Somewhere, in the deepest, darkest recesses of the last vestiges of conservative intellectual thought, there is the desire to have a political debate. It doesn't have to be a civil one necessarily, but a debate about conservative governing ideas, deregulation, trickle-down economics, wing-nut hyper-aggressive foreign policy, and all the other stuff that screwed us up in the first place.
Beneath the veneer of everybody carrying the same message, there is a genuine belief among the right-wing intelligencia that Mitt Romney is a horrible disaster (and he is), the campaign is tactically lost, and Paul Ryan only made it worse (and it is).
Great for us! Right? Except, that honesty that occasionally peaks through is masked by a horrible truth. And the current state of affairs pre-convention, post-primary proves it.
The Republican party - which we all certainly have continuously disagreed with has gone far beyond being disagreeable. Through their own actions, and their own greed for power, they have managed to threaten the structure of our democracy itself (all in the name of saving Democracy from the "big, bad Muslim-Fascist-Socialist-Not-Really-American" President of the United States who had the nerve to actually get us all real health care, and re-regulate the very industry all these ultra-rich crypto-fascist morons make all their money with.
Mitt Romney is one of them. They didn't grow up in the Limbaugh/Faux News bubble, they created it. The Tea Party may think they are the true believers, and certainly - they can do alot of damage, but they are their minions. And the same is true of the Religious Right, a movement of frightened, sexually pent-up freaks who are emotionally driven by issues that stoke them alone, and are made part of the coalition by being given lip service to the "cause" while they can make extreme legislation happen only at the state and local level - at least for now.
Add to this coalition a wonderful new member: The racists. Extreme and obvious, or subtle and not even self-aware, they hang their hat on crazy conspiracy theories about President Obama's "real" nationality, or the potential damage caused by immigrants that are already here and actually contributing to economic growth.
And the coalition worked in 2010. Too well. Worse yet, it put the Republicans in a position to execute an even more insidious plan in an attempt to insure victory to save the country (which really means their lopsided wealth and corporate profit margins): The systemic and bureaucratic dismantling of the voting rights act - which they never liked in the first place.
Let me be clear: I'm sure there are still well-meaning and intellectually honest Republicans, but they are being dwarfed by their own "good-soldier" mentality and the fact that now it's not just about winning the debate. It's about winning. Period. In any way and any opportunity possible.
This door was smashed wide-open in 2000 by the way "W" stole the election from Al Gore. He did it legally, but immorally. It was abuse of power. So are the voter list purges, the ID laws, the manipulation of early voting hours, etc. So was the Citizens United decision.
And when you combine a willingness to coddle extremists with blind ambition for victory that leads to legislating away the right to vote - well, it means that it's no longer an election, but it's a war. And now these Republicans are not just dangerous because of the damage they might do to the rights of anybody in particular to live as an fully-protected American, but they are now dangerous to our actual Democracy itself. The crap they spew about the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership being a slippery slope toward the loss of democracy? That's actually true, but about voting rights itself.
So think about this. This campaign is now not just about the fact that Mitt Romney clearly is not really qualified to run for President, let alone be President. And it's not just about protecting national health care, or reproductive rights for women, or the right for people to be who they are - regardless of gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic background, or anything else for that matter. It's now about protecting the ability for us to have a truly competitive electoral democracy in the future.
And you'll forgive me if - when I see or read a diary about how the election is over because Romney sucks (and we are winning, it's true), or worse - a diary complaining that President Obama and the Democrats don't deserve to win because they didn't go far enough or do enough on your singularly important issue... you'll have to forgive me if I tell you that it just doesn't matter.
It is far more important - more important than any election I can remember - that the policies of the GOP be utterly and completely rebuked by the electorate. Not just the crazy governmental ones - but the amoral political ones.
In 1964, the Republican nominee, Barry Goldwater, sprinted out of his convention and ran into the campaign brandishing the idea that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." He won just 6 states and 52 electoral votes. This year, Mitt Romney's banner is that "extremism and the loss of liberty is no vice." We need to make do our best to make that worth 0 states and 0 electoral votes . Because that is exactly what they deserve.