My reader disagrees violently:
Yes, I agree the Republican party has been hijacked. But there are millions of people who continue to vote Republican, because they have always been Republican, and either don’t know or don’t care that the party is run by uncompromising, ignorant, extremists. And they keep electing these idiotic wing-nut extremists and therefore are part of the problem! I refuse to give them a pass by calling the group of them something other than Republicans. They either need to clean house or break ranks. I’m sick of it.
As is half of America. Coincidentally, stonedoubt @ The Daily Kos addressed this topic back in 2012:
I am tired of letting Republicans and Tea Party supporters co-opt the term “conservative”. Republicans are not conservatives… they are radical fundamentalists and we should be referring to them as such.
He then goes on to use Republican and conservative sources to point out that they are not, by their own definitions, conservatives, but radical fundamentalists. He ends with:
I want to make it clear that I am not generalizing individuals who call themselves Republican. I am framing the Republican Party… which continues a platform of radical fundamentalism. The Republican mainstream ideology is radical fundamentalism, currently. It is not just the leadership. Pretty much every issue poll and candidacy poll in recent memory paints a picture of majority support for radical fundamentalism within the party.
I realize that you can’t put everyone in that box… Andrew Sullivan and David Frum are a couple of “conservative” pundits that come to mind that I wouldn’t necessarily paint as radical fundamentalists. I am sure that there are many people who call themselves Republican that share their moderate views about conservatism in general.
I think Andrew would be in full agreement with stonedoubt.
