When you build your political party on fear, division and ideology trumping reason, you can’t be surprised when things go crazy.
Republican leaders are now reaping what they have sown and the more extreme and fringe members of their party have taken control.
Make no mistake: Ron Paul, the plainspoken doctor and congressman, is extreme. His views on economics, minorities and federal authority are well outside the mainstream and in some cases downright hateful and deeply flawed.
His opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his “leave me the hell alone” approach appeal to the young and the libertarian leaning, but his views go well beyond what most people would ever put their name to.
His supporters, and there are many of them, are devotional in their commitment to him and that passion leads to the mayhem last weekend at the Republican convention.
While other members of the Republican Party were having breakfast or making a quick trip to the dump, they were lined up and poised to take over.
They dominated the convention and put the interests of their dead-in-the-water candidate ahead of all else: party rules, the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate who were desperate for a chance to talk to party faithful and introduce themselves and ultimately the fate of the Republican presidential nominee in the fall.
It would be easy to talk about the failure of Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign to fully engage in the Maine Republican Convention, allowing Paul’s people to slip away with the delegates.
But such a shift in blame misstates the real dynamic. I firmly believe the majority of Republicans in Maine prefer Romney to Paul. But they couldn’t match the intensity of the minority, motivated by deeply held fears and uncertainty and the willingness to do whatever it took to capture the convention prize.
It’s that same willingness to dispense with the rules — and the consequences — that has been at the core of Gov. Paul LePage’s strategy.
Using fear, appealing to the worst of human nature, dividing Maine into “us” and “them” and then relentlessly attacking “them,” Gov. LePage has pushed an extreme, ideological agenda.
He rode the train of division to power and he has stayed on it through two legislative sessions.
In the coming days, the evidence will become apparent as the Legislature tries to find a path forward with a budget for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Gov. LePage has handed the Legislature his wish list. It remains to be seen how closely they will ultimately adhere to his master plan.
But the fate of thousands of people — children, the elderly, people with disabilities and working families — are at risk.
The governor has shown himself willing to continue down a path that not only enrages Democrats and isolates independents, but one that also alienates the more moderate and reasonable members of his own party.
Like Paul’s supporters at the convention, LePage is unconcerned with the consequences of his actions. He is single-minded in his pursuit of a dangerous and ideological agenda.
The results, however, will ripple through communities across Maine, driving families on the edge deeper into poverty and pulling away a chance at stability for those working their way up.
And they will ripple through electoral politics. But it won’t be LePage who carries the burden, just as it won’t be Paul who pays the price for the shenanigans at the convention.
It will be the Republicans on the ballot this fall.
In Maine’s cities and towns, new Republican legislators will be forced to defend actions that denied vital resources to their communities. They’ll have to stand on front porches and try to explain to voters why their mother or grandmother no longer receives the medical care she needs or why the family down the street couldn’t afford to stay in their home.
And it will be Mitt Romney who is forced to try to unify a party that is in the thrall of its most extreme elements. When Paul’s bid fails — and it surely will — can the bad blood born among Republicans in places such as Augusta be healed?
Republicans faced a tough road to electoral success this year without extra hurdles to clear.
But the divisiveness that helped Republicans to grab power in Maine and around the country in 2010 is coming home to roost this year.
And being divided is no way to win an election — just ask us Democrats.
David Farmer is a political and media consultant. He was formerly deputy chief of staff and communications director for Gov. John E. Baldacci and a longtime journalist. You can reach him at dfarmer14@hotmail.com.
In David Farmer’s opinion:
“His views on economics, minorities and federal authority are well outside the mainstream and in some cases downright hateful and deeply flawed.”
OK, his economic views are well outside of the mainstream. His predictions have generally been correct, while those from the ‘mainstream’ have been wrong.
His view on minorities are downright hateful. OK, Google ‘The Compassion of Ron Paul’, watch that video, and then judge his hate against minorities, based on his actions.
His views on federal authority are deeply flawed. It wold be interesting to hear specifics … or, maybe the ideas of the Constitution’s framers were also ‘deeply flawed’?
Dr. Paul has said on national media outlets that is primary goal at this time is to change the direction of the Republican party. I suppose the article’s author is happy with the status quo?
Basic Repub response, sad spirit as with their wild and crazy Governor now know nationally as the “Worst” Governor ever elected in Maine history. Sad time for Maine people with this style of hate, fear, attacks and most well know for name calling:)
Compared to the failed Baldacci regime LePage is a freaking genius. Baldacci pretended to balance the budget using every gimmick known and in some cases he didn’t even pay the bills. At least LePage submitted an honest budget and paid the bills.
LeBuffon is a disgrace to the Blaine House and brings shame to this state every time he opens his big dumb mouth. Your party is a freakshow of a joke, and it will be CRUSHED bigtime at the polls in November. And you know it.
Name- calling is a no,no! Oh yes, you’re a lefty; so that is OK.
Actually, Mr LePage is doing exactly what he promised and please be very specific when you explain to me what he has done to harm you.
Paid the bills on the backs of retired teachers and state employees and others in the working class! Why not on the wealthy who can better afford to pay the bills than us peons?
I’m sure those in the healthcare industry would beg to differ. Some of them lost their jobs thanks to Baldacci not paying the bills. A few bucks more a week to maintain their gold plated benefits for the government class is seen as a catastrophe. As long as the trough is full the pigs at the government trough can’t see past their own snouts.
Ron Paul has predicted economic collapse and inflation for 20 years. The fact that a collapse eventually did happen is not a correct prediction, when you are off by a couple decades. And the core economic predictions of Ron Paul types always includes runaway inflation, which hasn’t happened. This suggests that the causes of our problems are not the causes Ron Paul believes are at fault. Unless of course any inflation in the next 20 years will count as a “successful” prediction.
Do you actually believe that we can continue to counterfeit money and NOT have runaway inflation?
Er, excuse me, but *what* inflation? Republicans have been predicting runaway inflation for the last 3+ years. Still hasn’t happened. No sign of it happening. When do you look around and say, “Gee, I guess that idea was wrong?!”
Good points but Mr Farmer is not at all interested in facts.
This is a great honest article. Thank you!
What puerile and cowardly criminal propaganda.
Started off interestingly enough “the plainspoken doctor and congressman, is extreme. His views on economics, minorities and federal authority are well outside the mainstream and in some cases downright hateful and deeply flawed.”
I never heard Dr. Paul say ANYTHING about “minorities” except when criticizing the incarceration and drug enforcement policies which are specifically and unfairly directed at African-Americans and Hispanics.
Never, ever heard Dr. Paul even say the WORDS “federal authority”.
And as for his views on economics being hateful and flawed, I couldn’t wait to read what this bought-and-paid-for sock-puppet would spew to support such a claim.
This is what we get:
-his views go well beyond what most people would ever put their name to
-supporters’ devotion leads to the mayhem…put(ting) the interests of their dead-in-the-water candidate ahead of all else
-some double-talk about a Governor who is not Dr. Paul, nor is he personifying Dr. Paul’s views being called hateful and flawed
-Concludes with what St.Romney will have to contend to mend “divisiveness” in party, poor soul that he is.
NOTHING about WHY Dr. Paul’s views on economics, (scoff) “minorities” and (guffaw) “federal authority” are “hateful and deeply flawed”.
Not that I’m surprised. Seen pathetic establishment criminal propaganda before. But the pleasure is tearing these enemy-collaborating sock-puppets to pieces within the parameters of the logic they’re employing.
This clown Farmer isn’t using any.
Because he can’t.
He can’t even MAKE something up because he KNOWS he’ll be torn to pieces.
So he does what all traitorous (REAL treason, not the fabled kind his criminality would brand Dr. Paul with) sock-puppets do to justify their paycheck:
They spew petulantly illogical slander and hope there are a few sheep left to believe it.
Total cowardice.
(smirks in contempt)
Grampy Paul? Bwahahahaha. Good luck with that. And your GOP goofball party is TOAST here in Maine come November.
It’s not a competition, Tinserblic. Your vote is your own and I hope you sleep well with how you use it. I know I do.
hey, don’t forget that the gop is going to be toast.
I like toast. With jelly!
Take the blinders off Dave,
“When you build your political party on fear, division and ideology trumping reason, you can’t be surprised when things go crazy” Exactly, this ill bent methodolgy of the progressives has giving rise to the those who really care about USA- the tea baggers.
“Make no mistake: ” Insert OBAMA , “one term congressman, is extreme. His views on economics, minorities, and federal authority are well outside the mainstream and in some cases downright hateful and deeply flawed.”
Wrongo Dave, It will be the Obama and the Progressives on the ballot this fall.
But the revolt that helped Republicans to grab power in Maine and around the country in 2010 is coming to the capital this year.
The GOP is a ridiculous freakshow and a pathetic joke. Dream on with your TeaFool delusions if you must. Your FAKE News talking points are utter nonsense. Your phony ultra corporate flipflopping ultra liar Mittens RoMONEY who hides his money in the Caymans and lives to destroy American jobs will be beaten like a steel drum. And your goofball GOP party of looney toonies will get pounded hard here in November. And underneath the stench of your writings on this blog, you know that everything I am saying is true. The TeaFools can kiss Washington and Augusta goodbye.
Now,now,now, we must be civil and not name-call.BDn would not like that from the left.
ha ha thanks, you are too funny…
Spot on Mr. Farmer. The GOP (Goofy Old Plutocrats) have lost all sense of reality. They are an ultra radical looney bin. Plain and simple. And they will be crushed bigtime come NOVEMBER.
Thank heavens,time will tell…
I always like your comments, wherever I see them. Thank you.
David, I don’t like you calling Ron Paul hateful or his supporters crazy. If you disagree with his views, do so respectfully, but those are just personal insults. Peace.
Here is an article o history of Ron Paul’s “alleged” racist comments, decide for yourselves. BTW, there are a lot of unnecessary “frat boy” type of mean spirited comments here. I actually do agree up to a point on foreign policy, but they do not deal enough with realpolitik.
One thing I wish is that media and people in general use the term “reactionary” for the extreme and evangelical right wing that has taken over the Republican Party. “Radical” is fm the Latin meaning “root” meaning to go to root of a problem/issue in historical sense and work for change for the better, progress forward for benefit of the commonweal. I also believe there is a false equivalency between the Left and Right. Even people like Chris Matthews (Hardball) do this. The Democratic Party establishment has moved (via the DLC) way to so-called center-right, while the Republican Party has gone off the rails to the “extreme” right, e.g. birth control. Progressive policies that would benefit the people of this country are labelled “extreme left wing” and dangerous.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2011-12-21/ron-paul-racist-newsletters/52147878/1
Extreme is the neoconservative ideology. Neoconservatives believe in continuous, pre-emptive wars and nation building in the name of democracy. Ron Paul in not a neoconservative but most in the GOP have adopted this ideology.
Why would anyone want to “buy photo” of you?
This is not the GOP that supported Lincoln, T. R. and Eisenhower. It has been hijacked by the descendants of old yellow-dog Democrats whose grandparents wore sheets and conical hats, and rode at night terrorizing honest citizens. If anyone had told me 13 years ago that the GOP would make urban liberal Democrats look rational, well-educated and mature, I’d have wondered what they were smoking. And Lo! It has happened.
you mean like “Sheets” Byrd??
The only difference is that the Dems actually DID wear the sheets and conical hats.
and that’s why a few wks ago Matthews shld’ve responded to Ron Christie, a black Republican ex-Bush consultant when he said more Republicans voted for the Civil Rights bill than Democrats, by pointing out that John F. Kennedy and Johnson turned to the great Everett Dirksen of Illinois who herded LIBERAL Republicans along.
But thanks to the evangelical right wing backlash which started after Kennedy was elected and the backlash against the social movements of late ’50’s and ’60’s, it all culminated in Nixon stealing Wallace’s “Southern Strategy” and turning those southern Democrats against the Dem party. As Johnson said in 1964 when he signed the CR Bill, “this will destroy the Democratic Party. 4 yrs later Nixon ran with it. It all came to a head with election of Reagan in 1980. The first place Reagan went in 1980 on the campaign road was to Philadelphia Mississippi where he gave coded states rights speeches. This is where Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney were founded murdered in an earthen dam. Then Reagan went on to EVERY hotbed of racial strife in the country doing the same thing.
So who’s going to stop them? There has been no sign that the Democratic party has a clue as to how to attract voters to their side. The hierarchy of the Democratic Party is made up of the same geniuses who brought us the loss of the House, Senate, and the Blaine House. The Democratic legislators have been impotent, naive, ineffectual and marginalized by extremist, ignorant, teabillys. At a time when Mainers have had to struggle with crippling heating and fuel costs and many have had to hock their cars and homes to pay the oil man, the Democrat’s insult working people by encouraging them to take out a loan to buy weatherstripping and other band aids. With the glaring exception of Mike Michaud who can connect with working Mainers, most Democratic legislators and candidates are busy connecting with elite, fat cat, speculators who’s investments have impoverished Mainers by running up the cost of fuel and devaluing the US dollar. Meanwhile we have the lowest wages in New England and we lost 7000 jobs last year. The Republicans are dismantling the safety net for low and middle income Mainers and it seems that there is no relief on the horizon. Who’s going to stop them?
If you’re worried about oil prices don’t look to the Dems. Dem legiscritter Joe Perry proposed an additional TAX on heating oil. Like most Dems he saw the word tax and went for it like ducks to a set of decoys. Fortunately he was one of the Dems expelled in the last election.
You’re right and well said.
Spot on. When there is no room for moderates at the table or nuanced positions, something is wrong. Can you imagine the heat a Republican politician would take if she/he began to speak about climate change? I’m glad our Senators have bucked that trend and stood on the right side of history for some issues, like repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
The Republicans won’t be able to every work together with others if they don’t stop demonizing their opponents. Big part of this are those far right “news” sources like Fox and Limbaugh. Wish peaceful disagreement and comprise played a bigger role in politics.
It’s like trying to negotiate when one side doesn’t give a little through compromise, with that side pushing through their agenda,and not thinking about the impact on the people. No matter which side is in control, they must start representing “we the people”. When one side has had more control and has veered the state or country towards their point of view,they need to realize that when politicians change,we the people will be uncomfortable until confidence is restored.We did this in the last election and we need to give this state a chance to correct what has unintentionally come to putting us over a one-two billion dollar cliff which would have more drastically cut programs than what is now occurring. We need the major news channels to be unbiased and correctly inform the people on both sides of the issue. This is not being done and the people are not able to vote with a correctly informed position for themselves, the state,and our country. I was not entirely for Bush, but he had much more unjust criticism than Obama has had over the same amount of time.For example, Sandra Fluck was trying to be included in the meeting on the constitutionality of obamacare at the last minute, they said no because she with Sandra Dunn wanted to speak on contraceptives. Sandra Dunn had been the Communications Director for the White House and obviously was working with them to have “we the people” believe that this decision by the committee was a continuation of the Republican’s “War on Women” which the liberals cooked up. So what did Sandra Dunn and Sandra Fluck do , they set up an empty meeting room to have pictures taken to look like Ms. Fluck was speaking to the committee and then went to the liberal news channels to cry about the committee not allowing S. Fluck to talk about contraceptives. This is just one example of trying to maintain control of our state and more so to win this November’s elections nationally so that the path to weakening our country and our will to continue, and our ability to pursue life,liberty, and happiness. Ron Paul is trying to stop the slight of hand which has been going on with Republicans and Democrats who don’t want to stop the unreasonable spending and to continue the haphazard path of ruining this country. Only one candidate has continuously been put on the back burner and the media is much to blame for this. Does he have a consistent set of principles that he has been following for almost 40 years in Congress-yes. Are the other two candidates consistent-no. Let’s look at the policies of each and vote for someone who is for “turning around this country and not burning it down.”
Farmer’s usual hack attack. BDN, can’t you do better than this guy? I know you are helping give him an income to help tide him over until a democrat is in office again and can give him another hack job….
Another sermon for the choir. Not terribly persuasive outside the faith.
If you don’t know anything about Ron Paul please don’t write hateful articles about him.
… but if you have dirt, please share, ‘cuz this stuff is funny. I love watching the GOP (Greedy Oligarchic Parasites) go down in flames.
It is no wonder that LePage supported Paul…they are one and the same…only one comes across like a grandfatherly figure though he is far from nice and the other, a bully and a thug!! They both are extremists who use no common sense! Their thinking is flawed and irrational. Kudos to this writer who speaks the truth about both even though the Paul cult is now up in arms because they too live in a fantasy world with their leader!
You may want to actually try reading something that doesn’t come from the mainstream media (Fox included) if you think Dr. Paul and our governor are one in the same. It’s not even close. The writer of this article is as big an idiot Rush. They both sensationalize things to make it look like they have valid points when in reality they’re just spouting off at the mouth for attention. Do you own research before agreeing with people. You may just be surprised by what you find.
Call the Cops and have Ron The Con arrested.
GREAT! First we foist the needs of all the bums on welfare in Maine onto the conservative’s backs when they are the only ones who work and pay taxes. Now, they have to pay for this too? When are the bills going to stop coming? lol.