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March 5, 2009
The fat guy in the creepy gangster suit doesn't help either.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, on why it's all going wrong for The Other Party:
I think one of the biggest problems with the GOP is that they they mistake their deepest held beliefs for mainstream American beliefs. The root of the current conservative crack-up probably lies in Iraq, but the one event that exposed it all, for me, was Terri Schiavo. Here you had a sitting President, a gaggle of Senators and congressmen bending over backward to argue that government was a better arbiter of a woman's fate, than her husband and her doctors. The moment Bill Frist decided to give a diagnosis via video tape, I felt the wind shift. When it comes to the end of their days, most Americans would want their spouse--not the Senate Majority Leader--to be the final authority.The point is that you have to be able to distinguish your deeply held beliefs, from the electorates. I think much of the GOP's trouble stems from the inability to discern the difference. That whole "Real America," "Real Virginia," small-town snobbery bit, isn't an act--they actually believe it. I've never understood the whole "Center-right country" meme, because it's ultimately self-serving--and then self-defeating. It blinds you to the hard work of arguing, cajoling and fighting with the electorate, until they see your point. It's interesting that so many of their most dominant voices of the GOP (Steele, Gingrich, Limbaugh) have either never won an election, or haven't won one in a decade.
"Some Off The Cuff Analysis" (Ta-Nehisi Coates, theatlantic.com)
And though I disagree with virtually every political position David Frum has ever taken, his noble (and so far, totally futile) effort to bring sanity to the Republican party is most admirable.
And yes, it's fun to giggle while the opposition tears itself apart. But finally, wouldn't you rather have intelligent people to argue with?
