On Tuesday, 8/21/12, Joe Scarborough, the host of 'Morning Joe' on MSNBC, said that "I'm just tired of the Republican Party being the Stupid Party! Stupid people saying stupid things and scaring off independent voters and swing voters!"
The phrase, the stupid party, has been used before, for instance, by Paul Begala. After all, we had a party by the name of Know-Nothing in the 1850s. This time, it is more interesting, and drawing more attention because Joe said it. Joe Scarborough is a very conservative and combative former congressman from the western Panhandle of the Florida.
The Florida Panhandle is the bastion of the conservatives, where Joe himself calls it 'Redneck Riviera.' Joe has evolved into the popular, interesting, insightful, and influential 'Morning Joe' host on the liberal MSNBC. Joe said it with deep frustration in the voice and a very miserable state of mind on his face. What made Joe so frustrated is, of course, the Todd Akin incident.
www.en.wikipedia.com
Akin, Missoui Republican Representative who has just won the Republican candidacy for the U.S. Senate race, made the now infamous comment on rape , pregnancy, and abortion. His point of view is so ideological that he has become the best thing for the Democatic incumbent Senator,Claire McCaskill of Missouri. One of the columns I enjoy the most is by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times.
Describing the Akin incident and the Republican base, she used some well chosen, and clarifying words. Some of the examples are 'crazy uncle, antediluvian, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, medieval, troglodyte, ignorance, recidivist ideas, Orwellian legislation, inanity, and nutty.' As usual she was to the point and very entertaining.
Last but least, another word used was 'a Taliban creed.' Akin and the Republican base who support him truly reminds me of the Taliban, and Todd Akin incident is not just an incident; there is a long line of inflexible, and dying breed of people with him. People who are not with the history.
This Akin incident reminded me of the expression that "We have met the enemy and he is us." Many moderate and establishment Republicans must be repeating the cliche over and over, right now. Republicans are known for their discipline within the party compared to the Democrats. One by one, most Republican party leaders, operatives, and donors demanded that Todd Akin drop out of the Senate race to give other people with the better chance to beat McCaskill.
The man who gets his instruction from God is not listening, while claiming he can't disappoint his supporters. It's interesting to note that the Republican party establishment has failed to control and discipline its members, and the member claims his own supporters. What happened to the party whose members are known to fall in line?
The conservatism includes some good ideas everybody can go for, for instance, individualism and freedom. Played well, conservative party represents powerful ideas, and policies, also a large segment of the citizens. Broadly speaking, there are three types of conservatives; political/economic, social/value, foreign policy/hawk.
Small government, less regulation, less tax, minimum regulation of economic activities, strong military/overwhelming force, super power/policeman of the world, conservative life style/religious life are what the republican party stand for. The only problem is any good idea, in general, taken to the extreme can cause more harm than it was originally intended, especially so, when twisted for a short and immediate political gain. The U.S. history is full of people and decisions with courage and long term benefits for the country, and greedy, short sighted, and damaging decisions by 'the Stupid People.'
The U.S. Is a country of immigrants. The Republican party's anti-immigration stance is a big minus for them. What Republicans are doing in some of the Southern states to the illegal immigrants defy the reason, logic, and the common sense of what is good for the country. One of the reason, the Republican party in California, where Ronald Reagan was from, is becoming the irrelevant party is the Republican supported Propostion 187 which was a voter initiative to deny government services to the illegal immigrants, in 1994. In this election cycle, the Latin vote is decisively for the President.
The Southern strategy/race card is the Republican strategy, started by the Goldwater/Nixon crowd in the 1960's, coming back to haunt them. The President Obama being a black decisively doesn't help, but, still, a recent poll showed 0 percent supporting Romney. There are more than a few reasons for this.
Supply side/trickle down/ special treatment for job creators/no regulation for financial industries and engines of the economy/Romney with 14percent tax/Ryan for even less tax for people like Romney had all been proved not to work.
This time around, the reason for the moniker, 'the Stupid Party,' is social/value conservatives with radical views. They want to bring God into public life as well as personal life. For people who wants personal freedom and small government with as little rules as possible are insisting on the rule of God for everybody.
These boys are trying to tell women what to with their own body. Have you seen a husband who wins an argument over his wife? The latest poll in Missouri shows the mood of the people has changed since the incident. Now, the incumbent Democratic Senator is leading comfortably, and every Democrat in the country is deeply thankful to Todd Akin.
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