And we will finally be done with the Bushes! Hallelujah!

Doug,

Peggy Noonan, commenting in today's Wall Street Journal, seems to think as you (and many of the rest of us) do that the Republicans are now stuck with a "ruined brand", to wit:

What happens to the Republicans in 2008 will likely be dictated by what didn't happen in 2005, and '06, and '07. The moment when the party could have broken, on principle, with the administration – over the thinking behind and the carrying out of the war, over immigration, spending and the size of government – has passed. What two years ago would have been honorable and wise will now look craven. They're stuck.

Mr. Bush has squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years. But so has the party, and so have its leaders. If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party's fortunes from the president's. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn't be left with a ruined "brand," as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership.

Her entire article (entitled the "Pity Party") can be found HERE .

Coming from the Wall Street Journal, this is powerful stuff, and indicative of the huge "hole" the Republicans have now dug themselves into. It's well worth the read.

I worked for the GOP since I was able to vote at 21 and never missed even a local election trying to put Republicans into office. The more elections I lost, the harder I worked. Reagan's second term was the beginning of the end of the GOP for just the reasons Doug has mentioned.

The GOP wants nothing more than a religious Empire trying to change the core of our individual freedoms. This desire for looking to God for their decisions has caused a corruption not seen in America since we split from England.

The constant force of trying to make Americans feel that the government is the source of good and we all must follow the GOP for our own good, is nothing but a terrorist agenda. This is the same crap that Islam uses with their followers.

Bush has used our American soldiers as suicide bombers and killers and the American people are too stupid to see it. It is the main reason I will never again vote for any Republican until the party is crushed.

Conservatism = mental disorder

Conservatism is a mental disorder characterized by unfounded fear, greed, anti-social behavior, and the feeling of entitlement. Some conservatives cover their behavior with a thin veneer of apparent socialization, but it doesn't take much peeling to get beneath it.

Under the veneer you'll find the following, and much more:

- the belief that America has the inherent right to dominate the rest of the world and take its resources
- the belief that its OK to drive any gas hog vehicle any way you want and then go to war for oil to fuel it
- the belief that those who are poor and starving somehow deserve it
- intolerance for all but a very narrow view of social, political and religious views
- a disconnect from reality that is so profound that it supports a 24 hour lie machine that strokes the conservative fantasy and tries to normalize it

I've been ashamed of our behavior on the planet since the mid 60s and as unbelievable as it seems, it's gotten exponentially WORSE since then. It's pretty goddam pathetic when you look back to the GOP of the Goldwater era and fondly remember that as the "good old days". Goddam pathetic.

-Wexler

Wexler,I think that you may be confusing conservatives with neo-conservatives,as per your own definition. Ed

RichardKanePA
Yes things have gone downhill since Ronald Reagan, but there was also Richard Nixon, and before that the Joe McCarthy witch-hunts.

The last time those representing the interests of the rich lost an election was Jimmy Carter and before that Roosevelt. So it is possible, Obama might yet become President.

The disaster looming for the Republican Party is that Hispanics who vote for McCain won’t vote Republican locally, and uneducated racists will vote for a white president and not bother with Congress. I hope McCain senility and temper shows before November. But whether or not this happens Republican Representatives aren’t going to get elected unless they shrilly criticize McCain and Bush Jr.

Google RichardKanePA

Dr. D. There is little difference in whether a neo-Conservative wants a World Empire or the plans of the Conservatives who want a Christian Nation.

They are all supported by the same financial base and want control over the GOP. Neither movement has any desire for a limited and honest government as both want complete control over the Supreme Court, the Congress and the White House. The only way they can continue as the GOP is if they can keep America in a state of war.

"The only way they can continue as the GOP is if they can keep America in a state of war."

Ain't that the truth!

I'm trying to make sense of what's happened in these past two terms where we seem to have entered a hostile universe under "compassionate conservativism." It is so eerie, it's as though it's from some dark or absurd commedy.

Before visiting this page, I just visited youtube, and watched a film clip from Monty Python's scene of King arthur explaining how the Lady of the Lake held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the lake thus proclaiming his right to rule, I sometimes think that the angry, soggy spirit of Mary Jo Kopechne has become the new "Lady of the Port," Kennebunkport that is. The vengeful spirit vacated Poucha Pond spanned by Dike Bridge, and seeking revenge on lying, oversexed, treacherous Democrats, settled in the Port of Kennebunk, where she acquired the supernatural power to bestow the right to rule on Republicans, whether worthy or not (though G.H.W. Bush knew of such power from his old, Masonic based Skull and Bones' days, George the Lesser, simply dismissed the passage of power as a mere whiskey and cocaine concocted fantasy.

Be that is may, and by whatever questionable means, GW does sit on the throne today, and has even said "God wanted me to be president." Instead of a sword or scepter, King George has his Dick (V.P.) from which he draws his real power and inspiration.

Perhaps I can say it best in "Erse Verse:"

BUSH AND HIS EVIL DICK

Neo-Conservatism
feeds off misfortune and schism
individual's need
can't match Abramoff's greed
We've bent over for Dick Cheneyism

Karl K. 8/16/08

Likely the GOP will lose, but don't get your hopes up about substantial change for the better.

If the Democrats win by a landslide, they will be smug, thinking they have a mandate to do what they please, which would be politics as usual. After all, it will be their real constituents, corporate America, who actually brought them back in.

If they win by a slim margin, they will be just as ineffective as they have been since 2006.

And don't expect any president to give up any of the power that has already accrued to the office.

We desperately need a Gorbachev, someone who can come up through the system, yet have the integrity and strength to try to change that very system for the better, rather than reveling in its charms and blandishments.

Instead, I fear that we will see a continued slide into deep corporate fascism, more oppressive and violent than ever.

Truly a solid, spot-on rant Doug Thompson, but it seems the Republicans are spring-loaded in the stupid position when it comes to business as usual politics.

With Bush's speech in Israel insinuating that Obama will negotiate with Hamas and John McCain's corroborating comments of the same it seems that these perennial gangsters are going to use the "fear factor" again in order to maintain their grip on the Whitehouse.

George Bush isn't out of office yet and to me he looks nuttier than the proverbial "sh*thouse rat"...!

The question is what evil will these men do between now and January 2009. Even if Obama becomes President elect it still doesn't stop Bushco from creating some nightmare that would allow them to declare martial law and to suspend the Constitution up to an including the arrest of Obama along with millions of others that they've been documenting during the past 7.5 years. The only opposing party candidate they can stomach is their fair-haired quisling sycophant; ie., Hillary. Only she or McCain are acceptable to them, she even moreso for being the next occupant in the Whitehouse.

Obama is an outsider because he's rallying "we the people" which frightens the bejesus out of them especially their corporatist sponsors who fear their obscene war profit pipeline might be interrupted.

We would all be foolish to trust the election process and assume everything is going to be OK now that George is moving towards the exit.

Carl Nemo **==