Republicans Driving Blissfully Into Oblivion

Kevin Drum wonders about something:

Earlier this week Wayne Gilchrist (R-Md) predicted that 30 to 60 Republicans would vote for the nonbinding House resolution opposing the surge. The final vote was held today and the resolution passed 246-182. Only 17 Republicans voted in favor.

So what happened? Is Gilchrist just a lousy vote counter? Did a bunch of Republicans chicken out? Did the GOP leadership apply some unusually effective arm twisting?

Actually I'm not wondering about this at all. Of course they chickened out. They're tied to George Bush and he's a magic anchor headed straight for the earth's mantle.

They have idiots like Frank Gaffney on their side who'll call for their hanging if they vote the way in which their constituents want them. Gaffney would accuse these Republicans of treason as easily as he accuses Glenn Greenwald of it in the above-linked interview (it's a beaut, go listen). The nuts in the insaneosphere all signed a pledge that they wouldn't give one dime to any candidate who didn't further their mission of perpetual war, and threatened to cut off the Republican campaign committees in the House and Senate if they helped any of those treasonous members.

This mindset didn't come out of the ether. It's an internalized neocon concept that the Republicans have swallowed, whether in government or out, and they can't very well turn away now. Their crazy base is completely in thrall to empire and in fear of the other, and the representative apples don't fall far from the tree. Even in the world's most deliberative body, Sen. Reid is acknowledging that his copycat measure has no chance getting the few votes it needs from Republicans to get to the floor. But he's doing the absolute right thing by bringing it up for vote:

Of course, Dem leaders may be calculating that there's an upside in losing tomorrow -- because it gives them more ammo to paint Republicans as too fearful to debate escalation in the Senate.

As one source close to Reid puts it, "After these guys cast the vote, they're gonna have to go back to their home states and justify their votes. It's a politically perilous place for them to be. They're saying the Senate shouldn't even have this debate. I think that's an untenable position."

The fact is that the Republicans are trapped. After years of hyping up an existential threat, after lying the country into Iraq and now trying to do the same with Iran, they simply can't reverse course. So with every vote they throw their big arms in a bear hug around a historically unpopular President, and in so doing destroy the Republican brand for decades:

According to the latest Gallup survey, Republican self-identification has declined nationally and in almost every American state. Why? The short answer is that President Bush's war of choice in Iraq has destroyed the partisan brand Republicans spent the past four decades building.

That brand was based upon four pillars: that Republicans are more trustworthy on defense and military issues; that they know when and where markets can replace or improve government; that they are more competent administrators of those functions government can't privatize; and, finally, that their public philosophy is imbued with moral authority. The war demolished all four claims.

Schaller's article is great on the specifics. Clearly Iraq has proven the Republicans to be insane on foreign policy, dead-set to privatize everything for the gain of a few greedy oligarchs, incompetent at every level of governance, and immoral beyond compare. When you finally pin down one of these extremists on these issues, they reveal themselves to know that they've lost the country:

On several occasions, he lost control of himself, even using profanities. Aside from the entertainment value that provides, it illustrates an important point. Gaffney is a professional right-wing extremist. He has been in the Reagan administration, on every television and radio show for years, and is very well-funded by numerous neoconservative funding sources. The fact that he became so shrill and defensive and even frightened reveals that neocons know that America is turning against them and beginning to realize the destruction they have wrought and the culpability they possess for what they have done to our country.

That is why they are so eager to equate criticism of them with treason and to stifle debate. They have not only lost the debate over Iraq and general Middle East militarism, but their continuous extremism and deceit is being exposed, and they fear being held accountable. It is only natural that they want to render criticism of their war and their conduct impermissible.

The elected leaders of the GOP either: 1) are either stupid enough (or scared enough) to agree that endless militarism and privatization and the crushing of dissent is an effective way to run a nation, or 2) know that nobody agrees with this, but can't shake the monster of a base they've created which demands that they remain avowedly with them. Therefore, they will remain attached at the hip to a hated President and a failed ideology for the near future. They have absolutely no choice.

Vote your conscience in the 2008 primary, cats and kitties, vote your conscience. Because the Republican brand is crashing on the rocks.