Purges Threaten to Leave GOP Weak, Lost

The new 10-point RNC purity test intended to purge Republicans who aren't conservative enough makes about as much sense as hacking off your own limbs to cure a weak pulse, Thomas Frank writes in the Wall Street Journal. And after the "coming period of inquisition and excommunication," says Frank, the GOP will be left with something very frightening: "no scapegoats left to take the blame for their next round of disasters."

With a paranoia-inspired test that ascribes every GOP defeat to the treachery of fake conservatives, the RNC is on the path to "depopulating its conservative pantheon." Ronald Reagan, the purported patron saint of the test, would fail on at least three of its 10 points, including "reducing deficits," a point that would also flunk George W. Bush and the recent GOP Congress.
(More RNC stories.)