"Miss Me Yet?"

[pbrower2a]

I do not completely agree with this editorial by Howard Rich, but it is good food for thought. I found it in the free material in Rasmussen Reports:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_howard_rich/missing_bush_why_republican_revisionism_won_t_sell

Missing Bush?” Why Republican Revisionism Won’t Sell
A Commentary by Howard Rich
Friday, February 19, 2010

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Factual error: here is no Interstate 35 in Wyoming. Interstate 35 goes from Duluth, Minnesota to Laredo, Texas by way of the Twin Cities,  Des Moines,  and Kansas City. Wyoming has Interstate 25 and US 85, though.

I don't agree with Mr. Rich fully, either, except on recognizing the irresponsibility of George W. Bush on fiscal matters (including a bungled war and a war of aggression) and his recklessness in allowing civil liberties to be gutted. His tax cuts for the rich, far from promoting industrial investment that might have created more jobs and generated more tax revenues, encouraged quick-buck speculation that went bad after the initial investors sold out for neat profits. Bankers, once the bar to reckless investments that offered quick profits but potential for huge losses in the middle-term, became entrepreneurial themselves. Banking is one of a few industries (like medicine, law, and insurance) incompatible with the entrepreneurial spirit because much of the business that one can get is bad business or that the cost-cutting measures that one can do to increase profits can prove costly blunders.

The Republican Party is still vulnerable to attacks from the Right -- that it has been deficient in economic stewardship in recent years -- as well as from the Left for its neglect of basic human decencies.

[ConservativeIllini]

Come on, folks -- read it! You may be seeing the splitering of the Hard Right coalition before your eyes!

This may be for another forum, but I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the Rubio vs. Crist primary. 

[pbrower2a]

pbrower: How many seats are the Democrats going to gain in 2010?

It's far too early to predict the results of the 2010 midterm election.

Without such a split in the GOP  the Democrats now seem likely to lose at least five Senate seats that they now hold-- ND, IN, AR, DE, and NV, the rest a wash. Such will make filibusters possible all the time in 2011, and that could assure that if anyone wants anything done beginning in 2013, even if one despises most of the package, one will have to support Republicans who go along with Senator Mitch "My Way or the Highway" McDonnell. I do not handicap the House, as I don't follow individual House races closely. 

Question: can the GOP split? The Tea Party movements are potential splinter groups. But they don't attract Democrats or Independents who don't already lean Republican. The writer of the op-ed is a right-winger who thinks that the GOP does not go far enough -- that despite its small-government rhetoric it has too many big-spending constituencies to ever balance a budget even in good times. 

 

[Derek]

Yes I miss him.