The Republican Party and Lessons Never Learned

Just under a year ago I wrote a column explaining why I had changed my Arizona registration from Republican to Non-affiliated. It can best be summarized towards the end of the column:

“The Republican Party has often been described as a circular firing squad – firing away at each other and oblivious to the advances of their real opponents. First [Sen. John] McCain and then Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) challenged former President Barack Obama for the presidency. They never laid a glove on him even though he was a deeply flawed snake-oil salesman. They never even tried. Instead they saved their best shots for their Republican opponents during the primaries or the Republicans that succeeded where they had failed. It was when Mr. McCain rose from his death bed to cast the deciding vote for going forward to debate the repeal of Obamacare so that he could then vote against the repeal and deny his fellow Republicans one of their primary goals. There is a malignancy in the heart of those who will sacrifice their own party, not to gain something in which they believe, but to ensure the defeat of something they could not accomplish themselves. And the Republicans are notorious for doing just that – so much so that it is difficult for voters to trust that they can ever accomplish a goal because of their own internal bickering and backstabbing.” [Bracket words added]

In previous columns I have noted former Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as prime examples. They are now joined by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and the morons who voted with him to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The primary reason that we label Mr. Gaetz and the other seven as morons is because they gave not a moments thought to what follows. The eight of them might agree on a plan but they lack any semblance of support from the remaining four hundred twenty-seven members of Congress who can barely stand to be in the same room with them. It is at least as likely that these morons will wind up electing a Democrat as a “compromise candidate.” Bad Karma just keeps growing.

I have never been a fan of Mr. McCarthy and always considered him to be a lightweight in a House full of featherweights. But those featherweights have now ousted Mr. McCarthy and in large part Mr. McCarthy’s blind ambitions handed them the means by which they – a minority of eight – were able to oust him. What fool would agree to serve as leader of a group – already beleaguered by Democrats on his left – when a single member could destroy not just his leadership, but in all probability the Republican’s ability to accomplish anything in the Congress this term. And thereafter relegate themselves to the ranks of cranky old men yelling at kids to get off their lawns. Will the Republicans ever lead again in the Congress – not this group. Former President Donald Trump (R) has promised to drain the swamp. The Republican Party should, in turn, promise to “fire everybody.” There may be innocents within the ranks of the Congressional Republicans, but there is nobody special enough to be concerned about “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

Currently, I am watching the Arizona Republican Party – permanently divided between the Far Right Republicans and the McCain Republicans gear up for another battle that, last year, left them with a clean sweep by the Democrats of every statewide executive office – every statewide executive office in a state that has been and still is a conservative bastion. (Republicans won the Treasurer and Superintendent of Public Instruction.) Republican losses lie solely and only at the feet of the warring factions who would rather see the Democrats win than the Republican nominees who defeated them in the primary. Not a single moment has been spend in self-examination as to why the slate of Republicans, rather they would blame “voter fraud” which they have yet to be unable to prove. Arizona is an allegory for the “dog in the manger” attitude that runs rampant through the professional Republicans trying to fool voters that they are conservatives or whatever snake oil they are selling today.

A pox on all of you. Clean your House before you seek to lead. The Swamp that is Washington, DC, grew out of your failure to lead. You let the bureaucrats decide how to manage when you couldn’t and that has led to the “deep state.” If you want to lead, show us you can fight – not just a battle, but the whole war.