The GOP, Limbaugh, Steele, and Liberal Schadenfreude…

Over the last several days the Republican Party has been struggling with something: itself. For liberals and progressives there are few things as entertaining as watching the Grand OLD Party eat itself: between David Brooks calling Bobby Jindal’s response to President Obama’s State of the Nation speech “the worst response to a Democratic speaker in the history of democracy” and the Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman apologizing to Rush Limbaugh.

It can only be assumed that after Election Day the GOP, and the conservative movement by extension, began going through the stages of grief is somewhere between denial and anger. What should be interesting is when the GOP moves to the bargaining stage, if this current stage is any indication it is going to continue to be a political disaster. At the current rate it seems as though acceptance much further in the future than a mid-term election.

Charlie Cook of the National Journal wrote that Limbaugh is actually serving a positive purpose for the Republican Party:

“…Limbaugh serves a purpose. With morale among Republicans and conservatives so low, somebody needs to say the provocative and even outlandish things that will get their blood moving and give them some incentive to get out of bed in the morning.”

In the same article Cook writes that the GOP is “stale and obsolete and is in real need of retooling and repositioning.” The problem then becomes that if the GOP is controlled by the far right of the party the conservative intellectuals with fresh and new conservative ideas will be shouted down as compromising and being too moderate.

According to some reports even those that have supported Steele for RNC Chair are now questioning his job performance, and many of the most important RNC staff positions have yet to be filled.

That same article describes the ambitious plans that Steele has for the GOP, from reviewing how the entire political party is run to creating a department for forming coalitions. However, Steele has forgotten the most important ambition for a RNC Chairman: lead the Republican Party. From deferring to the state party organizations for questions on funding moderate candidates to this current gaffe with Limbaugh Steele has not projected himself as a leader but as a figure head.

It is going to take a third straight Election Day of losses before the GOP actually wakes up to the reality of the new American electorate. The notion of a “center-right” nation is completely outdated. In fact with only one exception, taxes, the entirety of the conservative platform is obsolete. The GOP position on taxes will always have appeal, but you can not base an entire platform around taxes. The GOP needs to formulate a way, and perhaps completely rethink their positions and views, to communicate to the electorate on issues such as health care, and education. However, while the GOP continues to wallow in grief their will not be a new conservative voice that will be able to speak up without being shouted down as a moderate.

While it seems as though members of the Obama administration set into motion the events of the last several days with brilliant tactical maneuvers, the White House and the DNC did not plan the GOP quandary; it wasn’t that the Democrats pushed the Republicans as much as showed them where the edge was.

There are some things you can plan, but you cannot plan stupidity.