The Moose guesses that Republicans are secretly, frequently fond of the notion that they should have lost the White House.
Democrats spent twelve years recovering from the Carter years. Will that be the fate of the Bush Republicans? They must wonder these days as the Bush Administration descends into a comedy of errors.
So far, President Bush's second term has been a virtual orgy of incompetency -
* the Social Security reform defeat
* the Terri Schiavo circus
* the Abramoff scandal
* the Libby indictment
* the Katrina fiasco
* the Cheney shooting
* the Medicare drug bill blowback
* the Dubai deal
* the Iraq post-liberation situation
... and now the shop-lifting arrest of the until-recently Domestic Policy Director to the President of the United States. However, what has to be most troubling to the White House is that they have lost Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
This is an Administration that is now paying the price for valuing blind loyalty over straight talk and competence. For generations to come, this Presidency will become a text book case of how not to govern.
And perhaps the Moose hasn't been giving Howard Dean enough credit. There could be a Deaniac mole within the West Wing! What else explains this festival of Republican incompetence reviving the prospects of the Democratic Party?
The only thing that can save the Republicans is Democratic over-reach. For instance, it would throw a life-line to the elephant if the donkey embraces the censure resolution that is being offered by Senator Feingold. That would be the Democratic equivalent of the Gingrich government shut-down.
Either by fortune or by design or by a combination of both, the Administration has been competent in one critical area - the most important one - there has not been terrorist another attack on America. It would be the ultimate fools errand for the Democrats to attack the President for being overly zealous in protecting us from Al Qaeda.
As the Moose suggested Friday, Republicans have to be wondering whether holding congressional power under these circumstances. Now, they must also be secretly, frequently wondering whether if would have been better in the long run if John Kerry had won.
It is really that bad. A prescient Moose actually predicted this GOP predicament on October 27, 2004 under the post title "The Coming Conservative Crack-Up?
The Moose wrote back then,
"Although it clearly would be a huge psychological defeat, a Bush loss could also be a liberating moment. Conservatism has thrived when it was in opposition - "standing athwart history yelling stop!" as the founder of the National Review put it. In the past decade since the Republicans took Congressional power, however, countless one-time conservative revolutionaries have merely become shills for corporate power. Note how tepid and ineffective the conservative opposition was to the big government and corporatist Medicare drug bill. Today, the lefties are as robust as the right once was.
"A Bush loss will allow conservatives to once again revel in the joy of being the besieged and aggrieved opposition. And the last time we had divided government, we enjoyed restrained spending, tax cuts and genuine entitlement reform.
"Sure, conservative big-shots will miss their visits to the West Wing following a Bush loss. But the movement might find that it is the best thing that could happen."
Brother conservatives, the Moose told you so!
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