A few years ago, the Ithaca Journal started running her column. It took six months, and an editorial note, for me to realize Parker was supposed to be a conservative, and this was long before the Palin dustup.
She gives it away in the phrase “oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party...” She is fluent in McCainspeak, which identified the same component as “agents of intolerance.” And witness the success the McCain GOP has had.
“Erstwhile” is defined as “former.”
It appears that Parker want to salvage the GOP in its now formerly -but not presently - conservative composition, and to do it by dumping the one conservative component she can identify. As a member of the WaPo writers group, she has finally found her long hoped for acceptance by, and her piece of the pie among, her beloved liberals.
Sounds fair. Let the conservatives move on, form a real conservative party, and let the “Parker republicans” eat hope. As for future, continued Parker GOP success, assume the position, Kathleen. Oh, I see you already have.