Despite ongoing efforts on the TeeVee to make this seem like a close election, the plain fact is even Robert Mugabe would have a tough time pulling this election out for ol’ John McCain.
Smart Republicans know this, so most are either trying to deflect their own blame for the coming debacle or position themselves to feast on the scraps.
It’s fun to watch.
- Ron Paul is planning a right-wing version of 1968’s Chicago games outside the Republican convention in Minneapolis. Maybe Gov. Pawlenty can fire some tear gas at ’em.
- Bob Barr has already left the reservation, and the Libertarians (who once were a big part of any Republican coalition) are following him.
- Richard Viguerie (right), the grand old man of the conservative coalition (or the grand old p%&@ if you prefer), has practically given up and is dumping on his old tactics in order to diss McCain.
- Even former Bush donors are keeping their wallets closed.
Put it this way. Five months out from the election, in the middle of Georgia, the center of the Republican coalition, I still see more W’04 bumper stickers than McCain ones. I’m seeing more Obama stuff every day.
It is looking like a rout. This is a very good thing. Despite the nonsense Republicans like Gerald Seib are spouting consensus and bipartisanship are not the same thing. It’s easy to have consensus without multi-party rule.
The New Deal was consensus without bipartisanship. The New Deal Congress of 1933 had no need for Republicans, and the 1965 Congress was even more lopsided. We can, if we choose, have the same thing again.
And there are indications we do. Even the Republicans’ staunchest party-builders are starting to admit it. Some GOP rats in the Congress are jumping ship.
What polls are showing today is a result which is far more decisive than what Democrats
had to live with in 1968 and 1970. It’s far more like the Hoover
wipe0ut than anything else.
Because the talking heads
are still ignoring reality, they are bleeding their own credibility day
by day. They lost a lot on Iraq. They’re losing more here. Good. Clear out the deadwood, and the vast majority of talking heads on the TeeVee are deadwood.
The open question of 2008 right now is whether the Republican Party will
come out of this as a minority which must be dealt with or as a
regional rump that can, in the short term, be ignored.
Personally I’m praying for the latter, and you should be too. It’s
obvious that Viguerie is right, and the Republican Party must be
rebuilt from the foundation up. Generally such a process takes about 12 years.
Sounds good to me.
I’ve always said that McCain’s only chance was running against Clinton. There was never any way he could have beaten any other D in 2008. Once he won the R primary, I was a bit surprised anyone was still pulling for Clinton at that point. Obama vs. McCain was an obvious slam-dunk. Of course, W was obviously incompetent even in the Spring of 99 (I like the SNL skit where HW contemplates killing him to stave of the future embarrassment) and then proved himself so in his first term and that didn’t stop millions of people who should have known better from voting for him twice . . .
I’ve always said that McCain’s only chance was running against Clinton. There was never any way he could have beaten any other D in 2008. Once he won the R primary, I was a bit surprised anyone was still pulling for Clinton at that point. Obama vs. McCain was an obvious slam-dunk. Of course, W was obviously incompetent even in the Spring of 99 (I like the SNL skit where HW contemplates killing him to stave of the future embarrassment) and then proved himself so in his first term and that didn’t stop millions of people who should have known better from voting for him twice . . .