Posted on 10/26/2015 8:13:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
When The Post's front page declares: "Republicans are on the verge of ceasing to function as a national party," it's time to ask: How did this come to pass?
You can choose from a litany of insurrections, government shutdowns and other self-inflicted wounds.
But this year's carnival-like GOP presidential primary makes one event, in retrospect, stand out as a crucial turning point on the road to upheaval: the 2008 embrace of then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be a heartbeat from the presidency.
Palin's blatant lack of competence and preparedness needs no belaboring. What's critical is that substantive, serious Republican leaders either wouldn't or couldn't declare, before or after the election: "This is not what our party stands for. We can and must do better."
By the campaign's end, GOP operatives were shielding Palin from even the simplest questions. (She had flunked "what newspapers do you read?"). Barack Obama cruised to victory.
Palin became a Fox News fixture, reinforcing the newly formed tea party's "never compromise" demands. Bombast, not reason, reigned. Now the "settle for flash" aura of Palin's candidacy looks like a warning that the party was prizing glib, red-meat rhetoric over reasoned solutions.
Sadly, Palin owes her fame to 2008 presidential nominee John McCain, who is generally one of the party's more thoughtful and substantive veterans.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Democrats prefer women like Pelosi and Clinton who rode coattails and connections into office. They don’t care much for women like Palin whose accomplishments are their own.
The PDS is strong with this one.
It started a little earlier with the 2005 starvation of Terri Schiavo, to the cheers of the American public.
What a crock of dung this is. I do believe this guy is a friggin moron.
To be fair, he is partially right. The dysfunction was revealed when Sarah Palin burst onto the scene. Until that point, nobody since Reagan had stood up for the common conservative. The GOP’s derangement against actual conservatism became apparent in 2007.
Much like 18th Century colonial “dysfunction” started with Adams, Hancock, and their cohorts.
If they ever appear together prepare for head's exploding.
It’s weird. If we measure number of House seats, Senate seats, Governors, and state houses, we’ve never been in better shape. Somehow this all happened in the era of ‘dysfunctional Republican politics. The the smart people were in charge they blew it all and we had 60 Democrats in the Senate and a super majority controlled by Nancy Pelosi.
So it’s McCain’s fault.
Saw the article earlier, it’s not even worth a chuckle.
“Palin’s blatant lack of competence and preparedness needs no belaboring.”
And Obama was competent and prepared?
Finally a liberal “thought leader” acknowledges Sarah’s influence and leadership.
No. It started with George W Bush.
From Brian Schweitzer out west to Julian Castro to Amy Klobuchar to Kirsten Gillibrand to Steve Beshear, Dems have plenty of choices in their second string, and the MSM will have each of their backs.
“Mr. Daley is a moron.”
In a way he is correct. What the enemy terms ‘dysfunction’ is a reawakening and the first twitches of resistance with atrophied limbs. Their idea of a ‘healthy’ Republican party is supine and comatose. Sarah Palin did have a reinvigorating effect, as did the Tea Party which was a separate and spontaneous mass reaction.
They are panicked because the intended lethal injection victim tore out the drips and is rising from the gurney.
Ceasing to exist as a national party?
Outside of SEVEN states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii,Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont), Republicans hold either the governorship or at least one house of the legislature as a check against the Dumbocrats.
And oh yeah, they hold the House and the Senate, too as a check against this author’s lord and savior, President Zero.
How exactly isn’t that a national party, you stupid liberal Obmama kool-aid drinker?
I think the author meant “Democrats.”
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