Harkin's home run

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) finally went there.

Now, I was a Harkin man in the '92 primary for Leader of the Free World. The Tom Harkin of 1992 was tough: He called Republican policies "bullshit", and he was big on trying to pull funding from illegal wars. If Harkin was the nominee then, I might not have ever been forced out of the Democratic Party. Just think, the Democrats might still be the Democrats!

Evidently, the Tom Harkin of 2011 is no wimp either. Today, he said that the Republicans have become a "cult driven by a singular fixation and obsession: preserving tax breaks for the wealthy at all costs."

He said it, not me. A "cult."

One of the most durable and loved public figures in this fine land just called the Republican Party a "cult." It wasn't a poorly funded blog or some nobody walking down the street who said this. It was 5-term Sen. TOM HARKIN who said this!

I'd already started to believe the GOP might be a cult. But if I'd said it, it wouldn't have the same impact as a U.S. senator saying it, right? So what woulda been the point in me saying it?

Are the Republicans a cult? Well, they do have their own lingo. And they're not allowed to trust anybody outside their elitist fold. They pretty much all listen to the same right-wing radio and TV shows that reinforce their ideas. It's not much less of a cult than Jonestown or Pathway Family Center was.

What other conclusion can we make when somebody supports harmful candidates and public policies just because a talk radio station told them to support them? The GOP today isn't built solely on mob rule by the rich. The Republicans wouldn't have the support they have if they didn't at least get SOMEBODY to vote for them who would be hurt by their policies. Hell, I was afraid to leave my high school even when I knew it was harming me, so think what a whole political party can do.

I think Tom Harkin just hit a home run by calling the GOP a "cult." What he said needs to be repeated.