A Bad Brand - or 'What are Republicans Thinking?'

As if the misinformation that drove into a protracted war in Iraq wasn’t enough, the Republicans—and their doppleganger reflection, the Tea Partiers (Teabaggers)—have continued to misrepresent and often overtly lie about the health reform bill, the financial reform bill, and almost everything else President Obama does—or is.

It’s quite astounding to watch, for a party that once carefully groomed its image as the Family Values Party (that went to hell), the Fiscal Conservative Party (also, to hell), and the reasonable, restrained arbiters of American liberty (way, way gone to Hades). This appears to be a party thrashing around in the throes of some kind of madness, trussed up as they are by their own failure, incompetence, and inability to divert from their own ideology when it’s needed. They are a bad brand now, one that, in commercial venues, would have been thrown out and started over.

Instead, we watch the Republicans compound their public mistakes, doubling-down on the bad behavior in a childish tantrum, hoping to make all those who resist their policies give up indulgently—or perhaps, it’s that they hope to make it look so bizarre and powerful others can’t help but join in.

We’ve seen them follow patently unqualified candidates, accept the incendiary rhetoric of their talk show propagandists, and silently assent to the most politically improper language and behavior that can be imagined. But their worst sin—the thing that makes their brand toxic from here on in---is their lying to the public about facts that affect them profoundly. This is unforgiveable, un-American, and makes them unworthy of leadership in any capacity. Yet they seem to be unaware of people think of them—a sure sign of unhealthy thought processes. The worst of it is that the more moderate among them allow them to carry on anyway.

So, as we wave a fond farewell to the sane and sensible cloth-coat Republicans of the past, we get the feeling we should call in professionals to counsel current Republicans in their madness. Surely, something can be done. Some medication. Some talk sessions. Some peace and quiet on some well-landscaped estate.
Or, only if absolutely necessary, electroshock therapy.