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[Bal]

So I can't tell. Is the GOP eating itself, or just radicalizing its moderate factions

[Brentai]

Aren't those the same thing?

[Bal]

Except one of them maintains the numbers to be a political nightmare, and the other scenario leaves them fractured and useless for decades

[Disposable Ninja]

I think the GOP is indeed eating itself, much like the Oroboros devours itself. They're growing stronger as they destroy themselves, relevant front irrelevancy. They gain power by destroying the very people they convinced that will be saved by.

And just as Plato described, the Oroboros is a perfect being: a complacent, immortal beast, that spends eternity eating its own shit. It's not going anywhere.

[Brentai]

You gotta remember that it's not about how many people you have locked up safely in your camp, it's how many more people you can draw in with them.  If there were that many party-line Republicans out there then there wouldn't have been a Democractic supermajority as recently as a week ago.  If all they're doing right now is drawing their more moderate supporters away from the edge, then that has the net effect of not increasing their support in any way while making it that much harder to talk to the swing voters without seeming batfuck crazy.

Having said all that, I don't think it's actually happening that way anyway.  True, the Tea-Party Republicans are becoming louder with every passing day, but that's because they know they're becoming largely irrelevant even within their own party.  Most of the non-incumbent Republicans that have been winning nominations lately have been right-leaning centrists at worst.  Hell, McCain won his nomination almost purely on his reputation for not being too much of a conservative nutball, and it would have turned out great if his party hadn't somehow convinced him to shackle himself to The Ultimate Teabagger just to make up for it.

It's not that the GOP is eating itself so much as it already ate itself long ago, and now it's got indigestion.

[SCD]

...And those who are actually voting are liking that indigestion a lot more than what's on the other plate.

[Brentai]

The only indication of that so far is the Massachusetts race, which as I said before, was a contest between a moderate* and a fucking idiot.  I don't think it's a fair predictor of things to come.

Though you are right in that we can take away the assumption that voters will not elect fucking idiots, which most of the Democratic leadership is currently made up of.


* Reportedly, although research suggests that Brown may have been lying through his teeth throughout the campaign on his true stance on issues, like some sort of politician.

[Royal☭]

Party Favorability Percentages as of 1/21/2010:

         
DEMOCRATIC PARTY:   39 (41)   56 (55)   -3
REPUBLICAN PARTY:   34 (32)   58 (59)   +3

The image below depicts favorability starting with January of last year up until today.  Blue is Dem, Red is Rep.  Can you tell which part of the trend is the bad one?

[TA]

moderate

Ontheissues.org painted him pretty decidedly as a right-wing hardliner, with the sole exception of not being completely fucking retarded about abortion.

[Brentai]

*

[Catloaf]

moderate

Ontheissues.org painted him pretty decidedly as a right-wing hardliner, with the sole exception of not being completely fucking retarded about abortion.

That sounds like a "Moderate Republican" to me.  Anymore to center and he'd be called a R.I.N.O. by the rest of them for having too much logic in his head.

[Thad]

If there were that many party-line Republicans out there then there wouldn't have been a Democractic supermajority as recently as a week ago.

There wasn't.

The supermajority was essentially a media-concoted myth.  Democrats simply don't have that kind of party unity, as the healthcare crash-and-burn so amply demonstrated.

Frankly the best thing about Brown's election is that Lieberman is no longer the most important person in the Senate.

moderate*

* Reportedly, although research suggests that Brown may have been lying through his teeth throughout the campaign on his true stance on issues, like some sort of politician.

That's what it's looking like.  His stated positions on issues seem roughly the equivalent of an Arizona Democrat, but I've seen some numbers suggesting he votes with his party nearly all the time.  ...which I guess might still make him the equivalent of an Arizona Democrat.

That sounds like a "Moderate Republican" to me.  Anymore to center and he'd be called a R.I.N.O. by the rest of them for having too much logic in his head.

My old boss had a "McCain = RINO" bumper sticker.

That's the guy who got the Republican Presidential nomination in '08.

And that's what somebody IN HIS HOME STATE had on his pickup.

This is where my "quit fucking worrying what the crazy people are going to say about you because they're still going to say it no matter HOW much you crazy up to them" advice comes in.

[Thad]

...so uh it looks like even some of the craziest Republicans are starting to realize that you can't just block all government funding of everything.

Inhofe -- fucking INHOFE -- is saying maybe we need transportation funding.

It seems to me that the Senate rules are full of loopholes that need to be addressed -- not just the abuse of the filibuster or the budget reconciliation procedure used to get around it, but this nonsense where a single Senator can hold up funding for the entire federal government.  The rule's there for a reason -- it's a courtesy in case somebody gets called away in an emergency -- but, like other Senate procedures, has been hijacked for a purpose far beyond its original intent.

[Brentai]

So Carl Paladino is kind of inappropriate. (Thanks Saturn.)

Most of the article is really just hilarious, but the moneyshot for me is this:

It figures that members of the Party who brought us record taxes, record spending and record debt would want to change the topic from reform to having sex with horses and S&M parlors.

Yeah, they're not trying to deny the bestiality and S&M stuff, they're just trying to play it down.  Because this is something that members of the GOP are inclined to just overlook.

[Shinra]

So we're getting panicked recordings from city, council, and state officials begging us to turn in our census forms here in Oklahoma.

Guess the red states are getting fucked by tea party census paranoia?

 

[TA]

Fewer census forms turned in means fewer people officially in that district, which means smaller allocations and possibly redistricting.  Damn right they're panicky.  The conspiracy theories they've been feeding are biting them in the ass.

[Brentai]

Yeah, the topic title has never been more accurate than right now.  The right wing is literally wiping itself off the radar.

Also, the irony of the "no taxation without representation" party actually refusing to be represented is too delicious for words.

[Brentai]

The answer to all this is of course to let people opt out of taxes if they also waive their right to vote.

This is clearly the best idea that any American has ever had.

[Shinra]

yeah, I think the tea party dorks are under the impression that opting not to be represented makes them free of obligation to pay taxes.

[Classic]

I wonder how tough it would be to convince the state that I'm a NFPOrg.