Tool and the Gang

Every now and then it happens that some Republican outlier gets confused and back-sassy about which party they belong to, and what their role in that party actually is.

Such creatures -- always deeply conflicted and voraciously ambitious -- are useful as fig leaves to hide from the general public the festering depravity and racism on which the party is actually built. Such creatures are usually the ones which party's donors, coastal elites and media pundits fawn over and point to and say, "Yes!  Yes!  This is the GOP!"

These are also the creatures which the party rank-and-file quietly loathe.

However, sometimes such creatures' internal wiring glitches and they say or do something which the party rank-and-file (who, y'know, provide the votes on which livelihoods of the party's donors, coastal elites and media pundits depend) can no longer abide.  This is when someone higher up the food chain yanks their leash hard and reminds them which party they belong to.  After which they fall all over themselves rushing to make amends and appease whichever loathsome deity of the wingnut pantheon they had offended.

For example, it happened with St. John McCain, who caused great offense to the dominionist scum who are one of the central pillars of the Republican Party.  From The Washington Post, February 29, 2000:

McCain Attacks Two Leaders of Christian Right

John McCain denounced Pat Robertson in his home town of Virginia Beach yesterday for "political intolerance" as the Arizona senator looked beyond today's Virginia primary and sought to tie rival George W. Bush as tightly as possible to the Christian conservative movement.

The sharply worded speech was the latest in a series of increasingly acrimonious exchanges as McCain seeks to portray himself as a mainstream conservative and the Texas governor as a captive to extremists within the movement. McCain also singled out the Rev. Jerry Falwell, based in Lynchburg, Va., as one of the "agents of intolerance."...

Six years later we find St. John McCain hieing himself on down to Liberty University to very publicly kiss the same ass he had been kicking just six years prior.

McCain Woos the Right, Makes Peace With Falwell

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., still breaks from GOP orthodoxy on such issues as torture and immigration. But operating below the radar, the potential Republican presidential hopeful is taking steps to win over the conservatives who denied him the GOP's presidential nomination in 2000. 

 

His efforts have paid off with at least one prominent conservative.

"I think he is genuinely a state's righter -- and so am I," the Rev. Jerry Falwell told ABC News.

When McCain ran for president the last time, he denounced Falwell as one of America's "agents of intolerance." But now that McCain is gearing up to run for president as the GOP's establishment candidate, he has told Falwell that he spoke "in haste" in 2000...

McCain even went so far as to deliver that year's commencement address at Liberty University.    

Because someone reminded St. John that he was running for president as a Republican and that pandering to racist scumbags is how Republicans get elected.

It happened to the ambitious RNC chair Michael Steele, who was perfectly willing to rent out his black skin be used to front for his party of bigots and imbeciles...up to a point.    And then:

Limbaugh's Latest Attacker: RNC's Steele

On the same night he was offering the keynote address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Rush Limbaugh drew criticism from an unlikely source: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Steele’s criticism makes him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host...

Less than 12 hours later...

Steele to Rush: I’m sorry

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says he has reached out to Rush Limbaugh to tell him he meant no offense when he referred to the popular conservative radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.”

“My intent was not to go after Rush – I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh,” Steele said in a telephone interview. “I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. … There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.”...

“I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren’t what I was thinking,” Steele said. “It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people … want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he’s not.”

“I’m not going to engage these guys and sit back and provide them the popcorn for a fight between me and Rush Limbaugh,” Steele added. “No such thing is going to happen. … I wasn’t trying to slam him or anything.”...

In the interview with Politico, Steele called Limbaugh “a very valuable conservative voice for our party.”...

Steele got gently reminded by the apex Conservative predator of precisely where in the Republican food chain he was seated. Steele could either make like a Plover bird and feeding off scraps of meat he would henceforth obediently pick out from between Limbaugh's teeth...or he could become one of those scraps of meat between Limbaugh's teeth.

Steele had been reminded that he was the chair of the Republican party, that his job was to raise money from Republican donors and to get Republicans elected, and that pandering to racist scumbags was the bread-and-butter of Republican electoral math.

So I guess I'm surprised that anyone is surprised that Nikki Haley can't give a straight answer to the question of what caused the Civil War, or that she doesn't think leaders should, y'know, lead, but instead just sorta body-surf the mob to wherever that mob wants to go.

Haley: "I knew half of South Carolinians saw the Confederate flag as heritage and tradition ... my job wasn't to judge either side ... that is the way we have to work on issues that try and divide us ... a leader doesn't decide who's right." pic.twitter.com/YaemKNEn2O

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 5, 2024

Because someone reminded Nikki Haley that she was running for president as a Republican. 

And that pandering to racist scumbags is how Republicans get elected.

Burn The Lifeboats