Republicans Anonymous

I was working a job this week. There was a symposium at the house of a wealthy man in Beverly Hills. We were there to hook up the sound so that the 60 or so people who came could hear. The room was small, but the institute sponsoring the talk wanted to record it. The moderator was a face I recognized from TV, but don't remember his name.  Matt something I think. There was a Republican and a Democrat as well.

This was not a contentious argumentative talk. It was a discussion about the election and the two political parties. As someone who watched the election and political stuff closely, I was paying attention. The thing I found odd was the general beaten down attitude of the audience. This was illustrated during the Q&A portion after the talk. The people in the room were all well heeled and Republicans. Not surprising, but what was surprising was the questions. They were saying that the Republican party had left them behind. It had been taken over by radicals and driven off a cliff. One went so far as to blame Reagan and his embracing of the religious right back in the early 80's.

What it sounded like when someone got the Q&A mic was the start of an AA meeting. "My name is Bob and I'm a Republican." "
"Hi Bob"
"My party left me behind..."

The moderator asked the room, "If there was a party that was fiscally conservative and socially liberal, would you vote for them?" EVERY hand went up. Every one. He asked if anyone wouldn't vote for them. No hands went up. It was shocking. The people in the room were fiscally conservative (i.e. Rich) but socially don't give a shit about gay marriage and the sexy bits that got the Republican party into trouble with, well, 51% of the electorate.

The panelists agreed that the Republican party would probably never win a presidential election if they didn't figure out how to get rid of the crazies and not have candidates kowtowing to the far right crazy agenda.But they need to stop watching FOX television and listening to Rush. Doubt that will happen.

Then, of course, Romney was tape recorded on a conference call with BIG money donors this week saying that people were voting for Obama because they were given gifts. No, Mr. Romney, they voted for someone who is not a puritanical dickhead who wants a smaller government in their bedrooms watching them fuck.

Ah, politics...