The grand ol' party of extremism

By Michael J.W. Stickings

WaPo is reporting -- and in so doing stating the obvious -- that "Republicans are losing the battle for independent voters, who now strongly favor Democrats on Iraq and other major issues facing the country and overwhelmingly prefer to see them take over the House in November".

Well, that's what happens when your electoral strategy is to rally the base by moving to the extreme on social issues and you choose to wage a war that must now be considered one of the great disasters of American history. Rove's "base strategy" may have worked in '04, when 9/11 was still politically exploitable, Iraq didn't look quite as bad as it does now, and Kerry ran a poor campaign, but it won't work now.

The Republican Party, from Bush on down, has been exposed for what it is. Its corruption, incompetence, and injustice, not to mention its extremism, is clear to all.

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For more, see our friend Daniel DiRito at Thought Theater, who wonders if the "mighty middle" has been awakened.