“I’m sure the news that Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell hosted Republican Party Chairman-elect Russ Millette at his home recently was a shock to Democrats statewide. Why? Because Mead Treadwell understands what the Republican Party needs to continue its success in this state, to continue to add voters to its rolls and to keep the public from perceiving the party as fractured” (“Alienating Alaskans could fracture GOP,” MICHAEL KOCHER, Compass, Anchorage Daily News, May 26).
Democrats shocked? Only because Republican blood is now commingling in the waters with their own. It’s the Republicans who are truly shocked and fractured---they just haven’t figured out that certain, vital body parts are already missing.
Take Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who doth protest those Sen. Ted Stevens federal prosecutors way too much. They botched the trial by not handing over all their evidence to the defense. But the charges were righteous---Stevens sure looked like he was getting special goods and services from that underage-prostitute molester, Veco‘s Bill Allen.
While Lisa is languishing in La-La Land trying to do a makeover on the late Sen. Ted Stevens, she was getting booed off the Teapublican stage by Ron Paul supporters as they noisily installed Mr. Millette as state party chairman. Mr. Kocher says, “This leaves us with a chairman-elect who openly floats ideas of excluding Murkowski, despite her being the highest-ranking Alaskan Republican, from events and activities run on behalf of the party she has spent her life strengthening inside Alaska.”
The old guard is no longer relevant to Teapublicans---take note, Ms. Murkowski.
“Alaskans don't like extremists,” says Kochar, “they don't want socialists and they don't want fascists; they want centrists, moderate politicians who maintain the status quo…”
But for the Teapublicans, “moderate” is just another dirty word. In Alaska, the actuality of “extremism” now manifests as extreme self-indulgence, extreme comfort, extreme riches, extreme exploitation and extreme corruption---it’s all extreme Lower-48!
The Alaska Republican party has splintered and continues to shatter itself into smaller and smaller pieces. As with so many institutions these days, the fracturing of our democracy itself has already been accomplished---but is still being talked about after-the-fact as if it could be re-prevented.
Nation-wide, the Republican party is also now become the Teapublican party. Still, Obama could be in for the fight of his life. Romney is no savior of the economy because he is one of the clueless rich---but he does bring a superficial aura of stolid sensibility and reason to the campaign, attempting to reject, as he does, the most wacked-out of his supporters and the most virulent of PACs. Not enough though!
”Romney, on his big day, finds himself upstaged by Trump,” (Anchorage Daily News, May 30). “The Donald” is apparently still pushing the really, really dumb “birther” thing, further proving he is an extremely small-minded personality. Something he had already revealed back when he engaged in a very public and very unbecoming exchange of name-calling with Rosie O’Donnell over her lesbianism.
Romneys supporters will probably screw it up for him with their wacko rhetoric. He is playing the same old game he played during the Teapublican presidential primaries---acting like he believes in the far-off, right wing hosers’ dogmas because he needs their votes…and yet, wanting to be seen as Mr. Moderate for the general election.
Mitt finds it necessary to continue giving glancing smooches to some rather strange posteriors. He doesn’t even try to distance himself from an obvious loudmouth, rich-guy like Trump---because Mitt is also a rich guy. I believe Mitt is naturally moderate in some old-fashioned, conservative sense, but failing to denounce the far-out right will probably spell his doom.
President Obama has a somewhat similar problem in that he inexplicably found it necessary, during his first term, to kiss up to the right-wing varmints who had openly vowed his destruction---thus wasting a lot of time and energy when he should have gone full bore with the things promised in his “hope” speeches. As with so many of our elections these days, it is the side which screws up the most that will decide the presidency. Should be interesting for late night comedy but, given another “lesser of two evils” choice, I don’t look for any substantive changes.
- Rudy Wittshirk
Note: I wouldn't worry too much about the Republican party in Alaska---dysfunctional or not. Here in Mat-Su Valley, all any Teapublican has to do in order to get elected is say the words: "conservative," "fiscal" and "faith." Nothing else seems to matter. - R.W.
