The GOP may be the only current viable party for the Constitution's (hopeful) revival, but certainly not in it's present form. We'll be back when you guys figure out that principles matter more than political gamesmanship. Loyalty to ideals, not loyalty to name brands. That's what is bothering so many of us the most, I think. I really, truly, honestly thought that GWB was a Reagan-esque man of PRINCIPLES. I was excited. My hopes were sky-high. I thought that my very first steps into 'active' political proselytising (and MARCHING, fer cryin' out loud!) would be vindicated. I SWORE to all my friends (and anyone who would listen) that THIS was the guy who would turn back the tide of Socialism in America. I got TWELVE non-voters and first-time voters to go to the polls and vote for him! Instead, he's made a BIG liar out of me on that "Socialism" stuff, and he's proven to be just "more-principled-than-Clinton-and-Gore-combined"... and that's a depressingly low bar to hurdle.
"President Bush really squandered a solid opportunity for greatness, and he's lost my almost automatic vote for the GOP. Instead, he'll 'merely' be the rock which we clung to after 9-11.. not a bad future epitaph, to be sure, but not what he could have been, and a lot less than I had hoped he would be."
I remember standing out in the rain last November in front of the Indiana Statehouse, spending a perfectly good Saturday to do so, protesting in favor of Bush and against the Rat Gore, while numerous motorists flipped me the bird and pedestrians said nasty things to me.
Basically I was willing to be humiliated for the GOP and for W.
I feel tremendously betrayed.
Now I feel that W would not be worth crossing the street to urinate on, were he aflame.
Don't write off a whole party based on one jerk.
If you must leave the presidential spot blank, that that's what you have to do, but PLEASE don't forget the smaller races, since THAT's where our next congresscritters come from.