Not time to gloat

Some lefties are gloating because Bush overstepped himself by putting up his personal hairdresser for Supreme Court justice, and she got slapped down by the right wingers. They see it as the end of Republican unity, meaning there is a chance that the Democrats could have a resurgence.

Nonsense. Utter nonsense.

The Republicans never have been "united" in the sense that Democrats seem to think. The Republican Party over the past 25 years has always been an uneasy alliance of right-wing nutballs, corporatist looters, religious zealots, elitist statists, and the occasional oddball Libertarian who hasn't figured out yet that the Republican Party is the party of Big Government. What kept the Republicans seemingly "united" -- and will keep them united today -- has nothing to do with their "natural" inclinations. This is a pack of mixed carnivores, who would rip each other's throats out in a second if they saw advantage to it.

But they are united nevertheless, and united by the most base and primal of all human emotions: Hate.

Hatred of liberals. Hatred of fun. Hatred of Democrats. Hatred of unions and workers. Hatred of women who are uppity and "don't know their place". Hatred of Muslims. Hatred of the American people, in the case of the statist elites who believe they have been appointed by God to rule us all. Hatred of dark-skinned people. Hate is the spice that sauces the Republican Party and holds it together. And no matter that one bunch of hateful nutballs turned around and nipped another bunch of hateful nutballs in the throat like a pack of wolves skirmishing over pack status. When election day comes, this bunch of thugs and goons will be just where they always are -- at the throats of anybody who stands between themselves and power.

In the end, it is wise to remember that, as Stalin supposedly put it, it's not the people who vote that detirmines the outcomes of elections, it's the people who do the counting. And we already know what that means. As long as Republicans are in charge of the electoral machineries of major states, as with Stalin's Communist party, the only people who will win are CommunistsRepublicans. Until the voters in those states have the courage to string up those bums by the neck and install democracy, those of us who live in states that have democracy will be subjected to these unelected goons and thugs who've been elected to high office via organized thuggery. Or else go our own way and tell the losers sorry, you lack the courage to be real Americans... but that way leads to another sort of disaster, one that is writ in blood.

- Badtux the Pessimistic Penguin