Conservatives On Why The GOP Should Lose In 2006

[Mark E. Smith]

Washington Monthly, October 2006

Time For Us To Go

Conservatives on why the GOP should lose in 2006

With Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, conservatives
these days ought to be happy, but most aren't. They see expanding govt,
runaway spending, Middle East entanglements, and govt corruption, and they wonder why, exactly, the country should be grateful for Republican dominance. Others see a grab bag of stated policies and wonder how they cohere. Everyone thinks something's got to change.

Now seven prominent conservatives dare to speak the unspeakable: They hope the Republicans lose in 2006. Well, let's be diplomatic and say they'd prefer divided government - soon. (Perhaps that formulation would fool Dennis Hastert.) Of course, all of them wish for the long term health of conservatism, and most are loyal to the GOP. What they also believe, however, is that even if a Speaker Pelosi looms in the wings, sometimes the best remedy for a party gone astray is to give it a session in the time-out chair.

Let's Quit While We're Behind - By Christopher Buckley

Bring On Pelosi - By Bruce Bartlett

And We Thought Clinton Had No Self-Control - By Joe Scarborough

Give Divided Government A Chance - By William A. Niskanen

Restrain This White House - By Bruce Fein

Ideologie Has Taken Over - By Jeffrey Hart

The Show Must Not Go On - By Richard A. Viguerie

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0610.forum.html

[Sapere aude]

1. I read a couple of these articles and I agree it's time for the

conservatives to go but not for the reasons they give. They want to get rid of the Bush administration and replace it with another more ideological pure conservative regime. I hope they help us win and that we can then hold on to power.

[Berry Cool]

2. Well, at least some of them are showing loyalty to the original

conservative ideals--such as getting government off people's backs and out of their private lives. Which is more than this administration ever has. They're showing a dislike of Republican pork. And they're ashamed that they got caught with egg on their faces about the reasons for going into this war. And seeing the hypocrisy of people who never went to war themselves cramming it down others' throats.

Of course, their attitude is that the current Republican situation is so bad that only one truly radical thing can make it look better by contrast: put the Dems in charge. Haw haw haw.

on edit: Some of them really do seem to believe in the values of a divided government. Good for them. Of course, others seem to think that the main virtue of a divided government is that it tends to approve fewer expensive things, period. *sigh*

And then you have the idiots who seem to think that if the Dems regain control of Congress, they'll push for impeachment, and all of a sudden the American people will start feeling sorry for that poor wittle Georgie who never really was too bright anyway so he can't be blamed and punished for all that has gone wrong on his watch. And then everything will start to go his way again. And then their next candidate can ride that feeling-sorry-for-poor-wittle-Georgie tidal wave right on into the White House.

I say "Dream on."