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New missed it...
I'm with [link|http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/|P.Z. Myers], who said "I wouldn't watch those weasels unless they were in a crotch-kicking contest," but I thought that [link|http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200705040002#6|Charlie Pierce] had a good take on it (including a "wish I'd said that" historical allusion):
...Put all of these guys together on a stage and they don't add up to Jack Kemp, for pity's sake, let alone the Gipper. Was there a legitimate smile among them all night? Did any one of them grin a grin that didn't look like it was purchased, wholesale, at someone's garage sale?...

This is a field with the gallows in its eyes. They all know full well that, for six full years, they had the chance that Reagan never really had. They controlled all three branches of the government, and they cowed the elite press far more thoroughly than did Mike Deaver and that bunch. And now they realize to whom they handed the keys of the kingdom, and they're all standing there surrounded by bills that are coming due almost by the day. "Movement conservatism" -- which takes Reagan as a secular icon even though he largely saved it from many of its own excesses -- is an empty shell. It always was a bunch of resentments pretending to be an ideology, and it always contained within itself the poisons that would leach out and kill it. (McCain, poor lost soul, saw this more clearly than anyone in 2000.) It ran the country for six years and it stuck us in a war than none of these 10 men could find it in himself -- no Herselves this time around -- to simply denounce. Ten experienced politicians, and not one of them save Ron Paul could align himself with two-thirds of the country. It lost a great American city through criminal neglect. It cored the economy. It bulled its way into a private family medical decision in Florida and turned it into an international embarrassment. It did more damage to the Constitution than we know, and it hung Donald Segretti's picture in the Department of Justice. Where was the one of these guys calling out all this wreckage and stupidity? Not piecemeal, but systematically. Calling for a completely new direction in his party? They can't do it. None of them can. It probably wouldn't even matter at this point. They're all fighting over the tiller of a plague ship at this point. (Which, and I'm guessing here now, is probably why Chuck Hagel, Fred Thompson, and Newt Gingrich have been so coy about running. As soon as you announce, somebody asks you about the Avignon Presidency, and all the air goes out of the room.) No wonder these guys were so glum. A couple more minutes, and I expected Matthews to start handing out blindfolds.
Ah, that [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy|Avignon Presidency]—nice touch there, Chuck.

cordially,
Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist.
New Excellent. Thanks for the links.
New Republicans look doomed in 2008
The party looks doomed in 2008. None of them have the guts yet to declare Bush a failure and mistake. To admit that Bush's administration and legacy is not conservative, that they where right wing authoritarian. Even really separate themselves from Bush's policies is beyond them. They want to be seen as different from Bush, but just as pro-radical right Christian, pro-war, pro-police state and pro-business.

There is quite a bit of the party that has already given on the president in 2008. And they are setting themselves up to loose even more power in Congress.

The big downside to this is that it gives the Democrats a good chance to nominate anybody and have them win. Clinton wouldn't have a serious chance otherwise, and she is the one Democratic nominee that really worries me.

Jay
New Mostly agreed, but it's still early.
If/when the "surge" in Iraq doesn't work, look for more Republicans to see the writing on the wall. Things changed quite a bit in the party after Nixon's troubles (e.g. the rise of Reagan). If the right person comes around, the "conservatives" can be forced from power in the party. It'll take time, though.

I don't see anyone in the running right now that (realistically) can make a clean break with Bush. Maybe Gilmore, but he's (trying) very much to be in the Reagan mode and I don't think many people will buy into it if the Democrats offer a reasonable alternative.

I do think that 2008 is a lost cause for them. But 2010 and later can see them gain back some of their losses if they make a break with Bush's legacy and the Democrats don't get too far in front of the country. But even with a break, I think it's most likely that the Republicans will be a minority party for 10 or more years.

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.
     First republican debate last night - (JayMehaffey) - (11)
         I watched it and it was mostly so so. - (a6l6e6x) - (1)
             They apparently were Brownback, Huckabee and Tancredo - (Another Scott)
         It was pretty bad. - (Another Scott) - (4)
             The weirdest moment was the smile on McCain's face after he - (Seamus) - (3)
                 I didn't see that, but McCain did seem weird. - (Another Scott) - (2)
                     He was hyper. - (a6l6e6x)
                     ICLRPD! (new thread) - (boxley)
         missed it... - (rcareaga) - (3)
             Excellent. Thanks for the links. -NT - (Another Scott)
             Republicans look doomed in 2008 - (JayMehaffey) - (1)
                 Mostly agreed, but it's still early. - (Another Scott)

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