About 50 years ago, the Republican party made a deal with the devil. Today, they’re paying the price. They have a caucus in Washington that is essentially ungovernable because a large segment of it doesn’t want to or know how to govern.

In the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, the GOP invited the reactionary, segregationist wing of the Southern Democratic Party into their fold. Republican party leaders assumed they could pay lip service to their demands but never let them control the agenda. As my father likes to say, the Republicans thought they could keep the crazies at the back of the bus. Now, they want to drive.

A whole host of crazy Republicans want to run the House but the sane ones aren’t willing to put up with it. Unfortunately for them, they can’t find a candidate willing because nobody believes he or she could fare much better than Boehner. The only sane candidate that seems to have any chance is Rep. Paul Ryan and he says he won’t take it. Ryan probably has presidential aspirations and the job of Speaker with the current Republican caucus is likely a career killer.

In North Carolina, the Republican drama in Washington is playing out among our Congressional delegation. Arguably, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC11) lit the fuse that resulted in the downfall of Speaker John Boehner. Back in June, Meadows filed a motion to remove Boehner as speaker. While it failed, Meadows’ move reflected the sentiments of a lot of the most conservative members of the GOP caucus. Pressure on Boehner apparently never subsided after the incident.

Then, Boehner’s most likely successor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, quickly withdrew his name from consideration following a letter from Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. (R-NC03) that warned any candidate for speaker with ethical issues should not run for the post. The timing of the letter and McCarthy’s withdrawal made public rumors of an affair between McCarthy and another North Carolina House member, Renee Ellmers (R-NC02). McCarthy and Ellmers both vehemently denied the accusations but that didn’t stop the press from writing about it and dissecting it. Jones, for his part, said he had heard the rumors and they played a role in his writing his letter.

Talk about airing your dirty laundry in public.

Ellmers might be a victim of rumor but that doesn’t matter much. She’s got conservatives gunning for her seat and a tough primary. This is just more bad news for her to overcome, especially with the shortened primary season. Jones too has a primary opponent and killing off McCarthy may have given him some credibility with his conservative base. Meadows, for his part, is just playing for power. He’s now won the admiration of conservatives across the country and his district. He doesn’t have any serious primary opposition and he’s in a safely gerrymandered district.

The North Carolina Republican revolution sure has kept the attention focused on the the Old North State. From Raleigh to Washington, everybody is watching and either laughing or crying.

Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >