If McCain is elected president, we'll have a four-year disaster, with the Republicans in Congress co-opted by 'our' president, followed by 30 years of Democratic rule."

The fate of the Republican party has already been sealed by the disaster wrought by Bush and a blindly loyal Congress over the first six years of his presidency. 2007 was the first year of your much dreaded "30 years of Democratic rule". In November 2008, the transfer will be complete. Enjoy your sojourn in the political wilderness.

I can't help but wonder if some of the long term thinkers among the repugs aren't silently grateful for the opportunity to let the Dems clean up BushCo's mess. It will take more than four years to fix of course, and that will give them the chance to blame all the remaining wreckage on the Dems. The latter will also wisely not continue the Bush's tax cuts, and that, plus an all new set of fake scandals and fake empty issues, will give the repugs plenty to squawk to help them march back. It happened the last time, I don't see why it wouldn't happen again.

After all, you have to give the bank vault a little time to fill back up before robbing it again.

Eight years of the most disastrous presidency in our history is enough... we'll take that 30 years of Democratic presidencies now, please.

Slackie:

I agree with much of your argument. I would place the hard right at closer to one-third rather than one-fifth and I would posit that most independents are actually less 'independent' than their voting records would suggest, but overall, yes, the party that can tap into the general dissatisfaction with the status quo without splitering will do well.

Obama is inspiring and seems to have struck a chord with self-styled independents. Clinton is disliked by many people, some for being to liberal, some for not being liberal enough and others simply because she doesn't come off as the sort you'd want to have a beer with at the local bar. Clinton and Obama both bring in traditional Democratic demographics (Clinton does well with lower income people and non-African American minorities; Obama with well-educated, high income liberals and African-Americans). Presumably, Obama would bring in more of Clinton's primary voters in a general election than she would of his.

Nonetheless, I don't see this as a shift in the electorate. I see this as the result of Obama's personality. I just don't see the evidence that his impact as a uniter will be felt for decades. Four or eight years, yes. Decades? I'm just not with you on that. What happens when Obama leaves the political stage? Or when the progressives who would rather see a radical Republican administration than a center-left Democratic administration find out that Obama is more center-left than they think?

Of course, had I been around way back when, I probably wouldn't have foreseen the decades-long shift in the electorate resulting from Johnson's support for civil rights and the right wing's Southern Strategy response -- so who knows? We can hope, anyway.

It is clear that the Republican party is suffering from the weight of so many lies, deceits and thievery. Not one aspect of the so called 'conservative agenda' was realized in the eight years of George W. Bush... with the sad and major exception of stacking the court with right wing nut jobs.

However, a ten trillion dollar deficit, an out of control war, a shattered domestic infrastucture and a foreign policy is to big for even the fattest assed elephant to sit on. But the sinking economy will only enforce the eviction notice for the capos in Washington, just as it did the last time they ruined the economy at the end of the reign of Bush I.

Maybe this time there will be indictments and not bailouts. Though it may be too late. Our empire is over it's credit limit....

I have no party affiliation. Never will. Not looking to put myself in a box with any group smaller than everyone. Pushing 50, two kids, live in the southwest now, raised in NYC, spent almost half my life out of the country in a different culture as a minority.

Here is what conservative means to me. American radical fundamentalist. Also i like to think of that group as the conflicted party. Pro life. and Pro death at the same time. What sort of idiot would align themselves with that philosophy?

I was raised to believe in the 2000 year old iteration of the 5000 year old myth centered around the sun god Ra. Just in this past year, i did some homework and came to the conclusion that any form of dogma is deadly.

Growing up, the impression that Republicans were more educated, wealthier and generally a higher class of individual grew out of who knows where. Having done some homework recently, that myth too is now right in the trash bin along with the other one.

Can this nation survive if everyone is educated, free thinking and rational?

Well, there is no precedent to gauge the possibility by. As far as i can tell from reading letters here in the Salon the answer is no. Not for at least another generation and perhaps not for some hundreds of years to come.

The schooling system in this country has worked well. It was designed to dumb most people down. Turn most of you into sheep so that the job of the rulers would be made easier. It worked. Sit where you are told to sit stand when you are told to stand, say what you are told to say and speak how you are told to speak, do not ask why. React to the bell, read 'the book' believe that you are defective from birth, fear the unknown and unknowable 24/7.

So much of what is happening in the blogsphere/internet media (threw away the television six years ago, do not read newspapers) is way too reminiscent of Orwell's 1984 which makes the video in the link below this so appealing.

One last thing. The art of distraction, the art of redirecting attention is the most powerful technique used by the illusionist to create the maximum impact for the prestige. Are you watching all parts of the stage? In this day and age of technology, if you are reading this, there is no reason to accept the opinion of anyone as fact. Everything is verifiable or at least debunkable from the seat that you occupy right now. Just takes time.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay is an amazing chronicle of alchemy and other epidemics that have been foisted on societies over the past six hundred years. Very few people recognize these schemes while they are in play.

Are you a participant in the largest confidence game in the history of mankind? You either need to wake up now and start paying attention to what is happening around you or wait and read about yourself five years from now. The books will be written.

MSNBC should boycott the Clintons. That would be a public service.

It is not too late to break the spell.

Warning, do not watch this video if you are afraid of the boogey man.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo