Charles Stross sums up how this year's US Republican primary looks to outsiders:
I understand the basic point of the Republican presidential primary: get the party members out to pick a candidate from the shortlist of folks with a budget to run for president. And I understand that the candidates therefore need to appeal to the base. And I get that Romney is utterly unacceptable to one sub-group (due to not being a Real Christian) and to another sub-group (due to being the policy equivalent of silly putty), and that Gingrich is in there to deliver a big fat Fuck Off to the RNC over his past treatment (not to mention the narcissistic personality disorder). Rick Santorum I'm at a loss to explain unless he turns out to be Sasha Baron Cohen's greatest ever and longest running parody act: I'm waiting for him to either call for the reintroduction of the ducking stool for witches, or to be caught in an airport toilet cubicle with an underage [male] page and a couple of lines of cocaine.But what's really scary is the thought that one of these crazies might actually get elected. George W Bush was bad enough, but this year's crop are a whole level of crazy beyond him, thanks to the utter dominance of fringe fundamentalist Christians. And the thought of Rick "man on dog" Santorum with his finger on the nuclear button is truly frightening. If he doesn't decide that its just time for the Rapture now, he may simply decide that there are too many gays in country X (or California) and decide to purge it with cleansing fire.But what's with the whole race to the bottom over racism and sexism?
I mean, these guys seem to be competing to shit all over the latin-American vote. And the whole ludicrous insanity of their anti-abortion and anti-contraception stance looks like they're actively trying to get every female of child-bearing age to vote against them. (It's like they've read "The Handmaid's Tale" and think it's a road map, not a warning.)
