John Cole Laments How The Right Went Wrong
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General PoliticsHe’s a Republican, but not the kind that he sees so much of in the blogosphere and beyond these days.
As he puts it…this is no fun:
In short, it really sucks looking around at the wreckage that is my party and realizing that the only decent thing to do is to pull the plug on them (or help). I am not really having any fun attacking my old friends- but I don’t know how else to respond when people call decent men like Jim Webb a pervert for no other reason than to win an election. I don’t know how to deal with people who think savaging a man with Parkinson’s for electoral gain is appropriate election-year discourse. I don’t know how to react to people who think that calling anyone who disagrees with them on Iraq a “terrorist-enabler� than to swing back. I don’t know how to react to people who think that media reports of party hacks in the administration overruling scientists on issues like global warming, endangered species, intelligent design, prescription drugs, etc., are signs of… liberal media bias.And it makes me mad. I still think of myself as a Republican- but I think the whole party has been hijacked by frauds and religionists and crooks and liars and corporate shills, and it frustrates me to no end to see my former friends enabling them, and I wonder ‘Why can’t they see what I see?� I don’t think I am crazy, I don’t think my beliefs have changed radically, and I don’t think I have been (as suggested by others) brainwashed by my commentariat.
Any Republicans out there feel the same?
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November 1st, 2006 at 1:14 am
In a word, yes. I’ve been lamenting about this exact phenomenon ever since George W ran for the 2000 nomination with a platform in the primaries of “I can win and no one else can” — and got the nomination locked up early. Republicans need to hit their core issues: a balanced budget, reducing taxes through cutting federal spending, a smart and strong military, immigration reform, a coherent geopolitcial foreign policy strategy, and getting people to treat one another with decency.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:27 am
Pretty much — except that I have no doubt about how to react: throw the bums out.
November 1st, 2006 at 8:39 am
They lost me a long time ago. Even though the notion is unthinkable to many, I left the Republican party during the Reagan years.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:10 am
*Dennis waves his hand*
Yeah, I feel the exact same way.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:19 am
One month after George was elected the “balanced budget� party removed all spending constrains and went on a spending binge that has not let up yet. I knew then that the party was about winning elections, not principles. To think otherwise is self delusion, the facts speak for themselves..
November 1st, 2006 at 9:50 am
The related question is what to do with the Northeastern Republican Moderates. Do we keep them in do there can be some semblence of balance against the wingnuts, or vote them out because they are enabling them? I hate the idea of the GOP becoming the wholy owned subsidiary of Rush and Ann, but if Gerlach and Murphy can’t contain them, why should we give them our votes?
November 1st, 2006 at 12:58 pm
I was a Republican for most of my life and jumped ship only after the W insanity began. I don’t know that I agree with grognard that the party is without principles, I think instead that a belligerent foreign policy, disdain for truth in favor of spin, and a turn to religious fundamentalism are newly adopted principles that I can’t accept.
November 1st, 2006 at 2:14 pm
I do feel the same way…
The elephant’s been hijacked!
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:28 am
I probably wouldn’t ever support many Republicans, but to me the current leadership is so awful that I would never support a Republican, simply because of my desire to get rid of the Republican leadership. Even if I didn’t support them, I’d like to feel okay about seeing Linc Chaffee, or Rudy Giuliani, or Olympia Snowe, or Chuck Hagel or Arlen Specter or Chris Shays win elections. Even if I supported their opponent, I wouldn’t feel like their winning would be a disaster for the country. But as long as their presence in Congress ensures that the Republican leadership can continue to send this country down the drain, I hope each and every one of them loses. I’m not happy to view everything through such a partisan lens, but that’s the way it is.
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:18 pm
My feeling is that I didn’t leave the party, it left me…
The entire propagandized election cycle has become a Bad Monty Python Skit…”I came here for an argument!”…”No you didn’t!…
Both Parties have become diametrically opposed, no matter what the issue is, but they CAN all come together when it comes to Congressional offices being raided and records siezed by the FBI, i.e. the “Buy-Partisan” togetherness they suddenly found when Rep. Jeffersons office was raided earlier this year… I freaking expected them to all be holding hands on the Senate Steps singing “Kumbaya”….The entire situation is nauseating…
“We hold these truths to be self evident, Take as much as you can get away with, dodge Accountability, and when in doubt load it with Pork!”
November 5th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
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November 5th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
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