Midterm electons in three days and the water is roiling and muddy. Typical American election, of course.
I find it fascinating to note that Republicans -- particularly high profile conservatives -- are calling for the party faithful to stay home and not vote, or to vote for Democrats.
It's not an unprecedented event in our political history, but it's deeply telling how passionate some notable conservatives are about opposing Bush and the party this election cycle.
Last night, a noted author, Andrew Sullivan, a neo-conservative and a lifetime Republican operative, said this:
"I believe in the conservative agenda: Small government, individual responsiblity, state’s rights, a competent defense, balanced budgets, low taxes, indiviudal liberty; on all those issues I have no choice but to oppose this president. And the only way to get him to grapple with reality is to vote for the Democrats.”
Sullivan added, "I’m not happy. It’s not because I believe or agree with Democrats on a whole host of issues; but this Republican Congress has increased debt spending faster than any Democratic Congress since FDR. It is the debt that the next generation will have to pay off; it was $20 trillion in 2000, by 2004 it was $43 trillion. Could the Democrats be any worse?"'
Sounds desperate and disillusioned, doesn't he. Asked if anger is the best way to decide this midterm election, Sullivan said yes, it is.
"It’s enough to express anger right now. To say stop; to use what the founding father’s gave us, which is a system of checks and balances. I don’t think it’s healthy right now, given the record of this Congress and this president, to control all of the levers of government. I think conservatives and liberals can join hands in this to try and drag them back to sanity."
Sullivan is expressing, I believe, the thoughts of many Republicans, particularly Republicans who've sent their children to war in Iraq and have listened to their children express dismay and frustration at the lack of planning, the lack of determination and the lack of military insignt that plagues the actions we're taking in Iraq. Bush's "Stay the course" rhetoric is no longer lending solace or support to the troops or the American people. it's too shallow, too vague -- and far too ridiculous for anyone to swallow that line of bull any more.
Sullivan continued, "What the Republicans need is to have a real debate on what on Earth (the word) conservative means. Somebody has taken over the Republican Party and they have quite obviously screwed up the war in Iraq. I think it would be good for the Re[publcians to lose. The conservatives have so lost their souls that they need to lose to regain them."
That from a Republican diehard! How can the electorate continue to hold its nose and vote for an administration that lives in an illusory world? It's so clear that the president has no grip whatsoever on reality, especially when he repeatedly proclaims that Donald Rumsfeld "is doing a terrific job." I harken back to the president telling his fallen soldier, FEMA chief Brown, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," whenever I hear that Rumsfeld phrase repeated ad nauseum. It's scary how out of touch the administration really is, on every issue that concern Americans.
Richard Pearl, a ferocious, pro-war neo-conservative, said a few days ago that this administration is dysfunctional. When you're talking about the most powerful military force in the world and use the word dysfunctional it raises some spooky prospects.
But getting these people to recognize reality is harder than teaching a fish to breath air, it seems. Rumsfeld, Cheney and the crew seem content to breathe only the rarified air that surrounds Bechtel, Schlumberger, Haliburton and the other billion-dollar oil companies that pull their strings.
If people choose to re-elect these Republicans to control the Congress, then they’ll get the government they deserve, God help us.