For The Good Of The Party

For the last eight years and in particular recent weeks, the Republican Party appears to be in a self destruct mode. When George W. Bush was elected in 2000, many groups like the Religious Right felt that the country would now head down a moral and fiscal path of responsibility. Every Republican, on any given week, would be told their talking points and go about the various News and Talk Shows touting the Bush Administration’s goals and achievements. But, something happened on the way to the proverbial Eden. Greed, power and lust got in the way.

The greed came in the form of the Republican Party trying to do everything it could to guarantee victory in future elections. Now, I am not talking about doing the people’s work in ensuring a safe, secure and economically stable country. They tried to do it by running a lobby called K-street and making laws that took from the American People and placing wealth in the pockets of the rich and corporate. Bribes and even attempted manipulation of voting districts became the norm.

The power came when the majority, if not all, the members of the Bush Administration came from a group called PNAC. The Project for a New American Century. (Read my article about the Vulcans) They took the Constitution and just about shredded it, in my opinion. Vice President Dick Cheney practically considered himself above the law and by the time the administration had left office, our economy was in shambles with almost, our entire treasury, looted in the guise of advice from Henry Paulson.

The Lust is easy. When you are greedy and you gain power, the feeling of entitlement, makes you feel invincible. From Mark Foley, David Vitter, Larry Craig and more recent, John Ensign and Mark Sanford, the GOP has been like a College Frat House. Every one of them was carousing without a care and with the air of entitlement. All until they were caught. Oh, and let us not forget the resignation of Dennis Hastert and the king of them all, Tom Delay. Now I’m not saying the Democrats are saints. But, they are not the Political Party that waves and quotes the bible and then violates everything they have just said as righteous.

Comments made on a Weekend Talk Show from some Republicans seem to indicate there are people trying to jockey for the position of leadership. The following are quotes from an article by Douglass K. Daniel, an Associated Press Writer; http://www.abc26.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-gops-future,0,7058732.story
First from former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney;
"Not all mistakes are the same. And not everybody is a governor or a senator or a president. And we expect people to live by a higher standard because what they do is going to be magnified. Their families are going to be hurt more by what they do," Romney said. "The things they care about will be hurt. And the culture of the nation and the people who follow them will be hurt."Some Republicans won't live up to the party's values and its standards of ethical conduct, Romney said."That's going to be true," he said. "But not speaking about things that are important would be an enormous mistake."
The following are quotes from the same article by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty;
"Any time you have leading figures who are engaged in behavior that is sad and troubling and hypocritical, other people are going to look at that and say, 'Hmm, they don't walk the walk.' And so the words and the actions don't ring true," said Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn. "It certainly hurts the brand."
"If you're going to be, for example, the party of fiscal discipline and be the person talking who's about fiscal responsibility, then you better do that," said Pawlenty. "And so hypocrisy doesn't sell, and the Republicans have to be true to their values, be true to their principles and walk the walk."

Could Governors Romney and Pawlenty be the new leaders sorely needed in a Party bent on self destruction? I guess time will tell. For now I can only ask that people like Sanford, Ensign and all the others including Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh should shut up and go away. You are destroying any chance the Republican Party has at regaining the respect and confidence from the American People. Please, when your time comes leave, if not for anything but, The Good of the Party.

That’s How I See It.

Websites of reference;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Vitter
http://vitter.senate.gov/public/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/09/AR2007070902030.html
http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Republican_Sex_Scandals#2007
http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Republican_Sex_Scandals
http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/president/49385392.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUeyDiPhD:aUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
http://www.abc26.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-gops-future,0,7058732.story
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/18904614.html
http://www.christophertruscott.com/2008/05/pawlenty-sex-scandal-it-doesnt-matter.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/02/sources-minnesota-gov-pawlenty-wont-seek-election/
http://www.citypages.com/2003-07-23/news/what-hearings-what-scandal/