The problem with being an absolutist (well, ONE of the problems) is that after you've beaten your chest and signed your "pledges", any moderation whatsoever will be viewed as complete capitulation. So you simply have to stick to your guns (as it were) until you're finally voted out.
And, since many of these people are in safely gerrymandered districts, it's gonna be a while before the GOP can marginalize its loons.
.
Are you trying to say that people who feel they are Taxed Enough Already are loons?
There are definitely people in the party who'd I classify as loons. A few examples:
1. Those who hold up signs like "Keep Government Out of My Medicare", the group of people who are simplistically blinded by their ideology and/or the rantings of their favorite radio hero, and (holy crap) really don't realize the government's direct freakin' involvement in Medicare
2. Those who cheered the GOP candidates when they obediently said they're refuse one dollar in taxes for ten dollars in tax cuts, one of the iconic moments of the 2012 campaign that showed many voters the GOP is too influenced by its absolutists
3. The "pledge" brigade, led by ol' Grover, who shove these documents in the faces of otherwise possibly reasonable adults who know that cooperation is at the very core of our legislative process, but who are so controlled by their emotions and the ideology that they don't see the damage they're causing
4. The social issue absolutists, who walked straight into the most obvious political sucker punch of all time by saying insane things like "slut" and "legitimate rape" and staying absolutist on abortion, allowing the Democrats (who really should be sending out Thank You cards to these people) to take the national focus off the economy and easily paint the entire GOP as a group of freakin' grunting neanderthals
5. The economic absolutists who actually think they can convince the electorate to turn the country overnight into a libertarian utopia, eliminating a few massive agencies and cutting spending and income taxes dramatically - so full of their own hyperbole and rhetoric that they don't realize they'll first need to change hearts and minds, and that ain't gonna happen in one fell swoop
6. And my personal favorites, the Republicans who created an alternate universe for themselves so completely sheltered from reality that they were predicting and assuming an easy Romney win, and yet were so wrong and so shocked that they provided hilarious entertainment, especially on Fox, the night of the election as they looked like someone had shot their freakin' dog.
And, of course, several belong to multiple groups.
The loons. The people whose blank-eyed simplistic absolutism played such a large part in allowing an incredibly vulnerable President and party, presiding over 8% unemployment, to keep the Senate & White House and gain in the House.
Those guys.
.
