GOLDBERG, REPUBLICAN BASE AND AMERICA?

Jonah Goldberg wrote a column for the LA Times; this was my response to him.

Yes, go ahead and "hit" Mr. Goldberg; you are a perfect creation of our times! History however captures how Rockefeller was treated at the '64 Rep convention -- how he was ridiculed; how Nixon used out right lies in his first race for congress against Douglas and breed generations of political operatives who scream "win at any cost" ... right on down to "Swift Boats" and Ayres. Republican don't win on ideas; they win by fabricating "character defaults."

Take a look at the Republican base. Who are they ... homophobic, xenophobic, racists and religious zealots ... people whose political lives are based on their own "rightness" and a fear of anyone different from them. They have scraped together the rank parts of our nature around a political party ... three generations of Republican leaders have preached, "at any cost" to the point that the prospect of a Democrat winning causes the reactions we see at Republican rallies -- "hang him" they shout, in reference to Mr. Obama.

The ultimate example is Karl Rove, who developed and implemented a successful political strategy based on inflaming the political base through wedge issues like gay marriage while his gay father lay dying in Palm Springs ... yes, win at any cost! You, and they, have sown these awful seeds; now all of us must live with the whirlwind.