The Far Right's "Reign of Terror" Has Crippled Congress

In remarks that are sure to cause hyperventilating among some readers, David Axelrod has blamed a "reign of terror" by far right extremists for the gridlock in Congress and the refusal of members of the Congressional GOP to put the interests of the nation ahead of partisan politics.  Axelrod also maintains that Mitt Romney is out of touch with the reality faced by most Americans, a statement that I believe is 100% on point.  As for the extremists, Axelrod doesn't name them, but it's pretty obvious that he's referring to the Christofascists in the GOP base and the anti-tax extremist led by Grover Norquist and his minions.  Then, of course, there is the ignorance embracing Tea Party crowd.Here are highlights from Huffington Post of Axelrod's statements:

Republicans in the U.S. Congress are under a "reign of terror" imposed by the party's conservative wing that also has pushed presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to the right, President Barack Obama's senior campaign strategist said on Sunday.

David Axelrod, in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" program, cited the Obama administration's plans for immigration reform as an example of Republican intransigence in Congress.  The political process in Washington should not be "monolithic opposition to everything the chief executive wants to do as a political strategy," Axelrod said, adding that an "implacable group of Republicans" had blocked any possibility of immigration reform.  "I think there are a lot of Republicans in Congress who want to cooperate ... but they're in the thralls of this reign of terror from the far right that has dragged the party to the right," he said.

Axelrod said Romney, the former Massachusetts governor in line to be the Republican challenger to Obama's re-election in the Nov. 6 election, has nothing new to offer voters.  People don't know Mitt Romney very well," he said on CNN. "They see a businessman. They hope he has new ideas. When they find out what his ideas are, slashing taxes at the top for the very wealthy ... they're going to think, 'This is very familiar. We've tried this. This was a big failure.'"

Axelrod said Romney's campaign for the Republican nomination had been a negative one, based on attacking his opponents rather than spelling out ideas. When he does, I think people are going to judge them for what they are, which is backward-looking and a repeat of what got us into this mess in the first place," he added.