The above is the headline of a story in today's Washington Post. Despite all the hand wringing, the GOP refuses to look at the real reasons the Party is increasingly radioactive with voters: (1) the Party has blindly rubber stamped everything the Chimperator has done no matter how ill-advised and even when based on outright, deliberate lies, and (2) the Christianists who now control the Party are NOT mainstream and the public has begun to see just how incredibly crazy and hate-filled these folks are. As a one time Republican activist - I resigned from the party because I could not in good conscience belong to a party working to subvert the separation of church and state and specifically said so in my resignation letter - I see more and more moderates fleeing the party because of the Chimperator and just as importantly because they find the likes of James Dobson and Tony Perkins frightening. The latter preach an constant anti-gay, anti-minority, anti-immigrant mantra. While they try to disguse their bigotry (except in the anti-gay context), after a while it becomes obvious. Especially if one checks their websites regularly. Meanwhile, the GOP leadership remains oblivious to what's happening and the Kool-Aid drinkers blame the massive defections on the party not being reactionary enough. Personally, I hope the leadership remains blind to reality so that the Party suffers decimating losses. Only then will Dobson, et al , perhaps be jetisoned. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:
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Since losing 30 seats and their 12-year stranglehold on power in 2006, House Republicans have kept asking themselves the same question: Can it get any worse? On Tuesday, they may get another answer they won't like. With lots of help from Washington -- including more than $1.3 million in campaign cash and a last-minute visit by Vice President Cheney -- Mississippi Republicans are desperately trying to retain a congressional seat in one of the most reliably conservative districts in the nation.
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The stakes in the 1st District special election couldn't be higher, strategically or symbolically. . . . Rank-and-file Republicans say that would force a day of reckoning for their leadership. "When you connect three dots in anything, that's a bad thing. This connects the dots. At that point, everybody's got to come together and have a come-to-Jesus meeting," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a retiring centrist who will help form a new advisory panel at the National Republican Congressional Committee.
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Just when Republicans thought they had seen everything, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) admitted Thursday that he has a 3-year-old daughter from a long-running extramarital affair with a retired Air Force officer. Fossella, who is married and has three young children at home in Staten Island, is also facing drunken-driving charges in Virginia. GOP strategists are debating whether he should resign or announce that he will not seek reelection in November.
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Tom Davis, who chaired the NRCC for four years, said he doubts the effectiveness of the anti-Obama strategy because of the contrast between the consistently unpopular Bush and the likely Democratic nominee. "When Bush tries to articulate a vision," Davis said, pausing to choose his words carefully, "he will butcher the Gettysburg Address. Obama, he will make an A&P grocery list sing." House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), in a private meeting with Republicans on Tuesday, admitted the limitations of the anti-Obama strategy and tried to sell his troops on an Obama-like message of "change" as their only hope for success.
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