The Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair (tm) takes their show uptown.
For as long as I can remember, Republicans have expressed themselves politically as bitter, miserable, life-hating idiots who get more dangerous and deluded every year.
Just one more fact of life in America.
But their leadership and the Mainstream Media have been able to keep most of the crazies out of public view most of the time in a mutually profitable arrangement which has allowed mediocrities and hacks like Mark Halperin and David Brooks to enjoy fabulously rewarding careers tuckpointing Both Siderist bullshit into the mainstream media shield wall: careers which they would have otherwise been denied had they been forced to stick to "reporting" on "facts" and such.
But right now, the most important component of the Pretty Hate Machine -- the denialism coolant system --
Because if the entire Right Wing understands anything it is this – as frustrating and degrading as it is to men like Trent Lott, Tom Tancredo, G. Felix Allen and Rick Santorum who really, really want to shout their love for all things Segregated and/or Despotic from the rooftops, it is still not socially acceptable to publicly embrace and celebrate your Inner Klansman.
Thus they must commune with their Swine Army in code.
They must use lightly encrypting hatespeech to manipulate the Rove Rods to get the Electoral Reactor Core seething hot enough to activate the base...but always keep the Bobo Koolant level of soothing denial, spin and outright lies juuust high enough to keep the Moderates from being directly exposed to and freaked out by the unshielded Core of the GOP.
-- is breaking down.
For decades the Conservative Brain Caste has been pounding two completely contradictory Prime Directives into the tiny, mushy skulls of the GOP base: 1) Be proud of your misogyny, your homophobia and your racism! Obama is a Muslim...and a Commie...and a terrorist sleeper cell! And Vince Foster would have spilled it all if Hillary hadn't murdered him! Your paranoia is patriotism, hero, and observable reality be damned! And, 2) For fuck's sake, don't talk about any of this shit out in public.
It was doomed to fail, because you cannot spend decades infecting an army of bigots and halfwits with the sanctimonious Dunning-Kruger certainty that they are smarter about everything thananyone...and not have them start to shout it from the rooftops.
And once they start shouting, you cannot expect them to refrain from demanding that their elected officials join their mad dog chorus.
And so we see the House Speaker Presumptive unapologetically blurt out the real objective of the Great Benghaaaazi Snipe Hunt:
Kevin McCarthy credits Benghazi committee for Clinton damage
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign is claiming vindication after Kevin McCarthy, a top Republican lawmaker on track to become the next speaker of the House, credited the Select Committee on Benghazi for damaging Clinton’s poll numbers — a surprising admission from a party that has sought to portray the investigation as even-handed and non-partisan.
“Let me give you one example,” McCarthy said, citing his conservative credentials during an appearance on Fox News with Sean Hannity Tuesday night. “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would’ve known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen.”
And we see a sitting United States Senator (and the guy David Brooks has repeatedly and fawningly hyped as the Great Right Hope of the Republican party) vomiting up a bucket of welfare queen/blood libel hybrid-slander that out-Fiorinas Fiorina.
Marco Rubio: Planned Parenthood has 'created an incentive' for women to be 'pushed into' abortions
...
"Now what you've done is created an industry, now what you've done is created an incentive for people to be pushed into abortions so that those tissues can be harvested and sold for a profit," Rubio said."Don't you think that's a stretch, pushing people into abortions?" the interviewer responded.
"No, absolutely. If you got to these centers, young women are provided very few options, in many places they're not told anything about, for example, adoption services that may be available to them. The idea that, in essence, you come in and it's already pre-determined, this is what place this place does. It provides abortions, and we are going to channel you in this direction," Rubio said.
"And I just think you’ve created an industry now, where you create the situation where very much you’ve created an incentive for people not just to look forward to having more abortions but being able to sell that fetal tissue for purposes — these centers — for purposes of making a profit off of it, as you’ve seen in some of these Planned Parenthood affiliates."
So on the one hand, the Republican Party is about two drinks away from openly proposing cattle cars and internment camps for the poor and public show trials for their political enemies.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton used a private email server while she was serving as Secretary of State.
And sadly, the only thing I am wondering how exactly will Joe Scarborough and David Brooks try to hang all of it on Woodstock and Gloria Steinem this time around.
(crossposted from driftglass' blog)
