hard to take pleasure in havoc they've caused and disarray they will leave

[dajoki]

WP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/30/AR2006033001334.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

A Meltdown We Can't Even Enjoy

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, March 31, 2006

It's frustrating. The three overlapping forces that have sent this country in so many wrong directions -- the conservative movement, the neoconservative movement and the Republican Party -- are warring among themselves, doing their best impression of crabs in a barrel, and sensible people can't even enjoy the spectacle. That's because it's hard to take pleasure in the havoc they've caused and the disarray they will someday leave behind.

Factions within the conservative movement have been engaged in escalating skirmishes over what, exactly, the label "conservative" should mean. This week the fight is over illegal immigration. The nativists and xenophobes want mass deportation and a Berlin Wall looming over the Rio Grande. The cultural determinists lose their studied, academic poise the moment they hear brown-skinned people speaking Spanish or see them waving a Mexican flag. Watch your blood pressure, people, because Cinco de Mayo is just a few weeks away.
The social conservatives seem to be hopelessly conflicted about immigration. They have a kind of immune-system reaction against this unchecked inflow of aliens who look suspiciously like carriers of alien values. But, as some conservative commentators have noted, the immigrants flooding across the border are more likely to have traditional, family-and-church values than many native-born Americans. Does . . . not . . . compute.

Meanwhile, the small-government, tight-money conservatives have finally reached the point of utter disgust about another issue -- the fact that George W. Bush and a conservative Congress have presided over a massive expansion of government and an explosion of debt. For this group, having to point to Bill Clinton as a model of fiscal probity redefines the word "galling."

The neoconservative civil war is simpler to map, because it's all about Iraq. After a long period of denial, even the most fervent and evangelical of the neocons are now forced to admit that this whole Iraq thing hasn't quite worked out the way they expected. Those who advocate staying the course can read the polls. They see that bringing out their dictionaries, pointing to the definition of "civil war" and splitting hairs isn't doing much to stanch the flow of public opinion.

<<snip>>

The conflict within the Republican Party is about two primal urges, fear and ambition. Suddenly there is the chance -- not the probability but the possibility -- that the Republicans will lose control of the House or the Senate this fall. At the same time, presidential hopefuls with an eye on 2008 are jockeying for position. That combination of circumstances is turning problems into crises, and crisis management is not the ideal way to run a country.

[Ian David]

1. Bush's base of 33% don't want "victory"

They want Armageddon.

When they say, "Stay the course," it's because they know we're right on course for The Apocalypse.

They're driving with their sunroofs open waiting to be Raptured up out of their clothes.

[dajoki]

2. shrub's Messianic complex n/t

[Ian David]

3. Bush doesn't think he's the Messiah

Bush thinks he's playing for the other team.

[dajoki]

4. truthfuly...

Bush doesn't know what team he's on until Cheney or daddy tell him.