RIP Republican Party?

How does a political party go into oblivion? As a (geeky political) child I remember reading World Book Encyclopedia about the Whigs. I wanted to understand how a major political party could simply disappear. 100 years from now a fellow geeky political kid may be looking up "Republican Party."

When polled, more people support Tea Party than Republican Party and now a candidate for congress has unregistered as a Republican and has re-registered as Independent Tea Party. It would be one thing if the guy was running in a hopeless contest in the heart of San Francisco. The switch would be meaningless. No, this guy is running for an open seat in a conservative Tennessee district that should be an easy pickup for the Republicans.

As a Democrat I'm cheering this on. Watching the Republicans embrace the far out wackos of the Tea Party can only be good for my party. As a nation, however, it is scary. In 2009 we saw seasoned reasonable Republicans back away from long held positions because of fear from this lunatic fringe. There's nothing good about that.