I confess, the wisdom escapes me on this one. I mean, we're already down to the point that only one in five respondents to polls will identify as a Republican, the party is bitter about a recent defection, and now they've stepped up to chasing people out of the party? Well, okay, let's be a little more specific about that last. Look, when the party is contracting at such an astonishing rate, I'm not sure what wisdom prescribes that the fifth most influential conservative in the country° should be attempting to heckle a genuine headline act out of the GOP. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh Wednesday that if former Secretary of State Colin Powell is going to keep criticizing the GOP, he may as well leave the party and become a Democrat—adding that Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama was "purely and solely based on race." "He's just mad at me because I'm the one person in the country that had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama," Limbaugh said on his radio show. "There can be no other explanation for it." "What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party. He's not. He's a full-fledged Democrat," Limbaugh said. (Barr) It seems there is a purification underway, and there is a curious similarity here to Karl Marx. After a failed revolution, I believe in 1848, Marx and Engels found themselves blamed for the action, as expected, and widely reviled. Marx apparently said at one point that this was better, that they didn't need support for their cause. But one thing that is clear right now is that the hardline conservative faction dominating what remains of the Republican Party is simply unable to communicate itself in such a manner as to appeal to a large number of voters. And their self-prescribed remedy is what, to chase away whatever appeal the party has left? What Rush is upset about, apparently, is that Powell spoke wisdom in response to a question from Fareed Zakaria. Asked about Limbaugh's influence in the party, Powell said, "Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?" Even I hope Rush doesn't succeed in this. The Democrats have power right now, and especially on the Congressional side, seem to have some trouble understanding how to wield it. They absolutely need a strong opposition party to keep them honest. The GOP needs to get back up to at least 33%. Forty would be better. And that's going to be a very difficult task without people like Powell to remind voters that there is such a thing as a sane Republican. I wonder who's next. Brilliant irony would be if it was John McCain. Still, though, when is the party going to shake off the insanity of its hardliners and start calling voters back to their tent? ____________________ Notes: ° fifth most influential conservative — According to The Telegraph, prior to the 2008 election. Works Cited: Barr, Andy. "Rush to Powell: Go be a Democrat". May 6, 2009. Politico.com. Accessed May 7, 2009. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22203.html "The most influential US conservatives: 1-20". The Telegraph. October 14, 2008. Telegraph.co.uk. Accessed May 7, 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1435461/The-most-influential-US-conservatives-1-20.html
Bwahhahha.. Don't criticize the party.. and encouraging blind loyalty and moral absolutism. goddamn limbaugh should be shot with a bullet marked "Now how do you feel about the second amendment?" .
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Jesus that sucks! Guess who making my district look like a black hole of stupid! Colin should leave and just say out of politics, I think if we all had not party designation the better.
Why is it being on the "fringe" is bad? why is it phrases like "far right", "far left", "radical left", "radical right", etc, are insulting epithets?
Ask the guy who if he was alive would be too stupid to explain what he did Ask Ronald Reagan. Oh, wait. He's dead. And even if he was alive, he couldn't tell you anymore. Reagan turned the word "liberal" into a pejorative. The far right is either widely reviled or celebrated as heroic. They are reviled because they are, essentially, a pack of liars who despise the Constitution and work toward blatantly supremacist goals. They are celebrated for the same reason, except their supporters call the campaigns for censorship, discrimination, and supremacism something like "defense of freedom". There comes a point where the fringe is counterproductive. If they are empowered. This is why the Republican Party (A) is in disarray, and (B) is trying to convince us that aggressive foreign policy in Pakistan, giving money to the rich, and passing on the prosecution of torturers shows how extremely leftist Obama is. Their extremist elements are attempting a takeover.
but but don't they see their hypocrisy? They can't complain about those things they were doing it more so and with much praise to them selves, then they call a pragmatist like Obama a "communist" (which is also a horrible terrible thing, no stimply a social ideology to be tolerated) for doing it also but not as strictly? I was baffled at their outrage when Obama bowed to the Saudi prince, yet bush was kissing the man, did they forget? Was the implied homosexuality of bush so atrocious to them that they wiped it from their memory? Or was it that Obama is a closet Muslim like all "niggers", bent on destruction of America? I can't believe they would be so low as to praise what ever their side does and denounce what ever the other sides does, no exceptions for identical things, no exceptions for anything, I remember reading about obama getting flak from republicans for the dog he choose!
