GREAT S. Blumenthal Article! Bush May Contaminate Repubs for A GENERATION!

[Beetwasher]

How Bush Rules: Bush's Radicalism is Leading to a GOP Crackup

The inescapable signs of disillusionment surrounding the Bush administration in its sixth year, facing a second mid-term election, suggest far more than the usual syndrome of incumbent weariness. These are the rumblings of a regime crisis.

President Bush's whole party bears the burden of his accumulated self-generated difficulties not only because of their overwhelming scale but also because the Republicans have sustained disciplined one-party rule in which congressional oversight has been largely suppressed.

The congressional Republicans' feeble assertion of institutional authority has made changing the Congress the only way to revive it and check and balance Bush's radical presidency during his remaining two years.

--snip--

Bush's radical presidency has recast the character of the party, its purposes and appeal, and Republicans' disorientation in the 2006 mid-term campaign is only the first inkling of coming disintegration. His radicalism is unique, but the consequences are pervasive and lasting. In the future, to the extent Republican presidential candidates adhere to his legacy they will be undermined beyond the party hardcore; to the extent they reject his legacy they will be undermined within the hardcore. Bush may contaminate the Republican Party brand for perhaps a generation to come.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sidney-blumenthal/how-bush-rules-bu_b_29297.html

Read the whole thing, Blumenthal nails it and I hope he's right!

[liberal N proud]

1. I hope he is right also

Bush's radical presidency has recast the character of the party, its purposes and appeal, and Republicans' disorientation in the 2006 mid-term campaign is only the first inkling of coming disintegration. His radicalism is unique, but the consequences are pervasive and lasting

I am just afraid that he is underestimating the stupidity of the American people. Those who were dumb enough to vote for him in 2004 were enough to put him within stealing distance and they seized that opportunity. Too many of those same morons will return to the Republican party time and time again because it is easy for them to stay the course.

[kurth]

2. "The president is always right"

This just about sums up the asshole and his illegitimate government.

[enough]

3. Had a delightful indication of this in my mailbox yesterday.

I live in PA congressional district 06, where a D challenger is running against a Bush-loving R incumbent. (Lois Murphy the challenger, Jim Gerlach the incumbent.)

There was a piece of full-color campaign literature with with two wonderful pictures of Gerlach staring adoringly at Bush, one with Bush gazing adoringly back at Gerlach. Just the sort of pictures you would expect in campaign literature, of the incumbent showing his great connections with the President.

Except that this was literature sent out by the DEMOCRAT.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. 'Contaminate'? How about 'destroy'?

I think that the Republican Party will be seriously close to complete death in a handful of years -- maybe a decade. The shift in public opinion has not crystallized yet, but there's going to be a repudiation of all things Conservative. It will be similar to what happened in the 1960s, but it won't be nearly as gaudy and this time it won't abandon political activity right after the war is over.

Because people are going to start suffering soon; with the next national crisis that hits, the fever-dream of the Neo-Cons will end with ugly, painful finality. Something -- like a flu epidemic or a major oil price increase or another terror attack or a natural disaster -- will be like Katrina; only this time, big. (And I mean no disrespect to those who have suffered through the willful political destruction of New Orleans and environs.)

Within about ten years, you won't be able to find anyone outside of a few maniacs who will claim to be Conservatives -- the word will be used with all kinds of qualifiers, as in, "oh, I'm NOT 'A conservative', but 'conservative with a small C'!" Even Libertarianism (or Libertarianity as the case may be) will be deprecated. The Republican Party, should it survive, will have to envision and develop a new, far more progressive ideology.

We will only have to "grin and bear it" for a few more years.

Keep fighting!

--p!

[Beetwasher]

5. I Will Also Add To That That The Dems Are Starting To "Get It"

Especially Dean and his 50 state strategy. That will help matters greatly if from now on we contest EVERY seat they have. And for the first time in a long time, Dems are beating the Repubs in the money game.

[GeorgeGist]

6. The Republican Party has earned the death penalty...

for treason and crimes against humanity.