Republicans: 'Are We In Trouble?'

Out: Democratic party in-fighting
In: Republican party in-fighting

This weekend is the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, one the of the biggest Republican Party conventions of the year, with the Party's top players all in attendance. Instead of being a big celebration, it seems the equivalent of a bunch of people wandering lost in the woods, wondering where they are and how they got here. Have we destroyed conservatism? What's up with the President? Are we bankrupting America (they mean fiscally, but I'll add morally as well)? Perhaps should we be more subservient to the religious right? These are among the questions the GOP leaders have been floating around to each other.

As I said in my entry about the Bush criticisms at a recent Cato Institute panel, this election-year confessional parade of conservatives lambasting the party's fall from grace annoys me. The things that they are saying (or hinting at)- that the President has been an ineffective leader and anti-conservative, that the GOP Congress is bankrupting the country in a time of war for their own gain, that their political wounds are self-inflicted - are hardly new revelations. People like me have been saying these things for years and we were told to stop hating America.

This self-serving hand-wringing is a few years late and several billion dollars short. They don't care about fiscal responsibility or competence or better serving America. They just want to distance themselves from the President's abysmal record in an election year that could well see them benched. True conservatism has been going down the toilet since the 1970s. They have co-opted everything from the definition of patriotism, to Christianity, to the framing of the national media dialogue. And then they have the nerve to turn around and feign ignorance as to how they ended up in this mess. It's as if someone took a huge shit in the middle of a crowded room and then turned around and said "Whoa! How'd that get there?!".

To this crowd, being a more responsible conservative doesn't mean preserving our constitutional values or being more responsible with our nation's money (this would mean not handing out tax cuts in a time of war)... It means simply looking in the mirror and asking "WWKRD (What Would Karl Rove Do?)". These people wouldn't recognize real American values if it carpet-bombed them.

Ohh sure, they're talking a good game down South this weekend (reelect us, we can change, we swear!), but anyone expecting a follow-up will be disappointed. As with the lobbying issue, they're all talk. A mistreated lover can only be abused so many times before she decides to change the locks. But then... many will sadly take the abuse forever, wholly convinced that they've got a winner.

NY Times: Bush's Troubles Weigh Heavily as Republicans Meet

AP: Republicans Meet Amid Bush's Rough Straits

[PS- One interesting aspect of the convention is how many GOP operatives are turning on Sen. McCain once again. You deserve it, John. Besides your hypocrisy on the issues you fight on (ie. breaking campaign finance rules or ignoring the signing statement nullifying your torture ban], you will never be forgiven for supporting George Bush in 2004. John Kerry was your friend and you stabbed him in the back to snuggle up with the crew that went after your wife and adopted daughter in 2000. You have no principles whatsoever and your BS 'maverick' cred will only get you so far. I used to be fooled by it. But not anymore.]