Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan acquitted themselves poorly. It’s instructive that much of the Republican party felt comfortable elevating Palin as the voice of the Tea Baggers from 2008 until December 2012 when Fox News kicked her to the curb. It’s also instructive that after basically being banished to campaign in Red States after being ruined by Joe Biden in the 2012 VP debate, Paul Ryan is still the golden boy of “starve the babies, the poor and everyone else” Republican austerity economics. Note, Republicans aren’t talking about changing their platform, they are just advocating changing how they talk about their platform. Mark my words, look for legitimate rape to become high risk dating or something equally condescending but empirically less vulgar. Bobby Jindal says to his fellow Republicans “we have to stop being the stupid party”. This is the same guy who normally talks like a bonafide confident southern governor and yet sing-song-ed through a State of the Union response speaking like Kenneth the Page from 30 Rock and is supporting legislation teaching creationism in science class. They are just going to learn to say intelligent design instead of creationism.
Liberals can be pretty smug about this. Not because we don’t have idiots and fellow ideologues that support them (see John Edwards after getting eaten alive by Dick Cheney being pretty popular in 2008 – pre scandal he was #2 most popular VP pick for Obama). We can be smug because these idiots don’t form a plurality within our political base. La Rouche Democrats, Communists and the like really don’t run shit in the Democratic party. Tea Baggers are equal partners with ultra conservative Republicans (see McConnell, Boehner) and as a result their efforts continue to cleanse their party of moderation.
It’s like the Republican party is a person suffering from a flesh eating bacteria they contracted by using sewage as skin lotion. This suffering fool, trying not to be eaten alive, then cuts off the good flesh they have so the bacteria has nothing left to eat.