Iain Murray recommends an innumerate approach:
I don’t think I’ve ever been as depressed, shocked or, for that matter, frightened by an opinion poll finding as with this one…. This is getting out of hand. I was heartened by the relative lack of birther signs during the Saturday teaparty, given that in a crowd that size you’re bound to get more than a small smattering of nutjobs. This poll, however, suggests that the problem of irrational extremism in politics is much worse than I suspected. Leaders really have to get a grip. If ever there was time for a national, bipartisan Sister Souljah moment, this is it.
What did that poll reveal? What has the gentleman so depressed, shocked and frightened? It turns out it’s the news that 29 percent of Republicans either think Obama is the Anti-Christ or aren’t sure if he is or not. Now, I very much would like to see the Republican Party souljahmize the most conservative one-third of the party in the name of political “rationality”. Because that would serve to finish the G.O.P. forever and ensure their replacement by a party more capable of acting as a genuine opposition to the Democratic Party. As for the bipartisan angle, I would also welcome any Democrat who has stopped drinking the Kool-Aid served by the bi-factional ruling party that serves itself and The State uber alles.
Seriously, the more I read from these Republican squishes, the more I wonder if they’re actually Democrats trying to suicide the party from within. This LA Times article was particularly amusing; normally I’m used to hearing ridiculous claims that “no one reads WND”. Now, suddenly, WND is setting the “conservative fringe agenda”:
They are “wild accusations and the paranoid delusions coming from the fever swamps,” said David Frum, a conservative author and speechwriter for President George W. Bush who is among the more vocal critics of the party base and of the conservative talk show hosts helping to fan the unrest.
“Like all conservatives, I am concerned about this administration’s accumulation of economic power,” Frum said. “Still, you have to be aware that there’s a line where legitimate concerns begin to collapse into paranoid fantasy.”
Frum and other establishment Republicans have spoken out in recent days against the influence of what they view as their party’s fringe elements. Some are pressuring the Republican National Committee and other mainstream GOP groups to cut ties with WorldNetDaily.com, which reports some of the allegations. Its articles are cited by websites and pundits on the right. More than any other group, critics say, WorldNetDaily sets the conservative fringe agenda.
I think Joseph Farah has made it eminently clear that neither he nor anyone else at WND gives an airborne rodent’s fornication about what the RNC or any other mainstream group does or thinks. Having been ignored and ridiculed by them for nearly the entirety of its existence, WND clearly has no need for them and the only reason the Republican base is now turning to “the fever swamps” is because the Republican leadership and much of the conservative media have been rolling over for neocons and Democrats for over a decade.