Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush, dismissed Mrs Palin’s critics as “cocktail party conservatives” who “give aid and comfort to the enemy”.
He told The Sunday Telegraph: “There’s going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?”
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So the GOP will divide up into the willfully ignorant Gawd’s Own Party and the intellectually devious Great Oligarchy Party.
Pass the popcorn! They’re going to refine themselves into extinction. The circular firing squad lives!
i got mine!
Didn’t Pol Pot try something like that – getting rid of all the intelleckshuals?
The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?”
First thought: Awesome! Kick anyone with a modicum of intellect out of your party. That’s a sure-fire recipe for victory there!
Second thought: Crap! Those fools with a modicum of intellect who used to be Republicans will probably have enough time on their hands that they’ll just become Democrats and start pushing the party to the right.
I’ll be curious to see how the faction war ends. I’m hoping that a sane center-right Republican Party emerges and that the Know Nothings bolt and try to make the Constitution Party a viable third party. That’s my dream scenario.
“modicum of intellect” have been pretty much extinct since the Reagan administration.
The Democratic Party has already moved to the Center with the departure of the Greens. If the Palin wing of the GOP takes control, my hope is that a new Center Party appears being formed by the DLC breaking away from the Democrats and attracting the Corporate Republicans. This way, we wind up with two major Partys, a Left of Center Democratic Party and a smaller but still significant Center-Right Corporate (but not fascist) Party and two minor Partys, the environmental zealots of the Green Party and the religious crazies of the Republican Party.
It’s a scenario I’d like to see, but probably unlikely. Still, is the Big Tent big enough to hold both Labor AND management?
I’ve called the Center-Right Party the Corporate Party but they would probably call themselves something like the “American” Party. Contrawise, the Corporate interests might regain control of the Republican Party and the kooks bolt to the “America First” or “Christian ” Party.
I don’t think that the American political system can structurally handle more than two parties. I’d love to see a four party system with two center parties and two edge parties, but I think it would collapse pretty quickly again into two big parties because it’s just too advantageous at the national level (especially with the winner-take-all electoral college and statewide Senate elections – too tempting to form a bigger coalition and push your combined share over 50% for the win). Change the electoral college and the winner-take-all nature of our elections and it could happen, but I give a splintering of a major party at most 10 years before a new coalition is formed.
As far as it goes, if the Know Nothings get bumped out of the GOP, I’d imagine their party name would be either the “Constitution Party” (as they co-opt an existing theocratic US political party), but I’m partial to them taking the name “Christian Republicans” – a parallel to the Christian Democrats in Europe.
If the corporatists get booted and want to form a new party in the ashes of the GOP, they can easily co-opt the Libertarian Party. It wouldn’t take much – just throw a lot of money at it. However, I’d expect the corporatists to just buy their way into the Democratic Party – hell they’re already in the Democratic Party (see Blue Dogs). I’m figuring there will be some fighting within the Democratic Party over the next few years as the new coalition stretches itself (but hopefully it’ll be nowhere near the level of infighting that the Republicans fall into – though I’m not holding my breath. A Democrat’s favorite opponent always seems to be another Democrat…)
Mr.Dooley: “The Dimmicratic Party ain’t on speakin’ terms with itself”
Will Rogers: “I’m not a member of an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”
I tend to agree here – there are too many structural advantages to having two large parties.
If we had something like instant-runoff-voting, I suppose it would shift things enough to breathe some life into the 3rd parties.
But in the end it helps to have more than one serious and viable candidate.
Uh, I said two major and two minor Parties, not four major Parties. The Greens, Libertarians, and Conservatives already exist.
This might be the beginning of a serious 3rd party. If there’s one desperate thing American political life needs, it’s a multi-party structure. Washington is designed from top to bottom by the 2-party, 1-party system. It’s got to go eventually, as we see how democracy has been kissed goodbye the last 30 years.
The bloodbath will be amongst the extremists not the moderates.
Palin’s supposed to come back here again – I hope she stays away from our professional sports teams. Or maybe she could appear at a pickup basketball game featuring Republican electeds …
Final voter registration number released for Missouri today by Robin Carnahan, the secretary of state:
And she estimates that turnout will be 76%.
It would be so nice not to live in a tossup state. But things are looking good.
You don’t turn away 340,000 young people at the polls, do you Karl?
Wishful thinking. The fiscal and foreign policy conservatives don’t give two bits about Palin – that litmus test only applies to social conservatives, and I seriously doubt that the majority of them would apply (or even pass!) that test.
The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?”
God does not love us that much.
Is that some new part of the theocratic anointing ritual? She lies writhing on the floor while the snake handlers walk over her… trampling out the demons?
(I can guarantee DVD sales would be hot, hot, hot!)
It appears that Nuzzo is smitten. Maybe she winked at him?
I’m not sure that the Constitution Party is religious enough for her, and they wouldn’t necessarily want to sever Alaska from the union OR flood it with federal money to prepare for its role of refuge for endtimers. The Republicans, however, have imploded to point where a core of the party faithful will hold fast. Only the Christian dominionists are that stupid. The preachers have worked hard to take over the GOP.
The money-pockets have to look at what Bush has done for the economy and will probably form another Party based upon small government, no regulations, limited taxes (losing ideas, but repackaged), and repackage themselves as fiscally responsible and sober. With the right advertising firms, they might get away with it.
If they hadn’t governed so badly and mismanaged so flagrantly, the Republicans wouldn’t be in this position. But greed conquers all, and they forgot why people put them in power. Their permanent majority was only possible under 2 conditions: dictatorship with martial law or providing basic services. Otherwise there is a change in government.
Where do you stand on Palin?
I’ll have the neck, please, if it’s still available.
Looking at the quote again, it’s instructive to note the landscape where one of the “good” Bush’s trolls lives: “enemy” “excommunicate” “bloodbath” “dead people” — and all in 3 short sentences. You’d have to go back to the Inquisition to find such a piquant blend of religious and bloodthirsty imagery.