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March 25, 2005

Trip Through History

1974: Watergate was going to be the death of the Republican Party.

1980: The Moral Majority was going to be the end of the Republican Party.

1982: Reagan's "extremism" and defecit spending was going kill the Republican Party.

1988: The battle between the moderates and conservatives was going to be the death of the Republican Party.

1992: Intervention in the Balkans was going to kill the Republican party.

1994: Its opposition to the Crime Bill, to Hillary!Care and its allegiance to the NRA was going to kill the GOP dead.

1995: The squabbling over the government shutdown was going to rip the GOP apart.

1996: The Buchanan/Dole battle was going to tear the GOP limb from limb.

1998: Impeachment was going to render the Republicans a laughinstock for the foreseeable future.

1999: The soul-searching over the Balkans was going to make the GOP self-destruct.

2000: The McCain/Bush battle was going to rend the GOP asunder.

2002: The battle over gay marriage was going to make the Republians erupt in internecine war.

2003: The budget was going to cause the GOP to eat their own.

2005: The Terry Schiavo case is going to self-destruct the Republican Party.

2006: ???

The Republicans. We're too busy winning to die.


UPDATE: Did you notice how fast this "Schiavo=conservative crackup" meme spread? It went from nowhere on Monday to everywhere yesterday.

Posted by Mitch at March 25, 2005 05:01 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Amen to that!

Posted by: biker babe at March 25, 2005 07:37 AM

Republicans are winning principled conservatism is losing.

One look at Campaign finance reform (signed by a republican president) and the Medicare prescription benefit (pushed through by a republican president,using faulty / misleading data) show this.

I had hoped a republican president would help set the nations books in order. Instead he has gone on a spending spree that the democrats could not have gotten in their wildest dreams. For the inevitable response that all this spending was caused by the war on terror please see the medicare prescription benefit above.

Snark all you want about republicans winning but these actions are going to cause real financial pain at some point. And most of it will be inflicted on young people who are not old enough to vote yet.

Have a good day

TJIT

Posted by: TJIT at March 25, 2005 10:03 AM

TJIT,

The post was not a detailed dissection of the problems many conservatives may have with one GOP initiative or another. That is not only another post - it HAS BEEN many other posts on this blog over the years.

It was a history of all the times the pundits - especially "GOP Moderates" - have declared the GOP DOA.

Posted by: mitch at March 25, 2005 10:05 AM

Mitch, I wouldn’t agree that this will “self-destruct the Republican Party” but the “fair weather federalists” who pushed for intervention in a State’s family law system where there is no federal issue have just made it that much harder for us win the a principled battle over judicial nominees.

This does show the divide IMO between federalist conservatives who want “strict constructionists” to uphold the law and the separation of powers between the federal and State governments (even when those States may pass laws we disagree with) versus those who are willing to countenance the erosion of the Tenth Amendment and judges acting as a mini-legislature . . . so long as it cuts their way on their pet issues.

I believed that up until this past week, we called the latter group “liberals.”

Posted by: Thorley Winston at March 25, 2005 11:18 AM

Thorley,

I agree. It's an interesting tent that holds both free-market small-"l" libertarians and focused social conservatives. It takes a lot of work to keep them in the same tent.

Posted by: mitch` at March 25, 2005 11:21 AM

Well, eventually the CS faction may just yet it right... But, not today. Good post.

Posted by: Muzzy at March 25, 2005 08:05 PM
hi