Therefore, given all this, if one of the parties goes as thoroughly, deeply, banana-sandwich loony as the present Republican Party has, the other party has a definitive obligation to the Republic to beat the crazy out of it so the country can get moving again. This is a duty in which the Democratic Party has failed utterly.
Republican extremism should have been the most fundamental campaign issue for every Democratic candidate for every elected office since about 1991. Every silly thing said by Michele Bachmann, say, or Louie Gohmert should have been hung around the neck of Republican politicians until they choked themselves denying it. (I once spoke to a Democratic candidate who was running against Bachmann who said to me, “Well, I’m not going to call her crazy.” She lost badly.) The mockery and ridicule should have been loud and relentless. It was the only way to break both the grip of the prion disease, and break through the solid bubble of disinformation, anti-facts, and utter bullshit that has sustained the Republican base over the past 25 years. Instead, and it’s hard to fault them entirely for their sense of responsibility, the Democrats chose largely to ignore the dance of the madmen at center stage and fulfill some sense of obligation to the country.
I’m Sure that Yelling Louder Will Work
Far be it from me to criticize a man with such a sound assessment of the balance of talent between Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, but:
- The audience for the “crazy” doesn’t think it’s crazy. Just by the nature of districting, a fair number of Republicans are in extremely safe seats, meaning that the left 40% of the electorate is essentially irrelevant to their calculations. They need to win 50% of what’s left, and given that primaries usually draw out only the most enthusiastic voters, they need to win 50% of the people who are really, really motivated by extremist rhetoric. Having Democrats call such comments and candidates out in the regular election probably improves their credibility with this base.
- “Crazy” or not, most Republicans understand, like most Democrats, that getting 70% of what you want is better than getting 30% of what you want. Consequently, there’s a degree of entirely reasonable solidarity with the nutcases, especially given the expectation (common in the GOP) that the extremist situation will resolve itself as soon as the GOP controls the executive and both branches of Congress. And frankly, it’s not as if that much more in the way of “governing” goes on, even when the Dems control 2 of the 3 relevant veto points.
- Calling Republicans “crazy” is intended to shame moderate-ish voters into the Democratic camp, but there’s little, if any, indication that this would be the effect. Equally (and probably more) likely is that declaring the entire GOP “crazy” would simply activate in-group solidarity; when you tell someone who voted for Michelle Bachmann in 2006 that she’s “crazy,” you don’t make that voter more amenable to your position.
- It’s fine and well to mock the consultant class, and to suggest that they often get things wrong. It’s undoubtedly true that, out of self-interest, the consultant class often exaggerates the roles that campaigning, advertising, and messaging play in elections. It’s also true that consultants may tone down rhetoric that they expect to offend key constituents, including major donors. All that said, if consultants really thought that yelling “Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!” would win elections, then they’d have candidates do so much more often. Consultants like to win, and they especially like to win with rhetorical strategems that they could take credit for. If simply yelling that Republicans were crazy would work, then they’d be trying it. A lot.
Their is no “one weird trick for winning all of the elections.” Rhetorical tropes that reliably mobilize Democratic voters have no effect (or negative effect) on Republican voters, and vice versa. The causes of our current dilemma are multiple and complex; changes in the media landscape, the Southern shift of the GOP, the (related) development of the GOP as a white ethnic party, several rounds of idiosyncratic redistricting, etc. None of them have anything to do with the Democrats not wanting to win elections, or failing to identify the rhetorical silver bullet that will somehow drop the scales from their eyes.