I swear I'm not sure. This Politico op-ed, by one Keith Koffler, is so laughably dumb it may be a parody. But if that's the case, it's also so seemingly sincere that it throws me hopelessly off the scent, leaving behind only slack-jawed bewilderment.
The mystery begins with the title--"Republicans need to go negative"--which, one would think, is enough stunning irony to guarantee nothing but its unmistakable continuation. In accordance with this theory the author immediately urges--with what seems like self-evident seriousness--that though negative they must go, "Republicans should not lower themselves to the level of a president who routinely lobs ad hominem political epithets their way."
OK, that's absurd, right? Most presidential observers of mere human patience have prayed for five years that just once Obama would explode by lobbing an ad hominem political epithet Republicans' way. No luck. The man seems to be congenitally incapable of spontaneous ire. Hence Koffler keeps the reader on the this-must-be-a-parody hook.
Yet then he segues into a bizarre litany of right-wing orthodoxies to be pitted against "a left-wing philosophy that is curbing freedom and prosperity for all"--and finally he substitutes his rabid foam with a drooling tribute to ... Ronald Reagan.
So hell I don't know. Keith Koffler is either a fucking lunatic or he's the most brilliant satirist since Swift.