CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- I am a white, male, straight nonagenarian. I have voted for the Democratic presidential candidate since I voted the first time in Tunisia in a bombed building in the dark with a flashlight in October 1944, for FDR. I plan to vote for Barack Obama on Nov. 6.

My faculties and facilities are attenuated owing to time. So, I look to others to help me about. Thus, to state my view of the condition of the GOP, I call upon Hal Crowther, who writes in The Progressive Populist of Oct. 15:

"A Big Tent the GOP may not be. It's nearly 90 percent white and weighted heavily toward older males -- but a wild and colorful tent -- full it is, more of a carnival sideshow than a circus big top. The gluttons share the stage with racists, nativists, misogynists, homophobes, gun freaks, religious fundamentalists and fanatics of all denominations, and gonzo Libertarians who hope to restore the gold standard. Along, of course, with a healthy harvests of dimwits and the extremely stupid -- and a fair sprinkling of apparent mental patients. In the last group, I am obliged to include birthers, deniers of climate change, EPA-eliminators and everyone else who thinks a private citizen should be able to acquire 6,000 rounds of ammunition for an automatic weapon."

There, take that, all who see themselves in the mixture! Of course, many who are thereby depicted would never in time or space recognize themselves. But it is a cross-section of the GOP whether it recognizes itself or not.

That the GOP is a white, older males group is easy to validate. This group is having the last election in which it will have a chance in electing a candidate of its choice. And it is acting as if it senses its demise by advocating fundamentalist and asinine policies. To wit: legitimate rape.

That Obama is black is a thorn in the sides of many older whites. They do not reveal that it is a thorn, as such, but one can sense that it is by what they say and the fervor with which they denounce him. Further, one knows that racism is an emotion ken to that of a dog's reaction to strangers. It's genetic. Curbed only by reason.

That whites are nativists is detected in history and in everyday news. The influx of Latinos from Mexico and Central America has produced a rabid reaction. Arizonians have done everything but declare war on Mexico over immigration. They consider the land of their immigrant forefathers to be sacrosanct and theirs alone forever. It's not to be sullied by riffraff from another nation.

That whites are misogynists is apparent, widespread and passionate. They wish fervently to make abortion a crime and to criminalize those who assist in abortions. They would prevent women from using contraceptives. They would force teenage girls to carry pregnancies to term. They would ban the use of all kinds of methods to prevent abortions and to abort pregnancies. This in the face of a world inundated with people, billions of whom live no better than neglected animals.

That they are homophobes is written in all the legislation that is designed to prevent gays from state-sanctioned marriage. And worst by acts of violence against gays. Christians debase themselves and their religion when they side with homophobes. The Sermon on the Mount is on the side of gays. Christ turned tables in the haunts of the money-changers but said not a word of ridicule of gays.

That they are gun freaks shrieks it is so by all that they advocate and preach. They are anarchists and fascists. They subvert the state's right to maintain order and a law-abiding public. They would arm every household to maintain its safety with an armory of weapons, including the most deadly that soldiers carry war. They advocate a stable society based on gunfire, the fascist way.

That they are religious fundamentalists is so apparent it is a bore to elaborate. They never question that their theology is the truth handed down to some bearded ancients millennia ago. Theirs is the truth and there is no other truth. So anyone believing otherwise is either a religious enemy or a suspected soldier of Satan. That they have the mindset of the Taliban should sometime cause them to reassess their beliefs. Their ilk in Pakistan kills teenage girls who wish to become educated, while in this enlightened land they shoot to death abortion doctors.

That they are gonzo libertarians is clear. They would have stored gold with value enough to cover all paper money just as it was before Nixon. Such an economic system with regard to money would stifle commerce. It would be, you guessed it, a benefit to the wealthy. Inflation to the rich is a disease. The gold standard is immunization against inflation.

That this group has within its ranks a large delegation of dimwits and poorly educated is obvious. Who can believe now that if capitalism has free rein it will not bring about economic disaster, ecological devastation, obscene wealth for a few and pay-day-to pay-day income for the many? Who can believe that in this age of enlightenment that more than half of the citizens of this country believe in Creationism? The basis of such ignorance is sloth in efforts to learn and to be acquainted with the best and most informative literature that has been written on the evolution of the species.

That within legions of Republicans there are birthers, deniers of climate change, EPA-eliminators and those who believe a citizen should be able to acquire 6,000 rounds of ammunition for automatic weapons. There is in such beliefs a strain of hysteria. In fact, the whole of the GOP policy has a strange and worrisome egocentric and rabid nationalism about it.

Mann is a lawyer in Hinton.