Nature loves to fill a vacuum with an idiot

Even since Mel Martinez (Sen-Fla.) stepped down as chairman of the republican national committee, the party has had an awful time coming to a consensus as to who will fill the power void. Newt Gingrich was rumored to be interested, but then he realized that he was batshit crazy, and he threw his support behind former Maryland senatorial candidate Michael Steele - at least according to Steele. But, Steele isn't quite enough of a rabid right-winger because he doesn't think the party is diverse enough, so he couldn't possibly be a viable candidate.

The the "who?" candidate appeared in South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson. This made perfect sense, since the republicans desperately need to bring more Southern white men into leadership positions. But then word got out that Dawson had a little issue in his past, like his membership for the past 12 years at a white-only country club. Apparently this is a disqualifying factor, even for the GOP.

So, who might the party turn to?

Kenneth Blackwell -- who gained infamy as Ohio Secretary of State in 2004, when the state threw the presidential race to George W. Bush -- has officially jumped into the race for Republican National Committee chair, according to a letter he's circulating among committee members.

Ok, let me make sure that I understand this correctly. The man who gave a contract to an electronic voting machine company whose CEO was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year"...the man who instructed election boards to reject voter registrations because they were submitted on the incorrect weight of paper...the man who opposes the FMLA, as well as abortion even in the case of rape or incest...the man who accused his gubernatorial election opponent of being supported by NAMBLA...the man who couldn't even rig that election to lose by less than the 23 points that he did by...the man who then went to work for the Family Research Council, whose mission states that it "promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society"...this is the man they might have leading their party?

Between this and the news that they want more Palins, I just have to question if these guys are really serious? Any intelligent analysis of the 2008 elections would suggest that the republican party needs to become more inclusive, more tolerant, and more accepting of free thinking and new ideas. Instead, they've decided that they should push it even further to the right, and towards the even stupider. Hell, at this point, why not just name Joe the Plumber as the new chairman of the party?

Some will call this doubling down on their 2008 strategy. I disagree. Doubling down implies putting even more of your resources into a power position. This is like splitting 6's against an ace: it's a push to bet your stack on a hand that has absolutely no chance of winning and praying that you pull four consecutive perfect cards.

I'm not a big believer in the "permanent minority/majority" theory; a lot of the time, I think people tend to shift allegiances against one party or another, rather than because they truly buy into a different set of beliefs. Eventually those things tend to cycle through. However, if this is the direction that the right wants to go, then we might actually be looking at the republican party becoming a regional minority party.