REPUBLICANS IN DISARRAY

From the New York Times courtesy of AlterNet:

Departing Chief Warns G.O.P. on Outlook for 2008 Races

In his farewell speech after two years as chairman, Mr. Mehlman said that the 2006 elections, in which Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress, was not a fluke that could be attributed to the calendar, a few scandal-tainted candidates and the tough going in Iraq.

“Each of these factors combined to create an environment that was unfavorable for Republicans,” said Mr. Mehlman, one of the chief architects of President Bush’s two national election victories. “But, folks, these factors cannot be an excuse.”

He said that if Republican officials shrugged off the repudiation of the party in the 2006 elections they would lose the White House in 2008 and remain in the minority in Congress indefinitely. He said the party had to recommit itself to political reform, fiscal restraint and personal ethics.

Mr. Mehlman addressed the roughly 170 members of the Republican National Committee at their annual winter meeting, a rather glum affair at a downtown hotel here. Party members are still nursing the wounds of the mid-term elections and are riven by divisions over Iraq, immigration and other issues. Members are also beginning to take sides in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

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Well, if Mehlman's right, it's playing out as I had hoped after Kerry lost in '04: the power drunk Republicans would overplay their hand, disgusting the country with conservatism for years to come. And there may be some truth the the former party chief's warning: I heard some talking heads on PBS earlier this evening discussing how Senate GOPers seemed totally unfazed by their stunning election loss in their opposition to the just passed ethics reform bill. If they keep that shit up for long, they really will become political dinosaurs. On the other hand, one should never misunderestimate Democratic willingness to sit in a corner and masturbate when there's work to be done. The Republicans lost, yes, but it in no way had anything to do with the Democrats beating them.

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