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230 Comments
- michaelpinto, on 01/11/2009, -8/+77The man who saved the Republican party after Herbert Hoover (who was a free market fan) was General Dwight D. Eisenhower who was very liberal by the standards of today's Republicans and very much a product of big government with projects the like Interstate Highway System and the civilian space agency NASA. Eisenhower wasn't an interventionist in the Middle East (in fact he stopped a war there) and he did try to pursue peace with Russia. Yet poor Ike seems so overlooked by the Republicans today who seem fixated on a Reagan/Goldwater legacy instead (and what's left of Nixon's shameful southern strategy). If Eisenhower were alive today you could bet that he would be endorsing candidates like Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg.
- pintomp3, on 01/12/2009, -13/+71Bush didn't betray the Republican brand, he personified it. People act like Reagan was any different. Reagan was a homophobe who blamed AIDS on the gays. He supported apartheid in South Africa. He sold weapons to terrorists in order to fund death squads in Central America. He busted up unions in favor of corporations. Bush and Reagan simply display the Republicans religious fundamentalism, American exceptionalism, and disdain for the poor in favor of the wealthy.
- doublefelix, on 01/11/2009, -6/+56Lee Atwater - and his protege, Rove - made it possible for TWO Bush's to wreck the GOP.
- brucealmighty, on 01/12/2009, -4/+50Bush more or less wrecked virtually every organization he has touched....why did the GOP think they would be exempt...?
- TheWriteGuy, on 01/12/2009, -5/+45One sign of immaturity is a person's inability to recognize and correct their own faults, and, instead, blame others for their own failings.
Bush blames 9/11, the economy, acts of God (like Katrina), etc. for why people regard his administration as a failure. Palin blames the media for making her look like a fool. Notice a pattern here? - humptyz, on 01/12/2009, -3/+43"But they [Republicans] probably were not amused at Bush's huffy answer to a question during an ABC News interview that was part of his legacy tour. When it was pointed out that Saddam Hussein had not conspired with al-Qaeda, and that al-Qaeda had not been a presence in Iraq until we invaded, Bush fired back: 'So what?'"
So what, indeed. That's probably how Bush feels about this article. - kingofinternet, on 01/11/2009, -6/+33or obama, just like his granddaughter did.
- choochee, on 01/11/2009, -10/+36The American people are stupid enough that the GOP will easily be resurrected into power once again within 2 to 4 years. I would bet the people who think the GOP is "over" are younger than 35 years old. Older folks have watched both parties be tagged with death, only to be resurrected by the stupid people (the voters) once again. Watch and learn, my friends. LMAO!!
- TheEngineer2008, on 01/11/2009, -3/+28I agree. In 1992, the Republicans quickly rallied around (some) limited government principles, culminating with the Contract with America and a big Congressional win only two years later. The Dems has similar soul-searching after that.
This year, the GOP has yet to accept responsibility, suggesting that they were done in by the "Obama mania media," "stolen recounts," and stuff like that. They seem to think they're actually on the right track. They may have to lose a couple of more elections before they realize their problems are not due to others. - ra9e, on 01/11/2009, -3/+27That may be, but its worth noting that he improved peaceful relations between humans and fish
- Maddoktor2, on 01/12/2009, -2/+24Hey, GOP - want to regain some respect? Try distancing yourselves from hatemongers like Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter, et al.
America is fed up with dirty politics - hopefully you got the message it sent in the '08 elections. - Harboggles, on 01/12/2009, -14/+35Both parties are broken. No need to play favorites down the aisle. With the exception of a few key congressmen our legislative branch is a mess.
- altgeeky1, on 01/12/2009, -2/+22Not only did Reagan sell weapons to Iran, but afterwards Iran gave weapons to Hezzbolah... who blew up the US Marines barracks in Lebenon.
Not being one to turn and run in the face of a humiliatingly successful attack.. Reagan ordered an invasion just 48 hours later... of the tiny island nation of Grenada. Honor restored.
That Reagan was a supremely likable guy, is the one thing everyone can agree on. - BotchaMcCoola, on 01/12/2009, -3/+221) Bush turned out to be a con man instead of a Conservative, and 2) Republicans stood behind him. Their value of loyalty, often good in the past, killed them this time.
- acknotSW, on 01/12/2009, -5/+24The fundamentals of the republican party are strong.
Sorry, couldn't resist. - MacParrot, on 01/12/2009, -9/+27The Republican party is no more dead after 8 years of Bush da second than the Democrats were after Johnson or Carter. The two parties are constantly changing themselves to fit whatever demographic they think will win elections for them. In other words, both parties are whores for your vote and if you REALLY believe that either one gives a crap about you or your opinions then you are as blind as the worst Steve Jobs-loving fanboy.
If Watergate and Nixon couldn't kill the Republican party, what makes you think Bush could? - Mujokan, on 01/12/2009, -1/+19As others have said, the Republicans did it themselves, as a whole.
In my opinion it began after 9/11 when they decided they had the moral high ground and could do whatever the hell they wanted. It was very difficult for the Democrats to challenge anything at that time -- not to say the Democrats weren't kind of spineless about it. I remember the first time I saw Howard Dean laying into them in about 2002 and it was a shock that anyone had the guts to speak up.
They took full advantage, decided they were infallible, and ran the car off the road. Unfortunately the Democrats didn't really try to take the keys off them when the Republicans staggered drunkenly from the 9/11 Saloon and got behind the wheel -- with some honorable exceptions like Dean or Lindsay Graham. - spookyttws, on 01/12/2009, -6/+23It really took people 8 years of ***** management to figure out he isn't Regan's second coming? I recently had talk with my only Republican friend (who, by the way, broke down and voted Obama this election) about why he voted for Bush twice. His response was both run of the mill and shocking at the same time: Republicans are fiscally conservative, and while he didn't agree with Bush on the social issues (immigration, Gay Marriage, Basic Civil rights..okay I threw that last one in myself) he didn't like Kerry's spending policies. And you have to understand that he recently just passed the Bar. He's a smart guy who just became a lawyer, but he believed the rhetoric that although the Republican Party is living in 1890 Socially, at least they're not spending like a crazy liberal would. He's since changed his mind, but apparently all that 'stay the course' propaganda is really ingrained at a young age (his parent's are huge GOP supporters and donors) but that's not unusual here in Orange County, CA, we're home to the largest Republican population in CA.
- dougs55, on 01/11/2009, -2/+18The GOP is so far into denial about what happened and why that in 4 years people under 39 yo will think the GOP is over and in 8 years people under 43 yo will think the GOP is over. :p
- ZenMojo, on 01/12/2009, -2/+17For some reason people act like Reagan was a breath of fresh air, but he created a record bureaucracy and tripled the national debt. Technically, he ruined monetary policy for decades.
On the other hand, he was an actor, so he managed to fool the rubes even to this day. The Republican brand has been ***** for decades, it's just taking a public unaware of history to be pushed far beyond "well, in principle it's a good idea" into "okay, really, what the *****" territory. - lowbot, on 01/12/2009, -6/+21On top of that people are forgetting the contributions from senate republics and reps. Tom DeLay? Bill Frist? Bush didnt do it alone. GOP voters voted these people in. These people personified conservatism. If anything is broken its the idea that conservatism (as done in the USA) is a good idea. Its not.
- ianharstanton, on 01/12/2009, -3/+17W didnt ruin the party, they ruined themselves.
- netant, on 01/12/2009, -5/+19Good article, but the author's analysis is flawed. Its silly to blame Bush for losing the independent voters. By its nature, the independent voter doesn't vote by party lines. The Republican party never "owned" the independent vote. It certainly didn't during Clinton's administration. The independent voter will always swing over to the candidate most likely support what they consider important, and not be a disaster in the job.
No, what Bush did to kill the Republican brand forever was accommodate laisse-faire capitalism. The banking collapse NEVER should have come about. All the economy needed was conscientious oversight. Instead, the banks could do no wrong; they NEEDED to be DEregulated. So they were allowed to make mortgages recklessly, commit investor fraud with SIVs, and make derivative trades WAY beyond the bank's total worth. The banks were allowed to operate like Enron; so they did (it looked more profitable on paper). People also don't understand the gas price run up was caused by non-regulation of oil trading. There was no actual shortage of available oil.
So, voters looked at the cratering of their financial assets, and blamed the party that was in power for the past 8 years. It did not help the Republican party that they picked a candidate unable to address the issue to the public's satisfaction. But two years from now, the economy will still be in the tank, and who are voters going to blame? They still will blame the Republicans. The Republicans will still claim helping the guys that f**ked over the economy will be the solution to the economic morass. Republicans don't understand how badly they helped f**ked over the USA. They don't. It will only be after four years of Democratic failure where the Republicans will have a chance. But it won't happen if they keep peddling the same sh*t. The blueprint is the Great Depression. Look at what FDR did, and what the Republican party did. - Volatile36, on 01/12/2009, -0/+14And cut off all ties between humans and pretzels.
- inactive, on 01/12/2009, -6/+20If you keep voting for the party of greed and corruption thats just what your'e get.
- kemp34, on 01/12/2009, -4/+18Crony Corporatism + selling a war based on lies + intense secrecy + eroding the Constitution + intense attack on civil liberties + massive expansion of deficits = ONE CRAP PRESIDENCY
- hugolp, on 01/12/2009, -1/+15@LeadOffMan There are left-wing fascist and there are right-wing fascist. Franco in Spain was very right-wing and he was a dictator. In fact a lot of people of the Spanish right-wing party still refuse to condemn Franco regime.
So before bashing people, please, get yourself educated. - inactive, on 01/12/2009, -0/+14I don't buy it. If this were the case why did they let him run a second time? This is just scapegoating to try and distance themselves from their own failed policies. Bush did the party's bidding.
- bshock, on 01/12/2009, -1/+15Bush knocked it down, Sarah Palin put a stake in its heart.
- TigerStar337, on 01/12/2009, -0/+12Why do the Republicans hate America? They have been in power the last 30 of the past 40 years. What has happened? The deficit is now at $10 trillion dollars (Republicans pride themselves as being fiscal), all individual freedoms have been taken away (patriotism is the enemy of freedom), only the rich can now afford a University education, and there is no middle class because their jobs have moved out of the USA. Why do the Republicans hate the middle class people? Why do middle class people vote for Republicans after they have done nothing to help them? It is crazy. Oh, well. As long as McDonald's has their Shamrock Shake in March, the Americans are happy.
- joebaloney, on 01/12/2009, -1/+12Put down the crackpipe. That guy was a total puppet and towed the line 100%.
- RodBorn, on 01/12/2009, -1/+12Bush destroyed the Republican Party? Right...
that's like saying Hitler destroyed the Nazi party. - inactive, on 01/12/2009, -1/+12it's not that his policies were different, it's just that he didn't make the effort to gloss it over with feel good ***** like that grampa jerk. to be in the GOP is to be willfully blind, but it can only take so much strain, and Team Monkeyboy pushed it past the breaking point.
- alex7575, on 01/12/2009, -2/+13And my point is that regardless, Conservatives are still voting for those they consider "Neo-Cons" by not "bailing on the party".
- MacParrot, on 01/12/2009, -0/+10Long term the numbers DO lie. It doesn't matter what short-term gains either party makes. Obama (who I voted for) could royally screw up during his first term and be out in 2012. Who would gain if that happened? The Republicans. Would we then be saying that the Democratic party is dead?
Again look long term. Both parties say whatever they think you want to hear to get them your votes. I REALLY want Obama to be different but time will tell - DangerCollie, on 01/12/2009, -7/+17I hope conservatives just keep on with the in-fighting and pandering to the religious right. Bush's legacy will likely taint an entire generation of future voters, just like the Big 3 sealed their fate in the 70's and 80's by making crap cars. I won't buy a Big 3 branded vehicle to this day. The longer the GOP keeps up the stupidity, the longer they'll handicap themselves into the future.
- Mujokan, on 01/12/2009, -0/+10You mentioned "stay the course". One can never underestimate the role of emotion in political decision-making -- a topic studied pretty intensively over the last few years. A lot of this stuff simply isn't rational, no matter how well-educated the person involved.
- inactive, on 01/12/2009, -2/+12I'm a libertarian and for regulating corporations and the market because the fraud perpetrated on the American people should not be tolerated, but this is not my point really. Everyone gets all worked up thinking about deregulation of corporations. This is not my main priority right now! I want that travesty known as the patriot act revoked as well as all of these laws that do nothing, but hamper freedom. The corporation crap is a red herring used by the left while the "its against family values," is a red herring brought on by the right. I JUST WANT FREEDOM TO DO WHAT I WANT SO LONG AS IT DOESN'T HURT OTHERS! If that includes heroin and hookers, why is the government allowed to stop me? People today think that "endowed with certain inalienable rights," only applies to going to work in the car I choose to drive. If I want to shoot heroin into my veins and sleep with 50 women at the same time (so long as everything is consensual and I'm hurting no one else), then what gives anyone the right to stop me!?!
- muckemuck, on 01/12/2009, -2/+12The Libertarian Party is in far worse shape than the Republican party... partially due to Republicans who came into the Libertarian party and proceeded to destroy it from within and partially due to a few die hard Libertarians who do everything possible to make Libertarians look bad.
- mdude85, on 01/12/2009, -1/+10"One facet of Bush's legacy is widely overlooked: He wrecked the GOP."
Is this actually widely overlooked? I've been hearing about how Bush ruined the Republican party for like the last 2 years. - Dumbledorito, on 01/12/2009, -12/+21To paraphrase the spoken-word artist, "Angry Genius Boy," Libertarians are just Republicans who don't care if you spend your tax cut on heroin and hookers.
They still suck the same corporate *****, except Libertarians somehow think that if what little regulation we have left is removed, corporations will magically become honest, politicians will accept no bribes even though there is now no oversight to punish or prevent them, and consumers will intuitively find out which business entities are corrupt and avoid them.
Since, y'know, that worked so well in the recent financial and banking meltdown... - Mujokan, on 01/12/2009, -4/+13I still think America is more a conservative country than otherwise, so simply running on social conservatism, and having had a "road to Damascus" epiphany on the need for small government suddenly, the Republicans will be back fairly quickly. Maybe not 2012 unless Obama totally sucks, though.
Even Digg is really conservative in my opinion, and that is a pretty young demographic. Sure it is socially liberal by and large (including pro-science/anti-religion), but it is very fiscally conservative, and very loud on law and order issues (except for the War on Drugs, which no-one can defend if challenged.) Ron Paul made a big impact on this demographic, and he is conservative as ***** on everything except the government intervening in your private life. - lowbot, on 01/12/2009, -4/+12>at least they're not spending like a crazy liberal would.
What? Look at the recent presidencies and what kind of deficiet they produced. Its the GOP that spends like there's no tomorrow and its the democrats that have to clean up their mess. Clinton cleaned the economic mess and its obama's turn. I would think a law school graduate would be able to do the simplest of google searches.
>And you have to understand that he recently just passed the Bar.
That doesnt make you smart or wise. It means you are able to memorize facts and legal concepts and take tests. Neither of which really have anything in common with good government or more importantly, good judgement. - keegangrayson, on 01/12/2009, -0/+8People are dumb as bricks. Anyone who thinks "staying the course" is a good idea is just... stupid. Mentally retarded even. I don't mind waiting to see if a plan comes to fruition, because a plan requires investment and commitment, but when we KNOW for a FACT that it really does not work, anyone who uses that anti-thinking rhetoric ***** deserves to be shot for treason. Shot in the ***** face. That should be a new duty of the non-executive Vice President position. "Flip flopping" is the best thing you can do - change your ***** mind when you're wrong. It's ok to be wrong. People look dumber when they try to prove they're right (e.g. see "Creationists").
- MrErr, on 01/12/2009, -1/+9Bush screwed things up for the majority of the country because he lied. He sided with corrupt business people and did not care for the rest. His foreign policy had no regard for the rights of all people but only of some. if anything I am saying this man had no morals or principles.
- zeromind, on 01/12/2009, -1/+9Bush did not ruin the Republican party. It did it, itself by taking a sycophantic position on everything he did and said. They didn't stand up to him once. Also don't let the Republican leadership off too easy. The tide really started to turn on them with the Terri Shivo case.
The Democrats run the same risk if they don't step back and be willing to honestly evaluate Obama's performance. Though the Democrats have less unity to begin with so that will probably not be as much a problem. - rixbad, on 01/12/2009, -1/+9It's not fair to lay this rap completely on G.W.. The businessmen that put him in office, the supreme court, and greedy profit-taking businessmen are more responsible than the administration IMO. Big business received the administration they wanted, be careful what you wish for.
BTW this is not such a bad thing at all. This country (and others) are suffering enough from those policies. - GSnake, on 01/12/2009, -0/+8I think Bush cares. Bush may be the only person in that Administration who actually believes that his actions are both sanctioned by God, and are a direct benefit to the peace and security of the American people, and more importantly, the free world.It scares me most that Bush does not have an 'evil conscience' over his actions, but rather believes his actions are a course of God's work.
Regardless of whether or not he cares, he will be a rich son of a bitch once he leaves office. - keegangrayson, on 01/12/2009, -1/+9Clinton most certainly did clean up the economy. We had a surplus under Clinton. Before and after Clinton, under Republican leadership, we had and have a deficit. Actually we had several recessions... in the 70s, 80s, and... now. And anybody who votes their pocket book over social equality is probably an ignorant bigot, so I doubt the OP's lawyer friend is actually intelligent. What is really funny is that people think they are voting with their pocket book when they vote Republican, but they're really voting for big spending.
- JoeVet, on 01/12/2009, -0/+7Bush was the result of the Republican party failure, not the cause of it.
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