It was inevitable. Fundamentalists always end up craping in their own mess kits. It was only a matter of time. Because fundamentalist cannot compromise. How can they make any kind of honorable deals with the devil?
Trying to harness fundamentalism for political or monetary gain always ends badly for the "harnessers." When the US goal was to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan we harnessed Islamic fundamentalists there. The Soviets left, but they left behind our fundamentalists too, who grew into al Qaida, and the rest is history.
The GOP thought it could solidify it's shrinking demographic center by limiting the opportunities minorities had to vote, drawing bulletproof districts and, finally, empowering the "low-information voters" - at least those who were white, Christian Fundamentalists, and easily manipulated.
And, like Afghanistan, at first it this seemed to be working just fine. But as these not-so-terribly-bright folks became increasingly emboldened, they started snapping at their handlers. At first it was manageable, so GOP funders kept creating think tanks in their name and shoving millions of dollars into campaigns when some of them actually decided they were now smart enough to be in charge. Which is how the GOP ended up with members of congress like Ted Cruz and the even dumber Texas representative, Steven Stockman :
Rep. Steve Stockman , an outspoken Texas conservative who recently announced a bid for the Senate , wants supporters to chip in $10 for his campaign in exchange for an "Obama barf bag. " (More)
I am not going to recount the disasters these "ordinary American statesmen" have caused during their short time in government. They almost make one nostalgic for the bad old fashion professional politican. But these idiots have been an unmitigated disaster for the nation and a growing now an existential threat to the Republican Party itself. Whether the GOP can purge their ranks of the idiots they invited in and enabled remains to be seen.
As for the cable TV companies out there - pay attention to this. You might want to reconsider your race to the entertainment bottom with programming targeted at the same demographic. Sure stupid people watch TV too, and will flock to the channel that feeds them programming they can relate to.
But, if you go this route, expect more Duck Dynasty blowback. First you will lose your intelligent viewers - which will upset your advertisers since intelligent people tend to have more discretionary income to spend than stupid people.
Then, as you try to repair that damage to your reputation these morons will inevitably cause, you will also lose those dumb-and-dumber viewers when you have to publicly apologize for something one of your reality idiots did or said.
Look, I don't mean to be unkind to folks who are, for whatever reason, not-so-bright. I just think that lionizing them is probably not the best way to lead the world into the future - a future filled with challenges the not-so-bright are more likely to make worse than better.
And, finally, those who think you can play with this kind of fire and not get burned, well, have a private chat with John Boehner and A&E - after they get out of the burn unit.
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