O’Donnell and the End of American Exceptionalism (Video)

It would be helpful to have a reasonable opinion about the significance for the Republican party of Christine O’Donnell’s primary victory and putative nomination in Delaware. Unfortunately, “a victory for Democrats” is not it. And, neither is Conn Carroll’s nonsensical rationalization, that O’Donnell has a “strained relationship with the truth” but is a “net positive” for the GOP.


Fortunately, there’s this:

It’s possible that the tea-party movement will have a more lasting impact than parties like Mr Perot’s, which fizzled by the late 1990s, or Mr Fortuyn’s, which flamed out of existence within a year or two of seizing some of the largest vote totals in the country. For one thing, the tea-party movement has made the smart move of organising as a faction within the Republican Party, evading the eternal doom that befalls third parties in the American system. For another, it is not too closely tied to a single charismatic personality, though a split between Sarah Palin and any large segment of the movement might do some damage. And third, it runs no risk of actually wielding power for several years. Pim Fortuyn’s List evaporated into incoherence when it made the mistake of joining the ruling coalition, and being forced to craft policies and take positions its followers might dislike. By organising as a faction within the minority party, with a president in office who is guaranteed to excite its followers’ rage for at least two more years, the tea-party movement has ensured it can drum up votes for quite some time on the basis of opposition to taxes and proclamations that “the people have had enough.”

So, I put it to Carroll on the bhTV board thus: has the GOP and its tea party faction decided that American constitutional exceptionalism is dead?


Filed under: 2010 Elections, bhtv, Politics Tagged: bill scher, christine o'donnell, conn carroll, delaware, gop, republicans, tea party