How can it be that this Country is so srewed up that I actually like Bob Barr now?!!

[Roxy66]

It's a little freaky....I used to hate the guy and thought HE was extreme!!

[Ghost in the Machine]

1. welcome to Bizzarro Land!

:rofl:

[originalpckelly]

2. Or fucking Pat Buchanan?

Or the fact that you could take articles from the American Conservative and try to pass them off as straight out of The Nation.

[cspanlovr]

3. Its a mixed up, jumbled up, shook up world, except for....Bob Barr?

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. It's a strange period. There are subtle ....

... and not so subtle... shifts in the political landscape. People are revisiting old issues and alliances with new perspectives.

Example: if Giuliani is a serious contender for GOP nomination ( I can't stand him) it does reflect a real sea change in the dynamics of that party.

I'm sure he'll have to renounce his earlier NYC-era positions on GLBT rights and abortion rights ( and I have no doubt that will have no trouble doing so) the fact that he's even being considered, given his past political history, means something profound is happening.

[xchrom]

6. giulliani, schwarzenegger, snow, etc -- this is the direction

the republick party will take.

no doubt about it.

more clearly out of the corporate closet.

way more modern --

the question is how will the dems respond to that?

it worries me -- they need to clearly be a party of the Left -- and stop trying to mimic republick party corporate values.
i fear a return to clinton era politics.

which i have no idea -- might be something you like -- but i don't.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. They can't go too far to the middle; they'll splinter.

My guess is they'll ( the GOP base) wring ideological concessions from the Giuliani-Schwarzenegger types and run one of them as figure head with a view to controlling from the bottom.

It's clear the leading DEMS are not going to break abruptly with the idea of running to the middle. Unlike the GOP , they risk no real schism... unfortunately.

It looks to be a battle of the moderates, perhaps even the indistinguishables.

There will be plenty of 'gestures' and 'signals' to each base but not much open serious discussion of differences on real issues.

Seems to be the system most people want. More of the same.

But the center of the GOP appears to have legitimately shifted. Which I think may mean less wiggle room for DEMS to move to the left. We shall see.

[xchrom]

9. i think that the idea that ''social values'' conservatives

are something of a mill stone is taking root in the gop.

it will take a few years -- but not that many -- to shed them.

as far as the dems -- the republick party moving toward the likes of giulliani and schwarzenegger -- means a greater threat to them.

but i sense -- you are more ''moderate'' than i am.

and i will leave each of us in peace as far as that goes.

[RedStateShame]

5. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Our best hope against neocons is...

...paleocons.

Chuck Hagel's objection to the continued war in Iraq, Bob Barr's reported advocacy for marijuana, and criticism of the Bush administration by conservative commentators such as Joe Scarborough are not demonstrating some change of mind, but rather it's classic conservatism. And, although many of these sorts don't like the liberal agenda, they like a good argument. That's how good policies are constructed, i.e. the balanced budget between a Democratic president and a Republican Congress from the 1990s. The current administration has not only betrayed the ideals that Barry Goldwater et al advocated, but it has also stifled dissent, which any true politician cannot stand.

[tenshi816]

8. I hear ya.

I was thinking just the same thing the other day. I'm from Georgia originally, and hated knowing we were from the same state. I've even sent him irate e-mails in the past and now, well, I'm not sure how I feel about him anymore.

Maybe Borat had something to do with it...