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The Plot to Purge GOP Moderates
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A sect of hard-right Republicans is celebrating their loss in a New York House race—but that’s just the beginning of a plan to purge moderates. Benjamin Sarlin speaks to the ringleader.
Insurgent conservatives have declared all-out war on the Republican establishment, and Erick Erickson is helping to lead the charge.
Erickson, who runs the influential Web site RedState.com, drew fire on Wednesday from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, after Erickson expressed glee over the outcome of New York’s hotly contested 23rd Congressional District race. With help from Sarah Palin and Dick Armey, Erickson had led the online charge to drive the GOP favorite, Dede Scozzafava, from the race, believing her to be too moderate. Erickson’s preferred candidate went on to lose to a Democrat—handing the GOP its first loss in this Adirondacks-based district in more than 100 years. Erickson nonetheless declared victory, saying he’d done “exactly what we set out to do—crush the establishment-based GOP candidate.”
Steele lashed out at the blogger, saying, “I don’t see a victory in losing seats.” But in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Erickson said Steele’s comment indicates the RNC chairman doesn’t get the battle he’s in.
“I’m talking to my own side, rallying the troops to take action,” said Erickson. “I want to make things happen. I want to blow things up and get things done.”
“He and the establishment Republicans are playing a dangerous game equating conservatives and the Republican Party as the same thing,” he said. “There’s a break that’s needed to happen between that relationship, and I think [New York’s 23rd District] finally severed that relationship the way it needed to be severed.”
According to Erickson, while the party may need to tack left in its choice of candidates to regain some blue-state seats, Scozzafava was a special case in which “the Democrat had a more moderate record than the Republican.”
He had tough words for likely 2012 candidate Mitt Romney, who stayed neutral while former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorsed Conservative Party candidate Douglas Hoffman and Newt Gingrich backed Scozzafava.
“If he wants to sit on the fence and have it both ways on these issues, it’s going to cause a lot of people a lot of trouble,” he said.
Erickson’s campaign has led some progressive observers to daydream about the conservative base committing political suicide in an otherwise promising midterm elections by backing an array of unelectable right-wing candidates and third-party insurgents.
Already the right is refocusing attention on its next moderate target: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, whose race against conservative state lawmaker Marco Rubio in the Senate primary is becoming a cause célèbre among the base. With promising moderate candidates facing conservative primary challengers in Senate races in Delaware, Illinois, and Connecticut as well, an all-out civil war could potentially hand Democrats an even larger majority in 2010.
• Eric Alterman: Why Democrats Are Smiling
• Lee Siegel: New Jersey's Obama Wannabe
• Mark McKinnon: The GOP Surge Isn't Obama's Fault
• Peter Beinart: Behind the Democratic Wipeout
• More Daily Beast contributors on the election aftermathErickson only added more fuel to the fire Tuesday night when he participated in a phone conference with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) backing conservative Chuck DeVore over the more moderate ex-CEO of Hewlett Packard, Carly Fiorina, in California’s Senate primary. How pure could the party get and still compete in elections if the base wouldn’t tolerate moderate Republicans in ultra-liberal California?
Erickson, however, says the “purge” is largely exaggerated.
“I’m fine with Mark Kirk in Illinois, Mike Castle in Delaware, even Olympia Snowe and Sue Collins in Maine,” he said. “There are places where conservatives can’t win. My problem is where the right can win, the GOP should go right.”
As for California, running a conservative candidate is largely symbolic, Erickson said: “I don’t think anybody can win in California.”
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The leadership of the Republican party has fallen to a blowhard radio talk show host and an ex-shock jock clown on cable TV. That's all they've got.
At least they provide us with the entertainemnt we desperately need in these hard times. Just sit back, and watch the party that destroyed America destroy itself .
I get my entertainment fix from Nancy & Harry! And don't forget the messiah.
So right here around home we have fanatical extremists, attempting to add to governance still more determined obstructionists with no interest whatsoever in hearing views other than their own or--God forbid!--compromising on any issue whatsoever. As they anoint themselves in pursuit of power and wealth, God help the ordinary people of this country!
One can tell from the word usage and format of GLENDA1976 posting that she could not converse with any of the 3 she attempted to malign.....is't it sad when some feel inferior, such as Glenda and Erickson so they fight against it...when the problems in this country become too much Glenda? You will change. Thousands of years have shown that even idiots such as yourself and Erickson will change...one can only hope that you do so before your ruin another generation with your filthy ignorance.
I really and truly hope you are that delusional.
must you banalize?
I agree. It is time to renew our politics.
We need to create the party of one tent for all and dump this confusing two party idiocy. George Washington begged his contemporaries not to make political parties, but to have factions in one party.
So there should be two political parties: One party registered, the other party the unregistered. The main goal of the registered is to get the unregistered to participate, and the unregistered should be in charge of running the elections.
Our slogan should be "Dump the 535." Great bumper sticker: "The 535 Must Go."
People will respond to that. It is the 535 Members of Congress who wink at the idea, through their Federal Election Commission, that the $150,000 given to Sarah Palin for gear to wear on the campaign trail was a "legal" dough nation.
The lobbyists give our representatives $$$. For their elections. Does the money go for live televised speech on behalf of their candidacies? Noooo. It goes for two dozen $150 shirts, and many pair of $400 shoes, and expensive suits, and outfits for the spouse, for the campaign trail.
In exchange for that, bills are written within the publicly unstated desires of Money & Power, the "acceptable" reforms Money & Power seek explained to the congresspersons' aides, a quid pro conducted by pros.
Amongst the 535 there are perhaps 40-50 keepers. But all must go! Either we vote them all out, or we, the people lose and they all will stay, carrying on their corrupt business of politics as usual.
The idea of one party for all will resonate!
Here is what we can say to people, to dissolve the electorate's inertia: those who are really worth having around, the ten percent who are decent - they, upon losing their seat will probably offer to stay on as a member of the newly elected Member's staff, to keep working on the important legislation they had already devoted years trying to pass.
Another plank in our winning platform is to have five Members of the House where we have one, with all five sharing the same office so there isn't any raise in the bloated office budgets. Also, we need to reset all the congressional districts according to County lines, instead of the gerrymander.
Were we only to elect 50 out of 535 we could force reform because neither corrupt party could get anything done without our cooperation!
With five Congress people where we have one, and four of the five remaining in the district and voting via secure internet, the lobbyists would not be in control of anything,
It would be feasible for some (probably most) of the current office holders we removed to seek another seat in a freshly designed district where everyone always voted for them before we, the people with the Independent party politics came along and sent them home to think about their corrupt way of doing the people's business.
We could have a political party convention and write all the planks in our platform, too, which seems a lot more fun than grousing about what is wrong. We could introduce all of our candidates for the House and Senate to the 200,000 convention delegates (and the millions at home on pay per view)!
200,000 delegates X $200 per delegate delegate fee = forty million dollars to run our open air Woodstockian convention and have plenty enough bucks for delegate entertainment every night, Bono, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Ringo, Paul, The Rolling Stones . . . they will all come, and many others, too. We will have enough money to cover the musicians' costs, 200 thousand convention delegates X $200 delegate fee = 40 million dollars. The musicians will read your common sense platform and want to be there!
They will play for the party standing behind the poet prophet candidate for president and his program for World Peace. They will all come, not for poet, but for you. So where there is a will there is a way. We can do it.
michaelslevinson dot commie
Jesus, do you have to publish a feature length article for every post? Help us Beast editors!
Politics too complicated for you to wrap your head around? The real problem is campaign finance. Our elected representatives aren't in the business of governance -- they're in the business of raising campaign cash -- by any means necessary. They're forced to become whores to special interests.
Only public financing will fix the problem, and this will only be achievable by a constitutional amendment.
wolvering1987
Yes, actually, he does in fact have to publish a feature length article for every post. At least it isn't the filth he posted after Ted Kennedy's funeral. (You stay classy, Oliver) The good news is that every time you see his name you can just scroll down to the end and ignore him.
We totally agree,especially since it screams that those in our elected government have formed some sort of club that resembles the old police mantra breathing behind closed doors> called code of silence.They are capable of starting a civil war here at home with the games they are playing on T.V.you have to wonder if a Murdoch as a foreigner here on our soil plays more than just a role as Media magnate.
HEY FOLKS YA SEE THIS IS WHY THEY SAY "JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!" ONE PARTY? STALIN,HITLER, MAO,THE FREAKS IN NICARAGUA AND ARGENTINA'S PRESEDENTIAL PALACES WOULD LOVE YA BABY. THEN AGIAN YOU HAVE PROVEN ONCE AND FOR ALL THE BEST REASON WHY WE NEED TO SUPPORT ABORTION.SOME GENES JUST DON'T NEED TO GET PASSED ON!
@ZARGON - do us a favor and don't pass on the "CAPS LOCK" gene.
When Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin replaced William F. Buckley and Florence King as "Conservatives" in the minds of the GOP faithful, I realized it was time for me to abandon the Republicans...
JohnnyBeagle, why jump ship? If you cringe at the thought of Rush Limbaugh as your spokesperson, as I do, then you have all the more reason to remain and fight the negative image. Bring back the intellectual to the party! Now more than ever!!
YES KEEP PUSHING FAR LEFT AND FAR RIGHT. EITHER WAY YOU WILL SOON SEE THE MEANS UTILIZED ARE THE SAME AND BOTH JUST ADORE THE KINDS OF CREATURES WE HIDE IN OUR JAILS WITH TATOOS . IT WON'T BE LONG AND THEY'RE LIKELY TO BE SEEN AS OUR ONLY HOPE IF WE DON'T CUT THIS FOOLISHNESS OUT AND RETURN AMERICA TO DEMOCRACY. THROW OUT THE SOCIALISTS AND OVERTURN THEIR POLICIES OF THE LAST 70 YRS.
We moderate Republicans can vote in the primaries against these hard-right candidates but the damage has already been done to the Party. There will be nothing attractive for the next generation of voters, unless they are skinheads. As a result, I fear that there will be so many splinter groups representing these far right conservative and evangelical hate-mongers that there will not be any educated intellectuals left to balance them out. These crazies are going to encite violence and class warfare. I feel like I must vote as if I were in the WWII "underground" fighting against the NAZI occupation.
absolutes, there isn't. Find the best candidates overall, of any party, and vote for them.
Thinking they can elect rightwing conservatives who only care about 'values issues' (read, abortion, gay marriage) in this political climate is naive. Voters want candidates to be honest and work for their districts,and not pretend they support fringe issues that appeal to right wing voters just to get elected. Mitt Romney had to do that after being a 'liberal Rep' governor in Massachusetts. So did GHW Bush when he ran for president. And so did Reagan, who was pro choice when governor of California. Maybe now they can be honest about their views. No more Scozzafava's.
Like most people who had the misfortune to be born in GA...one has to wonder if their parents were actually attempting to breed or stupid or if it is just in the water. Erickson? Is one of those that in HS the good kids were not allowed to bring into the house.
Ok, you guys just don't get it. Real conservatives believe in the constitution as it was written. We believe in limited government interference in our daily lives and business. We believe that although the government should not establish a religion, that doesn't mean that government can not recognize the value of religion, particularly the Christian religion upon which THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE draws our very RIGHT to be FREE and the CORE of American LAW is based! We believe in individual responsibility, helping others without perpetually enslaving them and their children and children's children to a massive government welfare system. We believe taxes should not burden the people to a point where they hindered in building personal wealth, and that we should be able to pass that wealth to our children or whomever we want without the governement taking a huge chunk of money away that has in fact already been taxed several times. We believe in the right to bear arms for self defence and if neccessary (I'm speaking hypothetically) to put down a government that has turned it's back on the Constitution and become tyrannical and acts in it's own interest for the purposes to expand it's control and power of the citizens it was elected to represent and protect. Speaking of protecting, we believe our government should protect us against terrorists, foreign drug dealers/gangs, child molesters and other dangerous criminals. We believe, a closed and monitored border is not racist, it is common sense given a few of the threats to our country I just mentioned. We believe in an organized, thoughtful and for crying out loud; enforced immigration policy. We belive that our government should not ram thousand plus page bills (that they have not read) intentionally filled with legaleeze to make it impossible to understand, in the middle of the night without both sides present to represent the will of the people. I'm sure this is gibbersh to you. How sad.
Jim
That's just what you believe.
So real republicans don't believe in women voting? And that blacks are 3/5 of a person?
The constitution is a living document and lays a framework for how laws are to be written and how the republic is to act. After 200 years of governance, resolved situations, and laws passed and upheld, the law you see today IS THE CONSTITUTION. You aren't protecting or embracing the constitution - you are saying that 200 years of laws and enforcement of the constitution are moot, and that we should just ignore them.
In other words, you are fighting against the very constitution you keep preaching about, which means you really don't have a clue what the document actually is.
And yes, it IS gibberish, because you are so worked up and angry you are speaking in gibberish. Have you tried to read the bills? Do you think they are 1000 pages just because people are out to get you? Believe it or not, they aren't as evil as you think - they are just very, very complicated issues.
Did you know that at any time you can go online and READ the bills? You might try that once... though something tells me you'd rather just shout hyperbole than actually participate.
Oh, and to your religion argument. First, the Declaration has nothing to do with governance, and nothing to do with the laws of our country. Second, the Declaration does NOT mention the Christian god specifically. Third, the Constitution that you love to wave around doesn't mention "God" at all, let alone the Christian God. Maybe you should go back and re-read that while your at it.
No, it's not gibberish. It is a first step in your travels toward what you label as 'real conservatives'. If I may be of assistance:
The Declaration is not a legal document - it is a statement of purpose. The Constitution is the core of American law. Nor is the Declaration based on Christian religion - there is no reference to Christ. It comes straight from The Enlightenment, and its authors were deists who used words such as 'the Creator' and 'divine Providence'.
You veer into business policy and an anti-tax stand, yet we continue to fight two wars without paying for them. President Johnson used the same strategy during the Vietnam War, and America paid for the error with the stagflation of the 1970's. A true conservative pays the bills as they come, rather than pay the minimum and let the debt grow without thought for the future.
Your right to bear arms is indeed predicated on the right of the people to overthrow their government, but the phrase 'well regulated Militia' informs Americans this right, like all others, comes with responsibilities. An armed citizen has responsibilities to others and the State. I note few armed conservatives objected to the State suspending Constitutional guarantees of American rights earlier in this decade.
The Constitution does not guarantee your safety. Indeed, the Bill of Rights is silent on the subject. Both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson stated that a person who was willing to sacrifice liberty for security deserved neither. I am unaware of any group seeking to expand our supply of drug-dealing, bomb-throwing child molesters. With your permission I will ignore these statements.
A real conservative would advocate a stable immigration policy. Immigration is a reality. We should implement actions that are possible, not what makes you feel good. Since you advocate for a fortified border, I give you Berlin as a shining example of how porous a well defended border is. A real conservative would notice that terrorists were not coming through our southern, but northern border. If racism were not the issue, resources would be allocated to protect us from real, rather than perceived threats.
Yes, a real conservative is saddened by hustling huge, unread bills through Congress. We are also saddened by the fact that you think this happens in the middle of the night. Take some time and read several bills as they come up for votes. Each one is huge, byzantine, and full of specifics.
Welcome. And good luck keeping those that are 'on your side' from influencing your views.
If that's the case, Rush and Beck did a pretty good job bouncing the Democrats in VA and NJ this week.
The problem with moderate Republicans is they are really showing signs of being Democrats with the name Republican, or as they are called, RINO [Republican in name only]. And that is not what this nation needs. There needs to be a clear difference between the 2 parties. I notice no one says anything about Democratic leadership, getting rid of moderate Democrats, like the did to Joe Lieberman.
Sounds like the Tet Offensive.....in this example the Conservative GOP are the Viet Cong.....you'll remember that Tet was a good couple of days for the V.C., but by the end of the offensive 85% of thier effective fighting force had been destroyed. Except in this example the Conservative's don't have a larger, better organized and higher quality force backing them up (like the V.C. had with the NVA). Once the Conservative Movement uses up all of thier political capital and thier candidates mostly get beaten, the GOP will slowly swing left.
The entire narrative from the left about the GOP is so comical and stupid. Even if it is all true--so fucking what!! Why do you care or write about it? You can count on the Beast and other outlets to have a story about this topic approximately every other day--to what end? It makes democrats happy and republicans mad. And what has it accomplished? Nothing.
Now, conspiracy theorists could say that this is coordinated a message to independents to stay away from republicans. Yet this has failed too. Independents voted OVERWHELMINGLY for Christie and McDonnell in the most recent elections.
Want a story? Look at the fact that the left is now seriously unhappy with Obama, a critique that Huffington, SNL and Stewart have now made official. And the moderate Dems are waffling about the centerpiece of the President's agenda, health care. How can any objective person think that there is a real difference here? BOTH parties are constantly fighting between true believers and moderates, and it never stops. But yet somehow this is a story--again, why does the left even pay attention? Don't you have urgent matters to address?
wolverine1987 the key word is "objective"
"The entire narrative from the left about the GOP is so comical and stupid. Even if it is all true--so fucking what!! Why do you care or write about it?"
Because America needs a TWO PARTY SYSTEM!!
Even though this sideshow is funny for for now, it hurts America in the long run. You guys have only yourselves to blame by holding everyone in your party to the Ruch/Beck Litmus test.
Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower would be sick if they saw how Republicans from Nixon, to Reagan, to W Bush have taken their party and have made such unholy alliances.
Nixon's Southern Strategy, to Reagan's marriage to the "Religious Right" to George W Bush's embrace the Neo-cons and now the Sarah Palins and Glen Becks running the party have created an unholy Golem.
Heck I bet even George HW Bush is kinda embarassed to see the party to to crap.
It's the Republican Party's turn for 1968, and the teabaggers are the Yippies. They won't have a chant as catchy as "Dump the Hump" - Nothing rhymes with Romney - but it'll be fun to watch their antics. Like all true believers, they will splinter and splinter again. If some go for Ron Paul, others will denounce him for legalizing drugs and abortion. In the end, nobody will be pure enough. Hey teabaggers, how about a demonstration in Grant Park?
I like "nobody will be pure enough", as they judge each other in the light of their psychotic, jealous, and genocidal deity.
"Teabaggers." Dead give away you allow Keith Olbermann and MSNBC do your thinking for you.
The Party of Lincoln can not afford to become increasingly more narrow-minded. Shunning Fiorina and Gov. Crist will turn away at least half of Republicans. The GOP can not survive that kind of hit. These bullying measures by the conservatives must end. If conservatives want to start their own political party... fine. Don't ruin the Republican Party via a conservative coup. It is just wrong.
Crist was a popular governor. What has changed? Will Rubio win the senate seat? Or is he too conservative. Only time will tell.
You raise a good point, and thank you for your reasonable tone. (It's always amazing to me that leftists will criticize the harshness of the right in harsh tones.) Anyway...People here, most of them NOT Republicans, are trying to define what Republicans should be. The only Republicans who should be allowed to breathe, apparently, are the Dede Scozzafava Republicans who will bend over and vote for Obama's agenda. In Florida, let Republicans decide who the Senate candidate should be. Let people vote their convictions. If it's Crist, I would hope all Republicans would back Crist, because the alternative will likely be another leftwing statist. If it's Rubio, ditto on that. I'm old enough to remember Ronald Reagan's ascendency to the Governorship of Calif., and then his '76 run for President. Both times, he was criticized as being "an extremist." He went on to be the best most successful, and one of the most pragmatic leaders, this country had in the second half of the 20th Century.
I wish the Republican Party wreckers good luck. Never did a political party deserve oblivion as much as the Republicans do.
Their crimes against the American people have been many and egregious, and have cost us great amounts of blood and treasure.
Their wars of belligerent insanity like Iraq, their complicity with the swindlers on Wall St., in the banks and the corporate boardrooms destroyed our economy, and their fiscal irresponsibility, which combined reckless spending and unwarranted tax cuts for the rich, have left us in an $11 trillion hole.
Based on performance alone the Republican Party deserves to go extinct, and yet there are Americans who continue to vote for these fools, as in NJ and VA yesterday.
Some people never learn.
I AM A SOCIAL WORKER. I HAVE STUDIED POLITICAL SOCIAL POLICY. YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT THE REPUBLICANS.
P.S. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE STARTED AND FOUGHT MORE WARS IN HISTORY THAN THE REPUBLICANS.
I'll never forgive them for dragging us into WWII. Pearl Harbor was faked for propaganda purposes.
very banal
And in the end, there will be four true, real Republicans sitting around a table, and not one of them will hold public office. In the words of that great American, Wonder Wart Hog, "Eat pie, pigs!"
Why should they be happy about their loss in New York? The conservative candidate that they went all-out to back was the one who lost, not the moderate conservative they drove out of the race.
And they were happy as hell about driving the moderate Republican out as I recall, saying that a "true conservative" would certainly win. Politically, they were very dumb, since they probably guaranteed his loss by backing him so openly. Deeds in Virginia has the same mentality as these people, but ran as a stealth candidate.
He was able to get away with that running against a very weak Dem candidate, but they won't always be so lucky in the future.
I think the NY 23rd was a joke. It came down to a Conservative that didn't live in the district vs. a "I have no idea what party I should belong to liberal" vs. a solid Democrat. The best person for the job won out because the GOP didn't pick a Republican candidate to begin with.
VA and NJ are the tip of the iceberg, we are going to see big republican gains as the democrats struggle with moving farther to the left or moving to the center - either causes confusion and friction.
Conservatives with brains seldom move toward the Republican party these days, they tend to become more independent. Expect a third party to arise and have the same effect for itself and Republicans that the Green Party and Ross Perot were able to do during the past twenty some years.
A shame too, we really should have a few more parties to choose from than the two traditional business whores.
Most of what most people call conservative today is not conservative at all it is fascist! They should not even be calling themselves conservative. It's an erroneous misleading word. It's just plain old fascism dressed up in a adoring new dress to attract the unwary passerby with false promises of a better world. But, those promises are as empty as the Republican Party is of hope and principles.
Tumbleweed,
Well said. See reply post above.
michaelslevinson.com
Tumbleweed, with all due respect, I take issue with your comments. Believe it or not, there are Republicans, like myself, who might seem more "liberal" to you than you think, while upholding "conservative" principles. We ask, "What are we conserving?" An example: Marriage rights for the gay community. As a resident of Maine, I was in favor of gay marriage in our recent election. Why? The Republican Party's core notion of individual freedom, as guaranteed by the Constitution. I think liberals are so scared by the mere utterance of the word "conservative" that they have lost touch with the fact that the noun "conservative" can indeed derive its meaning from a belief in the verb "to conserve." Apply this concept to human rights, the environment, and the free market and you might be surprised to find that you are more like me than you admit. :)
The problem is that the term 'conservative' has been hijacked by people with strong social agendas. The core is being driven out by the extremes. When you have Michael Steele going on Rush Limbaugh's show to apologize for his pointing out that Rush is an entertainer it makes the party look bad, When you have Republican politicians trying to pass a House resolution thanking the Tea Party groups for their demonstration in DC, it sends a message that moderates are not welcome.
Republicans managed to make 'liberal' a dirty word, but it is the extremists in the Republican party who are doing the same to 'conservative.'
And yet, downeast, the gay marriage measure failed. No doubt in large measure due to the unstinting efforts of "true" conservatives who despise you and the values you represent. And your "moderate" conservative senators wouldn't even say how they voted on the issue. So where, exactly, does that leave you and your values? Looks a lot like nowhere from here.
You believe Republicans want to "conserve" the environment? Palin herself has begun the extermination of Alaska's wildlife for the love of oil money. Isn't that what it's really all about? Check out the aerial hunts (which are by the way illegal) by her handpicked death squadrons.
the gays still have Vermont.
Fascism: Any centralized system of government which exercises absolute control over industry, commerce and finance, and which advocates strongly nationalistic policies. imposes strict censorship and suppresses all opposition.
Hummm Sound like any body we know.
The democrats only hope of passing their liberal agenda and not getting creamed in 2010 is to divide the conservative opposition. It's transparent that they're trying to create and play up this divide. Since conservatives agree on their core priorities they should be able to deal with this easily.... if power struggles and egos don't get in the way.
You're a laugh riot. These dumb ass wingnuts don't need any help destroying their own party. Democrats need only sit back and watch the train wreck
The Democrats are destroying the Republican party? Seriously?
The problem is the Republicans don't agree on their core priorities. They originally were a party based on being fiscal conservatives. When they went after the Evangelical right they had to tack toward being social conservatives as well. As a result anyone who thinks that less government interference includes not telling two consenting adults what they can or cannot do in the privacy of their bedroom is immediately labeled a RINO and driven out of the party.
The Democrats just need to sit back and watch the fun unfold.
ThinkAgain - The pirates are fighting amongst themselves to redefine what it means to be a buccaneer, meaning Republican. No help is needed from the outside for this process.
It's all self-induced by the doubts brought upon the GOP by its loss of the POTUShip in 2008 and having a dysfunctional 'conservative' Republican as POTUS before that.
The same thing happened to the Germans after they lost World War I.
You far to the right conservative, Republicans are dangerous to our country anytime you can gleefully support an idiot like Sarah Palin to run for president.
You liberal loonies don't get it.
As a former Democrat, turned to lighly support the Republicans, I no longer support either.
As an independent I watch both parties as they self destruct, show me the difference between the the loony left taking over the Democratic party, and the Loony right taking over the Republicans....I thought so no difference.
The latest polls show the conservatives with the largest majority, just because the republicans use to be stuck with that alignment, didn't make it so.
The Democrats use to be the party of the middle class, but sold out since watergate ( surprise to the Democrats no second coming of watergate).
So while the Republicans want to morph left and the Democrats want to morh to socialism, I as a conservative will continue to support the candidate of my choice not of either parties choice, both monetarely and vocally.
Good luck in the wilderness!
Works for me. You and Ron Paul can live in your imaginary kingdom together.
And you wonder why nothing gets done. Fickle do-nothing independents, extremist right wing crazies, oh my! No wonder we're headed for hell in a handbag.
Johnnyappleseed - The right wing loonies don't get it either.
Moderates are being squeezed out of both major parties, to the extent that many of them can't even win their own primaries. That means we're headed for a government run by extremists -- unless moderates wake up, get organized, galvanize their base, and create a viable third party. I'm trying to do some major galvanizing over at newmoderate.com.
PLEASE LOOK DEEPER. THESE ARE TIMES THAT POLARIZE PEOPLE TO ONE OR ANOTHER CAMP. CAN'T YOU SEE WE ARE HEADED IN THE DIRECTION OF YUGOSLAVIA? WE ALREADY THINK IT IS THE NORM TO ACCEPT DIVERSITY SO WHAT'S THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP? WE ARE NO LONGER "E PLURIBUS UNUM". THE WORLD EAGERLY AWAITS OUR FALL.
choices depend on the next batch of candidates...we'll see
Name one extreme position the Democrats espouse? Just one! And remember, just because you dont like something hardly makes it "extreme".
No tax increase for those who make under $250K or $125K or $90K depending on where teleprompterman made his speech was made.
That's extreme? Giving a tax cut to lower-income people is extreme?
I'm assuming you meant to say no 'decrease' for upper income people. Obama is not continuing the tax cuts given to by the Bush administration. The cuts were set to expire and Obama is not continuing them. Please explain why not giving tax breaks to people making about 5 times the national average income is extreme.
Sorry dcbooknurse, for some reason there is no reply link under your post below or I would have replied to you instead of myself. At least I think thats how this works.
Anyway, my point is, yes the tax cuts will expire for those who are making over 250K but that there is no way that the current spending can be financed buy an increase to just those individuals or families.
Sooooo the position that people who make under $250K or whatever (it started out as $250K and changes depending on which democrat is talking and when they are talking) will not see increases is extreme.
Even now there is serious talks of tax increases to pay the bills on families as low as 50k.
Also in the last month or so and even today it has been stated that there will be penalties for people who go with out health insurance.
Its not a tax, it's a penalty, others can play with the words. If your poor or having a hard time making ends meet now, it's a tax.
And while I do think that people who make more should be taxed more, they are also the producers, job providers, job creators and the innovators of the economy. I ain't saying kiss their butt but I am saying lets let them keep some bones. In other words after the cuts expire thats it.
A dog won't play if its not worth his while.
One extreme position? How about socialism? How about usurpation of individual liberty? How about theft of property to buy power? How about the extreme taxes they feel are justified for gaining and maintaining power? How about their total inability to see what forms of government work and which forms never work? Can even one of them tell you how many basic forms of government exist? Can one of them tell you to the nearest million how many people were killed in the 20th century as unintended consequences of the "well intentioned" who thought it right to give the citizens a government of socialism whether they wanted it or not. It is not right, but there few Democrats who can make that distinction.
EXTREME ? INDEED YOU HAVE BEEN OBATOMIZED! CAN YOU SAY SOCIALIST HEALTH CARE?
I want to see Crist run against Rush, Billo, Glen, Sean, Sarah, Bachmann, Malkin & the rest of the Fox Faux news crazies....
As for California, who cares this poor State is so screwed up with it's old rules that no one can run it properly & that's why no on wants the job... Moon beam will run as a Dem & maybe sneak in but in the end the State is not able to function because of the 2/3 rule....
What used to be called the Republican party is now nothing more than a bunch of American Taliban with half of them being religious zealots, the rest undereducated ignorant poor white trash..
Look at the followers of these people, 2% collage educated, 99.99% white, members of the religious white Taliban, unemployed & just as stupid as stupid can be....
This group is 100% proof that the old Republican party won the war against education in this Country & you now see before you the real DUMBING down of America... You see the proof with these pathetic ignorant stupid uneducated religious fairy tale believing simpletons... They are really more dangerous to this Country then any outside force other then nuclear attack... They have & still are doing more harm to this Nation than a dozen 9/11's... These people, these Bush/Cheney/Sarah people have caused the whole world to hate us & will continue doing more harm in the future.....
If they could read, understand what they read, think & understand they would see what & where they are dragging this Nation into... Sadly the American Taliban can't do any of the above because they are really just plain ignorant white trash....
wow i have never been included with white trash before! my upper east side background will laugh at that...just one point, you speak of how CA is so messed up...uhmmm which party has largely controlled the state over the last decades? Which party instituted its social engineering program that destroyed our public school system, hospitals, infrastructure etc. Oh nevermind, when faced with facts liberals just blame George W. Bush.
Hey, look! Someone's still defending Bush! That's so cute!
oh i forgot to mention, I am also Ivy league educated ( i so thank my communist professors for helping me to see that there was more than one view of the world) so I am really not sure where you get the 2% college ( this is how it is spelled by the way, sure it was just a typo and certainly not a lack of education) educated, I am not sure how my many conservative African American friends would feel to know they are once again excluded ( in your case from the Republican party and I know isn't it just a yuk that white conservatives actually have friend who are "people of color"???) ) I am gainfully employed, run my own business which I am sure will suffer under egregious taxes headed my way. But oh well, I will just continue to suffer under the uneducated, white trash, religious zealot ( oh gosh I do attend church on Sunday-another thing wrong!!!!) label that liberals love to apply. Next time could you kindly cite your sources for the wonderful tidbits of information you deliver? Thanks! Can't wait for it.
Defensive much?
*LAUGHS* So, of course, just because you happen to buck the norm - the statement that the GOP is intellectually bankrupt/filled with uneducated morons is false? Ridiculous! I'm surprised you don't know about statistical outliers with your "Ivy League" education...
If you were so edumacated you would know that California is in this position because of our stupid rule that any tax increase or budget measure has to approved by a 2/3 margin. That make it impossible to get anything done by either party...Oh yea...our Governor is a republican and he cant get anything done either.
These socialist yahoos obviously do not own their own businesses, and probably never will. The middle class will see tax increases. How else will we pay for these blunders? I'm with you. From what I have seen on this site, the socialists are throwing up the stereotypes. I say if you don't like the principles this country was founded on, then freakin' leave. Obviously, you won't see any unbiased sources cited, as none exist. I won't resort to any name-calling. I'm 28 years old and know that insults are an insight into insecurity. Plus, it's just plain immature. Do not pay attention to these idiots. You take it easy.
"sure it was just a typo and certainly not a lack of education"
Nobody likes a smartass.
Since you bring it up, did they teach you about punctuation and the proper capitalization of letters in that Ivy League school?
You sir are a racist. If you don't believe me replace every white word with black. Now does it sound racist?
Poor Mad Marty, A Taliban behind every tree eh? If only you could get out of that poor screwed state, or at least out of your miserable little ghetto of liberalism, you might have a chance at recovery. Ever heard of the crowded cage experiment? Caution! There may be thinking involved if you should decide to try to learn about it.
After reading this article...I joined the Redstate website...after reading some of the beast blog comments...I sent money to the conservative movement.
Does that mean you'll stop posting comments? (Hope, hope.)
Yes! This is why I read the Beast daily. It is pure entertainment. I love how because I am a conservative I am automatically an idiot, white trash, bigot etc. I would never call anyone these names simply because our beliefs differ. I just like to stick to the facts and watch the liberals howl.
"Redstate";Quite an interesting website. Kinda' (sic) like the "Storm Front" ....... SO MONOLITHIC, RACIALLY PURE AND "ULTRA-HARD-RIGHT-EDGE-RADICAL!!!"
Viable third party is a bit of an oxymoron in this context. Whenever a third party emerges with a good platform or a set of good ideas one of the two parties either steals the ideas, or pretends to adopt them long enough to render political gain from the situation.
This is precisely why most of the youth has a good, strong case of the fuck-it's. One half of the extremists hate corporate business and greed, the other half hates government corruption and greed. However, the business and governmental sectors are essentially the same monster now and both parties are too indoctrinated to notice.
We fight wars in the name of democracy and freedom, yet seem to have no issue with hijacking our own the government in support of ideals that are increasingly more radical.
This all or nothing mentality will only weaken our country, as the great majority mainly live somewhere in the middle. It is not implausible to be fiscally conservative (although neither party owns that agenda right now) and socially liberal (supporting legalized marijuana or gay marriage.
At the end of the day, political direction is based on corporation-feed lobbyists that set the agenda for our nation. It is easy to donate a small amount, say $2 million, to see returns in the billions. Congress is bought and sold everyday with little regard for its' people - and that goes for both parties.
Plot?
Anyway, they're not moderates, they're liberal republicans.
I am certainly one of the progressives who daydream of a Republican Party reduced to impotent rubble. Cold comfort when the national government is a failed state, riddled with corruption, populated by clowns. And how did these crooks and idiots get into office? Elected, alas.
Given Obama's decisions this year, we're headed for a deficit meltdown, yes a failed state.
I think it is fitting that "purge" is a political tactic the Christo-fascists are enthusiastically willing to engage in. The Nazi's purged the Jews. The Bolsheviks purged a whole bunch of undesirable elements.
For the extreme-o-cons to "purge" less regressive ideology from the party stands to reason. What also stands to reason is that, historically, ideological purists pursue totalitarian government much like the RWCE are advocating.
I can't wait until they get into power and they start purging the Constitution from such ideologically impure concepts as the 1st Amendment.
The far Right has already openly purged the ideas of forming a more perfect Union, establishing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, promoting the general welfare and securing the Blessing of Liberty, as well as the IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XIII, XIV, XV, XIX Amendments. All they need is a couple more and they have complete control.
My guess is that after we are subjugated under a new, Christian Theocracy (implies Totalitarianism), the Fundamentalists and the Catholics will go at one another, just like the good ole days.
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
- Sinclair Lewis
Go for it, GOPers. See what happens. Reagan's success was largely in his Big Tent.
Although Clinton likely had a bigger tent, he had a tendency to get into trouble for being hard on his staff.
ROFL! Who's next?
Zingah!!!
I can't believe nobody else wants to play!
No one remembers Dick Nixon? James Polk? Franklin Pierce? Andrew and Lyndon Johnson? Woody Wilson? You can even have some fun with Hoover. Our presidents seem to have been chosen to keep up the running joke.
Literary references can be fun too. For example, "Paul Revere's Ride". Longfellow comes close to Balzac in his most penetrating work.
Okay, it's a stretch. I can't do all the work here people. :)
Okay, that's it!
If my fellow Democrats can't even appreciate a good penis joke then I'm forming my own political party.
Who will join me in the American National Union of Socialists?
LMFAO!
"Erickson said Steele's comment indicates the RNC chairman doesn't get the battle he's in."
It's Erickson who doesn't know the fight he's getting in. This rethug cannibalism is only going to make it easier for us Dems to push them off the cliff once they reach the edge. Thanks for doing all the hard work for us dumbtards. You can't get better entertainment than this. I love it!
ERICKSON IS ONLY FOLLOWING COMMUNIST PHILOSOPHY; IN ORDER TO RESHAPE SOCIETY ,YOU MUST COMPLETELY DESTROY IT FIRST.START WITH THE FENCE SITTER THEN GO FOR THE RULING MANDARINS.(I.E. DEMOCRATS.)
Please, I'm begging everyone of moderate to liberal political views, read Jeff Sharlet's "The Family" and Max Blumethal's "Republican Gomorrah." The only way to combat this malignancy is to understand what is at the root of it. Neither present information that is pleasant to contemplate. Most of us would rather pretend that this is just a small, fringe faction that will eventually go away. It will not. Not unless the rest of us MAKE IT go away. Get informed. Get in the game. Otherwise, Erickson and his ilk will win just by virtue of wanting it more.
I read "The Family," and it's like I knew what the next sentence would be on every page, because I've seen the Right Wing and the Christers do this for about 45 years, since I started following politics.
Self-involvement, zero Christian values, and sucking up to power. Sowing the seeds for the system of government known as "Facism."
Of course, the Beck watchers and Fat Guy listeners will object because that label is already taken. But that's just the Lee Atwater principle of "Projection Debate."
The more quotes I hear from Mr. Erickson, the less I like him. But that's personal. He should get a real job.
What matters is we have a two-party system because ordinarily we fall into two broad groups, people who like the status quo and people who are not yet satisfied with it. We get occasional third-party entries who typically fall somewhere between, but even with a lot of us calling ourselves independent voters we know we are probably throwing our votes away in protest when we vote for those third-party entries-and so when push comes to shove we also go with the 'viable' main party candidate of our choice. (Yes, I've thrown mine away a few times.)
Mr. Erickson and similar nitwits crowing about an electoral defeat (!) are the ones who do not get it. Or maybe they do; maybe they like being a lunatic fringe third-party entry that can't even win in a 140-year old stronghold. It works for me. But they should consider the model of the opposite extreme: the Communist Party of the USA, and a few others, are always on the ballot. They always win 1-2%, and get footnotes in the news. There's always room for another crackpot looney-tunes fringe party, at either end.
SURE THEN WE CAN BE JUST LIKE FRANCE OR ITALY.
This is the best possible news for free thinkers. The 'big tent' republican party will turn hard right and expunge anyone who doesn't follow their religion. It deliberately aims to be a small party with limited attraction. Eventually the Republican National Convention will be held in a phone booth populated by Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, with Rush Limbaugh at the door to make sure that anyone with a different opinion doesn't get in. The independent pool will grow as more people turn away from and idealogically inflexible GOP and the nanny state Democrats. Maybe it will finally open the door to a viable third party that wants sane spending and personal freedom. Sign me up for THAT party.
What are you waiting for, to register that "viable" third party? I am tired of hearing about this faceless, anonymous 'third party' or 'independents', or the 'middle'. Who are these indecisive group of people, who, every election year, straddle the right and the left wings of the political parties, without any stated philosophy or agenda, but try to sway the political process to the so called middle? I understand that the world is not painted in black and white, but a mosaic of different colors. Yet it is frustrating to figure out where they stand on issues...even issues that are as clear cut as gay rights, abortion, or stem cell research. All I see in 'Independents', is confusion and indecisiveness as to what philosophies they imbibe. Show your faces. Let us know who you really are, and what doctrines you espouse. Unless you want to identify with the likes of Joe Lieberman, who is at heart a republican, but puts on a caricature face of a democrat. So much for being an 'Independent'.
It is the height of stupidity for a group that is supposedly larger than the two other parties, not to coalesce and form a distinct party that will potentially win every election, to hide under the canopy of the parties that they share very little with,... only to sneak out every election cycle, to try to influence the outcome of elections. There is always room for more political parties in this country. Independents! Come out and establish your presence and relevance to the political process! Tell the American people what you stand for, or against! Only then can the 'tyranny' of the right or the left, be curtailed, and real progress can begin to unfold. Seems to me that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have outlived their usefulness in moving this country forward. All they now do, is bicker, serve the interests of their sponsors, and get nothing done for the people who vote them into office.
"He and the establishment Republicans are playing a dangerous game equating conservatives and the Republican Party as the same thing,"
The republicans haven't been real conservatives since Goldwater just like the democrats haven't been real liberals since LBJ.
Thank you.
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