How did we get here?Some pundits insist, even now, that this is somehow Mr. Obama's fault. Why can't he sit down with Mr. Boehner the way Ronald Reagan used to sit down with Tip O'Neill? But O'Neill didn't lead a party whose base demanded that he shut down the government unless Reagan revoked his tax cuts, and O'Neill didn't face a caucus prepared to depose him as speaker at the first hint of compromise.No, this story is all about the G.O.P. First came the southern strategy, in which the Republican elite cynically exploited racial backlash to promote economic goals, mainly low taxes for rich people and deregulation. Over time, this gradually morphed into what we might call the crazy strategy, in which the elite turned to exploiting the paranoia that has always been a factor in American politics — Hillary killed Vince Foster! Obama was born in Kenya! Death panels! — to promote the same goals.But now we're in a third stage, where the elite has lost control of the Frankenstein-like monster it created.So now we get to witness the hilarious spectacle of Karl Rove in The Wall Street Journal, pleading with Republicans to recognize the reality that Obamacare can't be defunded. Why hilarious? Because Mr. Rove and his colleagues have spent decades trying to ensure that the Republican base lives in an alternate reality defined by Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Can we say "hoist with their own petard"?Shared from the Digg iPhone app:
Politics. Policy. Infrastructure. Transportation. 11231. Miscellania. Critters. Email: firstandcourt at gmail dot com
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