Dismal Signs for the GOP — George Will

It’s looking bad for realistic Republicans out there. While hopeless optimists point to the evenness of the candidates on the Republican side, “realistic Republicans are looking for shelter.”

Nov. 4 could be their most disagreeable day since Nov. 3, 1964. Actually, this November could be even worse because in 1964 Barry Goldwater’s loss of 44 states served a purpose, the ideological reorientation and revitalization of the party. Which Republican candidate this year could produce a similarly constructive loss?

Today, all the usual indicators are dismal for Republicans. If that sweeping assertion seems counterintuitive, produce a counterexample. The adverse indicators include: shifts in voters’ identifications with the two parties (Democrats now 50 percent, Republicans 36 percent); the tendency of independents (they favored Democratic candidates by 18 points in 2006); the fact that Democrats hold a majority of congressional seats in states with 303 electoral votes; the Democrats’ strength and the Republicans’ relative weakness in fundraising; the percentage of Americans who think the country is on the “wrong track”; the Republicans’ enthusiasm deficit relative to Democrats’ embrace of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, one of whom will be nominated.

The articles is a good read to all who are interested. For myself, I think this is the first election where I really don’t feel compelled to vote for anyone. Giuliani, McCain, and Huckabee seem to only be Republicans in name; that is, it would seem to be a losing position to argue that any of them are actually conservative. Romney seems to be the closest candidate to the ideals of “conservatism,” but even he has a chequered past.

Republicans lost in 2006 because for the previous six years they stopped acting like conservatives. Spending like Democrats and engaging in non-conservative tactics (such as letting Kennedy write the education bill) didn’t do much good to conservatism, and they consequently lost badly. I suppose the party stands a real chance of continuing to fracture and hemorrhage as long as Republicans forget that.