I rarely link to other people's blog posts. I figure anyone on the net (who stumbles across this little corner of it) is likely reading most of the major blogs anyway, so I don't need to point out what others are saying (besides, armand does it better than me).
That being said, John Cole seems right on point here:
Seriously- what does the current Republican party stand for? Permanent war, fear, the nanny state, big spending, torture, execution on demand, complete paranoia regarding the media, control over your body, denial of evolution and outright rejection of science, AND ZOMG THEY ARE GONNA MAKE US WEAR BURKHAS, all the while demanding that in order to be a good American I have to spend most of every damned day condemning half my fellow Americans as terrorist appeasers.
And that isn't even getting into the COMPLETE and TOTAL corruption of our political processes at every level. The shit is really going to hit the fan after we vote these jackasses out of power in 2008.
Screw them. I got out. They can have their party. I will vote for Democrats and little L libertarians and isolationists until the crazy people aren't running the GOP. The threat of higher taxes in the short term isn't enough to keep me from voting out crazy people and voting for sane people with whom I merely disagree regarding policy. Hillarycare doesn't scare me as much as Frank Gaffney having a line to the person with the nuclear football or Dobson and company crafting domestic policy.
That is why the Republican party is in shambles. The majority of us have decided that the movers and shakers in the GOP and the blogospheric right are certified lunatics who, in a decent and sane society, we would have in controlled environments in rocking chairs under shade trees for most of the day, wheeled in at night for tapioca pudding and some karaoke.
If you click through, you can see Cole making fun of David Brooks, as an added bonus.
I think Cole says, more or less, what I'd say. I used to be Republican. I suppose I still am (in that I'm still registered as an "R"), but that's mostly strategic (I'm waiting to decide which party's primary I want to vote in). In any event, there really isn't anything out there that will get me to vote Republican this year (perhaps never again, but I'll think about that). I'm genuinely scared of the people running the Republican party these days, and wish they would leave sooner. Many of the scary ones have (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith), but many remain (Cheney, Rice, Bush). I sort of feel like a parent with a missing kid in a china shop: I expect a very loud (and expensive) crash at any second, and I'm just left hoping it will only cost a great deal to fix, not indentured servitude as payment. I won't stop feeling that way until late January, 2009.
David Brooks remains a boob.
UPDATE: ...And this is exactly what I was talking about: the usual gaggle of wingnuts who are up in arms because Obama doesn't wear an "American Flag" pin on his suit. Is this what patriotism has come to? You're unfit to be American if you won't wear a cheap trinket (likely made in China) on your clothes? Patriotism is what you wear, not what you do? The Republican party is dead to me.
Posted by baltar at October 5, 2007 02:10 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Corruption | Extremism | PoliticsYep, sign me up for all that, too, with the added caveat that I don't think Clinton II is the answer here. I will vote for Paul or Obama in the primary. As for the general, I may end up writing in my cat's name. Or maybe yours. Do you want to be President?
Posted by: jacflash at October 5, 2007 02:38 PM | PERMALINKNot me. I had to write a paper about Marx in grad school, so I'm out.
Posted by: binky at October 5, 2007 02:44 PM | PERMALINKI won't waste a vote on a cat (I did once write in "Ozzy", though not in crayon) given Florida in 2000; West Virginia could be a swing state in 2008, and my vote (unlikely as it might be) could be important. You folks in the "People's Republic" might be able to more securely do that, but on the off-chance, I'll actually vote for whoever the Dems run.
I, too, hope it won't be Hillary. That would leave the country run by a Bush or a Clinton for 24 (and possibly 28) straight years. That's closer to a monarchy than I'd like us to be. But, if it's her or Guiliani (or Romney, or McCain, or Huckabee, or...), that isn't a choice.
It's gonna be a depressing election season.
Posted by: baltar at October 5, 2007 02:47 PM | PERMALINKDude, if it's Hillary vs pretty much anyone but Ron Paul or the Easter Bunny we have to hope she wins. But yeah, here in the Bluest of Blue I don't have to actually vote for her.