As
we noted yesterday, some far-right Republicans are eager to use the platform of hearings on Syria to beat their favorite dead horse(s). But, as
Harold Meyerson writes, forcing them to confront possible military action in Syria has the effect, potentially, of tethering at least some of them back to planet Earth:
If the American right increasingly seems to occupy an alternative
planet, that’s largely because its media outlets — we can throw Fox News
into the mix — dwell on stories so exquisitely calibrated to excite the
right that they may not be stories at all. The New Black Panther Party? The Epidemic of Voter Fraud? The calculated perfidy of Benghazi?
The impeachable crime of Obamacare (a socialist scam actually modeled
on a proposal from a conservative think tank 20 years ago)? It’s not the
editorials and opinionating of right-wing broadcasters and journalists
that are driving the right into fantasyland. It’s the tales they spin
into stories and the time and space they devote to events that never
actually happened or that they surreally misconstrue.
By throwing the Syrian conundrum to Congress, Obama has at least confronted Republicans with a real-world choice. Since Saturday, the drumbeat for closing down the government has been muted in its usual haunts.
It remains to be seen how long -- or even if -- this dose of reality will spill over into other matters Meyerson touches on (the debt ceiling confrontation, various Obamacare sabotage schemes, etc.). Frankly, our bet is that this party that has been in various states of delirium for going on 40 years isn't about to put the interests of the people or the nation ahead of its "concocted crises." That's because Republicans have done such a thorough job of painting themselves into an ideological corner where, since they own the "facts," they have to prevail no matter what cost. As Meyerson says:
As the share of Americans who support and identify with Republicans
shrinks in the polls, the faithful who remain have taken on the aspects
of a cult — secure in the knowledge of “facts” that aren’t facts,
passionate about causes whose very existence bewilders their
compatriots, determined to punish any believers who stray from the fold.
Not much room for maneuvering or optimism there.
