re: #132 Amory Blaine

GOP Senators, “Obama can you ask the House if they like like me?

After this is all hashed out it’d be nice if McConnell went to Reid and both sides agreed to eject Ted Cruz from the Senate for fomenting insurrection. It would send a clear message to the tea baggers to watch their step, that the moderates will join with Democrats to cut the cancer out of the national body politic.

Won’t happen, and to be honest it could backfire on them pretty badly. Thing is though, no matter what else happens they’re looking at a hellish electoral future. The Tea Party is likely to split fully from the Republicans in several races this Fall, not accepting primary losses and challenging incumbent GOP reps all the way to the general election, handing those seats to the Democrats. If they go nuclear first and can inflict real harm on the Tea Party the Republicans could theoretically get ahead of this and ward off some of the damage by helping to paint the worst of the baggers for what they are, antithetical to responsible governance.

The downside that is that being the first nuclear strike in the GOP civil war, there’d be no going back. The moderates would absolutely have to win the battle for the Republican brand just to hold onto the fundraising apparatus, and even then they’re still probably forever fucked because Wall Street and the money men can’t trust them anymore. Their only hope going forward is to somehow magically repair all the damage, permanently sideline the religious right into a third party sideshow, do a quick 180 on social issues and immigration and relax their objections to raising revenues.

In the end, if I’m being honest, they’re a dying party of old white men. A collection of rigid, inflexible, stolid old fools, bigots and self interested pricks. There’s no way they pull this off.