I've Had It With Republicans

Having voted Republican in every election for the past 30 or so years, it is increasingly difficult to comprehend how I am going to be able to pull the lever for a candidate aligned with that party in the future, unless or until they get their act at least halfway together.

This is brilliant - push to get Cheney out, as if that amounts to anything serious, other than perhaps a distraction from GOP failures on immigration and spending. Oh, and while they're at it, hey, let's get out of Iraq. Gee, where did they get that bad idea? If there's anything worse than making the wrong choice, it's making it well after it means anything and also after there's been more than enough time to have thought it through and make it because you seriously thought it was the right thing to do.

Democrats aren't an option for me, neither is Bloomberg, but I sense a serious protest vote, or lack of any vote in my future. At the risk of being politically incorrect, is it really worth voting in an election when D stands for Dumb-ass and R stands for retarded? Perhaps not. I could always do something constructive like go fishing on election day. I can't think of a time when I have been more disenchanted with America's political class and that is saying something, as I basically distrust them to start.

Comments

[David M]

It is when the focus turns to obtaining or maintaining power that those who went to DC on a mission are corrupted. "Because I represent a good conservative mind set I must remain in power to do good". How corrupting is that?

If we can't feel good supporting a Republican incumbent maybe we should put our efforts and resources to a national term limits. Maybe we work for every primary challenge to an encumbent like it can make a difference.

[David M]

It is when the focus turns to obtaining or maintaining power that those who went to DC on a mission are corrupted. "Because I represent a good conservative mind set I must remain in power to do good". How corrupting is that?

If we can't feel good supporting a Republican incumbent maybe we should put our efforts and resources to a national term limits. Maybe we work for every primary challenge to an encumbent like it can make a difference.

[Joe]

How about R standing for ridiculously stupid. My son is MR and I hate it when people use the R word when they mean stupid.

[Banjo]

Both parties have become so isolated and self-regarding in the Beltway where they are continually flattered and bribed by special interests and identity-politics groups they have completely lost touch with ordinary Americans in flyover land. But the immigration debacle will t hurt the Republicans most, mesmerized as they have been by Rovian thought and infected by Bush's truly amazing and growing incompetence. When he goes, he'll leave the nation far worse off and the GOP in smoking ruins. I'll never give them another dime. I send their fund-raising pitches back with a few blunt remarks in the pre-paid reply envelopes. I suggest everyone do it.

[CatoRenasci]

The Republicans are moving towards a meltdown similar to that the Whigs suffered in the 1850s, out of which the Republicans emerged. Bush has been OK on the war - but not more than OK in a war we absolutely have to win - but the current state of play of the Congressional party and Bush's push for an absolutely country-destroying amnesty for illegal aliens make continued reliance on the Republicans as the political bulwark against the Democrats socialist, antidemocratic domestic policies, and suicidal isolationist pacifism (without the conscience that distinguishes real pacifism from cowardice) looks increasingly like a bad bet. No more 'hold my nose and vote for the 'pubbie, 'cause the Demoncrats are worse' -- nope. If I don't think the individual 'pubbie is OK, I won't vote if there isn't a viable non-Demoncrat alternative.

Thank the Bushs -- Poppy threw away an 89% approval rating after Gulf I, raised taxes in a 'deal with Democrats' in which they snookered him, and lost to Clinton. Now Junior or the Shrub is doing an immigration deal with Teddy, and they're both trying to snooker the American people.

No thank you.

[BigLeeH]

Depending on where you vote in addition to the Dumb-ass and Retarded parties you can vote for the Lunatic Party as well.

[M. Simon]

Banjo,

If the choice is between bad and worse (when was it ever otherwise?), I'll go for bad every time.

If I wanted utopia I'd have re-joined the Libertarians.

[CatoRenasci]

M. Simon - the problem with your logic is that the 'least worst, or 'bad' choice may well be -- as in this case -- so close to the worst, that it may be time to get outside the box and reframe the choices so that if not a positive good choice, there is a real reason to go for alternative.

[jum1801]

I have been voting for Republicans in every national election since I cast my first eligible vote for Gerald Ford against Jimmy Carter in 1976 (whose increasing bitterness and pettiness as he ages assures me I chose well in that election). I have been about as loyal as you can get and not actually be a Party insider and conventioneer. But that's over now. I've finally come to see that George W. is in fact like his father - that is to say, no conservative. Plus he forgot who brung him to the dance.

I've hung in there with him on the war because I think it is the height of folly to pretend we are not in a struggle for the very survival of western culture in the war which radical Islam has declared on us; and also because, having lived through the mortification and dishonor of surrender in Vietnam, I cannot bear to see our military once again betrayed by the cynical jackals, moral cowards and political opportunists. But I see that George W., just like his father before him, has used Republicans to get elected and then ignored most of us in attempting to curry favor with the Democrats and the left.

That is the Republican Disease - an elected Republican trying to make the Democrats and the chattering class like him. It cannot be done - nor should such a humiliating display even be attempted.

And now my President accuses me of bigotry and prejudice because I want the borders of my country soundly secured before even addressing the question of what to do with millions of illegal aliens. Well that just about rips the rug. Thank goodness I can still count on at least one of my Senators (Sessions) to place loyalty to principle ahead of loyalty to person. I'm tired of carrying W's water just to have it tossed on me.

Now as for 2008, I can't vote for any Democrat (except Joe Lieberman) - but neither do I care to support any of the mediocrities now jostling to see who can move to the center (and beyond) the quickest. Anything short of a Fred Thompson candidacy has no chance of getting my vote - and I'm not promising anything to him.

Libertarian, just to make a point? Could be. Could be.

[E9RET]

I heard someone say this a few days ago and it really struck me as being right.

The most conservative and most liberal members of Congress have more in common with each other than they do with their constituents

[Tennwriter]

Voting Dem is the equivalent of really powerful chemotherapy. It might kill you, it might kill the cancer, it might do nothing much but generally weaken you. In other words, if you do it, you'd better be sure.

Because a lot of the Dems really do seem nuts.

Of course, maybe thats the problem. The Dems are so bad that they give the Reps a LOT of room. Maybe if we improved the Dems, then the Reps wouldn't have so much room to be collossally RINO.

I mean, look at it from the point of view of a putative R senator with no morals, and only a desire to get elected. In a games-playing sense, what strategy helps you the most?

[Paul A'Barge]

Joe: How about R standing for ridiculously stupid.

Spot on, Joe. A person who is MR is likely to be a decent human being.

Republicans (and DHIMMIcRATs) are neither bright nor decent. They deserve their own term of insult.

[JEM]

Out here in the SF Bay Area where those of us not ardently Socialist effectively have no national representation, where the crypto-GOP Governor is a fully-frocked bishop of the Church of Anthropogenic Climate Change and the state Republican Party is coming apart like a Chinese truck tire, watching the national GOP cheerfully dig its own grave is just comedy.

There are GOP candidates in the Presidential race who, I believe, are good and honorable and capable, and by any measure better men than what we've got in the White House now, but how do you convince people that the fruit of a rotten tree is edible?

[markg8]

Or like most Democrats you could go to work on election day.

Sally Quinn is the grand dame of Washington cocktail party circuit, which in case you haven’t noticed has been dominated, like DC itself for years by Republicans. If she says Repubs are looking for a way to ease Dick out and replace him you can bet there’s some fire behind that smoke.

With McConnell and Lugar making noises about pulling the plug on Dick’s favorite war in Iraq he may not want to be around for the final act. OTH Cheney is a warrior and he’ll most likely fight til the last breath of the Republican party.

And why wouldn’t Ol’ Fred wanna be Veep for a year and a half? It’s the closest he’s ever gonna get to the White House. And who knows, without Cheney to serve as the fire to Bush’s frying pan impeachment just might go forward and Ol’ Fred might become president for a month or two.

[Cro]

I'm pretty much done as well. If Fred Thompson is the nominee..I'll vote for him but straight R ticket is done. What's the point, I think they are all pretty much sh!ts...they just proved it for me.

[Chaos]

More whining about how bad the GOP has become, guaranteed to get you a link from pontificater-in-chief Glenn Reynolds.

R.I.P. GOP! What a bunch of buffoons. The reason the GOP "establishment" doesn't listen is because you guys suck at raising money, you suck at delivering votes, you suck at impacting public discourse, you suck at pretty much everything but whining about how the GOP disappoints you.

And now you're histrionically wailing about how the GOP is slowly being torn apart by Iraq, immigration, dissatisfaction in general with the political elite - I guess defeatism is in vogue now? Should I start wearing mourning black? Shut myself inside the house and refuse to come out until they get around to bringing Barry Goldwater back from the dead.

Conservatives, we better get our heads out of our asses before its too late and we do it to find ourselves in a country where Hillary is in the Oval Office and has large majorities in both houses of Congress.

Don't vote all you want Mr. Riehl. Just please shut your fucking mouth if you do choose that way and you wake up to find Amnesty on Steroids flying through Congress, taxes on oil profits, taxes in general, some kind of Kyoto-type thing, etc.

Because you'll be responsible. Not Trent Lott. Not George Bush. Not John McCain. You, and me, and Glenn Reynolds, and the rest of you myopic blunderers. The argument that you shouldn't vote for a disappointing GOP just because the alternatives are worse is valid only to a point, and we are reaching that point.

I've had it with idiotic posts like yours, Mr. Riehl - if you dislike it so much then get your nose to the grindstone and work to change the GOP, don't forsake it. The stakes are too high in Iraq, in Iran, in Afghanistan, around the world for you to not oppose the Democratic Party's war policies as hard as you can.

Or you can go fishing. Fish while the Middle East burns. Maybe you'll still be fishing when the fire finally gets back to here. All because conservatives have decided to act like 8 year olds.

It took sixteen years of LBJ, Nixon, Ford, and Carter for conservatives to get over the Goldwater drubbing and feel confident and on the move again. I was lucky enough to not be alive then. I don't want to go through a new round.

You think over at Kos they're stopping raising money because Reid can't get an anti-war bill through? You think they're not going to organize against the GOP and vote against the GOP even though they're mad as hell about the war not being over yet? They certainly are short-sighted and petulant in their own way, but not as stupidly short-sighted and petulant as conservatives are being now.

So the GOP makes you mad. Guess what? A lot of people are mad at politicians in general. Get out there and find conservatives to support in GOP primaries and in the general elections. A national campaign even moderately conservative will get huge support from the American people, we all know it. Instead of sitting on your ass fishing, go find some conservatives to run for office. The GOP has a fine big political machine just sitting around idling without a driver and with no passengers willing to step up and take the wheel.

The House GOP gets it. Ever since November 2006 they've been on a rather conservative tear. The House GOP leadership knows that public opinion government spending, immigration, and many other key issues leans overwhelmingly in support of conservative solutions. The House GOP isn't sitting around spending its time whining about the GOP in the Senate or the President. They're looking to the future. Why don't you try doing the same. Mr. Riehl?

[Gabriel]

What took you so long to realize that the GOP was nothing but an empty suit beholden to its true special interest (big business)? Many of us saw the writing on the wall when Campaign Finance "Reform" was signed by Bush. followed by NCLB and the Medicare Prescription Drug Scam. Amnesty is just the icing on the cake for most people who have been blindly following the current crop of corrupt kleptocrats.

[Ric Locke]

Term limits, bah.

Note that the Democrats aren't marvelously pleased with their Senators, either. They aren't as disgusted as Republicans because the distance between their ideals and Senatorial policies aren't as great, but calling them "happy" would be a gross overstatement.

Time for another campaign, on the order of Porkbusters: Incumbents Out! Nonpartisan and nonaligned, with no issues and no ideology other than "If they're IN we want them OUT." The logo could be a grossly fat cat being given the boot.

Or, if not, we can just change all the Army's flags to "SPQA".

Regards,
Ric

[StephenB]

When Bush failed to intervene in the railroading of Border Patrol agents and Tony Snow's condescending comments added fuel to the fire of my Republican Party card. This was _before_ the amnesty fiasco, which is not the nail in the coffin but six feet of dirt upon the Republican Party as we knew it.

[joel mackey]

Dan, you are echoing thoughts I have been having for months now.

I have decided that I will put my energies into the primaries to get out all encumbants, all of them. in the election i will vote for the non-encumbant or not at all, i am more interested in process than issues at this point.

What we need is a movement or party whose focus is on transparency and accountability, the focus has to be on process, the issues can be decided by the representatives, but as it is, there is no accountability, there is no ability to change anything. Ted Kennedy is pushing the same jacked up immigration agenda that he was pushing in 1965, if he was a doctor he would have been sued out of business for malpractice, instead he uses our tax dollars to pay people to support him. It's like he is trying to compensate for not getting Mary Joe across the river safely by getting all of Mexico across the river safely. I digress.

Even when voters vote for a change, appointed judges overrule the changes. They preach about how sacred our constitution is and how "we cannot amend it lightly", but yet they will trod all over it and amend it by caveat by reading in law as necessary, totally bypassing the amendment process.

[Bert]

You don't send a message by staying away from the polls on election day. The post-election analysis will just think you were too busy watching Oprah and sitcoms to show up and vote.

You send a message by showing up and voting for local officials, referendums, etc. and leaving blank the sections on your ballot for President, Senator, etc.

That way, the campaigns/parties will be able to see that you showed up but weren't interested in the candidates they offered. That sends a much stronger message.

[ian]

This is the last straw.
I voted for Bush twice. I gave him and the GOP the benefit of the doubt on Iraq, the Katrina mess, the prescription drug benefit, the Miers nomination, picking a dim-bulb incompetant like Gonzales for AG - but no more.
Once this bill passes, he'll do another 'Mission Accomplished' photo-op, then promptly lose all interest (maybe he'll dress in a border patrol uniform this time). We've been through this all before.
I am so disgusted that I would cheerfully support Bush's impeachment right now.

[Ron]

Unless the fence gets built and the illegal immigrant numbers start to go down significantly, I guess I'll be sitting the 2008 election out. I certainly won't vote for any Democrat.

[Clyde]

I will not vote for any Republican who voted for Amnesty, at any time in the future. I will do my best to see that Mel Martinez, my Republican senator and RNC chairman, is not re-elected. I will not contribute ONE RED CENT to the Republican party from here on out. Screw them. The Democrats can't be much worse, and if we give them the chance to REALLy screw things up for a couple of years, perhaps the real conservatives will rise up again and throw all of the bums out. But for now, screw 'em all.

[Rudy]

Wow, Bush really screwed you guys! First he sent your kids off to a war based on trumped up intel, then he sold your jobs to Asia, and finally he let the Mexicans take their pick of any remaining work! Mission accomplished, indeed!!!!

[George B]

Maybe us voters can shake things up in the 2008 primaries. Send zero dollars to the political parties and send money directly to primary challengers instead. Are the House and Senate primaries early next year too?

It's definitely time for term limits. My theory is that politicians that spend 20 years or more at the same job become so old and out of touch that they become worse than useless. Dick Armey went from freshman sleeping in the House gym to Base Closing Commission, Contract with America, and Majority Leader within an 18 year career. Since 18 years is clearly enough for a full career, I'd set term limits at 18 years for both the House and the Senate.

The Republican Revolution of 1994 did shake things up in congress from 1995 through 2000. Got welfare reform and lower tax on capital gains passed. Many congressmen made and kept a promise to serve only 6 years in congress in those years. Unfortunately, we're stuck with a bunch of white haired Senators and Representatives that made no such committment to voluntary term limits.

[IslamoLlama]

"Because you'll be responsible. Not Trent Lott. Not George Bush. Not John McCain. You, and me, and Glenn Reynolds, and the rest of you myopic blunderers. The argument that you shouldn't vote for a disappointing GOP just because the alternatives are worse is valid only to a point, and we are reaching that point."

And here we find the cornerstone in the great fortress of the Cult of Bush. Much like the Democrats in '04, who ran a meager triangulator without the balls to defend his own stellar military career, the warchant is "Anyone but the other guy!" And in my experience, the people chanting that the loudest are those most likely to find themselves with the other guy.

You've got no platform, no ideology, no core values, no... tent. Why the hell would anyone - conservative, liberal, or otherwise - vote for a politician who's only verifiable quality is that he will never not belly up to whatever party leadership is bartending? This is the final incarnation of the Republican Party. A group of people who will always vote Republican, even if the guy with an (R) in his name is a complete idiot or insufferably corrupt gangster. If you guys were in a relationship with your ideology, I think I'd call you all whipped. But that's probably a bad analogy, as I've never heard of anyone getting laid for voting GOP.

[Happycrow]

I'm afraid I have to agree with Islamollama. If the Dems ever get past their McGovern wing, the Republicans are screwed. Like a lot of GOPers, I'm p'o-ed about having to hold my nose on foreign policy principles. It's not just the amnesty bill (which, executed correctly, I might be sympathetic to), and it's not just the huge entitlement programs. Bush told his party where he stood the minute he signed off on steel tariffs.

Frankly, compared to Bush, I'm finding Clinton-era deadlock to be a pretty refreshing memory...

[templar knight]

Ladies and Gentlemen, let this be the last straw. The one that gets you out on the streets. Let your feelings be known. If one million of us went to Washington, D.C, or showed up at our statehouses, we would see some action. But the vast majority will play golf this weekend, cookout, go to the beach, watch TV, and etc. The fact of the matter is that this is not so important that most of us really want to do anything about it.

The Congress doesn't take us serious because we are not serious. The House has not passed this legislation. Start now, today, calling your House member, letting he or she know how you feel. And get out in the streets. Myself, I'm heading for the border this weekend to try to spot some illegals coming across the border. It will be hot and dusty, and miserable, but this is my third trip. There won't be many volunteers there. And we seem to be fighting a losing battle, but one worth fighting nonetheless.

[IslamoLlama]

"Frankly, compared to Bush, I'm finding Clinton-era deadlock to be a pretty refreshing memory..."

Not alot of people remember this, but when Clinton took office he was planning to give a big fat middle finger to the deficit and dive right back into the Great Society. As much as Democrats looooove to tout the budget surplus at the end of '00, it never would have happened without a truly Republican Congress.

So much of what came out of the Clinton terms was good because it had to pass through the fires of Republican practicality before it hit the desk of President Free-Love Hippie. Of course, that was when DeLay/Rovian-style politics was in its infancy and one party didn't have a stranglehold on the better part of the federal government.

[tk]

Bango, great idea-send back the pre paid envelopes with a message. wonderful. to M. Simon, utopia vs libertarians is your choice. I prefer morals and ethics over pragmatics.

I read the entire immigration bill so when I heard Bush call me ill informed he lost me forever. I have looked past his lack of intellect for years but this was just too much. I know he has never read this or any other bill.

This country is in deep trouble but having values is not a weakness.

[Oldsmoblogger]

No more contributions via the party organizations, for one thing. If there are candidates I like, I'll give directly (already have done for Fred!), but if the Faction is determined to commit suicide I'm willing to help 'em along. I take the same attitude with NRA--give money to the PVF? Not while they haven't explained their A rating for that gun-grabber of a sheriff (Bill Brown) out in Santa Barbara County.

[Tano]

Dan,
At some point you may have to come to grips with the fact that, as you so eloquently explain, your perspective is so far out of the mainstream of American life that there really is no place you can call home.

The problem is you Dan. You are the extremist who understands little if anything about the political life of this country.
Its OK though, we will get along well without you. Hope them fish are bitin'.

[Jim]

The GOP leadership wrote the Contract with America in 1994, put it front and center in 1994 and won big on it. They held power for 12 years, until they got fat, lazy and blind to their flaws (overspending, earmarks, a few corrupt members who got press attention and blindly following the President on a number of policy mistakes). The Internet was not there to help them, save them or hurt them. Could there not be a Fall, 2007 virtual convention of bloggers who could identify (A) issues and (B) primary challengers, so as to go into 2008 with a different slate if ideas? What if Trent Lott and Lindsey Graham and others of the 24 Republicans who didn't listen to their constituents drew primary challengers with backing and funding derived from the blogosphere? There might even be a 2008 agenda not scripted by Karl Rove but to the effect of support for:
- earmark reform ala Porkbusters;
- a continued push for victory of Islamist terrorists, whereever they might be;
- tax ideas and levels that promote growth (no net tax increases / suuply side policies);
- a complete, effective Southern border (triple) fence with vehicle barriers, radars, sensors, planes with pilots and UAVs overhead, plenty of BP agents, national identy cards and quick deportation, with no ammnesty;
- any other sound proposals.
I am unhappy with my GOP. What they don't get in Washington is that there are a lot of voters like me who are pro-defense, small government liberterians who don't ask the federal governement to do much, but who vote GOP because the liberterians are a small party who can't win but can only spoil GOP chances. But if the GOP is going back to its Rockefeller roots, why not protest? I may find the people I spent my donations on via Internet / blogger candidate reviews.

[templar knight]

Yeah, Dan, you want the law to be enforced, that puts you well out of the mainstream. You desire a nation based on Judeo-Christian traditions and laws, that really puts you out in right field. You would like to see a nation of decent, moral people LIKE WE HAD IN THE '40s AND '50s, the 'greatest generation', or so they were called. You perverted extremist. And Dan, you probably want to enforce antiquated laws on drugs and pornography. You just don't understand, Dan.

Sluts, pimps, race-baiters, thugs, gang-bangers, hustlers and hip-hoppers are what this country is all about. Ain't it grand?

[BobInStamford]

Hahahaha!!!! This is the funniest thread yet (well, next to Macaca 06). To top it off that stammering nitwit that you boobs call your 'leader' admitted that the immigration bill was AMNESTY. Love it. Thankfully, your silly little war is going well!!

Complete the Mission, patriots - watch Lou Dobbs and bitch on silly websites. Hahahahaha!!!!

[templar knight]

Looks to me like that stammering nitwit has gone over to your side, HairyQueer. He is hardly "our leader", but now yours. You and he should get along swimmingly.

[IslamoLlama]

"I am unhappy with my GOP. What they don't get in Washington is that there are a lot of voters like me who are pro-defense, small government liberterians who don't ask the federal governement to do much, but who vote GOP because the liberterians are a small party who can't win but can only spoil GOP chances. But if the GOP is going back to its Rockefeller roots, why not protest? I may find the people I spent my donations on via Internet / blogger candidate reviews."

I think, in part, it's because Republicans are in power. It's damn near impossible to oust an incumbat, much less oust him in his own primary. But the Democrats did a wonderful thing for the netroots. They decided to drop the ball entirely on campaigning and recruiting, which gave liberal netroots a path to very visible, very definative victories. Netroots candidates like Paul Hackett got the Dem nomination (by virtue of non-existant competition) in tough Republican districts, then ran the races to the wire. Dems were heartened and increased support followed. Then Dem netroots like Ned Lamont started being DINOs on their own primary turf. Support grew. Then Dem netroots like Jim Web WON big Senatorial matches like in Virginia. So now the liberal netroots are a force to be reconned with.

Republicans - winning in '02 and '04 with force - gave the right wing roots little room to bud. Rightwingers didn't stake out tough Dem turf and field grassroots conservative candidates. That was the RNCC's job. Rightwinger bloggers didn't fight to oust top guns like Kennedy in Massachuetts or Fiengold in Wisconsin. That was the special interests' jobs. Republicans don't live or die by legions of canvisers pounding pavement or small dollar contributions sent en mass. The right wing blogsphere had nothing to offer.

But now things are changing. The RNC is coming up short on cash. Republicans are leaving the party in droves - converting to Independents or cashing out of the politics business before they're tossed back to minority status. Soon, Republicans will find themselves where Democrats were four years ago. And then we'll get to see whether Freeperland and the Red Staters have the skill and the focus that the Kossacks and the Firedoggers revealed. The winds of change are blowing. We'll see if Dan Riehl and company know how to set their sails.

[BobInStamford]

Hairy Queer?? Does Jeebus know that you are so hateful. Go sodomize some livestock, redneck.

[Bolton_in_'08]

Hey "Rudy" & "BobInStamford": Take perverse pleasure in American losses much? Your juvenile attitudes illustrate quite clearly to me that while I - like other Republican posters here - get frustrated with the G.O.P., the choice - even though the benefits of which may seem razor thin in terms of this nation's internal politics - is obvious. We are at war. Men, not Beavis and Butthead typing from their mothers' basements, are fighting a fierce war that will inevitably become much wider than your simple minds can yet comprehend - regardless of what we think, who we elect, or how much we click our heels and wish the bad things away. Still, one day (and I hope I'm wrong but...sigh...) you'll turn on the TV and things will be so clear even YOU will understand. Keep laughing. No matter what I think of Hillary, I at least believe that as an American she wants to keep breathing through her nose as much as I do. She's not my enemy. Bush is not my enemy. Even you pampered twits don't fit that very specific bill. Headchopping, misogynist psychopaths who love death more than life are my enemy. And against your partisan will they will someday force you to see that they are yours as well. Surprise! Good luck processing your conflicted, shattered worldview when the time comes.

"When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand, we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the Sybylline books. It falls into that long dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong --- these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history."

--Winston Churchill, the House of Commons, May 2, 1935

[jong]

"So much of what came out of the Clinton terms was good because it had to pass through the fires of Republican practicality"

Yeah, all that Republican practicality really did us wonders when they held the Presidency, the House and the Senate.

Bush isn't a Republican, he's a corporatist. He's out to make sure the corporations get theirs, little guy be damned. He's about as far from a Barry Goldwater conservative as you can get.

[southdakotaboy]

Alot of this reminds me of a situation where you tell someone time after time that if they continue thier bad behavior bad things will happen to them. And yet they don't listen and continue to behave badly until they suffer some horrible fate.
Our country is doing the same thing. The libs are going to run this country into the ground the first chance they get. They are going to implement policies that are proven failures, but they will not listen. They have been so blinded by their own lies that they believe them. Reality is going to be harsh, and I no longer care. If the libs want to ruin this country and the Republicans want to self destruct I am just going to sit back and watch and laugh. When the cities start getting ripped apart by ethnic tensions and terrorism I will just kick back and read a good book. I have enough stuff stored up and hidden that when things go to hell it won't bother me to much.
Is the world going to end ? Nope . I do think that in a few short years of lib utopia our cities are going to start looking like scenes from Escape from New York.
To all the lib posters on this site you've made your bed now lie in it.
For the rest of us it is time to start planning for the future where we remake the Republican party. Once we get rid of all the old guard we can start rebuilding a better party.

[templar knight]

HairyQueer, you calling someone hateful is laughable. Take a long walk on a short pier, SH!

[BobInStamford]

HairyQueer? Such an educated oilman with CHILDREN IN PRIVATE SCHOOL using such nasty language. Are you and your 'manly' son still 'afeared' of his upcoming trip to the big city?

Any of you patriots read this, btw??

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/26/poll.iraq.schneider/index.html

Too funny.

[Phoenix]

Meanwhile, the budget deficit is going down four times faster than figured and companies desperately need workers. Not pickers, skilled workers. Oh, woe is us - the country moves apace despite our hatred of Bush.

Let's at least give him a cheer for the tax cuts.....

[templar knight]

Where do you get that queer is nasty language? Or is it nasty when you put it with hairy? Or is HairyQueer nasty? I have to agree with you there, Bobby, you are one nasty sucker.

[BobinStamford]

Nasty? Queer? Hairy? Are you one of those meth-smoking rednecks or something? Don't you ever do any work, btw? You post your luddite drivel all day and night. What example is that for those PRIVATE SCHOOL educated offspring of yours? They might end up like Parker if you don't clean up your act.

[templar knight]

"You post your luddite drivel all day and night".

Bob, you aids-infected jerk, no one posts here any more than you do. And I go to work at 10:00am and get off at 2:30pm, or whatever time I want to. I am one of the owners, I do what I want. And I want to post on Dan's blog on many days, but you're always here before me. So STFU. And you have never posted anything other than nasty insults, so what do you expect, roses? You are nothing but a worthless shit, so FOAD for all I care. Got it.

[jong]

Shrinking four times faster than figured? Bush blew the deficit so far out of the water it has to go down. Some conservative.

And actually: "The U.S. federal government deficit has shrunk by about a third so far in fiscal 2007, the Congressional Budget Office estimated late Wednesday."

[BobInStamford]

Aids-infected? My, what a hateful redneck. Maybe if you got a full-time job you would be able to channel some of that anger. It's because of lazy 'necks like you that America relies on so many Mexicans. I wonder what those PRIVATE SCHOOL educated kids of yours think of their underemployed father. You must be an embarrassment to them. Keep posting, patriot.