Count me as one of those who, unfortunately for the Republic, believes that St. Hillarybeast will be elected in 2008 by default. So far, NONE of the floated Republican names...other than maybe Giuliani...can appeal to the moderate-Center and pull enough votes from both Parties. At present I dismiss McCain as a spent-force who will be too-old, and more importantly too-compromised, to be an effective candidate for 2008.
The GOP needs to be out-of-power in order to reflect on their over-reaching mistakes of playing to the "convenient" extreme-Right of the Party; and to regroup with new ideas for a new century. I've been re-reading T. Roosevelt's The New Nationalism speech where he outlined his Square Deal-philosophy, and Douthat & Salam's The Party of Sam's Club essay that Andrew Sullivan was touting a few days ago on his site. Print them both out and read them at the same-tim, the problems haven't changed. We need to step-back, regroup, and look in the GOP farm club for another Theodore Roosevelt. I'm becoming increasingly convinced through reading Theodore Rex and Kissinger's Diplomacy that it's already time to start looking past just the War on Terror to the fundementals of our National Self-Interests...be they immigration, health-care in an aging population, or living with China.
The GOP leadership has become so intent over the last 30-years in getting into power, that they have forgotten what and why they were "Republicans". They have sold the Party in market-square to the anti-abortionists, religious fundementalists and the narrow self-serving agendas of the corporate, NGO and societal Special Interests. They gained power and are so desperate to keep it that they have compromised their principles for pork, illusory power, and five anti-abotion seats on the SCOTUS.
Time to regroup and return to the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Barry Goldwater. Reagan, while a great man, did great long-term damage to the Party's principles by his alliance-of-convenience with the Religious Right. And the unintended consequence is the fiscal and governance log-jam we have inherited.
And sometimes the only way to clear a log-jam is with high-explosives, a sure balance, and sharp nerves.
