"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." - Robert A. Heinlein

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Republicans vs. Republicans

According to one conservative I heard today, the entire swine-flu (excuse me, H1N1*) epidemic was orchestrated by President Obama as a chance to control the news cycle to cover up his "plummeting" approval rating.

It's moments like that that I rub my eyes and wish to God that I had some sort of superpower with which I could simply scrub away the stupidity from their brains, from the inside out. I'm thinking of a sort of frontal-lobe microwave vision.

This was just another case of a yappy conservative spewing his ideas for all to hear - ideas not rooted in reality, ideas spun from starlight and blue sky, ideas created solely for the purpose of widening the ideological divide in this country.

Obama isn't trying to work this up. If anything, he's staying calm about it. Joe Biden on the other hand...well, Joe's known for his stupid moves. This one was just another for the scrapbook. No, this was a media thing. I blame CNN, and MSNBC, and Faux News, and all the other little content providers who needed 24 hours to fill and chose that. Like many others around the world, I believe this has been blown out of proportion, and I'm more annoyed than angry about it.

But to claim the President of the United States is trying to bang the drum to keep it in the press if even more ludicrous. This is the type of ridiculous complaint the fringe right have taken to since Inauguration Day. And by fringe right, I mean just that. These aren't your average Republicans. Your average Republican was Arlen Specter, a man so alienated from his own party that he joined the Democrats. Your average Republican is Olympia Snowe of Maine, a highly-respected Senator who is berated for saying that perhaps, after all, her party is becoming exclusionary.

Your average Republican is my brother; somewhere between one-third and one-half of my friends; and many, many people I respect. For the most part, these people believe in small government, fiscal responsibility, personal independence, and a strong defense.

What they don't believe in is the idea of the USA as a "Christian-only" nation. They don't believe in exclusionary political dogma. They don't believe in policy as written by fundamental Christian beliefs. They don't believe that Obama has an Indonesian passport and is perpetrating the greatest hoax of all time. They sure as fuck don't believe in Sarah Palin as a viable candidate for anything.

And pretty much, they don't listen to Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the other mouth-breathing, drum-beating, saber-rattling morons of that ilk. They leave that for their looney colleagues in the fringe right.

I find it a little sad that I'm becoming more and more tolerant of the real Republicans and less and less tolerant of the fringe types. I wish I heard more moderate Republican voices, but for the most part, all that's offered on TV and radio, are the shrill yelps from the right-wingnuts.

Let me ask you real Republicans this: how can you stand knowing that your party is absolutely and completely falling apart around you? Do you like the direction you're going? Are you happy with those avatars of stupidity being the voice of your people? Do you really expect that with the current leadership, there will be any ground gained either in Congress or the minds of the American people?

These questions will be shouted into the ether. I won't get any response from the real Republicans. Most of them won't answer, because they don't know the answers. If I get any response at all, it'll be from the fringe right. And all they will succeed in doing is making the case a little stronger.

---------------------------------------------------
*Gotta protect the pork industry from swine flu, and the swine from Egypt.**
**Has anyone else noticed that Egypt has functionally taken over Poland's*** traditional spot in jokes? If they can do something in a wacky fashion, they do. Thankfully, what they don't do is read this blog.
***However, I do love the readers from Poland!

6 comments:

  1. Don't be saddened, it reads as though you know the difference. Allow me to be a token rational republican here and say that the big D moonbats are marginalizing themselves as much as the wingnut right, just with a sense of empowerment with 'their guys' in charge, celebrating an imbalance of power and shooting their proverbial wads. If one wants to kick back and honestly anylize, the dems are getting a number of 'vote defections' on both floors, House and Senate, (Spectre's party defection aside - as far as coverage is concerned it's as overhyped as the pig flu.) I think there's a general distain for hyper-partisanship that is welling up that no news outlet or new media outlet is willing to touch with someone else's ten foot pole. It's just not sensational.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved this! You made some excellent points and I thank you for saying what is on so many people's minds!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, y'all.

    Holsterical, let me counter by saying that the left IS enjoying their time in the sun - following the largest shift in power in American political history. Right now, it's not just the far left that's feeling satisfied, it's also the moderate left and moderate Democrats.

    I will, however, grant you that there is too much "neener neener neener we're in charge" going on - and I don't think that reflects well. But the fact is the entire country's face has changed and is facing somewhat to the left.

    Don't feel that you're the token rational Republican here. I can think of half a dozen regular readers here who I think are real Republicans. And every one of them is someone I'd call "good people." To me, that's pretty much the division line between them and the fringe right.

    (I've also got a few buddies that probably fit the fringe right category, but we get along because we're all able to laugh at our own positions, as well as the others. A little more sense of humor among all of us would go a long way, I think.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm not disagreeing with you in any way. ESPECIALLY agree with the little more humor going a long way. It stuns me that the hyper partisans on both sides can't stomach having a cocktail together and laughing their asses off at each other and themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I do have to agree on the neener, neener, neener we're in charge bit. It always seems to happen when there's a power shift (it happened in the 90's when the congress went Republican). I just wish the chest thumping would stop and some actual work would get done.

    I swear every time I see Nancy Pelosi get up there and start doing her dance I can't help but think: "Shouldn't you be doing.... Um something?"

    As far as the party goes. It needs to re-invent itself and get with the times or it's going to go the way of the Whig party.

    Personally, I'm do dissatisfied with their performance I'm considering going either independent or Libertarian.

    ReplyDelete
  6. With that last line, RS, you precisely illustrate what's happening to your party. I'll take no shots here, because everyone reading this knows you're not the only one who feels like you do.

    I will say I believe that if the Libertarians were ever to put in a bid for mainstream acceptance, now is the time.

    ReplyDelete