Republicans are really, really, sore losers. And they haven’t even lost yet.
They’re already displaying a bitter, vindictive, paranoid, fantasyland anger that is quite creepy, though not that surprising. In recognising they’re likely about to lose, many Republicans have already decided on all the reasons to spout, every one of which can be conveiently blamed on someone else.
You only have to read the comments in any prominent mainstream news blog (so I can only imagine what right wing blogs are like) to see the paranoia and the nutjobs. Fortunately this can’t be a true crossection of US society, or even Republicans, but even if this is 1% of people, it’s still a worry.
What McCain and Palin don’t seem to realise is that they’ve become enablers. In campaigning as they are — “Obama’s a traitor, Obama’s a terrorist” etc… — they are enabling and justifying the potential future actions of any number of nutjobs. The same nuts their party has been courting for years. They’re literally telling people the black guy stole the presidency, and he’s evil anyway, so do what you will.
I try not to think that Obama’s already been described as a cross between MLK and JFK. It’s good until you get to, well, the end of the comparison.
And there’s race — some Republicans have decided to pin Obama winning on his race. Which, given the state of the USA and especially its history, is absurd on its face.
There are more reasons for Obama to have lost based on race than there are for him winning. And yet we’re already starting to see people insisting he’s only winning (or will win), because he’s black.
It’s just another bullshit reason, along with “voter fraud” and others, for Republicans to blame anyone but themselves.
With any luck, they’re about to be so demoralised they’ll be lucky to even compete in the next election. And maybe the decent ones left will start a new party altogether.