The wrong guy at the worst time
by digby
I was watching Mitt make a speech somewhere yesterday on TV and I was struck by just how ridiculous it was that the Republicans were going to nominate an obscenely wealthy vulture capitalist scion of a political dynasty at a time like this. It's not as if they don't have a plethora of good ole boys and up from the bootstraps types. Or plenty of true believers who can carry on the flame. Instead they are going to nominate a guy who perfectly represents the most unpopular group of people in America. He's a person who literally says he likes to fire people who provide services to him.
Here's some data from the Monkey Cage:
David writes below that we have five more years of crazy to contend with because the GOP is going to blame their loss on Mitt's lack of wingnut credentials, assured that they only need to nominate a real conservative for one to win. This is often how it works, for sure. But if things go according to the normal pattern, and things have improved in a measurable way so that the Democrats are taking credit, it's just as likely that they'll be hungry for a win and begin to tack back to the middle.
The way this usually works is that the party that goes batshit has to lose for a while before they understand that they aren't mainstream. But we are in a very polarized partisan environment with a whole lot of left/right assumptions turning into up/down assumptions. The normal lines are blurring. It's impossible to know if this is a paradigm shift or a slight upheaval before adjustment, but it could be. If that happens all bets are off.
On the other hand, it's possible that the lines are hardening in ways they haven't been before and we will come out even more polarized. It's impossible to know. In the middle of a period of social stress and global change you cannot know which way it's going to turn out.
If I had to guess I'd think that David is probably right and we'll get five more years of crazy. If that happens, I'm not so sanguine that everything's going to come out the way we might want it to. Peak crazy leads to bad outcomes. But it's at least possible that another loss will force the GOP to take a break from tea partying and regroup. I'm not holding my breath.
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