Democrats look at Republican luminaries like Gaetz, Gosar, Gohmert, Greene, Cawthorne, and Boebert and wonder who would elect these people to Congress. It is not politics. Liberals accept that conservative districts will send conservative politicians to DC. The puzzlement is why Republican voters will repeatedly send the worst possible conservatives to Congress. No matter how much the Left may disparage the mental acuity of the Right, they acknowledge that there is some intellectual ability everywhere on the political spectrum. Liberals may loathe Mitch McConnell as a cynical opportunist who creates Senate ‘rules’ out of whole cloth, but nobody thinks he is an idiot. Yet when you look at who represents the GOP in Washington, you have to wonder, why them? Wasn’t there anyone with a three-digit IQ available? It turns out it isn’t just Democrats asking that question - Republicans, at least some of them, do as well.
Back in Colorado, the QAnon-curious Congresswoman, Lauren Boebert, is already facing two Republican primary challengers — which in itself is not unusual. Ever since the Tea Party rode a reactionary tide of racist resentment engendered by the election of America’s first Black president, Republican incumbents deemed insufficiently bigoted have been challenged from the right by a loudmouth, abrasive, policy-free army of political vandals. But in Boebert’s case, she is being primaried from the practical wing of the party by two Republican candidates who believe a Representative should represent the district that elected her — instead of pursuing an endless national ‘look at me’ tour.
One of these candidates, Marina Zimmerman, a Harley-riding/crane-operating Republican from southwest Colorado, offered this criticism of Boebert’s so far fruitless attempt at law-making,
“The bills Boebert has introduced do not serve her district; they are not well crafted or supported by current research. What a representative is elected to do is make good legislation, not travel the country making self-serving speeches to pick up checks from out-of-state donors.”
When asked if Boebert would be more successful if she were conciliatory, Zimmerman laughed at the impossibility of the idea,
“She won’t ever be conciliatory. That’s not who she is. Boebert has continuously embraced the worst of personality culture and incendiary vitriol. She seeks to assert the narrow values of her echo chamber, the Freedom Caucus, and she has a history of associating with anti-government organizations such as the Three Percenters. While her job is to represent CD3, she has spent far more effort traveling the country to present political theater. There should be no expectation that Boebert would be anything more than the opportunist she has shown herself to be.”
Boebert’s other primary challenger, Don Coram, a multi-term Republican CO state senator, blamed Boebert’s anti-Semitism — she had accused a Jewish group at the Capitol of ‘reconnaissance’— on her substance-free self-promotion.
"If Lauren Boebert would spend more time in Colorado with the people of the 3rd Congressional District instead of jetting around the country like an out-of-touch celebrity, maybe she would understand why this is not only disgusting but unacceptable. Especially after the recent events in Texas,*"
He further disparaged her lack of effort,
“Is she really even trying to get stuff passed? All I see is grandstanding.” Adding, “Yes, being in the minority creates a challenge to get legislation passed, but does not make it impossible. During my time at the state legislature, I have served in both the majority and minority and have been successful in moving legislation forward. More importantly, I have never found any benefit in lobbing personal attacks — getting in the face — at those that do not agree with me on issues. It is not productive. I’ve always preferred workhorses over show horses.”
The ‘show horse’ offered an unimaginative response to her challenger, calling the 73-year-old rancher/miner a “super woke liberal”. There is nothing that confirms you are an intellectual sinkhole more than using the same term of abuse every one of your colleagues has used every day for the past year. Do none of them have any creativity? (Note: Leaving aside the politics, I could never be a conservative because I would be both bored to death by the metronomic repetition of shallow memes and unable to listen to the constant whining.)
As expected, most of the extremist Republicans are elected in extremely conservative districts. However, Boebert’s district is more centrist — she won by 6% — and rational Republicans play a larger role. Will Lauren lose the primary? I have no idea. But it certainly seems possible. Only time will show if the Republican base has descended into permanent darkness. Or whether green shoots of sanity will continue to grow out of their dung hill .
[* Colleyville Synagogue hostage taking]