How Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly Killed the Republican Party

I can still hear the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth over on the right since President Obama won re-election and the Senate stayed in Democratic hands.  The Republican Party is battered, bruised and trying to figure out just what the hell happened, when Fox News was telling them all along that Mitt Romney (who was himself so assured of his victory that he didn't write a concession speech) would be the President-Elect.

But they shouldn't have been surprised.  See my previous post about all the groups they managed to piss off in just one election.  Now they're wondering... should we move back to the middle?  How are we going to ever win a national election again?  Yes, they still have control of the House -- where they lost seats -- but only because of the gerrymandering that happened after the 2010 elections.  When it's the Democrats turn to reapportion those districts, watch out.

The Republicans are blaming everyone and everything from Karl Rove to Mitt himself to Hurricane Sandy for their losses.  And granted, Mitt was a horrible candidate, Karl Rove still thinks you can buy votes and Mitt's campaign staff looked like amateurs.  But there are others to blame here that the Republicans haven't even thought of.  

They should look no further than Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly (and indeed the entire Fox News team), Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, Glenn Beck and the other right-wing media crazies for this loss.

The Republican Party has gone so far right in large part because of their media cohorts that it has now ceased to have any effectiveness as a national party.

When Jon Huntsman, who was a very conservative former Republican governor, entered the Republican primaries I thought Obama's goose might be cooked.  Apparently, so did the Obama folks according to recent reports.  But Huntsman didn't make it very far into the primaries.  Why?  Because he asserted that he believed in the science behind global warming and evolution.  OMG!  A Republican who believes in science?  Who worked for President Obama as his Ambassador to China?  Clearly not a good candidate for the Republican Party!  And so down Jon Huntsman went, while the likes of Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain, and disgraced former Speaker of the House Gingrich all had turns at being at the top of the primary polls, all lauded by the right-wing media.

I knew that in my lifetime demographics would overtake the GOP, making it impossible for them to cling to their extreme right-wing views and win national elections, I just didn't think it would happen so soon.  If -- actually, I should say WHEN -- Texas with its 38 electoral college votes turns blue, the Republican Party will have one hell of a hard time ever seeing the inside of the White House again.

Which led to some hand-wringing by Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, who lamented that the "white establishment is now the minority" and that people who wanted "things" voted for Obama.  Any Democrat who said something so blatantly racist would have been shoved off the air, but not O'Reilly.  (By the way, as Jon Stewart pointed out, anyone named O'Reilly is clearly not a "native" American.  His ancestors were also immigrants at some point, something O'Reilly conveniently forgets.)  Does the Republican Party think it's a good idea to have someone with the ratings that O'Reilly gets out there spouting off with racist, sexist crap like this?  How is this going to help them win elections?  See O'Reilly's election night rant here:

http://youtu.be/NZZt3jPDvNQ

Let's take Rush Limbaugh.  Rush apparently thinks insurance companies shouldn't cover women's birth control -- although he doesn't seem to have an issue with them covering vasectomies or Viagra.  He calls women "Feminazis" as if comparing us to the horrors that Adolph Hitler inflicted on Jews in WWII is going to endear us to him.  He calls a Georgetown law student who had the guts to stand up for her rights and the rights of others a "slut."  He calls President Obama "Santa Claus" because he's pushing this ridiculous idea on the right that Obama won by promising "gifts" to people of color.  Sam Seder has it right in the video below:

http://youtu.be/wos5MbNe1ZY

So, is Limbaugh helping the Republican party appeal to a larger audience?  I don't hardly think so.  Note to Rush: women aren't as stupid as you think, and we don't forget.

On the day that Hurricane Sandy hit, CNN and MSNBC had wall-to-wall coverage of the devastation.  Fox News barely covered it.  A major hurricane hits several states, millions without power, whole swaths of the country destroyed, people dead, and what was Fox News covering that day?  Their manufactured conspiracy theory that President Obama had orchestrated a cover-up in the Benghazi attack.

Seriously.

Maybe I shouldn't point this stuff out, because if they keep going like this the GOP will never be a national party again.  But hey, I'd like to beat them fair and square, even though "fair and square" doesn't really seem to be in their vocabulary (just think about the voter ID laws they've passed in an effort to disenfranchise minority voters).  It would be more fun to have a better fight, though.

Here's Why Mitt Romney Lost

Poor Ann Coulter.  I hear the wacko right-winger is just devastated that Mitt Romney lost the election (despite the fact that she said if Chris Christie didn't get the nomination Romney would be nominated and he would lose).  Well, Ann, guess what - the biggest surprise isn't that Romney lost; it's that he came as close as he did (if Obama wins Florida as expected, he will have 332 electoral college votes to Romney's 206).  Clueless Republicans the country over are wondering what they should pretend they believe in order to get their guy elected President next time.  They just don't understand what happened... so they don't have to go out and buy a clue, I will give them the lowdown.  Here are just the major groups of voters Romney and Ryan managed to piss off this election cycle, and why:

Women - Over half the country is women, and here's what Romney and Ryan said to them: we're coming after your birth control, little ladies.  Not only are we going to overturn Roe v. Wade if we get in office and put more righties on the Supreme Court, but us white Republican guys (some of whom showed a shocking lack of knowledge of how your bodies work), are going to make the decisions for you about how and when you can get pregnant, and what should happen after you do, because we don't think you can make these decisions for yourselves.  You know what we said about small government?  Well, it doesn't apply here.  We want to make the decisions for you about every possible aspect of your reproductive health.  That includes de-funding Planned Parenthood.

Equal pay for equal work?  We Republicans shot that down before, and we will again.  Don't worry your pretty heads about it, since you all should have husbands to take care of you anyway.  It's cute that some of you want to work outside the home (where you really belong), but if I need a woman for a job I'll have one of my people put together a binder of possibilities just to look good.

Don't you want to be taken back to the 1950's?  Just hop in that time machine over there, little lady, we'll give you a ride.

Veterans and the military - Obama has done more for veterans and the military than just about any president I could name.  He has ended one war Bush started under false pretenses and killed Bin Laden (remember Bush famously said he just didn't care about him).  Obama expanded the post-9/11 G.I. Bill to help returning vets get a college education.  He gave tax credits to businesses who hired vets and disabled troops, and came up with a plan for a Veterans Job Corps.