Lemmings
I guess it didn't occur to me until after the election, but the notion that "everything Bush touches turns to shit" applies equally to the Republican party. In addition to ruining the fiscal solvency of the United States, embroiling us in a costly and pointless war, ignoring the pressing environemental problems we must face and trashing America's moral credibility in the world, Bush's legacy will also include destroying the GOP's chances for an electoral majority for a generation. As other bloggers have discussed, the Pledge being promoted by Hugh Hewitt that punishes any Republican who dissents from the "surge," is a perfect indicator of where GOP politics are heading during the 2008 election cycle. As much as Daily Kos gives one a flavor of the Democrats' activist base (at least those who are online regularly), I think Redstate.com plays a similar role for the right wing. I referenced a straw poll taken there after the 2006 election to look for evidence of Gingrich's support amongst GOP activists and largely found what I was looking for (with sizable support for Giuliani and others as well). If conservatism in 2008 is still tied to the Bush presidency and Iraq--and I think it will be--then the GOP field of candidates is going to be composed of the most hardcore conservatives who want to appease their base of supporters who have been so drilled over the years that they will sign things like Hewitt's pledge. The result is that some hardcore conservative--and from my point of view, I could care less who--is going to be the GOP's presidential candidate and he will do poorly in the general election. It's going to be like 1964 all over again (note that the map colors demonstrate that this red-state, blue-state bullshit is a recent media concoction). And not only do the Democrats have a lot of good contenders, any one of them will look even better when compared to a Gingrich, or a McCain, or a Brownback, or most recently, Duncan Hunter (campaign motto: "Peace through Strength").
Well, that's what happens when you get tied to a cult of personality. And it's even worse when that personality is defective in almost every conceivable way. Do what you must, my little right-wing lemmings. Follow your glorious leader right off the cliff into irrelevance. The country will be better off for it.