Rethuglicans devour their own.

Over the past few years the Republican Party has shifted from center-right on the political spectrum to far-right.  Especially after Bush left office, conservatives began an effort to purge their party of those who might be independent-minded.  During the previous administration and before, many Democrats switched their party affiliation to Republican, including Joe Lieberman and the like.  Republicans at the time claimed that the Democratic Party was shifting farther to the left and alienating its moderates, therefore leaving them nowhere else to turn but the opposition.  Now, however, the roles are reversed.

 

So how come when Lieberman left the Democratic Party (like Zell Miller) it was his principles, but when Specter leaves the Republican Party, it's "simply self-preservation?"  The answer, my friends, is quite simple.  The Republican Party is a fairly militant organization.  For years, the rhetoric of the far-right and the evangelicals of the party were in the minority, outnumbered by moderates and centrists focused on pragmatic solutions to problems.  Since their loss of control of the Congress in 2006 and even more so after 2008, the Republicans have tacked right, HARD right.

 

Their reasoning is that they only lost the election because they weren't conservative ENOUGH.  Right...that's why people voted for Obama and other Democrats...because John McCain wasn't conservative enough.  On its face it seems like an absolutely ridiculous strategy, and that's because it is.  No political party ever won an election by alienating people, and that is exactly what they're doing.  They're pushing any party members that aren't right-wingers out.  You saw it at the Tea Parties and you see it on Hannity every night, the rabid attack of any Republican official who supports rational economic policy.

 

When three Republicans voted for the bank bailouts, the party vilified them and shifted resources towards their competitors in state primaries.  This happened to both Snowe and Specter.  They were both attacked viciously after their votes and Specter, who faces a primary challenge from "Club for Growth" member and former congressman Pat Toomey (Total douchebag), got the worst of it.  Essentially, he was told that if he didn't shape up and start voting the way the Party wanted him to, they'd support Toomey against him in the Republican Primary.

 

So what would you have done?  Your party abandons you, insults you, then says they're going to put you out of a job.  Damn right I'd switch parties.  

 

This all has a lot to do with conservative media.  Those who have their own shows (Hannity, Beck, etc.) have been calling for party purges for some time.  But when the news of Specter's defection hit, Hannity flipped his shit completely.  On his show last night, his anger was palpable as he almost yelled about Specter's treasonous departure from "his principles."  He had on Newt Gingrich who egged him on, saying they were better off without Arlen.  Right, you're better off without that vote blocking the Democratic supermajority in the Senate *eyes roll*.  What really seems to be at the root of this is that Arlen left before they had a chance to kick him out.

 

Come on, let's get real people.  If you can't see that the Republican Party is acting like a child that doesn't get its way, then I don't know if there's any hope for you.  This is not about principles or conservative ethics.  This is about power, pure and simple.  The Republicans are pissed they lost the election and so they've set out to destroy what they can't have.  

 

Sean Hannity used to rail against all those left-wingers who compared Bush to Hitler and protested the Iraq War, he called them anti-American, he called them degenerates, he called them losers.  Now, he's on the air nightly claiming Obama has a "secret, deep-seated hatred of American values."  He has publicly stated he wants the President's economic recovery program to FAIL.  His only motivation seems to be hatred of a black President at this point.  Once again, this is not about principles, this is about acting like a damn child.  This is why the Republicans lost the election, and they STILL don't get it.

 

It's about whose policies work, not who is the most ideologically pure.  Your policies failed, you had 8 years to implement them, they didn't work.  This is what makes democracy great.  Now the half the country that loved Bush can understand how we felt under eight years of that fucking ignoramus.  The only difference here is that people are protesting policies THAT HELP THEM.  Everyone of those retard teabaggers probably makes less than $250k/year, WHICH MEANS THEY'RE GETTING A TAX CUT, NOT A TAX INCREASE.  

 

So before you make yourself look like an idiot...read a book.

 

But if you watch FOX News you'll never hear the truth..