The current state of the Grand Ole' Party brings that beat back to March 30, 1981, when then President Ronald Reagan was shot and critically injured in a hail of bullets from the gun of one mentally troubled John Hinckley, Jr. Waxing nostalgic, not only was it a tragic episode in American presidential history, but it presented a short, yet quirky moment of tense uncertainty when the fifth cat in line of succession announced he was "in control here." Groping for the Nuclear Football and twitching at Soviet subs in the Atlantic, Secretary of State Alexander Haig was stumbling into his own Cuban Missile Crisis.
As an unconscious Reagan battled for life in a Foggy Bottom hospital bed, a graying band of old White dudes battled over who was in charge. Clearly, at the time, it wasn't funny. But, in retrospect (since the ever upbeat Gipper thankfully managed to survive), the dark comedy of stubborn old suits wrestling for Presidential mic left an indelible footprint on American politics.
The moral in this as we fast forward 28 years is that nothing really changed. We are still faced with the danger of a certain belligerent species of old statesmen, the "I Got This" crowd of rambling bomb-droppers who appear reasoned enough to craft logic when they really can't. When all appears to hit the fan, rather than keep it cool, these blokes want to be in charge. They are popularly referred to as "neo-conservatives," an oddly sci-fi sounding term applied to grumpy old schoolers. And, not that there is anything completely off with conservatism (in its purest Russell Kirk form) it's how some of these dudes apply it as if no one else is on the planet and they've got their air-filtered, food-stocked, triple-fortified "Resident Evil"-modeled nuke winter bunkers all set. That aspect of it is a bit unsettling: visualize these cats in the warm confines of sprawled and nicely outfitted underground cribs comfortably retiring into oblivion while we're on the surface either frying or puking from radioactive snow.
Anyway - we digress.
It's not the most enjoyable thing to watch a major American political institution implode. But, beyond the simple fact that the Amazingly Unadaptable GOP is a victim to demographics, complete with rapid urbanization and cultural browning (batteries not included), its biggest problem lies in the proud posse of hard headed curmudgeons who can't let it go. It's not just the GOP. It's generational conflict throughout the political spectrum, the refusal of old to pass the torch to new. Old cats don't just think they know better, they believe they are better: Iran? Invade it. North Korea? Yeah - while you're at it, bomb them, too.
At this stage, there is no healthy evolution of a new party going through growth pains. One can argue that it's being dismantled, an ugly couch move to make space for something else. Whispers of a third party spin-off are in the distance, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich himself warning of an internal party split which could create a new conservative movement. Taking it a step further, since Newt is being cloak and dagger calculating with it, there are signs that he's planning just that. Divide and conquer - RNC Chair Michael Steele won't know what hit him by the time its figured he was used.
Don't put it past the master political strategist to create his own conservative party - if he's not planning it, he's definitely mulling it. Hard. His recent string of musings on everything from accusing President Obama of risking American security to lambasting the Administration's response to North Korea and pink slipping GM CEO Rick Wagoner suggest the Gingrich machine at work. Others, such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, could be working with him, completing a solid front of neo-con stalwarts rallying a hungry, leaderless conservative base. Properly timed, there's an opening for Republican pols with Presidential ambitions to tap into the political desperation emerging on the right. Whatever the case, it really boils down to who's in charge.