Some Suggestions for the Republican Party

For sure, politics provides comedians with plenty of material, and the last 8 years have been the mother lode: http://politicalirony.com/2008/11/30/robin-williams-on-obamas-election/


I have to admit I was looking for a Bushism video to add to this email when I came upon this second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9whu1o_zbM. It pretty much sums up for me the quality of leadership America has suffered under for the last 8 years and would be funny, too, if it wasn't so pathetic.


How can this man be the kind of leader this great country deserves and can show pride in? Joe-the-friggin'-plumber is more lucid and erudite.


Look, I don't mean to offend anyone. In a free society, we all get to decide for ourselves who we admire and why.


I have to say, though, that it just comes as no surprise to me that someone like Palin gets picked as VP by McCain and Republican party leaders and is now actually talked about as the R's nominee in 2012 when someone like W represents the party and can get elected twice (well, not really, but I won't rehash that). The similarities between the above video and Palin's complete disasters when she tried talking about the issues without a teleprompter during the Curic interviews, the VP debate, and any other time she has opened her mouth says it all as far as I'm concerned.


I have to ask in all sincerity, are these people the standard-bearers of the Republican party in the 21st century? Are people like Bush and Palin model leaders for the right? Or is it someone like Mike Huckabee whose Christian faith and ministerial background it seems to me would just exacerbate the divisiveness in this country and around the world? With people like Huckabee, do we end up living in a religious state of our own and different from Iran or Saudi Arabia only in terms of which extreme dogma guides public policy?


Huckabee's positions - and it seems the more and more these are the core values of the Republican party, too - include:
* building walls and fences as the way to address immigration (anyone remember the Berlin Wall?)
* repeal of Roe v Wade (women don't control their bodies, government does?)
* opposition to same sex marriages and civil unions (same discriminatory thinking that used to make mixed race marriages illegal?)
* support for teaching creationism in schools (please...then I demand Roman and Greek mythology also be taught in Science class)
* support for carrying concealed weapons (I'm sure Jesus and the 12 would have had Glocks under their robes had they been available)
* and I really love this last one from the Christian right....the death penalty.


I do see signs of hope for America. Polls show a large majority think Bush is doing a lousy job (http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm). Whatever job approval W is still getting would seem to me to be limited now to a small, hardcore group of Republicans who, I'm assuming, would pull one lever in the voting booth regardless of who is representing their party. I assume that would include unqualified "rock stars" like Palin and radical ideologues like Huckabee. The good news is that's only about 1 in 3 Americans.


As for Palin, her numbers are also declining (http://www.pollingreport.com/P.htm). This adds to my hope and optimism that Americans are, in fact, taking the few short minutes required to closely examine her and her abilities. I suspect that she'll fade into the Alaskan wilderness where she belongs.


I realize I may be in the minority when it comes to you guys (although I think back to those days in the early 80s and wonder how that happened), and some of what I say may be upsetting. Believe me, that's not my intention, and it's not personal. I just can't and won't stay silent. When I think about the last 8 years and look at the current conditions of this country and the world, I worry more about the future we're building for the next generation and can't help but voice my opinions and concerns.


Which brings me finally (keep the applause down) to this. I have a suggestion for the Republican party and its leadership. There needs to be a close examination of the values, guiding principles, leadership, and vision of that party. I'm not saying the Democrats are perfect or have it all figured out. I have always been and remain registered as Nonpartisan. I just can't see how the last 8 years can be seen as anything other than a complete and total disaster. The future doesn't look any better for the Rs. The depth and breadth of influence that the radical right-wing neo-cons are having on the Republican party just looks more and more extreme to me all the time.


The self-proclaimed "big tent" party is turning into a deregulated-big-business-white-Christians-only club.


Kind of a Caucasian Taliban.


Ok.....let it rip.