GarveyBlog by Ed Garvey

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October 6, 2007
GOP Collapsing?
Mark Bugher, sort of a Bill Kraus-enlightened Republican (or former Republican), is quoted in the Capital Times Saturday raising questions about the viability of his party: "I think a lot of people, like myself, who have been in the Republican Party for a long time, and who believe in things like stem cell research, are concerned about the hijacking of the party by single-interest groups...we could be viewed as a knee-jerk-party."

The Bugher Epiphany is a result of a Wall Street Journal (a/k/a Murdoch's Paper) article suggesting that big business is tired of fiscal irresponsibility, the Iraq war, and lack of action on health care, may drift away from the GOP. Bugher returned to normalcy, however, by praising neocon Mike Huebsch, Speaker of the Assembly, who is holding our state hostage by refusing to pass a state budget. Oh well, at least Bugher is on his way from knee-jerk Republican to that wonderful status of politically homeless.

The article still offers some reassurance to the knee-jerks: Jim Pugh of WMC, on the way to purchasing the Supreme Court, said, and I'm not making this up, "There should be a bipartisan consensus that what's good for business is good for Wisconsin." Ah, Charlie Wilson, where are you?

And Joe Murray, speaking for the new WEAC partner in the Wisconsin Way, the Realtors, said, if there is any loss of support for the GOP, "It was over the war and corruption in Congress, not any change in core beliefs." (Core beliefs like privatization of education and tax loopholes for business. Big Business.)

Hello? Here is a different challenge. Bob Herbert in the NYT cites the gifts of the post-WWII generation, "the Marshall Plan, the G.I. Bill, the interstate highway system, the Peace Corps, the civil rights movement and much more." "Where," he asks, "is the comparable vision for the early 21st century? Who is rallying America with the clarion call that we can do great things?"

Well, Mark Bugher, it ain't the candidates running for president in either party unless you conclude that Bill Richardson's call for pipes from the Great Lakes to carry our water to the parched west is a great idea. Whoa Nelly!




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