Why the Fiscal Cliff Is Causing a Nervous Breakdown on the Rightby Howard Kurtzhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/11/why-the-fiscal-cliff-is-causing-a-nervous-breakdown-on-the-right.html?obref=obinsiteIt’s no surprise, after losing a second time to Barack Obama, that the right is engaged in a furious debate over the future of the Republican Party.
But it’s quickly degenerating into a mudfight.
“Conservatism is a racket for a lot of people to get very, very rich,” declares Joe Scarborough on MSNBC. “With no thought of winning elections.”
“It may be that major parts of American conservatism have become such a racket that a kind of refounding of the movement as a cause is necessary,” says William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard.
What’s going on here? Is this simply the venting of prominent media folks who are tired of seeing their side taken to the cleaners? Or have they concluded that the talk-show/fundraising culture that powers the GOP has become more interested in feathering its nest than electing Republicans?
Just two years ago, the GOP captured the House, the Tea Party was ascendant, and the rank and file had every reason to believe that Obama would be a one-termer. Now the reelected president, having vanquished Mitt Romney, is all but dictating terms on averting the fiscal cliff. No wonder the right seems to be undergoing a collective nervous breakdown.
Newt Gingrich sounded less than confident on Meet the Press when the talk turned to Hillary Clinton running for president in 2016. “The Republican Party today is incapable of competing at that level,” said the man who proved incapable of beating Romney.
Scarborough’s analysis on Morning Joe: “You have a lot of people running around, saying harsh things that sell books and push ratings and lose elections.”
And those who try to promote a more compassionate brand of conservatism, says the former Florida congressman, are “thrown to the side because they don’t sound enough like Glenn Beck or a blogger.” He described these adversaries as “cowards” and “bullies” who won’t back off unless “you punch them in the face.”
Kristol, who has committed the apostasy of saying the GOP should stop protecting a bunch of millionaires from tax hikes, describes the conservative movement as being “in deep disarray.”
He’s also in a spat with The Wall Street Journal editorial page, which took a shot at Kristol (without naming him): “Various Beltway sages want Republicans to say never mind, we were only kidding, tax rates don’t matter to the economy. So because Mitt Romney lost, Republicans in Congress are supposed to repudiate their core economic principles.”