“Senator Hagan says we got to have a nice debate and discussion (about gun control) about what to do. See that’s called a democracy which is actually socialism which is called majority rule.”

In Republican primary races, the race to the bottom continues unimpeded. That would be North Carolina actual Senate candidate Greg Brannon, no stranger to crackpot statements , warning us all that democracy is socialism and so "debates" about things ought to be right out. So property taxes are Soviet-style central planning , and debating things is democracy which is socialism. There ya go.

It used to be possible to gaffe, as a Republican politician—maybe you said something about "legitimate" rape, for instance, something that caused the rest of the party to run for the hills lest they be caught in the swirling vortex of your stupidity. No longer. You can pretty much shove whatever words you want out of your word-hole, it won't cause the deeply silly Republican base to think any less of you. And it's not actually possible for the rest of us to think less of you.

