Respected Moderate Republican says GOP is "Crazy and Awful and Shouldn't be Trusted with Power."

[M.G.]

Josh Barro, politics editor for Business Insider and occasional National Review contributor, assesses today's Republicans:


"I’ve been a Republican as long as I’ve been a voter. When I was in college, I worked on two Republican campaigns. I spent the summer interning for Grover Norquist. My policy research work before I got into the press was mostly on state and local finance, and I mostly aligned with Republican politicians... So the last few years at the federal level, Republicans have just not been offering good solutions to the problems that we face. And then we’ve seen over the last month that because they don’t like the things the other side is doing, they start temper tantrums and do things that are very damaging to the economy. And so I don’t know why I should look at that and say anything other than these people are crazy and awful and shouldn’t be trusted with power."



http://www.salon.com/2013/10/17/gop_is_crazy_and_awful_the_josh_barro_republicans_are_displeased/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good for him and his clear vision.

We need more folks like him speaking up and letting us see what it looks like from the insider's point of view.

K&R

[M.G.]

2. That's right.

Though as a former Republican myself, I'm surprised it took him this long to figure this out.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Some people hang on to their beliefs with more tenacity than others do.

I'd guess it depends on how much, and for how long, you've been drinking the kool-aid!

[M.G.]

4. True

There are also membership perks (depending on how much of an insider one is) and social ties which can make leaving tough.

[GOTV]

35. Not so good for him - his life long work for the Republicans helped them bring us here

A smart person should have known to leave the GOP years ago.

No praise for complaining AFTER the damage has been done.

[M.G.]

41. I was a Republican myself...

I was a Republican in my youth myself, so I can sympathize with a disillusioned party member.

That said, I'd tend to agree that if it took until 2013 for someone to see how loony the party has become, they would either have to be a fundamentalist or completely blinkered in their partisanship.

[GeorgeGist]

5. The dissembling is precious.

[struggle4progress]

15. +

[M.G.]

21. Yep! :)

[BlueStreak]

6. Their handlers never intended for them to be trusted with power

This guy should know that. He interned for Grover Norquist. When they put you in Congress, you are supposed to be a good Republican soldier.

[maindawg]

7. the tea baggers are not Republicans

They used to be but they are no longer. The election of a black democrat has cause a split within the Republican party. These people are like an infestation that must be removed. They are radicals. They are dangerous and they are mentally ill. They are the result of the neo-conservative movement that has infested the republican part over the past 60 years.

Hardliners with no intention of democatic process.

They have a serious problem because the people understand who they are and what they stand for. Your crazy uncle has been marginalized, watch him literally pull his own hair out.

[M.G.]

9. Tea Partiers don't like the neoconservatives

Not a big deal, but I have to correct one point. Neoconservatives like Charles Krauthammer are the heirs to hawkish Democrats who broke right in the 1960's and 70's. Tea Partiers think neocons are "establishment" and basically trace their roots to the John Birch Society.

[Hamlette]

8. I've seen lots of Barro on the TV the last few months. He's quite reasonable.

actually answers questions and advances arguments instead of using talking points (did you see Norm Coleman on tv last night on Chris Hayes. All talking points, no answers).

One by one. . . we'll get the reasonable ones.

[M.G.]

10. Pretty much

Even Bob Dole has admitted he couldn't get on with today's GOP.

I really think movement conservatism is undergoing a major crackup. They're not going to vanish, don't get me wrong, but I think the GOP of 2030 is overall going to look more reasonable than today's lunatics.

[matt819]

11. You see, there's the problem

Here we have all these "moderate republicans" coming out and lambasting the GOP, the tea party, etc., etc.

The problem, as Charles Pierce observed in his essay the other day, is that these so-called moderate republicans were responsible for the evolution of these creatures. My god, Barro interned for Norquist, who is at the core of the anarchist philosophy. These are the people who've brought us where we are today. Sorry, folks, but they don't get to disavow their association with these terrorists.

[Leith]

13. Exactly!

So a guy who interned with Norquist of "government so small he could drown it in a bathtub" fame thinks that people who figuratively tried to drown government in a bathtub have gone too far?

That's like throwing a ball down the stairs and getting upset when it reaches the bottom because "I never meant it to go that far."

This just sounds like the guilty trying to back away from the trouble they actively caused.

[M.G.]

16. Well, morally you're both right.

Morally, I'd agree that anyone who votes Republican today (at least at a national level) is indeed responsible for tea party lunacy and GOP awfulness, no matter how much of a 'moderate' they see themselves as.

Politically, though, the more moderates speak out against the crazies the more likely it is that a real rupture will take place, so I'm all in favor of Barro's statements or similar ones by, say, Rep. Peter King.

[Cosmocat]

23. Just another form of their childish bullshit

We heard this crap almost the day after Bush II got reelected.

Well, he isn't a REAL conservative!

This is a replay of the late Bush years.

The party favorability crumbled and:

1) about equal to the dip in the party's favorability is a corresponding rise in the "I am a moderate and they all suck" types.
2) you get the chant of "they aren't really republicans."

This is part of their survival instinct when they inevitably drive the country off a cliff.

But, just as they were babbling about a "permanent majority" when Bush II first barely got elected and they rallied together in fitful rage in 2010, they WILL find some way to come back together in united fashion to fend off the evil liberal.

[M.G.]

25. They have a knack for rallying

America's loony right will do anything, ANYTHING to avoid compromise, true, and it will take another decade of two of demographics before their relative numbers dwindle to the point where they even consider compromise.

That said, we should be happy at anything that encourages ruptures within the GOP. If, juat say, 5% of today's Republicans decide that Barro is right and they'd rather go Democrat, that can really shift a lot of meaningful elections.

[Peregrine Took]

12. Baggers need to start their own party!! That's the only way they will truly be FREE!

LOL - please please do it!!

[M.G.]

20. Yes, every good Democrat...

Yes, every good Democrat should hope for the successful birth and long life of a Tea Party third party!

[struggle4progress]

14. "I spent the summer interning for Grover Norquist" puts him smack in the middle of Crazy Camp too:

it means he's fine with the idea of destroying the Federal government, which has been Norquist's agenda for decades

Norquist has more political savvy than the Tea-Pots, but he just as cracked as they are

The Tea-Pots are getting lots of bad PR now, so lots of rightwing Republicans will encourage everyone to imagine they can see some daylight between them and the Tea-Pots -- but it's just a hallucination: the whole GOP has gone along with the Tea-Pots

There really aren't any Republican moderates left anymore: the last Republican moderate finally quit, or lost (like Lincoln Chafee) or fled to the Dems (like Arlen Specter)

[M.G.]

17. Sad truth is that...

Sad truth is that there really aren't any moderate Republicans, or at least not any recognized as party leaders at a national level. So yes, in that sense, you're right.

That said, politically, we should certainly be happy to see this kind of internal party criticism, which could produce some kind of rupture or at least rethinking among Republicans.

[calimary]

18. Welcome to DU, M.G.!

Glad you're here! GREAT extended quote! I just added it to my collection! I think these assholes MORE THAN proved they are utterly UNFIT to govern, or to be trusted anywhere near the levers of power.

[M.G.]

19. Thank you!

Not really pertinent to this thread, but it certainly is nice to be part of a community.

And yes, it's certainly tough for me to see how any fair minded person could take pride in what today's GOP has become.

[sakabatou]

22. Did he just come to this realization now?

[JHB]

24. Mr. Barro, didn't you pick up on that when you interned for Norquist?

The man who wanted government shrunk enough to drown in a bathtub, who spoke of neutering Democrats to make them more docile didn't come across as radical to you?

The man who made his anti-tax pledge a litmus test of conservative loyalty didn't foster the same "ignore them all, just stick together and we can push this through" attitude that "crazy and awful" people displayed?

Congratulations for being "moderate", Mr. Barro, but don't forget that you're the guys who let the "crazy and awful" people loose.

[M.G.]

26. I agree with you at a moral level...

Morally, I agree with you; if you interned with Grover Norquist, you're not in a great position to be shocked, shocked! at what the GOP has become.

At a practical level, though, anything that encourages ruptures in the GOP should be celebrated. If only a tiny percent of moderates decide to stop voting Republican, that can swing some real elections.

[JHB]

32. Oh, I agree, but I doubt he's reading our comments here...

...so it's not as if I'm actually slapping him in the face for his criticizing the teabaggers.

However, it is important to not let people like him completely off the hook either. People with his view did help create and use the wingnut faction in order to push their own agenda. Judiciously reminding him of his past associations can prod him -- and more importantly, moderates who are Republicans mostly due to family history or other 'soft' reasons -- away from the hard Right.

After decades of "soft on crime', 'soft on defense', 'tax & spend' charges pushing Democrats rightward, I'd kind of like to see some 'soft on 'crazy and awful'' working the same levers in the other direction.

[M.G.]

33. Thinking about my own life...

Last edited Fri Oct 18, 2013, 11:15 AM - Edit history (1)

Thinking about my own life (I was fairly active in the Republican Party in my youth while perceiving myself as a party moderate) I'd agree that that's a pretty good point. Certainly a lot of my later activism after changing views was partly about helping 'set right' some of the mistakes I had made.

[JHB]

34. Agreed, and welcome to DU

[Laelth]

27. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[Southside]

28. Shots fired!: Grover Norquist Works for the GOP Establishment

Thank you for your post! This war in the Republican Party is so juicy, even amongst conservative think tanks.

Grover Norquist has lost his "tax pledge" spotlight to extremist primary challenging Tea Party organizations like Freedomworks. Josh Barro might be an independent thinker, but he definitely agrees with Norquist in this situation. They both feel the Tea Party strategies are crazy and cannot be trusted. To top this off, Grover Norquist was brought and paid for by Karl Rove who is the king of the establishment.

"In particular, Norquist's efforts to maintain that status means his pronouncements on tax-hike orthodoxy must first and foremost please the party establishment. He is well aware that his rarefied position requires the indulgence of people like Karl Rove, whose Crossroads GPS gave Norquist’s group $4 million in 2010. It’s why, unlike truly influential conservative groups like the Club for Growth, Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform almost never initiates primary challenges to wayward Republicans."

".... Norquist’s chief preoccupation isn’t defending the faith. It’s protecting his image as a leader of the faithful."

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113104/grover-norquist-anti-tax-pledge-still-allows-weasels

This is like a mafia war; they have taken to the mattresses.

And thanks again for the post.

[M.G.]

30. You are welcome!

Thanks for the gossip on Norquist, btw!

[Corruption Inc]

29. "Respected" lol

For what, supporting torture, proven wrong economics, racism, environmental destruction, being anti-choice, anti-equal rights, classism and perma-war?

[M.G.]

31. At least....

True. But at least the moderate Republicans would disavow publically shooting puppies!

[Amonester]

36. True, but once in the ballot box, he will push all the Rs buttons...

Like lemmings do.

[Scurrilous]

37. K & R

[M.G.]

38. K & R???

A question. What does 'K & R' stand for?
You and someone else used this expression on this thread.

[JHB]

39. 'K' means "kick", as in "kick to the top of the page...

DU moves a post back to the top when a reply is posted.

the "R" is Recommend (see the "DURec" button at the bottom of an opening post). DU's equivalent of "like".

K&R has become site slang for Recommended and kicked to the top for more visibility.

[M.G.]

40. Thanks

Thanks for the explanation. Still learning the local lingo!

Honestly, its great to be part of an online community, which I've never really tried before.