The radical right of the Republican Party keeps drifting farther and farther away from the reality where most of us exist. The good part is they’re getting less and less likely to remain a national political force, since as they get more and more extreme in their views they’re pushing more and more moderates away while their own supporters, angry old white people, are dying off. The overreaction to every imagined slight against The Way Things Should Be and The Way Things Used To Be has become comical, and an easy target for Jon Stewart and others.
The Daily Show took note of last week’s hissy fit in a hatbox over mandating health insurance coverage for contraception services and the requirement that employers offer such coverage, even some religion-affiliated employers, and was delighted to report that the conservative message machine didn’t miss a chance—again—to bulldoze blithely over that line that separates rational argument from hysterical exaggeration. Click the pic, and enjoy.
HEY, IT'S PAT RYAN'S BLOG! 
I think my latest favorite characterization of today’s GOP comes from Leonard Pitts, who in an editorial the other day (http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/31/2617659/looking-for-morning-in-america.html) referred to them as “the party of grouchy codgers yelling at the future to get off their lawn.”
If I were a Republican I would be pulling my hair out in frustrated rage. Screaming at the moon in a drunken stupor, “How did this happen!!?” Quietly ducking my head and sitting this one out. Folding my hand. Tossing my Scrabble tray, which has nothing but vowels and a Q. The three front runners in this pivotal race are so far off-track with mainstream America they may as well be running for mayor of Oz. Which come to think of it, would probably be a good fit for any one of these ass-clowns. I can see Newt now, standing behind the curtain, pulling the levers, his bloated face up on the big screen engulfed in smoke and green flames–I am the great and powerful Oz!!”
Oz–where during his mayoral acceptance speech Mitt gets caught in yet another verbal (and revealing) slip up when he declares, “Look, I don’t care about Munchkins…” The rumbling crowd is starting to think the Tin Man’s echoing chest has more heart–he’s certainly more animated and likable!
The fact that Rick Santorum is even still in the race, let alone gaining steam, tells anyone all they need to know about the panicky state of desperation this party finds itself in. Yesterday’s Houston Chronicle had a sobering (for Republicans) article pointing out that just about every one of Rick’s dogmatic social stances play to, oh, anywhere from 30% to 5% of the voting populous, depending on the issue. And it didn’t even get into his planet Bizarro/Leave It To Beaver view on gays… You go Rick!! I can’t help but wonder, who exactly is telling you that you ever had, or still have, a shot at this? And please don’t say God…
I think before his next stump speech they should warm up the crowd with Michael Palin’s “Every Sperm Is Sacred” skit from Monty Python’s “The Meaning Of Life”.
Which brings us to the Catholics. If only their pointy-hatted hierarchy had this level of rage and indignation against the institutionalized pedophilia that has been bleeding their church of money and parishioners worldwide for the last twenty years. They jumped on this red meat issue quicker than I used to raise my hand when volunteering for alter boy duty to get out of math class! Although I do concede, it must be refreshing to be in the forefront of the news for something other than yet another uncovered sex scandal/cover up, or the over-turning of some papal law from the sixteenth century…
Thanks for joining the fun, my friend.