The wackos and establishmentarians are drawing their swords and squaring off with delightful rapidity. First, at CPAC this morning, came Laura Ingraham and some of her usual, talk-radio trash:
Women could really turn out in droves for Jeb Bush. What woman doesn't like a man who gives her a blank check at Tiffany's? Diamonds are a girl's best friend -- that would be a great theme song for Jeb Bush.
Ingraham said this at a convention of her fellow GOP comrades, mind you — all of whom may soon need to fake orgasms for GOP nominee Bush. Angered pushback was swift. Reports HuffPost:
Ingraham's joke … didn't sit well with some, including Bush confidant Ana Navarro and conservative Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin.
Tweeted Navarro: "As a woman, I find it particularly distasteful that Ms. Ingraham's anti-Jeb obsession, turned into a swipe at Columba Bush at CPAC. Unseemly." Tweeted Rubin: "A distasteful personal attack on jeb by Laura Ingraham," and "Ingraham apparently doesn't think anyone can beat Bush so she will do it. Tries to help Walker but just made worse. Claimed it was a joke."
I've been predicting a permanent rupture in the Republican Party for longer than I care to recall. What makes today's intensely personal collisions so encouraging? A Bush nomination could effect the schism just as easily as a Walker nomination could. Heads the American political system wins, tails the GOP loses.
If the establishment gets the primary nod — again — the wacko faction might finally wander into third-party territory. Why not? Bush is doomed anyway. And should the wacko faction prevail, the party will, at long last, get the 1964 nomination — and subsequent electoral results — it's been begging for. The establishment could then jettison whatever wackos remain.
For everyone but Republicans in 2016, it would be a win-win. And "it" is looking hopeful.