Eating Your Own

Halloween is fast approaching. It is a day in which the bizarre is expected and accepted. The Republican Party is apparently starting a bit early. Last year the minority leader in the House of Representatives, John Boehner, called TARP (the bailout) a mud sandwich, but said it still needed to be passed. He and the other conservatives who voted for the TARP bill considered it a bitter pill, but they correctly concluded that they had to swallow it in order to keep the economy from collapsing. Reality, however, is not important to neo-conservatives who prize dogmatic orthodoxy above all else. On October 13, 2009 Mike Huckabee railed against the “…phony Republicans who say they are conservative [but] voted for the TARP bill last year.” Mr. Huckabee came very close to mocking Congressman Boehner by adding: “Oh, TARP, it’s terrible but we’ve got to do it.” Mr. Huckabee called that ridiculous. He said voting for the TARP bill was stupid, and that Republicans have to start acting like “real” Republicans.

One person criticizing another member of his party is not that unusual, but Mr. Huckabee is not the only Republican who is challenging the conservative credentials of prominent members of his party. Ron Paul and other right wingers are becoming increasingly vituperative in their criticisms of conservative Senator Lindsay Graham. At an October 12, 2009 town hall meeting Senator Graham was subjected to the sort of disruptions and outbursts usually reserved for elected officials who favor health care reform. People at that meeting accused Senator Graham of being pro-abortion, a traitor, an anti-Christ socialist, a hypocrite, and worse. The litmus test for being a “real Republican” is obviously becoming far more difficult to pass, and, as Republican moderates who were defeated in primary elections will attest, the penalty for failing the test is severe. Eating your own is too macabre even for Halloween. It is certainly no way to rebuild your political party.

It is not too difficult to figure out why the Republicans are turning on each other. They responded to their fall from power by appealing to the most militant and nihilistic segment of the population, and they embraced that segment as the party’s most loyal supporters. The Republicans even joined the insurance companies in encouraging the disruption of town hall meetings. Not being content with what they riled up at the town hall meetings, the Republicans then tried to tap into the negative energy by encouraging the tea bag demonstrations. In doing so they went beyond stirring up the lunatic right; they actually empowered it. They were and are playing with fire. Attacking moderate Republicans is foolish but understandable. It is a matter of ideological cleansing, and the lunatic right is not bright enough to be concerned about the party’s shrinking base of support. Attacking traditional conservatives like Congressman Boehner and Senator Graham is another matter. It is a clear indication that the lunatic right really is insane or incredibly stupid or both. If those lunatics succeed in toppling Mr. Boehner and Mr. Graham, all traditional conservatives are in danger. Those traditional conservatives raise money for the party by representing the interests of the insurance companies and large corporations. Passing legislation requires the ability to negotiate and compromise. By insisting that there can be no compromises the lunatic right is hindering the ability of those conservatives to represent the interests of the party’s financial backers. This ineffectiveness combined with the shrinking number of Republicans who can get elected will cause the financial backers to seek representation elsewhere. If this happens, the party is over. Without financial backing the Republican Party will become powerless and irrelevant.

I sincerely hope the few remaining Republican moderates and the traditional conservatives can wrest the GOP from the control of the mindless ideologues before that happens. Senator Graham recently said people have to stop listening to the likes of Glen Beck and start concentrating on the real issues. He also said that people who question President Obama’s citizenship and accuse him of being a secret Muslim are crazy. "They do not represent the Republican Party," he said. So far, Senator Graham appears to be the only conservative who is smart enough to try to distance himself from the likely cost of embracing those lunatics and their demons. It is good to see someone of his stature making the effort, but timing is everything. The attacks on him by his fellow Republicans make me think his appeal for reason is probably too late to make much of a difference. As a very wise lady once told me, “If you dance with the devil, he won’t settle for a kiss goodnight.”