In a blog post today, Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute (state affiliate of the American Family Association) turns to a colorful analogy to describe the Republican Party’s internal conflicts.
Higgins contends that the establishment GOP, which worked this year to stamp out some of the more vocally extreme candidates in its ranks this year, is like Tolkein’s Gollum, so captivated by a shiny object that it ends up destroying itself and those it loves. (In The Lord of the Rings, the shiny object is the One Ring. In contemporary politics, it’s presumably voters who support LGBT equality and abortion rights.)
Just to be clear, Higgins also compares the party establishment to Cain, who in the Bible kills his brother Abel.
The GOP is slowly transmogrifying into the political incarnation of Tolkien’s Gollum:
Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. “Precious, precious, precious!” Gollum cried. “My Precious! O my Precious!” And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail precious, and he was gone.
Illinoisans should fully expect to hear immoderates and perhaps even dispirited conservatives say, “See, Bruce Rauner/Mark Kirk-type of Republican is the only kind of Republican who can get elected in Illinois.” But soon, they won’t be tacking on “in Illinois.”
Four years ago, the U.S. Senator-elect from Colorado, Cory Gardner, supported the Personhood Amendment and even circulated petitions to gather signatures for it. Then this year, the GOP establishment got to him. Just weeks before Gardner announced his candidacy, pro-life activists in Colorado got wind of the news that he would be renouncing his support for the Personhood Amendment.
Karl Rove deceitfully wrote this last May: “in Colorado, tea-party favorite and front-runner Ken Buck stepped aside when Mr. Gardner entered the race, recognizing he was better able to enthuse all the party.” So, in May Rove implied that Buck just freely stepped aside because of his own uncoerced epiphany that Gardner would be the best candidate for “enthusing” the party.
That’s interesting, because late last night on FOX News election coverage, Karl Rove boasted that his Super PAC told the Colorado GOP that no Super Pac money would got to support Ken Buck for U.S. Senate. I’m speculating here, but I suspect that Rove et al told Gardner they would support him as long as he retreated from the Personhood Amendment.
Immoderate Republicans accuse conservatives who agree with Robert George of turning on their Republican brethren and “forming a circular firing squad.” But who really is Cain in this contemporary narrative? Who is Sméagol and who is Déagol?
