The Beginning of the End

We've been watching the trend now for a couple of years.  The Republican Party, having lost its way as its leaders, drunk with power after controlling national politics and much of the media for over 10 years, began reaping the crop of hate and intolerance it had cynically sown to attain that power.  Moderates and thinking people fled, or were drummed out of the party, as the GOP became a mere shadow of its former self while extremists, who had come up from the grassroots, gradually took control of state and national parties and began choking off reason and diversity.

Entire segments of the American population were condemned.  Weirdos began putting ridiculous planks in state party platforms about national religion, official language, women's choices, behavior in bedrooms, against science and advocating other narrow wedge issues.  Preemptive military invasion and warmongering, masquerading as "spreading democracy" and "fighting terrorism" replaced diplomacy.  Eliminationist rhetoric, systemic xenophobia and ignorance became admirable traits.  Everyone who disagreed, including all Democrats, were labeled traitors, treasonous, communists, socialists, etc, etc...you've heard all of the hate speech.  Moderate Republicans were run out of office in primaries funded by big donors and special interest PACs aligned against anyone not toeing the "patriot" line.  Bipartisanship died.  Partisanship was hailed as the goal, not a tool.  No quarter was given, no compromise allowed.  The government deadlocked.

Then the party began to fracture.  Extremist right wingers actively spoke out against the national candidate, John McCain, because he didn't stick to the talking points, although he tried.  Ignoramuses like Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber became icons.  Intellectuals were vilified.  Then...America elected a black man as President.  The fringe came unhinged.  Corporately funded astroturf protests sprung up around the country.  People who had never really paid attention took the corporate message hook, line, and sinker, repeating platitudes and idolizing morons like Glenn Beck.  Threats against the President poured in like never before witnessed.  Violence, always bubbling just below the surface, periodically erupted in places like churches and even the Holocaust Museum in Washington.  Wingnuts protested to get their "country back". 

Mainstream Republicans, realizing too late that they'd let the genie out of the bottle, tried to put that genie back.  Stalwarts like Bob Dole began speaking out in favor of health care reform, only to be shouted down by the "base" who'd been fully indoctrinated in extremist ideology.

Then came the special election in New York's 23rd district.  The official GOP candidate for the seat, Dede Scozzafava, a moderate, was opposed by not only a Democrat, but a member of the Conservative Party, Doug Hoffman.  In this particular race however, leaders of the extreme wing of the Republican Party endorsed...wait for it...Hoffman.  Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson, among others, moved even further from mainstream Republicans by backing an opposing candidate.  Many followed, ignoring even Newt Gingrich, who urged support of the Republican.  Defections were so strong that today, Scozzafava withdrew from the race, ceding the victory to Hoffman before the election.  The damage is done.  Republicans are now officially divided.  One only need read a few lines of the bile being spewed by Michelle Malkin to understand how wide the divide has become.

What we are seeing could be the beginning of the end of the GOP for a generation.  With national figures backing extremists against party candidates, right wing media and bloggers supporting those endorsements and encouraging positions only supported by about 20% of the electorate, the ideologues have successfully dismantled the party.  For the first time in over 20 years, emergence of a third party seems actually possible, which would undoubtedly divide the right side of the political spectrum, virtually assuring dominance of the Democrats for some time to come.

With geniuses like Palin, Beck, and Rush leading the conservative movement, the Repubs should be really worried.  And the Dems should be making hay.  We'll see if they do that and step into the breach.