Have you ever had one of those moments where you hear something - a statement of fact put so bluntly and succinctly - yet you hadn't thought about in quite those terms and you literally feel a bit nauseated and your skin goes momentarily clammy and cold? I had exactly that kind of moment while watching Rachel Maddow last night. I'm going to excerpt the "chilling moment" below the fold and hold my commentary until after.
Let me say - MSNBC has not made the transcript availbe online yet, so the transcription that follows the video was done by me off of the video itself. I've focused exclusively on Rachel's discourse with Jonathan Alter in the transcript - but watch the whole video if you can. For those who can't, the first part is all about Bill Cunningham's invitation to broadcast his show live on election night from John Boehner's office.
You remember Bill Cunningham, right? He was the warm-up act at a McCain rally in 2008 where he repeatedly referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama" and where he slammed the Clintons continually in a nonsensical rant that defies description. He was the subject of more than one blistering diary here - and he came across as so radical that John McCain spent precious campaign airtime repudiating Cunningham's remarks repeatedly.
So with that, the full 8+ minute video segment, and a transcript of the portion of the segment where Maddow and Alter were discussing, generally, the Republicans' willingness to embrace the far right:
MADDOW: Joining us now is Jonathan Alter, Newsweek's Senior columnist and MSNBC contributor. His latest book is The Promise: President Obama, Year 1. Jonathan, thanks very much.
ALTER: Hi Rachel.
MADDOW: Hi. Is there less of a downside in a midterm than there is in a Presidential election to latching the party onto one of these 'Obama's a muslim' far right guys?
ALTER: You know, I don't think they're even making that kind of cool politican judgment. They have just become a talk show party Obama asked them - the Republican leadership - point blank in February of 2009 in a private meeting that I have in my book, "Do you want to be the party of Rush Limbaugh?" And they didn't answer the question, but the answer is apparently "yes". They are willing to latch themselves to these extreme folks. This represents a pretty big change in American politics. We're not talking about obscure back-benchers. We're talking about the leadership of one of our major political parties, and there is a very strong possibility that John Boehner will be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, in line in the Presidential succession.
MADDOW: In terms of John Boehner's role, though - we talked a week ago about whether or not him becoming an opposite member to President Obama for these elections was a good thing for Democrats or a good thing for Republicans - we thought it seemed like a bad choice for Republicans - but if they really are having talk show hosts broadcast from his office on election night, that not only says they think they're going to win but that they do really want him to be the center of attention, doesn't it?
ALTER: Well they just are - you know - looking forward to a big victory. I mean Boehner is getting kind of cocky at this point, so whether they made these plans with this guy Cunningham or not - who knows - Cunningham insists that he has been invited in there. But the larger point still obtains: that they are willing to be associated with people who are out of bounds. Now, the clip does show that [Cunningham] called him 'Barack Hussein Obama'. At this point, since Obama decided on Inauguration Day to be sworn in as 'Barack Hussein Obama', that insult doesn't sound that terrible. But this is a guy [Cunningham] who has said that Obama has the 'mark of the beast' on him, that he is the anti-Christ, Cunningham has said that. So we're talking about some pretty wacky stuff and I think one of the big stories of our politics is that the wacky has now moved from the fringe into the center of our politics.
MADDOW: It does imply some sort of calculation that that's a good move, that the excitement that you get from people who are far right - bringing in people like that - compensates for any price you'll pay with anybody who considers themselves a moderate. Is this just a calculation that there are no moderates any more?
ALTER: Well remember, they're still in primary mode. And in primary mode there's a great danger within the Republican party in seeming moderate. It's almost a dirty word to be moderate. Look what happened to Senator Bennett of Utah, a classic example - a very conservative Senator. But he dared to work with some Democrats on some moderate legislation and he was just thrown out of the party. So this is not your father's Republican party. This is a different kind of political party these days and I think the system is just beginning to accommodate itself to this. You know, it began in 1994. That was where we got radical Republican leadership for the first time. The reason they succeeded was that the moderate Republican leadership of the old days had failed to regain control of the House of Representatives. So the lesson of 1994 was be radical and maybe you can come back into power.
MADDOW: Yeah. Count on your base, don't count on the middle.
ALTER: The message is not really for other Republicans. The message is for Democrats, and how much to Democrats care about turning over a branch of our government to extremists. To radicals. And so this - if this can't close the so-called "enthusiasm gap", you know, what can. And I do think it's a challenge for progressives who are saying oh I'm not ex - I'm disappointed in President Obama, I'm not that excited, I'm not going to work the way I did last time - Well they need to learn a little bit about what the stakes are. So when an instance like this reminds us that we're talking about a different crowd with a radical agenda that they want to impose on our country.
This is the "they suck WAY worse than we do" argument on steroids.
Listen. I'm neither a detractor nor a blind supporter of the Obama Administration today. To try to sum up the way I see things so far with respect to the President, I have seen some things that I really liked, some things that infuriated me, and some things that I feel were handled incorrectly (especially given the inherent communication skills Obama possesses). If I had to characterize where I think the vast majority of the issues exist, it's with Congress generally and Senate Democrats specifically. I don't like any of these Conservadems, and that dislike went to near loathing with more than a few of these Democrats who, I believe, made it very clear they would scuttle items like the public option in healthcare reform and defeat progressive reforms in things like the banking legislation and who made it very clear that they would not support a more robust stimulus. In a way, my particular point-of-view is much more depressing than simply blaming the President for the disappointments - the President is but one person, and therefore easier to replace than a host of Blue Dogs and Conservative Democrats. Replacing the bottleneck, as I now see it, will take time and many election cycles. We tried to challenge the Blanche Lincoln's of this world during the primaries - and good on us. But we haven't gotten across the line yet on succeeding.
I understand the frustration and anger that I see here. I share in it some of the times, and others I don't (depends on the subject and the situation). But Alter's comments really brought it home to me:
We are at risk of allowing radical republican extremists to take power. There will be plenty of blame to go around if they DO succeed - but I've no doubt in my mind that some portion of that blame will belong to us. Not all of it - but some of it, and that's too much for me.
After Alter's interview I thought - "Was he talking to me?" And I decided that yes, in some cases, he is talking to me. I think he's talking to a few of you as well. I'm not calling you out. I'm not saying anyone should STFU. I'm merely asking if each one of us can try to find a way to stay true to our ideals without handing over power to radical extremist Republicans, whether there are enough of us (let's face it - there ARE some on either extreme of the cheerleader/he sucks spectrum who aren't going to be convinced) who can harness a vision of the potential 2011 Congress such that it puts us over the line to work for NOT that outcome.
The outcome we'll get this late in the game will be less than what we want. I know this. So maybe we can get through November without giving power to these nutbags and then turn around the day after election day and start identifying the Democrats we CAN successfully primary in 2012. I believe firmly that we're going to have to stay at it election after election to show any positive results.
Just my opinion, given with no intent to flame anyone. As my mother would say - "Food for thought." I have a difficult time arguing the truth of Alter's statements.