As I will write in a future post, part of me would love to see Rick
Santorum get the GOP presidential nomination because it might represent the best chance to see the party get hit with a crushing electoral defeat under a standard bearer that best personifies the extremism and insanity that are now the hallmarks of the party base. Even if "Frothy Mix" doesn't get the nomination, which increasingly looks to be the case, the GOP would be well advised to listen to the criticism of former GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough. But to do so would mean standing up to the
Christianist/Tea Party base - something no one in the GOP seems willing to do. As a result, expect even more extremism as the base gets increasingly hysterical over changes in American society and that scary thing known as modernity. Here are some column highlights from
Politico:
The story of Santorum’s implosion sheds light on an important political and cultural truth: Americans are in the market for someone to expand prosperity and opportunity, not indulge in moral meddling. It’s a key lesson for Republicans who want to attract sufficient numbers of independent voters to win nationally: remember that this is the 21st century, not the 19th.
When Santorum should have been talking about his grandfather’s working-class roots, he was talking instead about your wife’s birth control pills. When he should have been connecting with blue-collar Catholics, he was instead insulting their martyred president. And when Mr. Santorum should have been talking about how the grandson of a coal miner graduated college with two advanced degrees, he instead mocked the aspirational idea that we should send more of our kids to college.
[A]s he has shown on the campaign trail all year, Rick Santorum has absolutely no discipline when it comes to tempering his message.
Perhaps a political party that promotes state-ordered vaginal probes, re-litigates contraception, mocks higher education, attacks JFK and runs down rabbit trails irrelevant to most Americans’ lives is best suited to win back the White House. But I doubt it.
As I will write in a future post, part of me would love to see Rick Santorum get the GOP presidential nomination because it might represent the best chance to see the party get hit with a crushing electoral defeat under a standard bearer that best personifies the extremism and insanity that are now the hallmarks of the party base. Even if "Frothy Mix" doesn't get the nomination, which increasingly looks to be the case, the GOP would be well advised to listen to the criticism of former GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough. But to do so would mean standing up to the Christianist/Tea Party base - something no one in the GOP seems willing to do. As a result, expect even more extremism as the base gets increasingly hysterical over changes in American society and that scary thing known as modernity. Here are some column highlights from Politico:
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