but no. an honest look at the course of right wing shit-losing can only suggest that it is a self-sustaining, catastrophic chain reaction. the lunacy has no peak, it just goes to infinity. ASB had a good overview of the concept a bit back:
Alien Space Bats wrote:My earlier point regarding Bush stands: Like a massive snow sheet gradually giving way, the rightward drift of the GOP has gone from something that was only measurable in inches per season as something we can watch unfold before our very eyes. The Republican Party is further to the right than it was a couple weeks ago, and this after a rightward drift since the start of last year that is staggering. To continue with my previous metaphor, anyone who doesn't see an avalanche starting is blind.
Thus, we now find ourselves confronted by a GOP that would have never nominated Dwight David Eisenhower (supported union rights, social security, and mandatory school busing), Barry S. Goldwater (supported gay rights, albeit at the State level), Richard M. Nixon (supported the Clean Air Act [and would have supported the Clean Water Act if the bill hadn't been so full of pork] as well as the creation of the EPA, supported the Earned Income Credit, supported universal health care, and opposed the use of U.S. forces in Asian ground wars - freakin' hippie!), Gerald R. Ford (was pro-life and supported an Equal Rights Amendment, as well as equal pay for women), Ronald R. Reagan (raised taxes on capital gains and increased the national debt), George H. W. Bush (supported cap and trade and raised taxes), Robert J. Dole (supported the universal health insurance mandate and food stamps), and George W. Bush (extended Medicare to cover prescriptions for seniors and raised the debt ceiling).
In short, today's Republican Party finds every single Republican President and Presidential Nominee since the end of the Second World War unacceptably liberal and therefore a RINO, and would reject every one of them in favor of someone more "authentically" conservative.
No, this is not your grandfathers' GOP; it's not your father's GOP; it's not even last year's GOP, or yesterday's GOP. The daily progression of jaw-dropping, face-slapping inanities has reached critical mass, leaving those of us on the outside of the movement with mouths agape and faces stinging.
And I don't think they're done yet. This movement won't stop until the GOP has slid to rest amidst a debris field of full-blown, batshit-crazy neo-McCarthyist Bircher Birther Christian Reconstructionist madness that will make Margaret Atwood look cautious in her prognostication.
It's like watching a planet get consumed by a singularity.
and he's not exaggerating. we are now talking about a party where frothy rick santorum accidentally found himself to the left of the wingnut base on contraception a few weeks back. i am not kidding. he had to do a complete 180 and go from defending himself from the asprin-between-the-legs 'joke' of his owner by citing his support for federal contraception funding via title X, to literally five days later denying it. and not simply having a change of heart. oh no:
“It’s funny that I’ve been criticized by Governor Romney and by Ron Paul for having voted for something called Title X, which is actually federal funding of contraception,” Santorum told CBS’s Charlie Rose. “My public policy beliefs are that contraception should be available. Again, I’ve supported Title X funding.”
Excellent. Except, here is Santorum, five days later, at the Arizona presidential debate:
“As Congressman Paul knows, I opposed Title X funding. I’ve always opposed Title X funding, but it’s included in a large appropriation bill that includes a whole host of other things,” Santorum said.
the only question i have is how does it end? does the wingnut singularity collapse in on itself and, as long as you avoid the event horizon, you'll be ok? or does it destroy our politics - and possibly our civilization - entirely? or is there some way to stop the chain reaction and actually hit peak wingnut after all?
