Reading through the papers, blogs, and mags this morning, two pieces leapt out at me. The first was a Washington Post opinion piece by David Ignatius and the other was an American Conservative article by W. James Antle III. Both pieces address the disarray of the Bush administration and the effect it is having on the Republican Party.
Starting out with Ignatius, we see some pretty choice quotes.If you want to hear despair in Washington these days, talk to Republicans...Republicans voice the bitterness and frustration of people chained to the hull of a sinking ship.
...
"This is the most incompetent White House I've seen since I came to Washington," said one GOP senator. "The White House legislative liaison team is incompetent, pitiful, embarrassing. My colleagues can't even tell you who the White House Senate liaison is. There is rank incompetence throughout the government. It's the weakest Cabinet I've seen." And remember, this is a Republican talking.
Oh, ever so many more!
What we're witnessing here is quite frightening because it amounts to a fairly massive display of false consciousness. Fear of Muslims and fear of terrorism is becoming a raison d'etat, which will inevitably lead to the loss of civil liberties, along with increased xenophobia/racism, and militarism. George W. Bush has failed in everything, but he has succeeded in turning the GOP into a proto-fascist party. Those that Antle quotes are merely the intellectual vanguard of a nationalist front party.
They are a different breed than the people anonymously quoted by Ignatius. Ignatius's sources are inside the Beltway, already in power, and watching that power slip away from them. They're not afraid for their lives, their afraid for their party's continued viability within a two-party system. They understand that the GOP is being systematically stripped down to its most nativist and unattractive components. And they blame the President.
As well they should. We predicted after the '04 election that the Repugs would soon start eating their own, and no, I'm not going to go look for it. They're doing it, thank God, and my only question is:
Want fries with that?
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