David Brooks on the GOP primary field

Conservative columnist for The New York Times, David Brooks, wrote yesterday about the effect of the radical right wing taking over the Republican party and its moderate incumbents changing their stripes in order to get re-elected.   He cites Senators Orrin Hatch and Richard Lugar as examples.

". . .  it is worth pointing out that this behavior is not entirely honorable. . . . to kowtow to the extremes so you can preserve your political career.  But, of course, this is exactly what has been happening . . .  [Right] Wingers fight to take over the party, mainstream Republicans bob and weave to keep their seats. . . .

"Under [the extreme's] influence, we’ve had a primary campaign that isn’t really an argument about issues. It’s a series of heresy trials in which each of the candidates accuse the others of tribal impurity. Two kinds of candidates emerge from this process: first, those who are forceful but outside the mainstream; second, those who started out mainstream but look weak and unprincipled because they have spent so much time genuflecting before those who despise them.

"Neither is likely to win in the fall. Before the G.O.P. meshugana campaign, independents were leaning toward the G.O.P. But, in the latest Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll, Obama leads Mitt Romney among independents by 49 percent to 27 percent."

Ahhhh . . .   how sweet it's going to be.

Ralph