Letters to the Editor
-
Step 1: Disavow Neoconservatism
The Republican Party has gotten itself stuck in a blind alley and hasn't had the sense or the leadership to recognize where it went wrong and reverse course. The error was in allowing itself to be hijacked by the neocons, whose promotion of military aggression, intrusive, authoritarian big government, globalism, and runaway deficits is 180 degrees away from the positions espoused by Republicans a half century ago.
The Republican Party has been the party of Big Business since its inception, but this alliance only became toxic to the interests of the United States when Big Business started going transnational. President Eisenhower, the last Republican president to adhere to an ethical code, warned of this change in his Farewell Address with its famous caution about the rising "military-industrial complex".
Republicans need to reexamine their history and the meaning of being a conservative. The philosophy of neoconism is not home grown, but a cancerous import from Europe. It needs to be recognized as such and eradicated before Republicans can once again become a positive force in American politics.
For the health of the Republican Party and the nation the grassroots party organizations need to call for a housecleaning at the top, including ousting Bush, Cheney, Rove, and the rest of their gang from membership. A revitalized Republican Party based on the values of diplomacy, liberty, and economy could once again provide a needed critique in the progress of the American nation.
-
Man, It's Great to Watch
Shortly after the 2006 elections there was a lot of dicussion about the Republican Party turning on itself, and it's satisfying to see them sputter and grasp for position against each other. Thompson will be no different, if he ever runs.
Talking to a conservative today about the election, he was not only depressed with his choices, but indicated he believed the only reason Thompson is even considered viable is because he's not one of the 9/10/11 candidates currently running. Once he declares, he'll be ripped to shreds by both Republicans desperate to get the nomination, and Democrats who take the small efforts necessary to dig into his less than illustrious Congressional career. I, for one, can't wait.
-
Republicans have ALWAYS been hypocrites about "big govt" they have ALWAYS been for it when they were confident that they could control it
from jim crow, thru McCarthyism, to the neo-con/corparatist/theocrats, nothing has really changed.
-
Hear that? It's the worlds smallest violen.
Last time I checked, their claim to "moral authority" was based around condemning consentual private behavior. I don't see how that gets them bumped to the front of the line into the pearly gates! Though I must admit I'm glad the same old crap about gays, God, and guns is finally starting to fall apart. I still can't believe it worked back in 2004 when we were in the middle of a war!
I hope, though it's too soon to tell, that this is the start of a long term trend. I hope that this means the "culture war" is finally beginning it's death throws. My fear is that this is just a backlash to the war and that once the war is over, all the old crap will again resurface and start working again. I guess only time will tell.
Even if this is just a fad due to the war, one of the bright spots that may come out of it is that maybe the military and their supporters will stop giving republicans a free pass on military issues. When a politician says he wants a strong defense, you might want to ask what he plans to do with it.
-
Don't Forget Newt!
Could we possibly be lucky enough to have Newt emerge as the GOP candidate?
By his own statements (never a good idea to count on with Newt, but when they favor his own self-aggrandizement, not so much...) if Romney keeps fading and Thompson can't get it done in the next few months, Newt's set to jump in.
Pass the popcorn.
And we may be ready to take back Dixie sooner than Tom thinks--even though I agree with his analysis 100%!
-
oooh that was good
A sharp, concise dissection of the Republican field, and a strong letter by futhark to start off the responses. Great stuff.
I'd like to see Mr. Schaller take on Ms. Paglia concerning her bizarre Rush-induced glamorization of the Republican candidates. What a motley crew.
The (extremely relative) eclecticism of the Republicans this time is an interesting pale reflection of the truly varied Democratic candidates. In 230 years we have not had a single president or vice-president who was not a white anglo-saxon or Dutch-descended (the original settler populations) male - save for Greek-American Spiro Agnew. Kennedy's Catholicism was a stretch, but the general profiles were still colonial-esque. Which suggests genetics rule, politically as well as personally.
This time we are almost certain to break a boundary - whether it be woman, mixed-race, Mormon or Italian-American (not to mention cross-dresser). Even Fred Thomspon pushes the envelope ever so slightly with his bold plan to put a trophy wife in the White House. Rock on.
-
Poor Mitt Romney
I feel bad for Mitt Romney in this entire debacle.
As the most Clintonian of all the politicians running for the Republican nomination, he appears to have the greatest mastery of the flexible morality necessary to appeal to all groups without becoming beholden to one specific one. Love or hate President Clinton (and Senator Clinton) for this ability, it is a good political skill to have.
But, as stated in the article, being a member of a religion viewed by most Christian evangelicals as a cult does has its inherent drawbacks. The Democrats need not even comment on the GOP field until a candidate is chosen due to their propensity for tearing each other apart, and if Romney finds himself in the lead, his own party will definitely rend him to pieces on behalf of their own prejudices.
If, and I say it is a mighty big if, Gov. Romney becomes the GOP candidate, democratic spin doctors will tear apart his religion and bring it front and center in order to further alienate him from the population.
All it takes is one direct question along the lines of:
Senator Barack Obama "I ask my opponent, Mitt Romney, if he believes, as his religion does, that the color of my skin is the result of my being descended from Cain, as in Cain & Abel, and that my soul inhabits this body because of sin I had performed before my life here on this earth?"
I know Gov. Romney has prepared for this eventuality, but it only takes a couple of well-researched and well-placed talking points to render him a religious nut in the eyes of most voters.