Does this really reflect Republican positions?

[SirSaxa]

Can the Republicans on the board shed some light on this column? Does it really reflect where the party is going? or are these extreme examples pumped up by the "liberal media" to mislead the public and make the Republicans look ridiculous?

From my perspective, it seems the Republicans are being led ever farther to the far right by the extremists in their midst. But I also know there are many -- even on this board -- who believe Sarah would make a superb presidential candidate. Do those folks also hold Glenn Beck in high esteem?

GOP's Utah and Maine conventions show a party coming unglued

[Boz]

Well, for starters you could look to someone who isn't a snarky liberal sycophant like Dana Milbank if you would like a better perspective.

What Republicans did in Utah is fine. I don't understand why that's a problem. They had a primary, Bennett didn't win it. What's the big deal? Funny how Milbank uses that as evidence of "crazy Republicans falling apart," yet doesn't mention that moderate Democrats are facing similar challenges from the left in many, many primaries.

As for Maine, the response of many Republicans is about what you'd expect: there are many sound ideas in the Maine platform, but it also includes some pretty ill-advised concepts.

www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2010/05/14/candidates_dont_commit_to_platform_of_maine_gop_activists/

I'll take one for example: global warming. I happen to agree with the Maine activists that global warming is not the crisis that many on the left would have us believe. However, just going ahead and labeling the whole thing a myth is not really a well conceived stance.

I agree with many other things in the platform (the sanctity of life, balanced budgets, spending cuts, secure borders, and other ideas), but there are some (marriage, for example) I could care less about.

Then again, I'm not a Republican.

[jerseyhoya34]

Speaking of Glenn Beck... The Daily Show recently did a much overdue parody of his inappropriate, historically inaccurate, and ignorant comparisons of the President to Hitler. It is among the very best in Daily Show history. It is a shame that Beck is not more widely condemned, political polls be damned.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/lewis-black-glenn-beck-ha_n_574659.html

[DFW HOYA]

And then there's this quote, which you can almost hear in Beck's voice...

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be! We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.

It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone." Well, I'm not going to leave you alone."

Except Glenn Beck didn't say it. Peter Finch did.

At best, Beck is the self-described "rodeo clown", the former itinerant DJ at stations like WPGC who is now engaging in a style of political performance art that makes him $30 million a year. At worst, he is a cross between Network and A Face In the Crowd, two award winning films depicting the very demogogue he has become.

He has come to master the art of playing to the paranoid-- that if you act sincere and cry on cue, you can say almost anything...even that God is delivering you a plan to read on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and the timid GOP leadership is too impotent to call him out on it.

But it's an act that will play itself out on one of three stages:

1) The Next Morton Downey, Jr: A self-destructive gaffe or scandal that will make his name about as reputable;

2)The Next Arianna Huffington: He pulls a political "swerve" that will cause him to walk away from the GOP and go on a libertarian crusade against them, or

3)The Next Art Bell: Some sort of bizarre, tearful goodbye that he has to take a break from Fox to protect his family from his "enemies", whereupon he can't stay on TV any longer, and reappears himself years later as an underground host on the Internet who collects millions a year with "contributions".

Or, he could just pull off the mask and reveal himself to be Andy Kaufman's greatest stunt of all time.

[Boz]

May 15, 2010 13:00:31 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

Speaking of Glenn Beck... The Daily Show recently did a much overdue parody of his inappropriate, historically inaccurate, and ignorant comparisons of the President to Hitler. It is among the very best in Daily Show history. It is a shame that Beck is not more widely condemned, political polls be damned.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/lewis-black-glenn-beck-ha_n_574659.html

Yes, Glenn Beck sure had that coming. So very brave of The Daily Show. Good thing there aren't any liberals on, say, MSNBC who spent 8 years making inappropriate, historically inaccurate and ignorant comparisons of President Bush to Hitler, cuz you can be damn sure The Daily Show would go after them just as hard.

[The Stig]

May 15, 2010 15:08:28 GMT -5 Boz said:

May 15, 2010 13:00:31 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

Speaking of Glenn Beck... The Daily Show recently did a much overdue parody of his inappropriate, historically inaccurate, and ignorant comparisons of the President to Hitler. It is among the very best in Daily Show history. It is a shame that Beck is not more widely condemned, political polls be damned.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/lewis-black-glenn-beck-ha_n_574659.html

Yes, Glenn Beck sure had that coming. So very brave of The Daily Show. Good thing there aren't any liberals on, say, MSNBC who spent 8 years making inappropriate, historically inaccurate and ignorant comparisons of President Bush to Hitler, cuz you can be damn sure The Daily Show would go after them just as hard.

I think MSNBC's own parent took care of that pretty well with the Affleck-as-Olbermann SNL skit.

[redskins12820]

May 15, 2010 15:30:03 GMT -5 The Stig said:

May 15, 2010 15:08:28 GMT -5 Boz said:

Yes, Glenn Beck sure had that coming. So very brave of The Daily Show. Good thing there aren't any liberals on, say, MSNBC who spent 8 years making inappropriate, historically inaccurate and ignorant comparisons of President Bush to Hitler, cuz you can be damn sure The Daily Show would go after them just as hard.

I think MSNBC's own parent took care of that pretty well with the Affleck-as-Olbermann SNL skit.

Plus, the Daily Show did a 10 minute bit mocking Olberman last month

[theexorcist]

May 15, 2010 7:48:22 GMT -5 SirSaxa said:

Can the Republicans on the board shed some light on this column? Does it really reflect where the party is going? or are these extreme examples pumped up by the "liberal media" to mislead the public and make the Republicans look ridiculous?

From my perspective, it seems the Republicans are being led ever farther to the far right by the extremists in their midst. But I also know there are many -- even on this board -- who believe Sarah would make a superb presidential candidate. Do those folks also hold Glenn Beck in high esteem?

GOP's Utah and Maine conventions show a party coming unglued

The WaPo's Fix had some comments on this. In both cases, the rules for both conventions are arcane, allowing small groups to take over (the allusion was to Obama's group knowing the rules on Iowa to win). Most Republicans, even hard-core ones, aren't going to pay much attention to revising the party constitution.

So, big whoop. Note that a long-time Democrat (Mollohan) in West Virginia got blitzed in a normal, people vote in May primary - yet no one's talking about the Democratic fringe taking over.

With that said, Bennett's not much of a scalp for Tea Partiers - he voted for the stimulus and health care, which is pretty much what the Republicans will focus on in general elections (along with showing candidates that love puppies).

[jerseyhoya34]

There should be more attention to the extremism of Oliverio, who defeated Mollohan in WV. Oliverio is running on positions that are more akin to those of the Tea Party, including opposition to the health care reform law and cap/trade.

Bennett did not vote for the health care reform law. He worked with Wyden to fashion a bill that received bipartisan support, but the thing never passed. No doubt that this work hurt him since many conservative activists did not support health care legislation of any kind.

As to IA, the Obama win had less to do with what was clearly a well-educated staff/precinct captain effort as with a dedicated force of grassroots volunteers. There is usually a well-educated staff in most any IA primary, which is why Obama picked many from the Kerry efforts four years prior. The difference was that Obama brought a new chunk of voters into the mix, including many who never voted in a caucus and may never do so again.