Death Watch Of A Party

I have just finished reading another analysis of why Mitt Romney lost the election. The author went into some detail about the “ground game,” the use of computers, the amount of money raised and how and when that money was spent. The author also discussed the advertisements and the Romney campaign’s failure to produce a sympathetic biography of Romney that would counter the negative characterizations of him. What the author said was true enough, but he totally missed the primary reasons Romney and other Republican candidates lost. First of all, Mitt Romney was the most inept Presidential candidate I have ever seen. He was totally wooden and openly disdainful of a large percentage of the voters. He was also a shameless and foolish liar. When he was caught lying, which was often, he simply repeated the lie as if it were true. No fluff piece touting Romney’s humanity or his compassion could have made him trustworthy or counteracted his obvious disdain for so many voters. Romney’s biggest problem, however, was the same problem that the entire Republican Party has. The Republicans and many of their backers are so out of touch with a majority of the people of this nation that they cannot even acknowledge that most of the voters disagree with them on a wide range of issues. Thus, we have idiot Republican Congressmen still holding middle class tax cuts hostage in an effort to get the Democrats to extend the outrageous tax cuts for the rich.

When asked why they are defying the will of the majority, the right wing idiots answer that they were also elected. What they fail to realize is that Gerrymandering created congressional districts that actually thwart the will of the majority. I am sorry, but it is very unlikely that the voters in Corn Hole Kansas or Cow Pie Texas accurately reflect the will of the people of Kansas or Texas let alone the will of the rest of the nation. Furthermore, it only takes one election to overturn the majority party and therefore cause a redistricting of congressional districts. What is very obvious is that Mitt Romney and his party were and still are out of touch with reality. When the only elections they can still win are in districts they have gerrymandered, they are in serious trouble.

In addition to being out of touch on social and economic issues, the Republicans are now in danger of being in the minority when it comes to reasonable gun control. If anything, Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association is even more out of touch and inept than Mitt Romney. I think the NRA is so accustomed buying what they want from politicians that they view public opinion as being of no consequence. How else can one explain the tone deaf statements LaPierre recently made while representing the NRA’s absurd reaction to the tragedy in Newtown Connecticut What should be apparent to everyone is that the NRA is no longer an organization promoting gun safety and representing sportsmen and responsible gun owners. The NRA has sold its soul to the arms manufacturers, and it thinks the profits of those manufacturers should trump the importance of human life. The stupidity of LaPierre may very well be the thing that finally brings about some reasonable gun control legislation. Foolishly attacking President Obama and other Democrats only proved that political candidates can win in spite of the NRA’s best efforts to defeat them. I might add that most gun owners also favor at least some gun control legislation.

The GOP Lemmings

I have read that lemmings do not periodically hurl themselves off cliffs and into the sea. Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing intentional about them going off the cliff when it happens. Lemmings occasionally head out in the wrong direction, and the ones that fall over the edge do so because they are pushed, which is to say they are goosed to death by the lemmings that can only see the assholes in front of them. The Republicans are acting much like lemmings. The party of the Grand Old Plutocrats has already suffered a hard fall by ignoring the polls showing they are out of touch with mainstream America on many of the social and economic issues. The Republicans who are smart enough to realize their party has drifted too far to the right also know that the fall they suffered during the last election was nothing compared to the one they will suffer if they keep heading in the same direction. Moving the party back to the center, however, is almost impossible because, like lemmings, rank and file Republicans will goose, prod and/or trample to death anyone who tries to change direction or stop short of the precipice.

Sadly, the Republicans are ignoring the results of the elections they just lost and the polls showing that the public will blame them for taking us over the fiscal cliff. They are foolishly threatening to raise taxes on the middle class unless the Democrats extend the budget busting Bush tax cuts for the rich. They are also telling the same lies they told about the debt ceiling when they caused the downgrading of America’s credit rating by threatening to make America default on its debts by not raising the debt ceiling. Now they indicate that they will threaten the full faith and credit of the United States again by refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless the Democrats agree to drastic cuts to earned benefits programs such as Medicare. Well, here is a bit of reality for those destructive assholes. Any party that harms its country does so at its own peril. If the Republicans are so stupid and vicious that they will actually carry through with either of those threats, it will be a full generation before they will rise to the level of a viable national party again.