Is this the turning point for GOP and T-Party?

Hot on the heels of the announcement of a group of moderate Republicans coming out in support of gay marriage and making "the conservative case" for it, now comes the GOP reaction to the upset defeat of a Tea Party/Sarah Palin backed candidate who defeated Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska.

Afraid of another devastating nomination of an extreme Tea Party candidate in Delaware, Republicans have swung into full support of Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) and against his challenger in the Sept. 14th GOP primary for the senate race, Christine O'Donnell.

O'Donnell would be a disaster if nominated -- for the GOP; but it might be good for the Democratic candidate. "She's not a viable candidate for any office in the state of Delaware," state party chairman Tom Ross said in a telephone interview with Huffington Post. "She could not be elected dog catcher. . . . Unfortunately, the truth always seems to be an issue. Her version of reality doesn't jibe with any of the facts." She has claimed that she won counties in her 2008 run against Joe Biden that she did not, in fact, win. They she modified it to say she "almost tied," which is a little different than "winning."

Mind you -- this is the head of the state Republican party official speaking about a fellow Republican. That's how alarmed they are.

In an interview on an MTV series highlighting the virtues of sexual abstinence, O'Donnell went even further, saying abstinence isn't enough. She spoke against masturbation, arguing that it is not a "moral substitute" for sex. She quoted the Bible about "lust in your heart" being the same as committing adultery. And, since you can't masturbate without lust, you shouldn't masturbate either, she says.

O'Donnell heads a youth-based group to establish conservative Christian values in college-aged kids called "Saviors Alliance for Lifting the Truth" (SALT). Even Bush's faith-based sex education is too much for her. She warns that "age-appropriate sex education" could lead to teaching kindergartners that "strangers with candy are not so creepy."

Wow. Just what we need in the senate. Another whack job. I'd say let's send money to support Christine O'Donnell in the GOP primary, hoping she'll be nominated and making it an easy Democratic win in the general election.

Ralph

What was it all for . . . ?

With the official end to U.S. combat operations in Iraq, a weary-looking President Obama tried to put the best face on things, even finding something good to say about George W. Bush -- his support for the U.S. troops and his love for our country.

It angered Republicans that he did not give Bush credit for the surge that arguably helped bring things to an end. But, as Margaret Carlson wrote for Bloomberg:

"there would have been no surge had there been no decision to go to war in the first place. You don’t get credit for improvements made necessary by catastrophes you create."

A writer in the British Guardian put it well:

^{Mission accomplished? The Iraq war did more than anything to alienate the Atlantic powers from the rest of the world . . . . Iraqis are marginally freer than in 2003, and considerably less secure. Two million remain abroad as refugees from seven years of anarchy, with another 2 million internally displaced. Ironically, almost all Iraqi Christians have had to flee. Under western rule, production of oil – Iraq’s staple product – is still below its pre-invasion level, and homes enjoy fewer hours of electricity. This is dreadful.}

^{Some 100,000 civilians are estimated to have lost their lives from occupation-related violence. The country has no stable government, minimal reconstruction, and daily deaths and kidnappings. Endemic corruption is fuelled by unaudited aid. Increasing Islamist rule leaves most women less, not more, liberated. All this is the result of a mind-boggling $751bn of US expenditure, surely the worst value for money in the history of modern diplomacy.}

^{Thanks to Mickey Nardo for both of the quotes. I recommend going to his blog and reading his Sept. 1 post on summing up Iraq: 1boringoldman.com}

Ralph

Repubs and gay marriage

It may be only a tiny booomlet, but the prospect of Republicans co-opting the gay marriage issue has some Democratic strategists worried, particularly since the gay community has been disappointed in the lack of progress on DADT and other gay issues under Obama, after being one of his major supporting groups.

Megan McCain spoke out on her support even during the 2008 campaign, but now she is commenting on this new-found support among the more libertarian elements in the party. Sam Stein reports on Huffington Post::

"We get the bad wrap as Republicans being against gay marriage," [Megan] told Fox News. "[Obama] isn't doing anything for the gay community."

Indeed, even in the Democratic tent there is some marvel, concern and even a twinge of envy at the changes taking place within the GOP.

"There has always been this libertarian segment of the Republican Party who thinks the government ought to get out of your life, and that group has, for various reasons, become more emboldened," said Steve Emeldorf, an aide to former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, who is fundraising with Mehlman in support of same-sex marriage. "Maybe ten years ago they were scared of this issue, but as it becomes more acceptable the libertarians are like, yeah, this is our philosophy."

"You had the most conservative vice president in the history of the world [Dick Cheney] with a lesbian daughter who over the last couple years has signaled he is for gay rights and marriage," Elmendorf added. "And if you have this guy who is the icon of the right wing there... It sort of snowballs.

Well, it remains to be seen how far this will go. So far, though, just the germ of the idea is pretty amazing -- both for what it means for gay civil rights and marriage, but more broadly what it could mean for a rebirth of the moderate wing of the GOP.

Not going to hold my breath, and not going to vote Republican no matter what. But it is very interesting to watch this development.

One slightly cynical interpretation that occurs to me is that they anticipate what's coming -- that the Prop8 case is going to result in a SCOTUS decision that overturns all laws forbidding gay marriage -- and they don't want to be on the wrong side of that amazing development.

Ralph

Republican hopefuls

Wow !! What a colorful round of debates we could be in for in 2012, with all the Republicans who are chomping at the bit.

There are the more serious and likely prospects, of course, all former governors, none particularly entertaining except for Huckabee:

1. Mitt Romney (MA)
2. Tim Pawlenty (MN)
3. Mitch Daniels (IN)
4. Mike Huckabee (AR)
5. Haley Barbaer (MS)

And then there are the clowns:

6. Newt Gingrich (not to be dismissed lightly just because he is a clown).
7. Sarah Palin (not to be dismissed lightly because of her crowd-drawing appeal).
8. John Bolton (walrus mustache and all; saber-rattling as ever).
9. Ron Paul (not really a clown; just looks like he should be one).
10. Michele Bachmann (she'll run if God wants her to).

Wouldn't those be entertaining debates?

Ralph

Interesting stat

Huffington Post has just posted one of those daily lists: "10 best colleges for the money;" "10 best cities for retirement;" etc.

Today it's: "10 richest politicians in congress."

To my big surprise, 7 of them are Democrats, led by John Kerry as the richest -- or rather having the richest wife, who inherited her fortune from her late first husband, who was: a Republican.

Ralph

Surprising development

In the midst of what has seemed like a Republican race to pander to the lowest common denominator, leaving the dwindling number of moderate Republicans without a voice or a home -- now emerges, of all things, gay marriage as an issue that just could emerge to unite the moderate base.

Ken Mehlman was Bush's campaign manager for 2004 and later was elected as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. A couple of weeks ago, he acknowledged that he is gay, and came out in active support of gay marriage.

Now he is co-hosting a major fund-raiser featuring the two lawyers who argued the anti-Prop8 case, Ted Olsen and David Boies. Other listed co-sponsors include: Steve Schmidt (McCain's campaign manager), Mark Gerson (former Bush speech-writer), Michael Huffington (former Repubican congressman and Arianna's gay ex-hubby), William Weld (former Republican governor of MA), and Christie Todd Whitman (former Republican governor of NJ and Bush's first head of the EPA). There are other important Republican names that I am not familiar with, but those who know say this is a list of the elite moderate Republicans.

Steve Schmidt has spoken out before on gay issues. Here's what he was quoted as saying in connection with this fundraiser:

"There is a strong conservative case to be made in favor of gay marriage. Marriage is an institution that strengthens and stabilizes society. It is an institution that has the capacity to bring profound joy and happiness to people and it is a matter of equality and keeping faith of one of the charters of the nation, the right to live your life.

"More and more conservatives are saying that opposition to gay marriage would not be a litmus test for membership in the GOP. And more conservatives are making the case that no more do you want big government conservatives in the bedroom than big government liberals telling you how to live your life."

David Brooks also wrote a column in 2003 making "the conservative case for gay marriage," but he hasn't been heard from since on the issue. Probably he was too far ahead of the time.

It would certainly seem paradoxical, but could it be that gay marriage could be the rallying cry for the endangered species of moderate republicans to re-emerge? In fact, except for the fringes, the Tea Party crowd isn't so focused on culture issues like this but on the role of government and economic issues.

Ralph

Beyond the silly season

Folks, this is serious. Obama bashing has long since become ridiculous -- he's a Muslim-Nazi-Socialist whatever. But something really serious is taking place. This disinformation campaign can no longer be dismissed as the silly season of politics.

A Newsweek poll conducted by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International has just been released.

Question #24: "Some people have alleged that Barack Obama sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world. From what you know of Obama, what is your opinion of these allegations?"

52% of Republican registered voters said it is "definitely true" (14%) or "probably true" (38%). Equally alarming: 17% of Democrats and 27% of Independents agreed.'

59% of Republicans think he favors the interests of Muslim-Americans over other Americans.

Now that is a fantastic selling job by the disinformation network, financed by big bucks from wealthy and well placed conservatives -- who may not believe these lies themselves but know what will move the masses and give the Republicans political points.

Every week, it seems like the prospects for holding on to both houses of congress grow dimmer. If these people regain the power, it is going to be very very bad. I'm worried, seriously worried.

Ralph