When Did the GOP Lose its Collective Mind?

I caught tidbits of the Republican National Convention last night while playing the Teetotaller's Drinking Game: down a swig of booze whenever you see a black person on screen. By the end of the night I remained stone-cold sober and still despaired of ever answering the question: when did the GOP lose its collective mind?

I've said all I plan to say about the ludicrously misogynistic views on rape held by the likes of Todd Akin or Paul Ryan, yet the Republicans still haven't figured out "Every time we discuss rape we make asses of ourselves, so maybe we need to shut the hell up for awhile." Tom Smith, senatorial candidate from Pennsylvania (same state which inflicted Rick Santorum on the nation), never got this memo, which is why he told the Associated Press that getting pregnant from a rapist is just like getting pregnant from consensual, non-married sex:

MARK SCOLFORO, ASSOCIATED PRESS: How would you tell a daughter or a granddaughter who, God forbid, would be the victim of a rape, to keep the child against her own will? Do you have a way to explain that?
SMITH: I lived something similar to that with my own family. She chose life, and I commend her for that. She knew my views. But, fortunately for me, I didn’t have to.. she chose they way I thought. No don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t rape.
SCOLFORO: Similar how?
SMITH: Uh, having a baby out of wedlock.
SCOLFORO: That’s similar to rape?
SMITH: No, no, no, but… put yourself in a father’s situation, yes. It is similar.

 
Because in RepublicanWorld there are two types of pregnancies: the decent kind that result in a baby at least nine months after a legal, Christian wedding ceremony, and The Other Kind. Why waste time parsing the others?

Still, I naively thought "These rape comments are so stupid, so bigoted, so utterly clueless, it is not possible for any mainstream Republican to say anything stupider." Wrong! Over in New Mexico, GOP lobbyist and RNC leader Pat Rogers ignored issues of rape and sex altogether, in favor of something even worse: criticizing New Mexico's governor for meeting with Indian leaders, on the grounds that such a meeting dishonored the memory of General George Armstrong Custer. (Note to non-American readers who might not get the Custer reference: that's roughly equivalent to one modern German politician saying to another, "How dare you meet with that influential rabbi? You're dishonored the memory of every soldier who fought for Germany in World War Two.")

Seriously -- I'm addressing this, again, to the non-Americans who are reading this -- the majority of United States citizens are not like this. Even if you focus exclusively on those of us who think Obama's doing a lousy job as president, the majority are not like this. Who is the GOP trying to appeal to, here?