Blinded By the Right

Side note: Anytime I can work in a Manfred Mann reference, I go home happy...

This is a post for my wife. See, each month a glossy new edition of Esquire magazine shows up in our mailbox, full of insights on politics, style, literature and cuisine that she finds more than a little pretentious and annoying (despite excellent writing by the likes of Tom Chiarella, A.J. Jacobs, and Cleveland's own Scott Raab). It wouldn't be a stretch to call it the greatest source of tension in our young marriage.

Thankfully, yesterday the remarkably unremarkable Tucker Carlson's article in Esquire finally gave us something to agree on from that publication: Jeb Bush has been blinded by the Right.

How else does one explain his insistence that his brother was more popular than Obama at this point in his term? (He wasn't; at this point in his first term, Bush's approval ratings were in the high 50s to low 60s, compared to Obama's in the mid to high 60s).

His disbelief in global warming? (Choice quote: "...science has been politicized." Evolution denial, apparently, no longer qualifies as "politicization").

His "I don't know" answer to whether or not Obama is a socialist? (Good to know McCarthyism is still alive and kicking).

His insistence that the only reason the Republicans failed to retake the White House was the "sin" of not advocating the Right's position well enough to win? (Hint: The real reason's first name rhymes with "gorge," and his second name rhymes with "push." As in, the gorge your brother pushed your party into).

Yes, most of what Jeb had to say was simple boilerplate conservatism. There's one piece of that, though, that he (and the rest of the Republican party) still deeply believe, and it's one that will doom them to a permanent minority if they don't recognize it soon: the fallacy of the "center-right country."

Much typeface has been dedicated to the debate over what Sarah Palin cringe-inducingly referred to as "the Real America" actually looks like. Since the Reagan Revolution (when I was negative 4 years old), it has been taken as an order of faith on the Right that America is a fundamentally Christian, socially and economically conservative place.

The Left, though issuing mild protest, has never articulated a sufficiently succinct and cogent response. So, every few weeks we get to hear about how America is "center-right," and how the Left wins elections not because it possesses a message that connects with the electorate but because it's better at demagoguery and sleight of hand.

Oy.

I'm not a statistician, but it doesn't require an advanced degree in mathematics to see that America (which probably most accurately can be called a "center-center" country right now) is actually moving left in most every measurable way. Barack Obama won election in November with 365 electoral votes, and 53% of the popular vote. Hispanics are projected to be 25% of the American population by 2050. Obama won five of the ten fastest growing U.S. states (Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, and Delaware) and was closer than expected in three others (Arizona, Georgia, and Texas). Tucker Carlson's own question to Jeb in this interview admitted 1/3 of young voters self-identify as Socialists. According to Gallup, the GOP has lost ground in nearly every demographic group (retaining 2001 levels of support only among frequent church-goers, and losing with even conservatives and seniors).

I could go on.

The point? All the statistical and anecdotal evidence points to a trend leftward. If ever the fallacy that America is a "center-right" nation was true, it certainly isn't any more. And the more the GOP listens to the Bushes and the Limbaughs (Jeb called him a "hugely important force in the conservative movement") rather than the Joe Scarboroughs and the Andrew Sullivans, the longer their time wandering in the desert will be.

Which is good for Democrats.

So, Jeb Bush, keep lettin' that socially conservative "silicone sister (with a manager, mister)" tell you ya got what it takes. The longer you (and your party) stay blinded by the Right, the less likely we'll have to look back on a day our collective "calliope crashed to the ground."