I don't feel the joy tonight. I should, as I watch yet another episode of The Three Stooges (plus Ron Paul) on Mars -- wait, they left Gingrich back there at the moon -- anyway, the Republicans' ongoing, surreal excursion into the wasteland that is the political far right. As I write, the primaries in Alabama and Mississippi are almost comically even, I'm trying to laugh at the thought of what Mitt Romney is going to say when he arrives at his victory party in Manhattan, and I'm shaking my head at the notion that Santorum -- Santorum! -- could make a contest out of this thing. But even though this protracted circus obviously helps President Obama, I'm tired of it, and if I'm tired of it, then sane Republicans (if there are any left) must be exhausted.
More than anything, I look at tonight's results and find myself thinking that most of the Republicans have just given up.
The one-third, one-third, one-third, Ron Paul results in both Alabama and Mississippi -- along with the dismal (for them) turnout numbers in the recent primaries -- suggest to me that what's going on is this: Santorum's few supporters all come out and vote for him. Gingrich's few supporters all come out and vote for him. Those longtime Republicans that can't imagine not voting come out and vote for Romney. A few libertarian leaners (they break about 5%/95% on whether it was Bastiat or Ayn Rand that they read at an impressionable age) come out and vote for Paul. Everybody else stays home. The returns come in, Romney crows about his amazing, come-from-behind victory (or third-place finish, as the case may be), Gingrich smirks, and Santorum gets fooled into believing that his message, though offensive to 80% of the electorate, has real traction. As a consequence, the Republican campaign takes yet another bizarre lurch to the right.
I'm worried about the end result. Not that I fear for the election -- the longer this goes, on, the better. But I'm worried that not even Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are going to be able to get me to laugh about it much longer. It's beyond depressing.
An Obama victory over a worthy opponent would be so much better for our nation than this year's general election could possibly be after this train wreck. A thoughtful opposition, with whom it's possible to disagree respectfully (or even slug it out on the Senate floor and go out for beers together afterward) makes for so much better governance than this mess. The Republican campaign hasn't advanced our national dialogue. It's only cast light into dark corners of our national psyche that are better left alone, for fear somebody might think the ideas lurking there are good ones. They should be ashamed of themselves. It's so bad I'm ashamed for them.