Republican Laggers

If you still don’t understand why the Republican Party lost the election, here’s some more information:

First, many party functionaries, including Mitt himself, are angry at New Jersey governor Chris Christie for being overly civil to President Obama when the president toured areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. People want to know why Christie had to embrace Obama, why he had to fly in Marine One, why he had to praise the president’s efforts right when the campaign was coming to a climax.

In other words, GOP-sters can’t understand why the governor would waste his time governing during a crisis when there was important work to do in winning an election. What’s the point in expending all that effort if it does not lead to scoring points in the polls.

This cynical calculation, promoted by jerks like Mitch McConnell of Tennessee and Karl Rove, lost the election for the Republicans and hamper progress in serious matters in need of attention from the federal government. Ever since 2000, the Republican Party establishment has operated on the assumption that getting into office is far more important than doing any good once there, and people are sick of it. Memories of the political hucksterism and profound disconnect of the Bush Administration’s response to Katrina (“heckuva job Brownie”) did as much to cost the election as Christie’s hugs.

Second, Grover Norquist continues to insist that peoplewill refuse to raise taxes at all because that’s what Republicans do, even as members of the party have finally come around to the position that avoiding fiscal collapse is more important than electioneering. He is immune to all empirical evidence, and demands ideological consistency in the face of disaster. Better to fiddle to the party tune and let the city burn. Even that bastion of socialism, Forbes magazine, has condemned Norquist's tactics as "blackmail" and "extortion," and has labeled him that deadliest of pariahs, a "special interest."

It's time for the GOP to jettison this nonsense and return to efforts to govern the country.