They made their bed...

As we head into the South Carolina primary, I think it is useful to think of what has happened to the GOP over the course of many years. This article from the May issue of National Journal succinctly lays out the extent of the far right's hold on the GOP (44% of primary voters are evangelicals---not good news for Romney) and illustrates why the Republicans have such a difficult task resisting the influence of the Tea Partiers and those of the same zealotry (by far populated by evangelical Christians). The Republicans--- in courting the nutty vote for decades--- have made their bed, now they are sleeping in it. Romney might be able to neutralize some of their discontent by putting up a tea party or/far right candidate for vice president. First, however, he has to win the nomination and they are going to make it difficult because, first and foremost, it is pretty evident that Romney's Mormonism is a big issue for them (in addition to them not believing that he has their puritanical interests in mind). They are sort of like the far left in their insistence on ideological purity but worse in that they are like dogs with bones (and mean ones at that)---they are not going down without a fight (preferring to see the Republicans go down first if their needs are not addressed). Here is another article/blog posting from openSalon from the perspective of the Republicans' creation and embrace of the southern strategy, an effort put in place by the Republican Party to use race as a wedge issue. It encourages those old ways of thinking (otherizing) and has worked spectacularly well for them over the years to the detriment of civil society.