The slow implosion of the GOP
The Republican Party seems to be ensnared in a slow-motion downward spiral of late. Party unity on Capitol Hill has all but evaporated, the rank and file are disassociating themselves from the White House like rats from a sinking ship, and the prospects of an anti-GOP electoral slaughter in November grow ever brighter.
I love it.
Yesterday, both the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly to force the Bush administration to stop buying oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The Senate voted 97-1, and the House voted 385-25; even after a threatened veto from the White House, Republicans in both chambers bolted from the President's veto threat to strike what amounts to a meaningless election-year pose on the issue of gas prices. Although I believe the bill will make absolutely no difference in retail gas prices, the fact that so many Republicans ignored the President on the issue speaks volumes about his shattered credibility and their party's collapsed leadership.
Today, the House approved a $300 billion "farm" bill (which actually had relatively little to do with farming); over another veto threat from the White House, the bill passed by a vote of 318-106. This means over half of House Republicans ignored the Bush administration and voted for the bill.
Neither of those scenarios would have been remotely likely during Bush's first term in office. These kinds of developments represent a radical shift in the balance of power in Washington, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down.
On top of the legislative rebukes from Capitol Hill, the Republicans lost a House seat in Mississippi yesterday that was considered among the safest in the entire country. In a special election, Democrat Travis Childers stomped his Republican rival, and the result has the party leadership quaking. This is the third House seat the GOP has lost in special elections this year, but the fact that they've now lost Mississippi's 1st District is almost mind-boggling.
Meanwhile, the White House seems to be ignoring the warning signs of the party's collapse. In addition to quixotic veto threats, the Bush administration continues to politicize the science of global warming. This will backfire on the obstructionist GOP. Bank on it.
As long as Bush continues to ignore the collapse of his party, and the party's leadership proves itself impotent to deal with the collapse of their political charade, the rest of us have a growing chance of enacting positive change come November.