Special Comment: The End of the Republican Party

Keith Olbermann returned to Countdown tonight after taking time to spend with his dying father, who passed away a week ago. His return coincided with last night’s passage of the health care reform bill. I was not surprised to see him do a Special Comment, but I was surprised at the content of this one. I thought that after living in a hospital and his close experiences with this system, he would talk about how this bill will transform and where work must still be done.

Instead, he focused on Republicans and made an argument that’s not particularly insightful or deep. He took seven minutes to note how the Republicans had destroyed their brand, devolved into bigotry, and the passage of the health care bill marked the beginning of their inevitable end. I disagree with none of this, but it’s obvious to those who followed this prolonged, gut-wrenching political battle. Former Bush speechwriter David Frum said it best: the Republicans decided to try and make this the Democrats “Waterloo” and instead made it their own. So why does a party that is now marked by irrelevancy deserve its own special comment?

Watch the video and see if you agree.

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