The Reagan era in American politics is about to end, and we have George W. Bush to thank for its demise.
It took a leader of the Decider's uncommon gifts to kill the philosophy he worships. To be fair, there is one area in which he has been the most proactive of presidents, to our nation's lasting discredit: Violating the basic rights of citizens and noncitizens alike in the name of his "war on terrorism."
Otherwise, he has interpreted Reagan's small-government mandate as an excuse -- or an instruction -- to abdicate government's most fundamental responsibilities. Anyone who wants to argue this point need simply remember the "heck of a job" our government did in handling the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.
Evidence suggests that Americans are tired of a government that is slavishly beholden to a rigid do-nothing ideology -- and that they're ready to punish the president's party for its ineptitude and lassitude. Republicans have gone 0 for 3 in special elections this year for House seats, most recently losing a Mississippi district that gave Bush a landslide 62 percent margin in 2004. What a difference four years can make.
Party leaders speak of the need to refurbish the "Republican brand." The problem goes far beyond packaging, though. It's not that the box needs to be more colorful; it's that the ideas inside have long since gone stale.
'Gone stale' is a very polite way of putting it that the so-called Repug 'ideas' stink like death.
I'd like to deliver my 'thanks' to the Moron-in-Chief by writing 'Thanks, Asshole' on the bottoms of my size 10Ds and givin' him a fast flyin' pair of kicks in the slats.
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