Kathleen Parker continues her war on the Palin wing of the Republican Party:

[T]he evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that.

In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess. She got whacked for questioning McCain's selection of Palin, and now its personal.

There are some problems with her analysis, though. For one thing, it lets President Reverse Midas, Darth Cheney, and the feckless Club for Growthers off the hook for their roles in blowing up the GOP. 

Worse, although she pays lip service toward the end of the column to religious conservatives, she essentially writes off a large group voters that has been poorly served by the leaders of the so-called Religious Right and by the Republican establishment that happily used them.

The GOP doesn't need to jettison those voters, it needs to find pragmatic ways of addressing their concerns instead of promising them simple solutions that will never come true.

Comments

[justcorbly]

In another display of reality avoidance, Parker will now be pilloried in public by the GOP thought police.

Some party -- and it doesn't need to be the GOP -- does need to represent the legitimate interests of fundamentalist Christians. But, if those interests include rewriting American history and the Constitution in a theocratic light and imposing the morals of a minority on the nation, then they've forfeited legitimacy. This is, and always has been, a nation with a secular government that is populated by a lot of religious people. That's the way it needs to stay if we want to retain our right to worship as we choose.

Two things are in the mix here that draw little comment: First, the term "Christian" has been corrupted by the right to mean only fundamentalist evangelicals. That's not true, and it demeans the majority of practicing Christians in the country. Who gave the evangelicals the right to determine who's a Christian or not? Second, the perception of evangelicals, fair or not, isn't doing their cause any favors. I'm convinced that the portrayal of evangelicals we saw at GOP rallies during the campaign convinced many people that they not only disagreed with them on issues, they don't want to be like those evangelicals or associate with them.

[Spag]

"Palin" wing of the Republican party. How misinformed. Interesting cartoon though.

[Becky Ford]

Thank you, given that I am one of "those" voters. I read Parker's column. I have been painfully watching her descent into illuminati madness and wondering who can help the woman recover. She is hell-bent on going farther down this road, it seems.

[Beelzebubba]

It's a no brainer to throw the baby out with the bathwater in the case of what is left of the Republican party, because it's Rosemary's baby. Palin reminds me of my 4th exwife's lawyer. She thought everyone came to court to see what she was wearing.