Tea Baggers/Radical right threatens to blow Mitt Romney off course as Republicans gather in Tampa

[maddezmom]

Some of them believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Others want to force raped women who become pregnant to have their child. There are those who vilify Obama as a socialist and want to do away with most of the federal government. A fair few doubt the theory of evolution or hold that gays can be "cured".

As Mitt Romney arrives at the Republican national convention in Tampa, Florida, where he will be nominated to run for president, he faces the difficult task of dealing with a party base that has become one of the most radical in recent American history.

Convulsed by the rise of the anti-government Tea Party and dominated by socially conservative Christians, the Republican party has continued to move right in recent years. That means the carefully laid plans for a Tampa convention aimed at introducing a voter-friendly version of Romney could easily be upset by the party's more extreme elements.

"They don't want anyone to look behind the curtain," said Professor Shaun Bowler, a political scientist at the University of California, Riverside. "You want the party base to turn up, give money and keep quiet. But it is hard to keep them quiet." However, the curtain has already been lifted to some degree.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/25/republican-convention-romney-radical-right

[KharmaTrain]

1. Let The Circus Maxmimus Begin...

Despite the corporate's media to portray them as a "national" party, we continue to witness the implosion of the Republican party into the rushpublicans. Even at this late date Willard continues to struggle to convince his own party to support his nomination and its not clear who really calls the shots here. In the power vaccuum the extremes fill the void...and that's what we're witnessing here.

Next week we'll see a party so disconnect and fragmented that it is likely to turn off more than turn on. We could see a replay of the '92 RNC fiasco where Pitchfork Pat scared millions of voters and helped Poppy booooosh be a one termer. There's zero moderation within this party now and each speaker will try to out birther or out abortion or out "freedom" or out-get-the-government-out the next one...platitudes, insults but little of substance.

While team mittens attempts to control the convention and message, I suspect we'll see more of the ineptness of these frat boys and girls. Get the popcorn ready as we move one step closer to the ultimate destruction of the former republican party...