I'm not saying they don't deserve it. I'm saying you have to understand that every single Bush pioneer, K-Street lobbyist, elected official, social conservative, business Republican, et al. is having that same collective realization. They have been given what they want and it is a failure, because all they have wanted has been the wrong things. The Grand Theory of Conservatism is truly unworkable.What if Howard Dean failed? I mean, clearly, undeniably failed, and crossed serious ethical boundaries and the law in the process. How would you react? Would you turn on him? Would you scream at him in private but have his back in public? Would you just say nothing at all? Seriously, before you state your moral superiority, consider how hard it would be for you to admit that he was not just wrong, but disastrously wrong?
I was having a conversation with an acquaintence of the family who happens to be an old friend of all those College Republicans from the 70s that dominate the news stories these days. You know the names and you've read the indictments. And I don't know how to describe his disillusionment except to say that he made you guys look optimistic. And he talks in nostalgic terms about way back when when they could do no wrong and take over the world, until he remembers that they did take over the world, and this is the result. And it's not that some guys he knew have stolen a bunch of money. It's that the vision is dead.
You see Reagan, well, he had a Democratic Congress to deal with, and Bush, Sr., well, he was never really one of them. And Gingrich was foiled by Clinton. But 2004, that was the real deal. The shining moment that had taken decades to reach. And it's dung. So he has three options. He can embrace his stigma, and block out the interference, as Bush himself has done. He can slink away and not vote, or vote Libertarian, and leave politics and political discussion for good. Or, he can continue to believe in the theory, but blame the people who implemented the theory for their incorrect application/abandonment of principles, which is where most Republicans are at right now.
I bring this up not to garner sympathy for the poor little Republicans. Cry me a river, I know. But because even at the top, they know. The disillusionment is there. And no matter how tough they talk, it is only because they are in survival mode, not because they believe a word that they are saying. Maybe that makes it worse. But I think it's why they aren't rallying themselves right now, and why we have a chance to take back Congress. And it's important to note that things like censure and immigration, those are the only things left that they can gear themselves up to fight for. It's all they have the energy for.
So you can set your rage meter about what a travesty it is that they are not behaving like Nixon Republicans and investigating their leaders, but I prefer to note that it is, in part, because they are curled up in the fetal position waiting for the nightmare to end, so they can be proud of being conservatives again. And I prefer to marvel that after this, I'm not entirely sure conservatism is going to exist anymore. The dream is dead. They are simply in different stages of grief. The idea of entrusting government with people who distrust government is fading (a concept similar to placing Bolton at the U.N.). The spirit of a party that never gave up through 40 years of Democratic rule is crushed.
So what to do? Well, don't run to comfort your nearest Republican or rub his nose in his folly. Let him grieve on his own. Maybe he's not ready to vote Democratic yet. Maybe he's not ready to tell you he's voting Democratic yet. Either way, show him why we're a party of winners. Show him why we can join the ICC, and pass the Kyoto treaty, and have universal healthcare, and it won't go to hell. Because our vision works. We've seen it work. It works all over the world. If they are the party of idealogues, then we are the party of governance.
Don't you see how RedState's traffic has fallen? Or FOX News' for that matter? Don't you see how much has changed? Don't you see how much more important that is than a censure resolution which if enacted would allow Republicans to move on? Don't you see how hollow those words sound, and not just to people who read DailyKos?
Keep the faith. Spread the vision.