Virginia Should be a Wake Up Call for the GOP

Once again Kathleen Parker seems to have strayed off of the GOP reservation - or else she poured her Kool-Aid on the floor when no one was watching - because she has laid into the Republican Party yet again for allowing unwashed, ignorance embracing lunatics of the Tea Party (and by extension, the Christofascists) to control the party's agenda.  In the process, she looks at the statewide races in Virginia which mirror the efforts of these folks to nominate utterly unfit individuals as the GOP candidates. Here are column highlights:

It isn’t over yet, but a bookie today would predict a Terry McAuliffe victory in the Virginia governor’s election next week.

Washington Post polling shows the Democratic businessman and fundraiser with a double-digit lead (51 percent to 39 percent) over Republican Ken Cuccinelli II following a campaign ad blitz that shredded the sitting attorney general over his conservative views. It’s not that voters love McAuliffe. They just don’t like Cuccinelli — and they really don’t like the Republican Party.

Partly, this is Cuccinelli’s fault. His conservative views on same-sex marriage and abortion do not resonate with many voters, especially women. He also suffered some collateral damage from Gov. Bob McDonnell’s questionable practices in accepting gifts and cash donations for personal use.

But mostly, the polls suggest that general distaste for the GOP and the Republican role in shutting down the government has doomed Cuccinelli at a time when he ought to be celebrating his insight in leading the legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Fifty-five percent said the shutdown is very important to their vote.

For this, Republicans can thank their tea party constituents in the House of Representatives and the singular Ted Cruz in the Senate — the latter’s Texas ovation and Iowa stampede notwithstanding. These were the actors who forced the shutdown and who, should Republicans begin losing gubernatorial and congressional races, would be the major reason. Disgust trickles down, over and out.

A recent Post-ABC poll found that 81 percent of Americans disapproved of the shutdown, and 53 percent blamed Republicans. Twenty-nine percent blamed the president.

Republicans can try as they might to dissuade voters from this perspective, but they will convince only the lead singers in the choir. Even Republican House leaders, who never wanted to tie the ACA to funding the government, understand the damage that has been done. This includes the possibility that come 2014, Virginia’s Democratic tilt could also indicate a possible reordering of power in the U.S. House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi, who probably would replace John Boehner and resume her seat as speaker should Democrats win enough seats, lately seems to have an extra spring in her step.

The alternative is for the GOP to successfully recruit strong candidates to unseat their unruly, ideologically rigid contingent, which poses a significant challenge given recent gerrymandering that secured Republican incumbency in many districts.

Some GOP strategists would argue that getting rid of tea party candidates is burning down the village to save it, given that internal disagreements are not about goals but tactics, which can be changed. There’s obvious merit to this view, but the general view nationally of the tea party’s effect on governance has been so negative that all Republicans suffer by association. Moreover, if the tea party members of the House have demonstrated one prevailing trait, it is that they would rather perish than surrender, i.e. change tactics.

It isn’t over yet, in Virginia or elsewhere, but Republicans have little time to regain the trust and confidence of the non-ideological centrist majority. It’s time to dump the tea party in the Potomac.

In my view, Parker is 100% on the money.  Yet that will not stop the Tea Party cretins from excoriating her - and sending her death threats.   Isn't that what all "godly Christians" do?