GOP cracking up in NY State

I haven't been following this race all that closely, but I can't deny I'm somewhat amused to see the fringe far right base challenging the mainstream GOP machine. Newt is concerned about the hijacking.

"This idea that we're suddenly going to establish litmus tests and all across the country we're going to purge the party of anybody who doesn't agree with us 100 percent; that guarantees Obama's reelection, that guarantees Pelosi as Speaker-for-life," he told Fox News last night.

These are the fruits of the wingnut noise machine. The party was happy to exploit the fringe base anger when it was directed at Democrats, but they failed to plan for an uprising when they didn't deliver the extreme policy changes they promised. Meanwhile, the base feels empowered because the unofficial spokespersons of the GOP like Beck and Limbaugh have been telling them they are the "silent majority" and encouraged them to make some noise. Now that they're raising a ruckus, they feel like a majority because they've drowned out all reasonable discourse.

This is a Republican held district so a Democratic loss won't mean much and how the results here will play out in terms of 2010 remains to be seen. But if Hoffman wins, there's probably a lesson here for both parties.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]