A Party of Whiners?

So Paul Krugman asserted this morning that the Republicans have become, "a party of whiners." He did that in his traditional venue, the NYT, hardly a podium likely to endear his message to its intended audience.

At least, I assume that the individuals he singles out in the article are in fact the intended audience. Otherwise, the column amounts to little more than throwing stones at people who continue to be utterly bewildered by their isolation. I don't disagree with a word of what Dr. Krugman writes, but whatever the audience, he should not have published this piece. If anyone was going to publish it, it should have been said by someone far, far further to the right. Atop the cresting tide Obama will ride into office in a few weeks, this sort of thing flirts with gloating, hubris, or both. Worse, it gives the Right something to focus on other than themselves, and that's the last thing anyone wants. The Right needs to come to grips with the idea that they cannot stand in opposition to science, balance of power, and arguably rule of law, and come up with some way to live with the results of ceding those points. We would all benefit from that. We've seen the disorder within the party in recent weeks as it tries to reconcile itself to the message of the last election. The last thing anyone should allow the debate to do is disintegrate back into name calling. That would be too easy, and these are not complacent times. Krugman himself concedes that eventually, the Republicans will set their house in order and return to political relevance. What do we want them to look like when they do that?