Guest Post: The GOP’s terminal illness
Note from Dan: The following essay is by Glenvar resident Joe Campbell, a small businessman who retired to the Roanoke Valley in 2006.
By Joe Campbell
The Republican Party is very, very ill. It has succumbed to Republican Acquired Intellectual Dysfunction Syndrome, a retrovirus that has hijacked the intellectual genome of the Republican party.
RAIDS’s primary symptoms are the suppression of higher mental faculties such as logic, reason and the natural urge to compromise. The infection began in 2007 and quickly attacked the already weakened intellectual DNA of the Republican Party. Thereafter, the Republican Party produced fewer and few genuine Republicans and instead produced politicians who look like ordinary Republicans but who “think” like zombies of the Tea Party.
The symptoms of this affliction are best illustrated by Karl Rove’s cringe-worthy, delusional on-the-air blithering on election night when his very own Fox News called the state of Ohio for President Obama. In a matter of minutes Fox’s own election team makes it clear that Rove’s “facts” about the outstanding votes were wildly wrong.
Yet the most astonishing aspect of this spectacle was our witnessing a deeply disturbed man unable to come to terms with the profound flaws in his world view. Rove wasn’t alone — the awful Donald Trump twitted: “We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty.”
Will the staggeringly embarrassing loss in 2012 change the way Republicans think? Perhaps — if they recognize AND find a cure for RAIDS. It doesn’t look promising, though. Why?
Republicans were smugly CERTAIN they would win Tuesday’s election with 330 electoral votes. One of the persistent thorns in their sides, though, was Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight blog, which correctly predicted the outcome in 49 states in the 2008 election, and correctly predicted the outcome in all 50 states this year.
You might have noticed that the name of Silver’s blog derives from the number of electors in the Electoral College. After their shellacking last week, the GOP thinks the best way to offset the influence of the FiveThirtyEight blog is . . . wait for it . . . a constitutional amendment to change the number of electors.
“It’s simple, really,” explained Republican National Committee Communications Director Sean Spicer. “We add three Electoral College votes, which will bring the national total to 541, and that will nullify the predictive success of the FiveThirtyEight. It’s just math and logic.”
Here’s what the RAIDS-infected Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma (easily the most plagued state in the nation) had to say: “I don’t claim to understand statistics and polling because I believe it’s all a myth, just like global warming. But I think if we change the number of Electoral College votes, it will help people see the FiveThirtyEight blog for the fraud that it is.”
So, here’s my prediction: unless the Republicans can find a cure for Republican Acquired Intellectual Dysfunction Syndrome, the party will fumble and mumble into oblivion. It’s happened repeatedly in our political history.
By the way, a few years ago readers would instantly recognize the comments attributed to Mr. Spicer and Senator Inhofe as the obvious, Pythonesque satire they are. That they sound perfectly plausible today is my point.
November 19, 2012 - 1:00 PM
I dont know if its terminal or not ( seems they want it to be),
But if I were to be consulted my opinion to at least
possibly keep the “party” going would be to amputate
the middle leg at the base of the Rovian joint.
There wouldnt be much left to work with ,,but hey,
it worked with Dick Nixon.
the re-pub-liken party thinks it is doing the country a favor by allowing the candidates they produce to run for office…..they see the country differently than the average american…..therefore the average american must be wrong…..the leaders of the party are mired in the past century…..and the younger members are obsessed with the tea party movement….and therefore unable to understand what america has evolved into…..which is a diverse…multinational…..multicultural…country,,,,so the only thing they can do is obstruct progress….until the rest of america comes to its senses…the party has become angry and dysfunctional
If the GOP’s ongoing narrative is that all Democratic voters are lazy freeloaders, they can enjoy a nice long stay in the political desert.
It took me a long time to understand the mentality of folks like the Donald, and even Mitt Romney. I still struggle with it, but I think it is this: Everything is measured by money.
Success
Virtue
Influence
Power
All measured by money.
And since these folks have lots of money, power and financial success, they are extremely disappointed when they do not have enough influence to make elections come out their way.
These folks are not reflective by nature, so they do not look at their own flaws. Nor are they used to losing. When they do lose, they tend to blame others. For example:
Their candidate.
The poor.
The young.
The old.
People who don’t look like them.
you know, the usual suspects.
The trouble with the Republicans is that they don’t know who they represent. One second they are racist, next second they are inclusive, next second they only like certain types of diversity, then back to racist… etc.
Until they come out with a forced racemixing agenda, they will never win another election. Take that white people!
Has anyone seen Carl Rove or Dick Morris since 06 Nov?
Did Fox News bannish them to The Food Network?
I miss them…………..NOT!
Rob Thommins
I think Rove and Morris are hiding from the assassination squads sent out after them by Sherman Adelson, the Koch Brothers, and the other billionaires who want to know where all that money went that they gave them to buy the election with.
Re: old blue — November 19, 2012 @ 2:39 pm
You are right. However, there is also a doses of self deception going on, IMHO.
See my diatribe at http://tinyurl.com/bvwrdbg
The youngest possible Reagan voter is now 46 years old, the average is probably past sixty. Yet nostalgia based on the false narrative of what those years involved still dominates the GOTP. Given how that false narrative depended on ignoring the fact of political realignment that occured from 1948-1968, it’s likely that the possibility of another realignment being already underway is very difficult for the GOTP to understand or admit.
I hope it is terminal and that the reincarnated Republican Party will once again put their fringe back on the fringe and be the Statesmen of old. Those fellows are missed. This crop never will be. Never.
Yes Rob…on Nov. 7 Morris was on the OReilly show to explain how his Romney victory prediction went so wrong. He said if only more white people had voted, and if more Republicans had voted in general, and if not as many young people and college students voted that actually did, and if Latinos voted more Republican as they had in the past well…..he would have been “right on target”. There you go.
Rove is probably hiding from the big rich that he got to donate. Morris and Fox news are still predicting that Romney will win by a landslide. Hannity is counting Romney’s votes on his fingers.
Dan, is Drift Off To Sleep any of the MUSFIRT (Mirror Universe, Sneeches, Face It, or Real Talk) characters?
Karl Rove is hanging by his thumbs in some Koch brothers warehouse while Dick Morris drowns his sorrows with hookers and booze. It’s hilarious to watch the Republicans double-down on the crazy. Stick with the entitlements meme, we know how that one turned out.
1. Prognosticators who picked Romney assume a fair election. HUNDREDS of precincts were stolen in swing states that all showed 0bama with an impossible 99-100% of the vote. There’s your difference.
2. The MSM has demonized all conservative candidates. Took their knees out. Painted them dumb, crazy, or both. The 2012 GOP candidates was the most outstanding group in history. The Alinsky model that called for their personal destruction worked. The result was that only the most liberal candidate remained in 2008 and 2012. Exactly the type the leftknew could be beaten.
3. The communist-led MSM has now made it so Republicans are punished for telling the truth. Mitt Romney has the temerity to state what everybody knows; that 0bama voters elected Santa Claus, and was roundly condemned by the press. Unfortunately some Republicans have followed suit in criticizing Mitt.
What it’s going to take is a strong well-financed conservative who can overcome the communist-led MSM hit machine. It’s going to take somebody special. Somebody who can fearlessly shout the truth over and above the media machine. It’s also going to take a House of Representatives who will be very strong and deny 0bama everything in his communist agenda. They will endure ENORMOUS criticism from the MSM, but I think would be rewarded with re-election.
Unfortunately for the country, many have fallen into the trap set by the godless folks who are engineering our downfall. People have flat out turned their backs on God. Historically when that happens, things go very badly.
Suzie
I see your comments on here all the time, quick question.
If God is omnipotent … he must want Obama to be President correct?
You you’re down to rhetorical seeds & stems when the best argument you can make involves god’s wrath and communism. Perfect example of RAIDS!
Only losers complain about the officiating.
No matter who is in the White House, God is on the throne!
“He said if only more white people had voted”
And if my Aunt had balls she’d be my Uncle.
I am not trying to pour cold water on your celebration, but I heard the whole “the electorate has forever changed” stuff when Obama won in 2008. Then the midterm election of 2010 proved otherwise. The GOP will get it together after this identity crisis and likely remain in control of the House for the foreseeable future.
Seems theres another Joe in here…im not the 6:42 Joe..
Im the one in Texas that believes either the sun or
possibly the Loch Ness Monster is God..
And this Joe (me) will leave the seeds and stems conversations to greener
pastures.
Joe:
17.”You you’re down to rhetorical seeds & stems when the best argument you can make involves god’s wrath and communism.”
Love it!
Wilbert, you can thank GerryMander for the control of the House, not anything remotely like the TP/R Party being able to “get it together”.
Suzie
I see your comments on here all the time, quick question.
If God is omnipotent … he must want Obama to be President correct?
Thanks for reading, Jim. It’s more like God allowed 0bama to rise to power, must the same way he allowed the Bolsheviks.
It’s good the majority of the electorate learned from the horrific mistake it made in 2010. Now us Dems have to not slack off in 2014 like we did in 2010. GOP will die out a little more as each generation passes. It is a terminal disease.
Sandi-I put your Gerrymander complaint in the same file I put Suzie’s massive voter fraud comment. It is possible for the other side to win legitimately. Were the distrcts that less gerrymandered before the 2010 midterms? I doubt it.
Why did God tell Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry to run for President?
#15 Ah, the same old steaming pile.
Wilbert, House districts are notoriously gerrymandered.
“Republicans love to proclaim their affinity for the marketplace and the genius of competition. But it’s precisely by suppressing competition, and crafting uncompetitive districts, that they maintained their hold on the House…”
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/harold-meyerson-credit-gerrymandering-not-popular-will-for-gop-control/article_628cd134-3033-11e2-9ecb-0019bb2963f4.html
“After Republicans swept into power in state legislatures in 2010, the GOP gerrymandered key states, redrawing House district boundaries to favor Republicans.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/republicans-gerrymandering-house-representatives-election-chart
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/chart-of-the-day-7.html
It is a fact. Unlike the fantasy of massive voter fraud, Gerrymandering is a time honored tradition that is provable.
Don’t worry about anything. The president is in control. Gas prices will go down as much as they did in the next four years as they did in the last four. Twelve million more American citizens almost immediately. No one has to repay their student loans. Another 17% raise in welfare without a work requirement. China will loan us the money to pay for it. Life is great for everyone.
grizzlybear:
“China will loan us the money to pay for it.”
You meant GIVE us the money to pay for it. Geez, the RWers actually think we have to pay that back some rapidly approaching day… oh wait a minute…!!!!
Sandi-I am not a partisan and undestand that gerrymandering happens and that BOTH sides love to draw lines that favor their party. I also can promise you that a pickup of 63 seats wasn’t simply the result of gerrymandering. The GOP also picked up a total of 6 senate seats formerly held by Democrats that year. That % (of 33 senators running) is actually a bigger increase percentage wise than the gains in the House that year. The point I am trying to make to Democrats is not to get too cocky and don’t assume that the results of one election signal an end to the opposition.
Wilbert, I was not talking about the 2010 elections and I did not say that they were the result of gerrymandering districts. The truth however remains that due to gerrymandering after the census they will likely hold the House for years to come, regardless of the opposition. Therefore, it is a real fact, not a myth like massive voter fraud or the people just prefer them.
Grizzlybear, you are apparently just growling for effect. You do not want the President to have the kind of power you are claiming he has and you obviously have no grasp whatsoever on the facts so you just enjoy the ride on the party line train called denial.