What: "The GOP is fed up with its choices", The Washington Post
When: August 22, 2011
In theory, Democrats should be nervous about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's decision to enter the presidential race. In practice, though, it's Republicans who have zoomed up the anxiety ladder into freak-out mode.
To clarify, not all Republicans are reaching for the Xanax, just those who believe the party has to appeal to centrist independents if it hopes to defeat President Obama next year. Also, those who believe that calling Social Security "an illegal Ponzi scheme" and suggesting that Medicare is unconstitutional might not be the best way to win the votes of senior citizens.
Perhaps it seems a curious test of the nation, or, at least, the Republican Party. As ideological extremists battle for control of the GOP, there is an emerging sense that the party's presidential field is pandering so hard to the right wing that independent and moderate voters will find them inaccessible.
This argument, though, presumes an abstract political center, and that might be an error.
On balance, American politics seem to be moving ever rightward. An associate will frequently point out, in response to that suggestion, the inevitable march of marriage equality, or the fact that abortion is legal.
Marriage equality is an important issue, and not only to homosexuals. It is a test of the United States Constitution, much as miscegenation was nearly fifty years ago. Another associate of mine, a bona fide conservative, argued that as long as the economy was good and the government wasn't running in the red, he would support a marriage equality constitutional amendment.
Never mind; this isn't actually about marriage equality. Suffice to say that such an amendment is unnecessary.
But aside from that front, where are American liberals winning? Small-government Republicans in state houses across the country have passed a record number of anti-abortion bills, including a maneuver in Kansas intended to use specifically tailored building codes to shut down the last abortion clinics in the state.
American liberals, though, are certainly not winning on war and peace. They are flat out losing on human rights. Anything resembling an economic policy victory is pyrrhic at best. Democrats, under President Bush, fell to the right of 1970s Republicans on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
One can be forgiven, then, for feeling as if American voters are creeping ever rightward. And if they are, it is not for wisdom but, rather, in fear.
Which raises the question of Texas Governor Rick Perry's automatic front-runner status.
"Suffice it to note that two weeks ago, GOP luminaries were scrambling to find new candidates," explains Eugene Robinson. "And now, after Perry's debut? Still scrambling, I'm afraid."
While it is an encouraging outlook for American liberals and Democratic Party supporters, there is no guarantee that the underlying conventional wisdom is accurate. If all things could be said otherwise to be equal, then certainly Robinson has a point.
Except for this bizarre sense of rightward drift.
Americans allegedly demand compromise, so the president tries to compromise. Indeed, he compromises so much that his Democratic and liberal supporters howl in frustration at the appearance of President Obama conceding the fight before it even begins.
Repeatedly, Democrats give the GOP whatever they want. And the Republicans simply demand more.
And the people get angry with Democrats for not compromising enough. As Robinson wrote last month:
... the "both sides are to blame" narrative somehow gained currency after Boehner announced Saturday that House Republicans would not support any increase in revenue, period. A false equivalence was drawn between the absolute Republican rejection of "revenue-positive" tax reform and the less-than-absolute Democratic opposition to "benefit cuts" in Medicare and Social Security.
The bogus story line is that the radical right-wing base of the GOP and the radical left-wing base of the Democratic Party are equally to blame for sinking the deal.
And while public opinion polls pummeled the Republicans, people are still demanding loudly that Democrats compromise. How? It is not compromise if you give the other party everything they ask for.
Indeed, those who doubt the rightward drift of politics need simply ask why the voters have not explicitly told Republicans to go screw themselves.
Or, perhaps, 2012 is the year in which they will do so.
Meanwhile, the continued appearance of rightward drift seems to unsettle any conventional wisdom that depends on an abstract political center.
Thus the idea that Republicans need to scramble to find better candidates does not necessarily find purchase. The ongoing discussion over whether Rick Perry will win the nomination, or if it is too early to tell, seems to take place with a nod and wink. That is, barring some astounding scandal—child prostitutes, or maybe a gay escort to lift his luggage—Rick Perry does seem to be in something of a catbird seat.
And, yes, it is still several months until the primary season officially opens. And, no, we cannot hold the fundraising scheme otherwise known as the Ames Straw Poll to be a reliable indicator. Of course anything can happen.
But unless Sarah Palin bucks the conventional wisdom, as well, when she speaks to the Tea Party at Indianola, Iowa, on September 3, and declares her candidacy, one wonders what other candidates the GOP might scramble to find.
The point is that there is no guarantee that Americans will not elect Rick Perry simply because he is crazy. This is a country that elected George Bush; or, if one absolutely insists, got him close enough to steal it. This is a country that elected him a second time, despite everything else. This is a country that chose to continue to hound Sen. John Kerry about the Swift Boat controversy long after Newsweek should have been able to put it to rest by demonstrating Larry Thurlow a liar.
Out of the frying pan, it seems. One thing Americans do not, at this time, seem interested in, is getting away from the habit of burning themselves so severely every time they trust a Republican.
Into the fire? It is possible. Maybe even boiling oil. Rick Perry may be crazy, but insanity seems a prerequisite of the GOP these days, and that does not seem so big a deal to voters right now.
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