The GOP was always known as the model of lockstep, robotic thinking; no dissent was tolerated. The Democrats, by contrast, were always a mess and still are. Note that there are such things as "blue dogs" in the Democratic Party who can put the kabosh on any truly progressive legislation despite the fact Democrats are overwhelmingly the majority in the party. But when Palin came along, the GOP found itself fractured, too. She didn't necessarily toe the party line.
But the split was a long time in coming:
How did so organized a party come apart so swiftly? One explanation is that it hasn’t been swift at all. The Republicans have been in decline for some time — and in recent years, even in disarray. Since the peak years of Republican success in the 1980s, the party’s candidates have only sometimes been vote-snagging virtuosos. Dating back to 1992, Republicans have won a plurality in only one presidential election — and that lone victory, in 2004, was not nearly the triumph it appeared to be at the time. Its architect, Karl Rove, spoke of establishing a “permanent majority” for the Republicans, but in reality Mr. Bush won by less than 3 percentage points — one of the narrowest re-elections in presidential history. And although he claimed a mandate, his two big second-term initiatives — privatizing Social Security and immigration reform — were easily thwarted. Some of the strongest opposition came from within Mr. Bush’s own party — further evidence that the Republicans were even then losing their cohesiveness.
The fascists of the party thought they had it made, but it was the bankruptcy of their ideology which created the decline. Unfortunately, the country and world are paying a giant economic price for these bankrupt ideas.
George W. Bush was the end result of the radical right ideology beginning with Goldwater to the present time. It was an unworkable ideology, but it remains to be seen if the country can be salvaged as a result of it.
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