There is a split within the Republican Party just waiting to explode. The marriage of rich white corporate toadies, with poor white evangelicals (many of whom also have kids being blown up in Iraq right now) has obviously been one of convenience. It has worked. Til now. But can the party that mobilized millions with gay terrorizing now survive after being exposed as a party run by LOTS of secretly gay people?
Could the Foley scandal, which seems to be throwing open the closets of the gay leaders and staff in the Republican Party (and throwing them to the wolves, with Kirk Fordham being the latest) be the straw that finally drives this loveless marriage onto the rocks? The end of the "Southern Strategy?"
I certainly hope so. There are many rumors out there that there are more closets to be flung open, and it will be Republicans themselves who do the flinging. Is the GOP about to go on an internecine anti-gay Jihad? Come to think of it, who WAS "Jeff Gannon" visiting in the White House??? More...
Lawrence O'Donnell is taking flak today for a
column predicting that when rank and file gay-bashing evangelicals find out how many gay Republicans are involved in the scandal, and how many populate the Republican leadership generally (and by implication, that they've been played for suckers by the Republican leadership the last ten years with all its mock gay outrage - wink, wink - like Abramoff and his Indians) there will be hell to pay.
Some of the flak O'Donnell is taking is from desperate Republicans, but some it is also from well meaning Dems who fear he is gay bashing by merely making this point. But I think O'Donnell legitimately notes that REPUBLICANS are responsible for all this. THEY are the party that has made a living on attacking gay Americans (and all of our civil rights). And they NEED to be called out on this.
Your sexuality becomes fair game when you publicly accuse others of being less than American because of their sexuality. And that makes all the closeted people in the hierarchy of the Republican Party part of this Foley story. They are hypocrites and much, much worse. AND they ARE WORTHY OF EXPOSURE, as true enemies of not only their fellow gay Americans, but all Americans. They have stood by and watched, or even taken advantage of, politcal gains over the last decade made by attacking gay Americans. Gay people who have been part of the recent past of the Republican Party's tactics, would not be that dissimilar from Gypsies trying to hide amongst the Nazis.
It is a nasty path that has led to this point in American politics. But maybe the nastiness has led to it's own logical conclusion. The implosion of the Republican coalition.
Will the Fundies finally start their own "Christian Party" in disgust and exasperation when all the revelations come out? When all the closets open? Will the country club richies and trust fund "libertarians" (including the closeted ones) be left hanging on to what remains of the rump Republican Party?
Could it really render obsolete the "Southern Strategy?"
And usher in a new era of Democratic majorities?
I was dubious about the legitimacy of the Foley scandal as an issue, in light of all the REAL scandals facing this country that Republicans ARE responsible for: War Crimes, Unconstitutional acts by the Executive Branch, congress actually attempting to "vote away" the Constitution, torture, and generally making us the pathetic laughing stock of the civilized world.
But we must not worry about offending anyone when we point out the fundamental hypocrisy, and moral bankruptcy, of a Republican "leadership" that includes so many closeted gay people who have been willing to hide and stand on the bodies of their brothers and sisters.
If it can finally bring a split between Religious Fundamentalists, and the sociopathic "free marketeers," then it may all be worth it. A final end to this dishonest marriage of convenience.
I certainly hope so.