Could It Get Any Better?
3 Comments Published November 1st, 2009 in National and International Issues.The Palin-Beck crazies are helping America more than they know!
A race for a congressional seat in upstate New York is generating national headlines. Why? Because conservative wing-nuts have decided that the Republican selected by a unanimous vote of all eleven Republican County Chairs of New York’s 23rd Congressional District isn’t conservative enough for them. A moderate Republican member of the New York State Assembly, “Dede” Scozzafava matches the political climate of the district perfectly. But out-of-state carpetbaggers ginned up a lot of money, imported a lot of foot solders, used a lot of dirty campaign tricks and lies to support a non-Republican third party candidate and split the normally reliable Republican vote right down the middle. Scozzafava finally quit the race four days before the election.
As misguided as he is about what’s good for America, Newt Gingrich has an intuitive understanding of the practical politics of getting and keeping power. His analysis of the situation: “We’ll make Pelosi speaker for life and guarantee Obama’s re-election.”
Yeah! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
The problem with Democrats is that they don’t have the “true believer” fervor of an al Queda jihadist. But the Palin-Beck crazies would feel right at home in the Waziristan camps. Both bin Ladin and Palin have no doubts whatever that (as British philosopher Bertrand Russell once observed), “their petty prejudices constitute the ultimate laws of the Universe.”
Just as Faux TV masquerades as news source, conservative wing-nuts have been masquerading as a political party. But the race in New York’s 23rd District has had the effect of unmasking them. Republicans in the 23rd district just might swallow hard and vote for law professor/Air Force captain Bill Owens. Or they might stay away from the polls entirely so Democrats can elect him. If Owens wins, he will be the first Democrat to represent the district since they helped elect Lincoln a century and a half ago.
The problem with “true belief” is that it gets in the way of good judgement way too often. Democrats are often less effective in the heat of battle because they hesitate and constantly ask themselves, “Am I really doing the right thing?” Wing-nuts swing away with their battle axe regardless of the consequences and never ask that question. In this particular case, they might be pushing their cult over the edge and into irrelevance – where they belong.
I hope the last paragraph was written tongue in cheek.
It is hard to imagine Pelosi or Frank or Schumer or Durbin wringing their hands and engaging in a “To Be Or Not To Be” soliloquy regarding what is the right thing to do.
You might want to look at a post on thedailybeast.com titled The Last Days of the GOP
No tounge in cheek. (*sorry*) BUT … I did not wish irrelvance onto the Republican Party; just the conservative wing-nuts who have such inordinate influence there now. The blog you recommended talked exclusively of the Republican Party. I can identify pretty strongly with *some* Republican principals, such as fiscal conservatism. I only wish their own people identified with them too. A glance at the national debt superimposed over the Bush-Reagan versus Clinton-Carter years should be enough to convince any reasonable person that most Republican “fiscal conservatives” drip hipocracy from every pore.
But you mention Pelosi, Frank and Durbin as your targets. Actually, I only half agree with the quote from Newt. I think it would be great to get Obama elected again. Pelosi, Frank and Durbin …. ummmm … not so much. But as a realist, I recognize that they go with the package.
I beat the drum of defeating long time incumbents more than any other; and that includes the incumbents listed above. Democrats are not immune to the corruption of power.
The wing-nuts of the right are a special breed. While not corrupt themselves (even though corrupt people often take advantage of their tunnel vision – John McCain – a thoroughly corrupt politician – tried that and thankfully failed), they have an ideology driven agenda that defies logic and reason. The fatal combination of bankrupt right wing ideology and old fashioned corruption got us into Iraq.