So Shall you Reap

The Republican establishment, it is everywhere reported, is upset at the prospect (which seems to be fading a bit) of a Gingrich nomination. Of course, he'd be a disaster; Obama would virtually be guaranteed a landslide if they were stupid enough to nominate Newt. but it's nice to see them squirm.

The Republican Party, for almost all of my adult life, has been the party of racism, of cynical manipulation of the basest fears and prejudices of the least-educated portions of our population, even as it has also curried favor with the wealthiest and most privileged. The Republican strategy of division has sold a lot of books --both in its promulgation and in analysis of it-- and done a huge amount of damage to our polity.

But they have only themselves to blame for Gingrich. What did they expect, when they stood silently by, or even actively encouraged, ceaseless ad hominem attacks on President Obama, from thinly-veiled racist comments and arguments to Senator DeMint's "You lie!" called out during the State of the Union address.

When the Republican Senate Minority Leader, at the start of Obama's term, announced in all sincerity that his primary legislative objective would be to see that Obama would be a one-term president, he was in effect saying, to hell with the duties of governing; we will be about naked political advantage, gained no matter the cost. And when the Republican establishment stands silently by when Obama is attacked as a racist, as one who hates his country and wants to subvert it?

Well, then, they deserve Gingrich and worse (of which they have seen, and continue to see, plenty in their own primaries). They are despicable people, and they get what they sought. Unfortunately, their comeuppance threatens to be the punishment of all of us.

So Much Nonsense, So Little Inquiry

Listening to Republican Debate XVII: When a dabbler in policy-think such as I am can spot the inaccuracy, the inconsistency, the enormous and questionable assumption in the statements of a candidate, you wonder why there is never a follow-up question that points it out.

Examples, from flipping on the tv for 3 minutes tonight:

Gingrich: Every American will be an investor when he goes to work (I missed the question, but he was obviously talking about privatizing Social Security), and will have an estate to leave his children, which he doesn't get now. Q: What causes this Everyman investor to make intelligent investment decisions? And what happens when, the year he retires or the year after, the market loses half its value, which has happened twice in the past 25 years?

Santorum: We'll cut the corporate income tax in half. It'll become like a Net Profits Tax (what does he think it is now?). But we'll only do it for manufacturers who keep their jobs in the U.S. They are the jobs that are leaving. Q: Has he never heard of call centers in India, or service bureaus in China or Taiwan?

What a waste of time; these guys are pathetic. Romney included. Huntsman, the only sensible guy in the field, dropped out today. I heard someone on the radio explain it this way: He's not charismatic, he's not exciting.

How about his policies?