'Big Tent' becomes a pup tent

The amazing thing about the Republican Party is how disciplined it is.

Republican politicians all think alike and act alike. When Congress voted to expand health care to almost all Americans, all Republicans voted "no."

Critics from the left and center shook their heads. And so did one notable Republican, David Frum, former speechwriter to George W. Bush.

Frum did more than that, though. He had the audacity to actually criticize members of his own party. For this he lost his job at a Republican "think tank." The Wall Street Journal even slammed him.

Frum had been living on the Republican edge for awhile now, so it's not totally surprising. He was critical of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck last year. He also didn't think Sarah Palin was a good vice-presidential choice and doesn't think she would be a worthy presidential candidate in 2012.

But on the health care bill, Frum met his "Waterloo."

He wrote a critical piece March 21 on his blog, frumforum.com titled, "Waterloo." Below is an excerpt:

"Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now."

The Republican Party boasted that it was the "big tent" party, made up America's "melting pot" inviting those with opposing views.

Well, that big tent is shrinking to the size of a pup tent.

The Republican Party doesn't want African-Americans or Mexican-Americans or any other persons who use a hyphen to describe themselves. They don't want homosexuals or women. Christians are preferred, but not Mormons.

With Richard Nixon's victory in 1968, the party went after the white Southern Democrats. Ronald Reagan captured them all in the 1980s. On the Democratic side, we said "thank you" for taking away the racists.

The Republican Party is now mostly white, mostly male and still corners the market on the wealthy.

The Tea Party movement aligns with Republicans and vice versa.

The Republican Party has thrown its lot in with the "hate radio" crowd and unfair and imbalanced Fox News.

Frum had a good line recently when he said, "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox."

Republicans are also discovering that bigotry and intolerance are not the ways to attract more members. Republicans, by refusing to work with Democrats, reveal that the party is not worthy of governance.

And, the party doesn't much care for Republicans who disagree with their orthodoxy. People like David Frum.

To close on an upbeat note, Stephen Colbert had a brilliant interview with Frum the other night. Watch it here for a good laugh.