Was Darwin a Republican?

IT'S BEGINNING to look like Ken  Blackwell has taken Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection to his soul.  Blackwell, who could talk his way out of quicksand, has planted himself firmly in the realm of right-wing Christian activists to win the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee.  You may have heard of some of their names: James Dobson (Focus on the Family). Tony Perkins (Family Research Council),  Ed Meese (Former Reagan attorney general who is still gadflying around in heavenly politics). There are others, but you get the picture. We are told they all love Blackwell,  in a non-sexual way, of course, which is why he is confident that he will vault to the top of the party by...um...natural selection.   

 Blackwell revealed strong tendencies to mess up and around with the 2004 presidential election and in  his duel role as Ohio's  Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate in 2006.  That  will load him and the GOP with a lot of baggage.  But there seems to be infinite forgiveness among his religious boosters.  As the late Jerry Falwell once so forgivingly viewed homosexuals:  ""We hate the sin but love the sinner."

If he should succeed - and Democrats should not stand in his way - the simple moral of the Blackwell story is that the GOP is prepared cast its future on an ideological agenda that was rejected in 2006 and again  resoundingly in 2008.   Blackwell was thumped in the gubernatorial race by Democrat Ted Strickland even though Blackwell was among friends with big-time televangelists who promised an army of preachers in the hustings to escort him to the governor's office.  

Considering that there are four or five other candidates for the RNC chair, this one will be fun to watch as an exercise in demolition GOP politics.