The author of this Mother Jones column is clueless. She says near the end that, "The GOP is now truly, utterly ruled by its base—whether it likes it or not." Why, yes, that's right. People determine what the party stands for, not the other way around. Conservatives are tired of supporting big-spending, mealy-mouthed candidates, who, once they get power, vote with the Washington beltway establishment. Martin Luther King Jr said that he would (almost) rather deal with a Ku Klux Klan member than a moderate, for at least he knows where the Klan member stands. Conservatives have decided that they'd rather have a Democrat than a RINO in office, for at least they know where the Democrat stands. The Republican Party is being cleansed, and that scares the dickens out of RINOs such as Karl Rove.
Addendum: Here is King:
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I
must
confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white
moderate. I have
almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his
stride toward
freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white
moderate, who is
more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence
of tension
to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with
you in the goal
you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically
believes he can
set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and
who
constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding
from
people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill
will.
Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Amen.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 