Truly Scary Republicans

Krugman's diagnosis of the Republicans is downright scary for what it portends for our nation.

The key point is that ever since the Reagan years, the Republican Party has
been dominated by radicals — ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a
fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern.

Anyone surprised by the venomous, over-the-top opposition to Mr. Obama
must have forgotten the Clinton years. Remember when Rush Limbaugh suggested
that Hillary Clinton was a party to murder? When Newt Gingrich shut down the
federal government in an attempt to bully Bill Clinton into accepting those
Medicare cuts? And let’s not even talk about the impeachment saga.

The only difference now is that the G.O.P. is in a weaker position, having
lost control not just of Congress but, to a large extent, of the terms of
debate. The public no longer buys conservative ideology the way it used to; the
old attacks on Big Government and paeans to the magic of the marketplace have
lost their resonance. Yet conservatives retain their belief that they, and only
they, should govern.

The result has been a cynical, ends-justify-the-means approach. Hastening
the day when the rightful governing party returns to power is all that matters,
so the G.O.P. will seize any club at hand with which to beat the current
administration.

It’s an ugly picture. But it’s the truth.