Me" flags.
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Bennett becomes the first Utah senator to fail to get his party's nomination since Democrats tossed out Sen. William King in 1940 over King's opposition to the New Deal.
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A member of the Senate appropriations committee and close adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Bennett came under fire in recent months for supporting the first round of bank bailouts during the Bush administration and his co-sponsorship of a bipartisan health reform package that would have required individuals to buy insurance.
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That anger melded with an anti-incumbent rage. Fueled by tea party movement and 9/12 groups, Republicans flooded their party caucuses, nearly doubling the turnout two years ago, and endangering Bennett.
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Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said Bennett's defeat proves that the tea party has a firm grip on the GOP. "That the tea party would consider Bob Bennett, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, too liberal, just goes to show how extreme that tea party is," Kaine said. "If there was any question before, there should now be no doubt that the Republican leadership has handed the reins to the tea party."
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Some in the GOP have fanned the flames of tea party lunacy and it would now appear that they have created their own Frankenstein monster. While ultra-far right candidates can win in tea party controlled nomination settings, the tea party crowd is forgetting to ask itself whether they can win in a general election against viable Democrat candidates.