Alex Koppelman says that Joe Lieberman’s decision to join the filibuster of the public option all but kills the legislation. I am very angry.

The meta-title of Bill Kristol’s most recent column is “The future of the GOP is outside the Beltway.” I saw this and thought, wow — Kristol is right. In fact, the future of the GOP is not only outside the Beltway, it is also outside anyplace with reliable cell phone service. The way it’s going, I expect the GOP to make a last stand somewhere near a bald cypress bog in rural Mississippi, no later than the end of 2016.

However, the perpetually sunny Kristol thinks it’s a great time to be a conservative. This is because more people self-identify as “conservative” than as “independent” or “liberal.” As I’ve said of such surveys in the past, nobody knows what those terms mean any more. Thus, the self-identification is meaningless.

To see what I mean, check out the comments to this Hot Air post. Allahpundit complains that the teabaggers are splitting the Republican vote in NY 23, making a Dem win likely. In Glenn Beck world, apparently it is more important to purge moderates from the Republican Party than to defeat Democrats.

“One crushing defeat away from total victory, in perpetuity,” Allah grumbles. “What is the endgame?”

The endgame, according to the commenters, is to cleanse the GOP of alleged RINOs. Once this has been done, the GOP then will retake its natural place as the dominant party, and liberals will once against be drop-kicked out of sight. “The end game is to make the GOP so afraid of a third party happening that they start articulating some coherent conservative arguments and principles and nominate candidates who are not liberals,” says one. Another says, “The end game is a break of the stranglehold the dem and repub parties maintain on the electoral process, financing system and electorate, returning a representative republic to the people.”

They’re sounding like Ralph Nader supporters ca. 2000. I’m not sure Kristol himself would qualify as a “conservative” with this crowd.

Kristol notes that the current front-runners for the 2012 Republican nomination are all people who are not in office at the moment — Huckabee, Romney, Gingrich, Palin, in no particular order. Steve M explains that current officeholders have a big disadvantage with the wingnuts:

“Current officeholders, even Republicans, have to act with some reference to objective reality.”

Clearly, a huge turn-off to teabaggers.

Steve compares wingnut government strategy to the Underpants Gnomes Business Model of South Park, which is:

1. Collect underpants
2. ?
3. Profit

Look famaliar? How about –

1. Get rid of Saddam Hussein
2. ?
3. Peace in the Middle East

or

1. Cut taxes
2. ?
3. Revenues increase

It’s all so plain now. Why didn’t I see this before?