I keep being told that the Christianist base of the GOP is calming down, they learned their lesson, they’re not that important, etc. Josh Barro said that in a recent Ask Anything. Ross and Reihan are always poo-pooing the notion. So why did everyone who’s anyone in the GOP turn up for Ralph Reed’s religion-fest last weekend? Rubio, Paul, Jeb, Ryan, to name four, along with the usual nutters. Even Rand Paul – the supposed libertarian – said that there was a “war on Christianity” being conducted by “liberal elites at home and across the world.” And Cain and Palin – two essentially ridiculous figures – are still taken seriously. Alleged sexual harasser Cain:
This train is running full speed down the tracks towards socialism and towards communism. Yes, I said it. Before we stop it and reverse it, we got to slow it down. That’s what we do in 2014.
The delusional fantasist Sarah Palin argued that the US was “becoming a totalitarian surveillance state.” Yep: totalitarian. And tomorrow, the House GOP will introduce the most restrictive anti-abortion bill proposed in a decade, after fetal-pain bills have been proliferating in the states. Marco Rubio recently argued that any attempt to address the issue of gay couples in immigration reform would mean it was over. The sheer contemptuous dismissal of any concern about the welfare of these human beings and citizens was striking.
I see no sign that Chris Christie isn’t right to seem to be sitting out 2016 in favor of 2020.
2012 was not a wake-up call. It was a snooze button.
The Dish 