# Is there currently any sane, intellectual leadership in the Republican party? If so, who? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 25, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768 "2010-03-25T17:23:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/81 "2010-03-26T04:49:08Z")
Almost make you want to register as a Republican. THey are going to have the most fun in upcoming primaries. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/82 "2010-03-26T04:51:39Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > So, you get to label someone a liar, then they’re free to prove you wrong. Do I have that about right, Oh Magnanimous One?. Nope, Cantor gets to say that he used erroneous information to his own advantage. Until he does that, he’s not worthy of being given the benefit of the doubt. You do agree now that the story Cantor told was incorrect, don’t you? Do you think that despite that, he should continue to benefit from the telling? I don’t. We’ve had enough lies from politicians this past decade. It’s time to set the bar a little higher. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/83 "2010-03-26T05:13:10Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Nope, Cantor gets to say that he used erroneous information to his own advantage. Until he does that, he’s not worthy of being given the benefit of the doubt. > You do agree now that the story Cantor told was incorrect, don’t you? > Do you think that despite that, he should continue to benefit from the telling? > I don’t. > We’ve had enough lies from politicians this past decade. It’s time to set the bar a little higher. Let’s start with you point me two exactly what you find so objectionable. Either a video or a transcript will do. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/84 "2010-03-26T05:16:03Z")
[You should be able to see video of Cantor’s remarks here.](http://www.mediaite.com/online/eric-cantor-democrats-are-fanning-the-flames-of-violence/) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/85 "2010-03-26T05:19:16Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > So, what you’re saying is that the right-wing fanatics are smarter than the left-wing fanatics? Makes sense, I guess. No, I’m saying that the right wing fanatics are largely the people who are the Republican party, while the left wing fanatics have little to do with the Democrats, much less run them. The Democrats aren’t left wing at all, so they have little attraction to leftists except as a mean of slowing down the Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/86 "2010-03-26T05:48:24Z")
Which, under the circumstances, is an enormously compelling argument. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/87 "2010-03-26T06:08:12Z")
Very few Americans (certainly, not most conservative blowhards) would recognize a real leftist if he or she was marching down the street, singing the _Internationale_ right in front of them. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/88 "2010-03-26T06:14:27Z")
Henry Aaron of Brookings, a fairly mild-mannered policy wonk, [bemoans what’s happened to the Republican Party](http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0325_halls_congress.aspx): > [@Henry Aaron](#): > > it is essential to focus on the internal dynamics within the Republican party. The party for many years was a blend of points of view. It once encompassed 1) Tory conservatives who believed that government should make capitalism work by caring for those who lose in the competitive struggle, > 2) big-business advocates of fiscal prudence, > 3) small-town conservatives deeply suspicious of the federal government, > 4) libertarians resistant to more-than-minimal government, and > 5) nut-cases sure that socialism and communism lurked behind every proposal for government action advocated by Democrats and by many of their fellow Republicans. > > The Tory conservatives have all died, left office voluntarily, or been primaried out of existence. Republican fiscal prudence has become an endangered species. Increasingly, the Congressional Republican party has come to represent the last three groups. They see their duty in frustrating action by a deplorable president and his fellow Democrats — born abroad, according to many, and therefore ineligible to be president. They voted almost unanimously against fiscal stimulus to combat the recession. They voted with complete unanimity against a health reform bill that, as [conservative David Frum argues persuasively](http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/03/23/david-frum-republicans-provided-the-model-for-obamacare.aspx), rested heavily on conservative ideas that many current Republican members of Congress once supported. This strategy (the political version of Nancy Reagan’s approach to drugs: ‘Just say no!’) partly reflects honest conviction and partly political strategy to regain control of Congress and then the presidency. Numbers, indentations and link added. The Scowcrafts, Powells, Bakers and Andersons have been shown the door. All that’s left are the Gingriches, Roves, Delays, Cantors, Bachmanns and Inhofes. A party of science this is not. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/89 "2010-03-26T06:54:29Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by foolsguinea View Post > > I will laugh like a banshee if white supremacist revolutionaries that he indirectly helped encourage end up mudering Cantor’s Jewish chikdren. > > :dubious: I must be missing something here. No, **foolsguinea** is - a letter. “Mudering” is obviously supposed to be “Muldering,” as in “mistakenly believing the children have been abducted by aliens.” ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/90 "2010-03-26T07:59:26Z")
Judd Gregg was recently on Charlie Rose. He didn’t like the health care bill, but at least he had intelligent objections to it. The sad reality is that you can’t win a GOP primary without appealing to your radical base. The second you side with Obama on anything you become vulnerable to a primary challenge. Specter voted for Obama’s stimulus package and as a result had to become a Democrat because he felt he could not have won a Republican primary challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/91 "2010-03-26T15:55:51Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Well, all I can say is if Democrats are so joke challenged, I may have to remove my comment out of the joke column. > > And just in case you’re still having a problem: 😃 Gee, maybe you could help out a humor impaired brother. Just let me know what time I can tune in to the Fox News Half Hour Comedy Hour? If not, perhaps there’s a funny conservative you can direct me towards? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/92 "2010-03-26T16:04:30Z")
The half Hour Comedy Hour got cancelled after like a week. Fox News has this show on late at night called “Red Eye” that apparently attempts to be some kind of comedy show but is, in my opinion, the very worst show on all of television. Just abysmal, witless crap. There’s also Dennis Miller, but he isn’t funny any more either. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/93 "2010-03-26T16:39:44Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The half Hour Comedy Hour got cancelled after like a week. > > Fox News has this show on late at night called “Red Eye” that apparently attempts to be some kind of comedy show but is, in my opinion, the very worst show on all of television. Just abysmal, witless crap. There’s also Dennis Miller, but he isn’t funny any more either. Come to think of it, there really aren’t any **funny** RW humorists any more, except perhaps for P.J. O’Rourke, but his humor peaked in his _National Lampoon_ days. Why is that? H.L. Mencken would weep. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/94 "2010-03-26T17:03:38Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Gee, maybe you could help out a humor impaired brother. Just let me know what time I can tune in to the Fox News Half Hour Comedy Hour? > > If not, perhaps there’s a funny conservative you can direct me towards? Mallard Fillmore is a howl. :rolleyes: PJ used to be funny, but jumped the shark. national Review used to have lots of funny stuff in the '60s and '70s, but now they seem insane. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/95 "2010-03-26T17:08:11Z")
Frum offers commentary on NPR, sometimes even rational, so he is obviously a socialist. Whatever did happen to Mitt? You’d think that he, more than practically any Republican, would have something to say about this. Perhaps he has enough integrity to not call his own plan socialist, which would put him one up on the rest of the party. Perhaps he is waiting for the loons to self-destruct? Perhaps he knows that if he says anything half sane Rush and the other morons would jump on him. Rational Republicans don’t seem to be allowed to speak any more. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/96 "2010-03-26T17:21:59Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Whatever did happen to Mitt? You’d think that he, more than practically any Republican, would have something to say about this. Perhaps he has enough integrity to not call his own plan socialist, which would put him one up on the rest of the party. Perhaps he is waiting for the loons to self-destruct? Perhaps he knows that if he says anything half sane Rush and the other morons would jump on him. Rational Republicans don’t seem to be allowed to speak any more. Seems he is smart enough to not oppose HCR head-on since it is similar in many ways to Romneycare. So, smartly, he is opposed to HCR on the grounds that the Feds overstepped their authority and this is a matter for the states. He also opposes HCR on many of the points that are different from Romneycare. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/97 "2010-03-26T17:37:45Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Whatever did happen to Mitt? Nothing. He’s raising money, recently put out a book, and will be running again in 2012 unless something happens or he becomes convinced he can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/98 "2010-03-26T18:33:30Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Seems he is smart enough to not oppose HCR head-on since it is similar in many ways to Romneycare. So, smartly, he is opposed to HCR on the grounds that the Feds overstepped their authority and this is a matter for the states. He also opposes HCR on many of the points that are different from Romneycare. Both of those positions are rational. However, I’d think he’d agree with HCR on the basic philosophical grounds of the right to health care for all. If he said that, he’d no doubt get in trouble with the far right. I also doubt he’d say it was socialist, since doing it at the state level makes it no less “socialist.” I’m not being critical of him at all - if I were running for President, I’d keep my head down also. At least he isn’t out there repenting his socialist sins. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/99 "2010-03-26T19:05:33Z")
I think the GOPs biggest problem is that they are _no longer in control_ of the radical, teabagger elements that they unleashed. They wound up the stupid and the unthinking to a frothing rage and currently are only holding on by not getting in front of the beast. It was OK as long as it was pointed at Obama, Reid and Pelosi, but now they are finding out that the beast will turn on them just as fast. They’re only remaining options politically are to side with the teabaggers or keep quiet. This is fast putting them in a position where they are destroying the rest of thier base and having less and less ability to function in politics. Now, they have just had a big shit sandwich handed to them by the Dems proving that big legislation can be passed without them. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768/100 "2010-03-26T20:13:41Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I keep hearing that the rifght wing nuts control the party, and yet… who does the GOP keep nominating for President? > > Was John McCain the choice of the far right? Hell, no! > > Was George W, Bush their choice in 2000? Nope. They settled for him because there was nobody else out there. Their sole reward was John Ashcroft as the A.G. > The rest of the Bush Cabinet consisted of mainstream, moderate, Ripon Society Republicans like Colin Powell. > > Was Bob Dole a right wing favorite? Nope. Neither was Poppy Bush. > > The reality is, the far right DOESN’T control the GOP. It never has. At primary season, the Republicans tend to say, “Who came in second last time? Well, I guess it’s his TURN to run this time.” That’s why Mitt Romney is the current leader, and will PROBABLY REMAIN the leader. > > The moderates control the GOP. The issues that matter most to the far right have always been an afterthought, at best, to the party. From your lips to God’s ears, my friend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-currently-any-sane-intellectual-leadership-in-the-republican-party-if-so-who/533768.md?page=6)