GOP Congressman speaks out against his own party
Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) is finishing his final term in Congress, after losing his primary earlier this year. He's become disillusioned with his own party, and he has some less-than-charitable things to say about the GOP:
We're in this bad place as a country because of the evangelicals, the neocons, the nasty, bitter and mean ... very clever ideological groups that use money, technology, fear and bigotry to lead people around. ... Voting according to your knowledge and experience -- that's out the window. Competence and prudence? Forget it.
It's a dirty shame that Congress is losing a member willing to say this:
We've become a country that sits down in front of the boob tube and listens to people shouting about freedom, but now people equate freedom not with the acquisition of knowledge but with comfort. ... 'Give me my flat-screen TV, the gas-guzzling car, the goods made in China.' The whole concept of freedom has become the idea of comfort, with a complete lack of responsibility.
Of course, he's saying all that after he lost the election, not before. Still, this point is hard to argue with:
I haven't stepped away from my party. ... The party has stepped away from Eisenhower and Goldwater and Nixon and Ford and even Ronald Reagan. It's been driven away by this anti-government combination of Milton Friedman and Jerry Falwell.
On John McCain:
[He] recites memorized pieces of information in a narrow way, whereas Barack Obama is constantly evaluating information, using his judgment. One guy just recites what's in front of him, and the other has initiative and reason and prudence and wisdom.
Go read the whole article for similar sentiments from other members of the party.