My Wednesday column and the crazy results of a new PPP poll:
In the wake of the election, there's no doubt that the Republican Party leadership is capable of making some adjustments to re-brand itself. There are plenty of ways they can do it, but it's obvious to anyone paying attention to what's happening on the far-right that the base simply won't allow the party to change. For example, in the wake of his support for a deal that would allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest incomes to expire, it appears as if Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) is vulnerable to a primary challenger from his right. Make no mistake, in spite of his tax softening, Chambliss is a villain for reasons too numerous to list here. The point is, we've only just begun to witness the far-right backlash against the party leadership.
The base of the Republican Party is deeply entrenched in the murky darkness the party has fermented throughout the last three decades: a realm of anger, racial resentment, distrust of government, hatred of immigrants and violently anti-choice misogynists and demagogues. The party has incited these tendencies via its PR apparatus -- the conservative entertainment complex -- on AM radio and Fox News Channel, augmented by wealthy financiers who bankroll the bulk-purchasing of every book-length ghost-written screed by Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck.
The problem this creates, of course, is that the Republican Party has been consumed by misinformed idiots with no substantial connection to the real world, and the first post-election PPP poll only serves to amplify this conclusion. [continue reading]