Ramesh Ponnuru's Wingnut Purity Creds to Expire -- UPDATE

in 3...2...1...

(Original Post from 11/15/11)


The reek of psychosis and doom coming off of the Party of God has apparently finally triggered the long-suppressed gag reflex of the smirky little weasel who wrote "The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life":

Republicans Lose Way by Misreading Bush History: Ramesh Ponnuru
...

The view that Republicans must avoid accommodation at all costs -- that the principal obstacle to achieving conservative policy goals is a lack of spine and not, say, a lack of popular support -- made them lose at least two Senate races in 2010. In Colorado and Nevada, conservative primary voters rejected two electable, conventionally conservative candidates because they were considered part of a compromising establishment. If Republicans fall two votes short of repealing Obama’s health-care plan in 2013, the mythology they have created will be part of the reason why.

That mythology influences the Republican presidential primaries, too. It’s why they have, to an unusual extent, showcased unpopular ideas that have no chance of going anywhere, such as abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency. It is part of the reason for the resistance to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney: Conservatives fear he would be a big- government Republican, like Bush, and lead the party again to ruin.

Meanwhile, the real mistakes of the Bush years keep being made. Republicans had nothing to say about wage stagnation then and are saying nothing about it now. The real cost of Republicans’ fixation on ideological purity is that it distracts them from their real problems, and the nation’s.

What will happen next?

If history any guide:

1. Ponnuru will be loudly Frummed out of the inner circle of the Party of God with the usual round of ritual tantrums.


2. He will be welcomed with open arms and tangible perks into the Wingnut Expatriate community.


3. He will Frum along for awhile, fence-straddling nicely by precisely balanced out potshots at the increasingly drooling, unhinged Right with vague criticisms of the imaginary sins of fictional Liberal.


4. Ponnuru's agent will append the word "Reasonable" to his Conservative CV.


5. Someone with clout in the Mainstream Media will fall in love with him.
   


6. He will crank out another crappy book, carefully calibrated to flatter the Romneyites, flick boogers at the Palinites and shit all over those damned Liberals who are just the worst!
   


7. His crappy book will have the words "Lessons" and/or "Renaissance" in its very, very long title.


8. This time his crappy book will not be published by the ultra-right-wing, Bircher-inflected "Regnery Publishing" but will be released by Mary Matalin's slightly more upscale, ultra-right-wing, Cheney-inflected "Threshold Editions" imprint at Simon & Schuster.
   
   
9. Once David Brooks moves on to become David Broder 2.0 on a full-time basis
   
   Chunky Bobo will be elevated to the top Reasonable Conservative spot at the New York Times, after which Ponnuru will be brought in as second chair.

Finally, at no point during this latest reshuffling of America's Conservative media courtiers will anyone be gauche enough to mention that the Filthy Liberals were, once again, absolutely right all along.

Still, over here in the cultural ghetto of Liberal Central Command, we will all laugh and drink our chardonnay and laugh some more.

Then we will go back to being right.

All along.



UPDATE 11/18/11: As predicted...

Step One: Under construction.

Step Two: Under construction.