Indiana U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, nobody’s liberal but also nobody’s wackjob, is in a tough primary race against a Tea Party candidate and he’s gone on the offensive against the lunatic fringe. He blames the Tea Party’s power in 2010 for the Republicans’ failure to take the U.S. Senate. He’s correct, of course. But the ‘baggers don’t need no stinkin’ facts as long as they have their rage and the black man in the White House. See Iowa caucuses.
A key factor in the 2012 elections is whether Lugar is onto something. Has ‘bagger rage peaked, as an effective force? Might a touch of moderation and spirit of compromise be a virtue at the polls? I’m afraid that, in Arkansas, it will remain enough to invoke the name of the dusky Muslim from Kenya as often as possible. We are always late arrivals on trends.