The GOP is obsessed with purity

It will come back to bite them in the ass, but NPR is reporting that the Republican National Committee has adopted a rule denying financial support to candidates who don't support the core beliefs of the party. Still no word on whether an RNC Un-Republican Activities Committee will be established.

It's less strict than a competing plan drawn up by some GOP activists. The so-called "purity test", named in honor of President Reagan, demanded Republican candidates support eight of 10 points on a variety of issues from abortion to immigration to get money and win Republican endorsements.

RNC reluctant to throw out Steele

This is what you get for choosing a chairman based on your party's desire to show that it's diverse:

“I don’t think there is any chance he’s going to be dumped before the next election for the obvious reason,” said one of the party’s most influential strategists and a key player on presidential campaigns.

Asked why that would be, the Republican, who is not on the party committee, shot back: “You’re not going to dump the first African-American chairman. That’s the only reason. Otherwise, he’d be gone.”

This is laughable.