You knew it had to happen.
Regardless of what happens on Tuesday, it is pretty safe to say that the “permanent majority” that DeLay and Rove envisioned as well as the `strange bedfellow’ relationship between the “true” conservatives, the Christian Coalition (and its large subset of crazies), the pro-corporate/anti-We the People crowd and the other various interest groups who have not much else in common is collapsing under its own weight at a pace that is astonishing even to us outside observers.
I remember not too long ago – right after the 2004 elections (and yes, it seems like it was lifetimes ago) where I had a long “dustup” with a former friend who became a full fledged kool aid drinker after “9/11 changed everything”. His gloating about the Democrats becoming irrelevant, the country taking a hard right turn, the fact that the republicans would have a “permanent majority”, how stupid Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy was as well as other things that have all come home to roost resulted in us not being on speaking terms anymore.
But over the past two years, the cumulative effect of the pulling back of the curtain on the façade and charade which is the republican party and so-called conservative movement that began in 1964 after Goldwater’s loss has shaken the foundation of this house of cards, and has all but demolished this philosophy – no matter how you look at it.
What started in the mid to late 1960’s, and gained steam in the 1980’s with the election of Reagan, the rise of Rush Limbaugh and the right wing noise machine, the Christian Coalition under Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and their misfit cohorts took a long time to come to fruition. And it wasn’t until the 1994 when the republicans took over Congress that they got the opportunity to implement their plans to “overhaul government and bring back accountability”.
But over the past 12 years, the corruption that has seeped into the republican congress, the crimes that have been committed and covered up, the complete lack of regard for We the People, the hypocrisy of those who have been caught in scandal after scandal as well as the political infighting that has been occurring between members of the religious right as well as the revelation (no pun intended) that Rove and his thugs viewed the religious right as “nuts” or that Bush himself was just using Christians has the republican party in a total mess.
Each level of this house of cards has failed miserably, or has show to be a true farce, leaving the “true conservatives” who actually care about fiscal conservatism, smaller government, balanced budgets and some other valid platforms (while I may not agree with them, they at least are not hypocritical or blatant pandering) wondering what has happened to their party. We see them challenging Bush on Iraq, whether it be Senators like Warner or Hagel or high ranking House members like Deborah Pryce. People have seen the “cuts to big government” happen with respect to education, veteran benefits, the environment, the Army Corps of Engineers and many other social programs, while at the same time the deficit and debt has ballooned to unprecedented levels. We have seen increases in earmarks and pork to never before seen levels as well. We have seen scientists have their findings covered up or flat out ignored.
We have seen the hypocrisy exposed, whether it is with respect to covering for sexual predators who happen to head committees on missing and exploited children, or whether it is “moral authorities” whose actions reek of “do as I say, not as I do”. We have seen the exposure of “boy wonder” Ralph Reed as a criminal and a fraud, despite being seen as the darling of the Christian Coalition (not to mention the emails between his buddies Mike Scanlon and Abromoff talking about the “wackos”).
Even the libertarians and other groups who are of the “hands off by the Government” philosophy – and used to vote republican are being peeled away. Hell, some are even running for office as Democrats now. Look no further than the overreaching and illegal PATRIOT Act, the expanding of illegal surveillance powers of the Executive Branch, the erosion of freedom of speech, the elimination of habeas corpus, torture and other rights that have been “sacrificed” in the name of fighting terror as evidence of why this is happening.
There has been a wholesale rejection of the freedom spreading at the barrel of a gun that was the cornerstone of the Project for a New American Century. The vile piece of filth and leader of the “small government/anti-tax” movement, Grover Norquist, has been exposed as violating the tax exempt status rules of his organization, not to mention the whole “drowning government in a bathtub” meme that is a shocking reminder of the criminal negligence of our republican government when Hurricane Katrina ruined the Gulf Coast.
And lest we forget the mouthpiece of this entire movement: the talking meatsticks. While there is still a major slant of all things that we hear, not to mention the suppression of what We the People SHOULD hear, these charlatans have been exposed for the hypocrites and criminals that they are. With a HUGE increase in Olbermann’s ratings coupled with the consistent and continuous decline in the ratings for Faux News, people are starting to tire of the lies, the nonsense and the hypocrisy. With the drug crimes of Rush Limbaugh, the sexual harassment tendencies of Bill O’Reilly, the flat out lies which are well document by the good folks at Mediamatters, or the plain old bat shit insane ramblings of Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter (including her calling for the murder of a Supreme Court Justice) and the other complete jackasses – well, lets just say that that it is getting old and tired.
I realize that this may be a bit overly simplistic and is probably omitting many of the factions who made up this “movement”, but the truth is that this movement has been nothing short of a complete farce and failure.
Tuesday will be the last nail in the coffin, and then we can get back to restoring our democracy – not to mention the constitutional rights which have been eroded.
