One weekend last March, Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, made the mistake of asserting that Rush Limbaugh was not the de facto head of the Republican party, and that he was, rather, an entertainer who could be incendiary and ugly.

On the following Monday, Mr Steele was obliged, evidence notwithstanding, to retract what he had said.

Last summer, the Republican governor of Alaska quit her job in order to devote herself full-time to being a political personality, or what some might call an entertainer. In any case, someone who seems to have no particular interest in governing is now one of the chief public faces of the party of Abraham Lincoln.

Some members of the Republican National Committee are currently circulating a proposal to require their party’s candidates to assent to a list of highly conservative core principles. Failure to subscribe to those tenets would mean that such candidates would receive neither the approval nor the financial support of the national party. Some politics-watchers opine that implementation of this proposal could disqualify some of the party’s most promising candidates.

As a yellow-dog Democrat, I ought perhaps to rejoice in what the opposition is doing to itself. Instead, I keep recalling a litany of names from the decades following World War II: Leverett Saltonstall, Henry Cabot Lodge, Christian Herter, Edward Brooke, Frank Sargent, John Volpe, Margaret Heckler, Silvio Conte.

These were all Massachusetts Republicans who held state or federal office. They were elected by a broad consensus that included many of my fellow Democrats. They were liberal Republicans of broad and tolerant views. Later, some would be dubbed “Rockefeller Republicans.” Today, many conservatives would surely call them RINOs: “Republicans in name only.”

These office-holders were in some ways a surprising group. Some, indeed, seemed to correspond to the traditional image of the New Englander of established family, raised to public service and rich enough to resist corruption. Senators Lodge and Saltonstall both had forebears in the United States Congress.

Others, though, shattered these stereotypes. Edward Brooke was the first African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the United Stated Senate. Governor John Volpe and Representatives Silvio Conte and Margaret Heckler were Catholics in what had sometimes been seen as a Protestant party.

Despite my standing as a drop-dead Democrat, I dared opt for candidates such as these. They promised and delivered both honesty and competence. Moreover, they were flexible enough to support the Democrats on some important issues, at both the national and state levels. And, although Republicans were often outnumbered by Democrats in the state’s voting population, these candidates were repeatedly returned to office.

Silvio Conte had a firm hold on the Berkshire area of the state, where his combination of liberal social attitudes and opposition to pork barrel spending earned him the support of constituents for 16 terms in the U.S. House.

Margaret Heckler, for her part, was that rare woman who gained election and stayed in Congress for eight terms. Her being Republican did not hurt her in the South Shore district where she lived.

This kind of Republican candidate in Massachusetts now must contend with a national party that has abandoned its former identity. It is only in Maine─which, we must note, is no longer a part of Massachusetts─that we find two senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who manage to defy present-day Republicanism with their liberal approach to issues.

Newcomers are surprised to discover that all ten Massachusetts members of the United States House of Representatives are Democrats. It has become virtually impossible for Republicans to get elected, or even for the state party to field strong candidates when seats are open, as with the coming election to succeed Ted Kennedy.

Despite my own strong loyalty to the Democratic party, I am saddened by the decline of the Grand Old Party. Its lack of effective leadership damages our whole community. If the real issues are to be dealt with, we need both parties to be strong and effective. Otherwise the people’s business will continue to be shortchanged.

It is hard to predict the outcome of the struggle within Republican ranks between those backing centrist values and those sitting on the right. A divided party could well be subjected to a long series of defeats.

The voices on the Republican right may be the loudest, but they are far from representing the best traditions of the party, or the nation. A return to the values of a Lodge, a Saltonstall, or a Brooke would be healthy for Republicans, and for Democrats as well.

There is much to be gained from a thoughtful and principled national debate.
It will not take place if Rush Limbaugh is acknowledged to be the de facto leader of the Republican party.

Rather, he and his ilk will run it into the ground.