GOP is Lurching Towards the Wilderness

     During this fake "showdown" over the debt ceiling, what's becoming clearer is the GOP"s basic incoherence. They claim that they'll only raise the debt ceiling in exchange for deep spending cuts but won't name them-they want Obama to give them political cover and name them so they can then run against these cuts.

     It was the same thing during the fiscal cliff fight. Indeed, Romney actually tried to run against Obama's supposed $717 billion dollar cut from Medicare. Who can forget that Tea Party woman in 2010 who demanded that you "take your dirty government hands off of my Medicare?"

     Now they're trying to get the cuts they want that they failed to win election running on by threatening something they have no intention of doing-failing to raise the debt ceiling. Overall, it's an incoherent policy stance.

      This morning there are more than a few articles about the GOP's plight. A National Journal piece suggests they may be set to splinter into two parties.

       As if there wasn't enough division in the party over the fiscal cliff what about when immigration comes to the fore? You have two conflicting views. The , the hardliners wont want to budge on immigration, the pragmatists want to do something to stop the bleeding with Latino voters:

     "All these policy divides have already cropped up in the political arena, and could easily intensify. The litany of conservatives taking on establishment Republicans in 2010 and 2012 is well-documented. Already in 2013, Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is threatening to mount an independent candidacy against Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor’s race, a move that would all but doom the GOP’s chances. The Club for Growth wasted no time making noises about a primary challenge after Rep. Shelley Moore Capito entered the West Virginia Senate race, even though the state, long dependent on federal aid, isn’t particularly hospitable to fiscally conservative dogma."

    "I’ve long been skeptical about the feasibility of a third party, but I’m beginning to entertain the possibility that the GOP could become split apart as these policy debates come to the fore. It was only three years ago that pundits viewed the tea party movement as a legitimate third-party threat in the heat of their activism; instead, activists worked from within to nominate like-minded candidates and press their agenda."

    "Is it that much of a stretch to believe that, by 2016, the grassroots base will have taken control of the Republican Party, and the establishment will be looking to bolt?"

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/09/the-morning-plum-clever-gop-spin-on-debt-ceiling/

     So the establishment will bolt and go third party? This party will be the John Anderson party? I doubt this, somehow. What I see as more likely is that the GOP will-despite Lindsay Graham's urging the party to stop shooting itself in the foot-keep shooting itself in the foot.

     Dana Milbank on the other hand thinks there is a GOP saviour and his name is Christ Christy.

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-chris-christie-has-lessons-for-gop/2013/01/08/e28b298e-59e7-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html?hpid=z2

     I doubt this too. The trouble is that what Milbank actually shows, is that Christy has done well be being a "Rino" on many things. By praising Obama on Hurricane Sandy and attacking Boehner for failing to pass Sandy aid he's gotten where he has in part by attacking Republicans. However, the party is not so fond of Christy now. Remember as well that his RNC speech was seen as a bust.
    
     It's unlikely that he will be able to save the GOP singlehandedly. Besides the party hasn't learned anything. They think Romney wasn't a forceful enough conservative. I don't think the party will smarten up. I think they will continue till the fall off their own cliff.

     Here is what a real. live Nixonite advises his party to do over the next 4 years: nothing.

     "With the GOP splintering, with Democrats running the Senate and White House, conservatives must realize: They cannot make policy."

      "Let the Democrats take the lead, drive the car, propose the tax hikes, refuse to make the spending cuts and answer for where we are in 2016, because, right now, it looks as though we are headed for an even bigger cliff."

      "For the next two years, the best offense may be a good defense."

        http://buchanan.org/blog/the-republicans-after-dunkirk-5448

        http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/01/is-gop-no-good-at-politics-anymore.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiaryOfARepublicanHater+%28Diary+of+a+Republican+Hater%29