The radicalization of the Republican base?

For Reagan-era Republican official and Forbes columnist Bruce Bartlett has a new post on his website titled “Why I’m not a Republican.”

It’s a fairly caustic broadside:

“I can only conclude from this new poll of 2003 self-identified Republicans nationwide that between 20% and 50% of the party is either insane or mind-numbingly stupid.”

He’s reacting to a poll commissioned by the DailyKos website but conducted by the independent pollster, Research 2000.

Put bluntly, the survey found that a significant plurality of self-identified Republicans believe nutty stuff:

Barack Obama should be impeached (39%), Obama is a socialist (63%), Obama is a foreigner masquerading as an American (42%).

When asked if the President “wants the terrorists to win,” 57% either said Yes or they weren’t sure. (Only 43% rejected the notion outright.)

An astonishing number of Republicans think Mr. Obama “is a racist and hates white people” (23%) or they’re “not sure” (33%). (Only 36% reject the notion outright.)

First, I’ll make my opinion crystal clear: These views are nuts, bonkers, indefensibly ludicrous.

This is the kind of static that prevents a real and fundamental debate about the hard choices facing America.

Take the most common (and arguably least offensive) conservative attack, that Mr. Obama is a socialist.

In fact, Mr. Obama’s agenda falls well within the mainstream of American politics.

At various times, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush (to name two examples) embraced “big government” ideas every bit as ambitious as those of Mr. Obama.

In the 1970s, Mr. Nixon set price controls on gasoline; in the 2000s, Mr. Bush created a vast new centralized education program (No Child Left Behind) and a prescription drug entitlement that cost taxpayers more than $50 billion.

We’re they socialists? No. We’re their ideas good ones. That’s open to debate.

There is, as I’ve written repeatedly, plenty to dispute in Mr. Obama’s policies. In many cases, I’m sure, there are sound, sensible alternatives.

But a political movement that embraces this kind of hysteria is, by its nature, self-limiting.

Americans want answers, good government, policies that improve their lives, and not conspiracy theories.

In the end, these views aren’t a problem for Democrats.

They’re a problem for Republicans who at some point will recapture the White House and a majority in Congress.

Then they’ll have to actually govern.

Can they lead the nation if their base is convinced that liberals are enemies of America and Democrats (the insidious “Democrat Party”) are villains out of central casting?