The Party of Nuts and Dolts

After years of effort it appears the Republican Party has managed to strip away frivolity and unnecessary baggage so as to have reduced itself to a more serious party of basic nuts and dolts. This can be seen in the purity of their convictions, the depth of their passion, their willingness to share their wisdom with all. They do not hold back in expressing their beliefs. Think of Akins, for example, with his views on “legitimate rape,” or Richard Mourdock’s insightful claim that even a fetus produced by a rape must have been something God intended.

Of course there is James Inhofe, always good for something stupid, like global warming is the greatest  hoax ever perpetrated on the American public, LaPierre trying to justify the disgusting ad targeting Obama’s children as if they do not require special protection, Steve King wanting to revive the House Internal Security Committee to “study the ugly spread of Marxism in America, “ particularly in the Obama administration, and we should never forget the wisdom of Republican candidates like Sharron Angles who suggested if Republicans didn’t get their way they could always turn to the 2^nd amendment strategy. Then there was Christine O’Donnell of “I am not a Witch fame,” and that other potential Republican candidate who suggested we pay our doctor bills with chickens.

The nuts and dolts just never let up. Recently we have Louie Gohmert (perhaps the greatest dolt of all) saying he will not play the game of assault weapons because “that could be any weapon. It’s a hammer … massive numbers are killed with hammers.” We have Gayle Trotter speaking for assault rifles and claiming American housewives need such weapons to defend themselves and their children from the 4 or 5 violent attackers that might invade their homes and attack them. There is also the brilliant woman in Arizona who says women who are raped and carrying a fetus should not be allowed to abort because it would be destroying evidence. Not to be outdone there is also Kevin Swanson of Generation Radio who claims recent research has demonstrated that women who have been on birth control for a time are found to be carrying “dead babies, tiny little fetuses.”  And we mustn’t forget Paul Broun who thinks he should stay on the House Science Committee even after announcing that evolution, the big bang theory, and embryology are lies “straight from the pit of hell.”

We also have John McCain referring to Ahmadinejad as a monkey, then claiming it was a joke. I guess a joke like his singing “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.” I have no doubt this will help immeasurably in our relations with that country. McCain is the posture child for why we need mandatory retirements in Congress and the Supreme Court.

These are but a few examples of the nuts and dolts that constitute the contemporary Republican Party. I’m sure there are many more examples of complete lunacy and doltishness. Just thinking back on the recent Republican candidates is evidence of how nuts and dolts have come to take over the Party: Bachmann, Santorum, Perry, Trump, and Cain, surely fit into the categories of nuts and dolts. Gingrich too, but perhaps for different reasons. 

Now we still have the Tea Party to contend with, a collection of nuts and dolts unprecedented in the history of our Republic, willing to go to any lengths to get their way even if it might mean the destruction of our country. Their influence may be waning but it still wanes, driven by a large group of freshmen Congresspersons with little or no experience, little or no knowledge of how to govern, spouting ideas and beliefs some of which come right out of the Middle Ages, and completely unwilling to compromise no matter what.

What is worse is their apparent unwillingness to accept the fact we have a Black President. The Presidency of Barack Obama has to be one of the miracles of our time, the fact that he has been a relatively successful President is even more miraculous as they have opposed him at every turn. It also even makes me wish I could be around a hundred years from now to see what history will have to say about this incredible event.  

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow