The Republican Clown Car

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

If someone were to dream up a scenario where Republicans could be more irrelevant in California, could it possibly be any more clever than what legislative Republicans and their party apparatus are doing right now themselves?
 
Hiring immigrants for top positions. Refusing to let independents vote in their primary. A  plan to cut the budget that likely includes education cuts. Stiff-arming the governor of their own party, arguably the most popular in recent history.
 
As one commenter noted on New West Notes yesterday: "At the next Republican caucus, I expect all these guys to pile-out of a little clown car."
 
Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn't get any better for Democrats than this. Catering to the uber-right, legislative Republicans have boxed themselves into a corner that insures they will be the minority party for years to come.
 
Everyone knows the fastest-growing voter block in California voters are independents (DTS). So why are Republicans going out of their way to throw them to our side?
 
As Arnold Schwarzenegger learned the hard way, they have no appetite for education cuts or mean-spirited slashing of services the Republicans probably have up their sleeves with their secret state budget proposal. They want the ability to vote for moderate candidates (which the Reeps have deprived them of in the 2008 primary). They favor health care reform instead of pimping for the insurance companies like the legislative GOP has. And they like where the Governor is on fiscal matters (which is where the legislative Democrats are now with their current budget proposal).
 
Yet the legislative Republicans are on odds with Independent voters -- as well as members of their own party -- on all of these issues.
 
So lift your glass to the legislative Republicans. They're the gift that keeps on giving. And right now, they are giving Democrats plenty of fodder for the 2008 elections.

Image courtesy NewsBiscuit.