And the good news just keeps on comin'

[ebonlock]

So long Ken:

RNC asks Steele to replace Mehlman
By Ralph Z. Hallow
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 10, 2006

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party just lost both chambers of Congress, will leave his position in January, and the post as party chief has been offered to Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.

And another one gone, and another one gone:

Hastert won’t seek leadership post
Susan Milligan, Boston Globe
Thursday, November 9, 2006

(11-09) 04:00 PST Washington — House Speaker Dennis Hastert, wounded by the GOP’s loss of the House on Tuesday night, said Wednesday he will not seek to continue as his party’s leader in the next Congress.

“As a former wrestling coach, I know what it is like when your team takes second place in the state tournament. It hurts. And so it is with politics,” the Illinois Republican said in a statement.

Sounds like someone's taking his ball and going home. Don't be a bad loser, Denny.

via Sadly, No!

And Krugman offers his own ray of sunshine:

But we may be seeing the downfall of movement conservatism — the potent alliance of wealthy individuals, corporate interests and the religious right that took shape in the 1960s and 1970s. This alliance may once have had something to do with ideas, but it has become mainly a corrupt political machine, and America will be a better place if that machine breaks down.

Why do I want to see movement conservatism crushed? Partly because the movement is fundamentally undemocratic; its leaders don’t accept the legitimacy of opposition. Democrats will only become acceptable, declared Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, once they “are comfortable in their minority status.” He added, “Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they’ve been fixed, then they are happy and sedate.”

And the determination of the movement to hold on to power at any cost has poisoned our political culture. Just think about the campaign that just ended, with its coded racism, deceptive robo-calls, personal smears, homeless men bused in to hand out deceptive fliers, and more. Not to mention the constant implication that anyone who questions the Bush administration or its policies is very nearly a traitor.

When movement conservatism took it over, the Republican Party ceased to be the party of Dwight Eisenhower and became the party of Karl Rove. The good news is that Karl Rove and the political tendency he represents may both have just self-destructed.

Comments

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree about Steele over Mehlman as much of a win. After all, he's the guy who paid the homeless men to trick Black Voters into thinking he was a Democrat. A despicable dirty trick.

The fall of the Republicans in 2006 is in large part a referendum on their corruption, and Steele is clearly corrupt. He's not a breath of fresh air. As a Democrat, I suppose I don't mind them not cleaning up their act in a way, as the tide has turned against it, but as an American, I'd rather have the Republicans ala Alan Alda's Arnie Vinick on the last episode of the West Wing - dedicated to lower taxation, limited government, rather than social control and power mongering. I want an honorable opposition more than I want victory.

But if they won't respect the American voter, and want to be the sleazy power mad autocrats, well, I'll take victory, thanks.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

That's just it, though, Mehlman at least had subtlety and this facade of non-evil. He could go on talk shows and smile and pretend to be a shiny happy Republican. The kind of compassionate conservative face of the GOP machine. Steele is none of those things and very obviously so. If he handles future RNC elections as stupidly as he handled his own...well, more power to him.

And frankly it's my hope that this particular strain of corrupt, power-mad conservatism is showing itself to be in the final stages of it's lifespan. We didn't stomp it out after Nixon and paid the price for it 30 years later. With its death we can maybe get back to two sane parties of rational people with very different ideas debating them in a rational manner.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

“As a former wrestling coach, I know what it is like when your team takes second place in the state tournament. It hurts. And so it is with politics,”

Especially when the third place team in the state tournament is a collection of four year old girls. And the fourth place team consists of Stephen Hawking all by himself. Right, Denny?

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I've just got to wonder what he used to teach the kids he trained about sportsmanship.