More on the Republican Quagmire

The New Republic offers this thorough exploration of the multiple, mutually exclusive, critiques of the Bush administration and efforts to extrapolate lessons for the future of the Republican party.

Probably the best line is the entirety of the third page:

"What part of "overwhelming electoral defeat" does the GOP not understand?"

Then in the NYT, we have a story in which a group of Republicans decide that, “The moderate wing of the Republican Party is dead.”

I am not a member of any political party, but any regular reader of this blog has probably divined my not particularly concealed sympathies for the Left. That said, conservatism does have valuable contributions to make to American political discourse: fiscal restraint, self-reliance, local solutions to local problems, and personal freedom are all the traditional foundations of the conservative movement, at least as I understand it.

People calling for a party grounded on the model of the last 10 years, which so far as I can tell include: tax policies that enrich billionaires, rejection of science and a related unwillingness to acknowledge, let alone confront, a number of global crisis, a desire to cater to a coded "values" agenda, and a rejection of education and nuance at the expense of flag-waving mindless patriotism, may have strong partisans, but cannot command a majority- in short, the vision of the party espoused in the NYT article, seem determined to craft a party that cannot hope to command national office. The article today in which card-holding Republicans overwhelmingly support Palin in 2012 have a lot of ground to cover before we get around to another election, so should be taken with a good sized rock of salt.

While Palin et al lead the Republicans further and further away from electability, the nation suffers from a lack of people espousing the best traditions of conservatism, and producing the tension in policy-making that maintains moderate outcomes. Conservatives of the United States: there is still a place in the public forum for you. In fact, we need you. Let the moose hunters go their own way. They're going to anyway.