The utter cowardice of "moderate" Republicans
As you see from the graphic heading this post, Mitt "Mittens" Romney took a valiant stand yesterday.
Lulz, no, just kidding.
Mr. Romney, facing a choice between a man in the tradition in this nation's political norms, and Donald Trump, decided to... call out "both sides".
Look. I know I gave him a pass when he voted to convict Trump on one count of his impeachment trial. I'm not going to deny him that. But that one brief moment of glory has been gainsaid by everything he's done since then.
He voted to convict Trump. But even after that, he can't peer into the soul of his party and recognize that it's them who have the problem, not Democrats.
There's no doubt that political calculations are entering into this. Mittens thinks he'll have one more chance at the ring in 2024. He doesn't want to seal off any support, especially from a party which will be even more Trumpist in four years. (And, hell, Trump, if he's not in jail or dead, my throw his hat in the ring then.)
But it's not the Left or liberals who are fueling the division in this country. It's not the Left or liberals who are plotting to kidnap and execute elected Democratic governors. That bullshit comes completely from those who will vote for Trump and Mitt Romney's party this November. To pretend otherwise is just asinine.
We're also now seeing Susan "Concerned" Collins making noises about the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. This after she averred that Brett "Bart" Kavanaugh wouldn't be the feckless idiot he is.
"Moderate" Republicans don't exist in the wild. They're in captivity, brought out from time to time to prove to the world that not every GOPer is a tyrannical fascist. But, in the end, they put out statements like Romney's, or they vote for a miscreant like Kavanaugh. They will always choose party over country. They will always choose their own political fortunes over the people they serve.
Of course Joe Biden has to make noises about "working across the aisle". Of course he does. Too many of our electorate, on whose votes he's depending to deal a death blow to the GOP, hold on to that fantasy of amity. But that ship sailed in 1994 and the Gingrich Revolution. Our opponents don't want amity. They want dominance. Pushing through Barrett is just another example of this. And Vice President Biden may be affable on the outside. But he's got a spine of steel, and has flummoxed all the pundits and nabobs for a year. And he will have a mandate to effect sweeping, even radical, changes to scupper the Republican dream of minority rule. Neither he nor the Democrats will countenance Republican courts to gainsay the will of the majority. And this majority will have no problem with "court packing", or as anyone with a brain will say, "court reform". Sow the wind, as Republicans have been doing since 1968, and you will reap the whirlwind.
And whither Mitt Romney? This should be his epitaph:
