One of the Joys of Blogging

There are no deadlines. Because I'm not getting paid for this.

Otherwise, I'd have felt bound to comment on this piece by Kathleen Parker in the WaPo. She writes some truths that are very uncomfortable for the GOP:

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. ....

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party.

Indeed. But the GOP shows no signs at coming to grips with the larger truth of their shellacking last Election Day. On the contrary, the reaction of the GOP so far seems to be to embrace the "oogedy-boogedy branch" even harder and to move even more to the right.

Irrelevance lies that way. The harder the GOP goes to the right, the less power they will have. They may indeed drop below 40 or even 35 Senate seats and, at that point, they become almost irrelevant on a Federal level.

That is actually bad news for the Democrats, for in the long term, it puts the Democrats on the same road to future destruction that the Republicans have followed. Without the counterbalance of a strong center-right party, the Democrats will drift to the left and, when the Republicans do come to their senses and stop paying such close attention to the Wingnut Right, they will be positioned to cut the Democrats off at the knees.

This country needs two strong national parties in order to maintain a balance. The lack of a strong opposition during most of the Bush Administration allowed those fascists to effectively rip up the Bill of Rights and engage in the wholesale perpetration of war crimes. Different foul offenses will be in the offing now if there is not a strong and loyal opposition from the GOP.