The Great Right Hope

Rick Santorum's decision to throw his proverbial hat into the 2012 Republican ring did little more than further tip that field to the Right. When someone like Milt Romney is the most moderate candidate, that should say a lot. I'd actually like to someone like a Rudy Giuliani make a challenge, mainly to show how out of step much of the GOP is with an America that is becoming more diverse, tolerant and urban. Of course, those moderates are becoming harder and harder to find among the ranks of the GOP. The Party has become dominated by religious and free-market fundamentalists, Second Amendment absolutists, neo-Imperialists, and even neo-Confederates.

But that seems to be lost on the GOP leadership, which seems has ceded it's power to folks like Beck and Limbaugh and interested like the Koch Brothers. Their refusal to truly confront the rhetoric of the 'Tea Party', likely because they represent what is left of that party's 'base'. Those who still live in fear of the 'other'; be them Latino, African-American, Muslim, or Homosexual or Bisexual. Those folks who somehow believe that giving more power to corporations and their CEO's is somehow going to improve their situation.

Of course, the GOP can't seem to realize that people are waking up. From Wisconsin, to Ohio, to Michigan and most recently Florida, citizens are seeing what they voted in, or allowed to be voted in. More like the Patriots than the 'Tea Party' could ever claim to be, they're organizing, and they'll likely be the major contributors to the 2012 Democratic 'Ground Game'.

But the GOP will keep looking right. Believing what they hear from FOX News, and letting the Koch Brother's set the party's agenda. Romney will likely have to shift further to the right to appease the Tea Party and the corporate money that goes with it, Obama will need merely play to the center and win a second term.

If I'm wrong, I have a cousin in Europe who might be able to help me out. Or I could start readying for the resistance that may follow.