[T]his election is more volatile than any we have seen in a very long time because the party leaders, after years of learning to corral its base activists have now lost control and lost the respect of the base.
The deadly consequence is a cage match between the base and the establishment both of whom are backing two deeply, deeply flawed candidates with the odds heavily against them in a general election.
Perhaps, just perhaps, it is time for both sides to let the scales fall from their eyes and in a bit of sanity rethink this thing. Time is short, but there is still time. Surely there is someone out there that both the Romney supporters and Newt supporters can agree on who is not named either or Newt.
... So maybe we ought to to all find someone who we all kind of like instead of heading to Tampa in August all licking wounds and pretending to rally to the man the voters chose between the evils of two real lessers.
Italics mine. The GOP is in full panic mode right now. "Surely there is someone out there (!!!)" Erickson is not stating fact; he's pleading to anyone who will listen to enroll another candidate to restore some respect to the party. The question is, just whom might that candidate be? Jeb Bush? Uh, not another one of those. Mitch Daniels? His wife won't let him. John Thune? Excuse me, who?
Let's face it: in its zeal to move further to the right while under the delusion that the voting populace is mostly a collection of far-right wingnuts, the Republican Party has been decimated, reduced to a collection of (mostly) far-right wingnuts. They have no one compelling to offer who isn't also radically out of step with the great majority of people in this nation. That means any up-and-comer who was a darling of the Tea Party in 2010 (and remains so now and into the near future) will have to make a serious dash toward the center to appeal to independents in 2016. After this election that Erickson rightly characterizes as volatile, and after otherwise intelligent people right of center realize that their President can and does govern with them in mind too, the urgency of finding a Great White (Christian) Hope to take back the country will begin to fade. However, it could just as easily mean the creation of the "Wingnut" Party, as I've predicted for months. Either way, I believe as many others do that the GOP needs to be soundly crushed this November for any progress to be made in improving partisan relations on every level.
Given Erickson's somewhat limited influence, it's pretty apparent that the GOP has ceded this election. The best they can hope for is a candidate who will not hurt the party down-ticket. As Erickson writes:
I am part of the base that will do everything I can to defeat Mitt Romney because I believe he will be a disastrous nominee who will cost us the House, the Senate, the White House, and consequently the Supreme Court. There are Mitt supporters who feel the same about Newt, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul.
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