October 20, 2008
Halloween is less than two weeks away. The theme of the perfect horror film for 2008 becomes increasingly apparent as I type this. We can rely only on the YouTube medium to get this year’s best spooky thriller before the public in time. Right now, the trees in our nation’s capitol are manifesting the multi-colored transition to autumn. The time to shoot this movie is right now. The time to get it before the public is right now. The Narrowing has the potential to be the “fright film” of the decade.
The horror depicted in this movie is most troubling for the moderate Republicans. On Sunday, October 19, millions of Americans watched former Secretary of State, Republican Colin Powell, a retired Army General, endorse Democratic nominee Barack Obama for the Presidency. Among the reasons given by General Powell for his endorsement of Obama included what he described as “the narrowing” of the Republican Party during the course of this campaign. On that same television program, NBC’s Meet The Press, conservative commentator David Brooks expressed his concern about “the narrowing” of the Republican Party throughout the current election cycle. In his analysis of General Powell’s rationale for the Obama endorsement, Mr. Brooks said:
He (Powell) was attacking the Republican Party and the key word there was: “narrowing”. The party is narrowing and leaving a lot of people out – people like Colin Powell. . . . They have to ask themselves: “Why are we narrowing?”
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A lot of people who were Republicans, feel like they have been left out — not by McCain but by the party. And if McCain has any blame, it is in the beginning of this campaign. He didn’t say: “I’m different.” He didn’t break with the party. He got sucked up (beautiful Freudian slip) – sucked in at least halfway into the orthodoxy of the party. That’s narrowing.
As a movie, The Narrowing would feature mobs of “talk radio” – entranced people, wandering through the streets of our nation’s small towns and big cities. There would be elderly men with racist-attired Curious George dolls. They would speak with strange little voices, using the Curious George dolls as puppets to complain about how our nation’s public schools would be serving pigs’ feet and black-eyed peas to “red-blooded American children” for lunch. The movie would depict elderly, white-trash women with “bed head”, repeating the rumor that Barack Obama is uncircumcised. (It was actually Bill Maher who started this rumor. In the movie, he would remind these women to include the aspect concerning the scent of curry.) There would be pit bulls wearing lipstick with small “beehive wigs” and ersatz Kawasaki eyeglass frames, brought to animal shelters and veterinary emergency rooms after horrible maulings and other injuries. These events would not have been caused from abuse by humans – but from attacks by irate Jack Russell Terriers and Border Collies. Mobs carrying torches would be chasing after Peggy Noonan and Chris Buckley, yelling: “Traitor!” John McCain would attempt to transform himself into “the old McCain of 2000” but it would be too late.
The film’s most scary moments would take place on Election Day. Throngs of screaming people would be seen, running from polling places. The Sarah Palin “wanna-bes” would show up to vote, not having washed their hairdos or having changed their clothes since Halloween. The gasping exiles from the voting booths would complain of the overwhelming “homeless smell” carried into the polls by these over-ripe Palin impersonators.
At the conclusion of the film, the vanquished, moderate Republicans would be forced in retreat to the shelter of big cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and (gasp!) San Francisco. They would form “cells” and organize plots to undo “the narrowing” and hopefully live to fight another day.
Meanwhile, here in “the real world”, The Narrowing is upon us. It has become painfully obvious to the more astute members of the Republican Party and the conservative community. If the GOP is to have a future, it must develop an immunosuppressive response to The Narrowing.
The GOP Is Losing Centrists
March 23, 2010
David Frum’s Sunday afternoon blog posting, “Waterloo” has been receiving praise for its painfully accurate diagnosis of what ails (or should I say, “Ailes”) the Republican Party. Among his important points were these:
On the following evening, Frum appeared on ABC’s Nightline with Terry Moran and this exchange took place:
During the days leading up to the vote on the healthcare bill, the rallying tea party activists exhibited the behavior of a lynch mob. Their rhetoric was curiously extreme and anyone with a neutral point of view on the issue had to wonder what was pushing those people to the edge. Following up on Frum’s thesis, Thomas Frank of The Wall Street Journal seemed to have the right idea:
That change of the channel is exactly what the Republicans need to worry about. Karl Rove’s trademark strategy of pandering to the so-called “base” of the party failed in 2006 and it failed again in 2008. Nevertheless the GOP continues with a tone-deaf strategy, focused on the manipulated emotions of the tea partiers.
As I observed when I started this blog two years ago, a decision by John McCain to continue pandering to the televangelist lobby after winning the Republican Presidential nomination, would make absolutely no sense. McCain now finds himself struggling against an ultra-conservative tea partier for the Republican nomination to retain his Senate seat. He has again chosen to pander to the base and in the process, he has painted himself into a corner — boosting the chances for victory by the Democratic nominee in November.
The Republicans just don’t get it. John “BronzeGel” Boehner’s decision to ally himself with the banking lobbyists has given another black eye to the Republican Party. Although the voting public has become increasingly educated and incensed about the bank bailouts as a form of “lemon socialism” BronzeGel decided to give a pep talk to the American Bankers Association, advising them:
“Don’t let those little punk staffers take advantage of you and stand up for yourselves.”
Who is going to stand up for the taxpayers (and their children) who have been forced to support the welfare queens of Wall Street? Certainly not the Republicans. BronzeGel Boehner has promised to fight a protracted battle against financial reform. In the process, he and his party are throwing the centrist voters (and the educated conservatives) under the bus. What a brilliant strategy!