My friend Marc just sent me the following from the National Review's blog. It's written by George Conway, a Republican heavily involved making Paula Jones a household word (i.e., he's really REALLY Republican). Yet, here is what he has to say about not just George Bush, but the entire Republican party.
And again, he's writing this on the Web site of the uber-conservative National Review:
I'm disgruntled, too, and I'm going to get it all of my chest this morning: I've never voted for a Democrat in a general election in my life, and I don't expect to anytime soon, but it's been impossible for me over the past couple of years to get enthused about the Republican party.In one fell swoop, George Bush isn't just turning independents off of the Republican party, he's turning die-hard Republicans away.
I voted for President Bush twice, and contributed to his campaign twice, but held my nose when I did it the second time. I don't consider myself a Republican any longer. Thanks to this Administration and the Republicans in Congress, the Republican Party today is the party of pork-barrel spending, Congressional corruption — and, I know folks on this web site don't want to hear it, but deep down they know it's true — foreign and military policy incompetence.
Frankly, speaking of incompetence, I think this Administration is the most politically and substantively inept that the nation has had in over a quarter of a century. The good news about it, as far as I'm concerned, is that it's almost over.
The Democratic party has been handed a gift from God with George Bush. He is the ONLY issue we should be talking about between now and election day. And I'd say we hit on the specific messages Conway spells out: fiscal irresponsibility; corruption; and incompetence. Our goal? To woo every moderate to the Democratic party, and to horribly cripple the Republican party so even its Terri Schiavo base wants out.
Remember when the war on terror was Bush's strong point? Now even Republicans are willing to call Bush incompetent on that very issue. Before Rove and Mehlman wake up later this summer and yet again try to brand Democrats as wimps. And before Democrats find themselves facing another congressional resolution authorizing force against Iran. We need to unify and strike back hard, and now, against a president who is both hated by his own party and falling apart at the seams.
Come on gang, message message message. We can do better than "we can do better."
