Friday, November 16, 2012

A Wee Glimmer of Hope?


If you are inclined to look for tiny green shoots of sanity anywhere in the GOP, this from former Illinois Republican governor Jim Edgar (from the State Journal-Register):
... 
The election also showed that, despite the sluggish recovery and high unemployment, other issues matter to voters besides the economy, Edgar said.

“The Democrats were on the right side of many of those issues,” he said. “In some ways, I think Mitt Romney lost the election by winning the primary.”

The GOP hurts its chances in general elections by staking out far-right positions during the primaries, Edgar said.

On the key issue of immigration, for example, Edgar said his party will “go the way of the Whigs” if it doesn't rethink its stances.

Echoing a common post-election theme, Edgar said the GOP needs to do a better job of reaching out to women and Latinos.

Don't get me wrong:  I'm not about to bet the rent money that this will happen anytime soon, but honestly, nothing would make me happier than to see the GOP turn this kind of corner, because I really want them to stop being so casually reckless and rage-drunk and crazy. 

I really want them to disenthrall themselves of their hate mongers and nihilists and shoutycrackers bigots-for-hire. 

Like every Liberal I know, I want these things because it scares the hell out of me that one of our two major political parties is violently insane, and it scares the hell out of me that our elite media not only refuses to call them on it, but actively feeds them crazy pills and offers national spotlights to the worst of the bunch.

We really do have serious problem in this country that require our urgent attention.  And until the Right fumigates their Party and Movement of those whose ideas kill everything they touch, who shriek "traitor" at anyone who disagrees with them and who have made it clear they would rather burn the place down than let anyone else play with it, we have no hope at all of solving the very real problems that threaten our continued survival as a nation.

4 comments:

blackdaug said...

Half of me hopes, that as a sheer matter of political strategy, they decide to take their medicine early and hope everybody forgets how insane they really are by 2014.
Then the other half of me remembers that they really are not showing a lot of sanity in their political strategy of late.
Someone pointed out today the very obvious point that, of course they don't want to raise taxes on the rich because it would be a drag on the economy. They don't want to raise taxes on the rich precisely because they know how much it would boost the economy.
There is that 2014 problem again..
Amazing how much old Abe's death mask there looks like the head of the alien in Prometheus.
I bet 10 minutes of the curvy couch crew would make his head explode the same way....



Unknown said...

Good point, Blackdaug, just what the hell is to be done when we, as the 60-or-so-percent of the populace that is SANE, has to contend with the drooling, obstinate, illogical, unreasonable bunch that is the GOP/Conservative movement? What are we to DO? I find myself wishing every day for an "unpersoning" device: I don't want them to suffer (well, not MOST of them), I just want them to be GONE.

blader said...

The only plausible way to moderate would be for republican representatives to start switching to the democratic party so they can jettison the extremist voters.

You know, the old freight-train-in-the-tunnel scenario.

Not gonna happen and here is why: they've gerrymandered themselves such that EVERY republican congressional district is pretty much a deep blood red.

They've literally hardwired extremism into their brand for every election until after the next census.

They can't change even if they actually want to change....which is doubtful at best.

Bukko Boomeranger said...

Emphasis on the FORMER in governor. These rat bastards can't tell the truth while they're still active in office. Otherwise, they'd be purged right out of office. Same as with all the cops that come out in favour of marijuana legalization AFTER they stop being cops. And the government-haters CAN'T even contemplate giving up their government jobs. And power. Mmmmmm, power...