Posted on 12/12/2013 4:38:00 PM PST by kobald
..[B]y the time the Bush era was winding down, the whole administration, including the president, was stewed in terrible, Cheney-level disapproval ratings. And now, almost no one who played a significant role in that administration is anywhere to be found in electoral politics, beyond the tertiary orbits of Punch-and-Judy cable news and the remains of what used to be the conservative "think tank" circuit...
Unlike the Reagan administration, the first Bush administration and the Clinton administration, the George W. Bush presidency elevated precisely no one to the ranks of national leadership who wasn't there before. The 2008 Republican presidential primaries were like some odd eight-year cicada hatch in which the candidates went underground in 2000 and then birthed themselves after Bush and Cheney were gone, as if the intervening years had never happened...
The fascinating turmoil in the Republican Party since 2008 is not just a personnel problem--it's also ideological. If you were putting together a legacy to inspire the next generation of conservatives, you wouldn't pick the Bush administration's trailing ends of land wars, budget deficits, torture, a crusade against gay rights and a financial collapse to rival the Great Depression. The isolationism and libertarian iconography of the Ron Paul wing of the party really does appeal to young people more than Bush-Cheney Republicanism. Social conservatives really do feel backed into a corner and ready to fight against a country that is turning against them faster than most pollsters can keep up. There really is something ripe for renewal in Republicans' self-conception as fiscal conservatives, when the clear pattern is that budget deficits grow under Republicans and shrink under Democrats. The Republican Party is a churning swirl of conflicting ideological currents, and that's going to take some time to work out...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Name one insight.
Blame Bush?
Why can't they be happy that's its dying, and celebrate? Or do they need them like the Globetrotters need the Generals?
the GOP is failing the GOP
Madcow blaming Bush on FR?
IBTZ!
Who would EVER give a flying firetruck what Maddow thinks?
I don't take advice from people like Rachel Mad-cow.
/johnny
kobald
Since Nov 19, 2013
This boi-dike’s first first column in the compost is very original. Blame Bush, what a novel idea. (is that sarcasm tag really necessary?)
/johnny
Is this Maddow’s dutiful attempt to change the subject from her president’s sinking popularity? Quick, the countries disappointed with Obama, let’s talk about W some more.
Sounds like she needs to get...well,you know.Wait! What’s that? She doesn’t......
Hey, we were all new once.
I may have my differences with Bush, but it will be a cold day in hell before I’ll give a darn what Maddow or the Washington Post have to say on the subject.
Where’s the critical analysis of the man that has the job now?
Oh, that’s right, there is none.
No, it’s more important to get in a few more kicks to the groin of an ex-president, than to take down the present enemy of the state who is doing his best to destroy our nation.
IN the sense that he served at a time when the country was ready for change and moving ahead, his plate was full, his leadership required elsewhere besides uniting and building the Gop. IT was and is as much a coalition of malcontent groups of odd curmudgeons and patriots as any, the opportunities lost may come up ahead of the successes claimed.
Jmho
So now it’s Bush’s fault because the GOP establishment (mostly) are jack asses?
Good grief.
We got three good years of some serious rocking coming up!
The GOP failed themselves. They didn’t push pres. Bush to the right, hold him accountable, nor did they develop a bench.
/johnny
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