GOP Rep Thomas Davis III: Bush "Has Killed The Republican Brand"

Washington Post :

While all eyes were on the presidential campaign and the demise of New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer (D) last week, Republicans on Capitol Hill were suffering a run of bad news that could hold dire implications for the campaign season.

It started with the loss last weekend of the seat held for two decades by former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). It got worse when Republicans lost potentially strong challengers to Democratic senators in South Dakota and New Jersey, and failed to field anyone to oppose the reelection bid of Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).

The latest blow came with the revelation that the former treasurer of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) had allegedly diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and possibly as much as $1 million -- from the organization's depleted coffers to his own bank accounts.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[galateadoro]

Bush killed the Repug brand?? Who cares about that? What about the more than one million Iraqis and Afghans that he mass-murdered for corporate profit? Bush belongs in the Hague.

[AmericanNation]

Dear "galateadoro",
Excellent post, unfortunately no American administration has accepted the Hague conventions jurisdiction in regards to the actions of the US government or military, and as such, unless the next president signs a declaration providing for retroactive authority, there is no way that anyone from the Bush or Clinton administration is going to be held responsible for Osama Bin Ladin, AL Queda, 9-11, Afghanistan, or Iraq.

The truly appaling thing is that America has seized the assets of foreign nations in the US for the very activites that are now and in the past been committed under the orders of this and previous US administrations. Hypocrisy and politics are synonymous - it is not merely an American problem - it is a human condition.

Let us simply hope that the future is better than the past.

[ylpatriot]

Lets not for get Bush has Killed the American Brand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WorkingClass]

Good point patriot.

[kae]

Yes the headline is obvious, but why are Bush & Rove - 2 very unpopular political figures actively campaigning for McCain?

[WorkingClass]

I have asked myself that same question kae. I don't have an answer. But the question makes me queasy.

[tbone99]

well , he did agree to make their tax cuts permanant.

[JohnJames]

Jeez, how on earth did a party, that 30 years ago melded know-nothing Christian Fundamentalists and Capitalist entrepeneurs only out for themselves, end up being the party of the mortgage crisis, mercenaries in Iraq - Babylon from the fundie point of view - draining the land of its treasury, Katrina, an anti-science agenda leaving our universities nearly bereft of native born scientists and grad students, toxic imported food, medicine and toys, etc. etc. etc. What a surprise!

[dawlishgal]

Don't forget the racists...­.and make that 40 years or so ago that they put together that particularly disgusting coalition.

[JohnJames]

Definitely. Of course, scratch the surface of white fundamentalist Christianity and you'll find racism despite all their public insistence that they've moved on.

[SweetJudith]

F---ing unreal, he is a monster.
BUSH KILLS EVERYTHING.
I hope laura does not have a plant!
Peace!!!

[AC500]

Bush has killed the Republican brand ... He finally gets something right.

[dolphy]

If hte rethug party disappears like the whigs, I'll write him a thank you note.

[esquire07]

Who cares ? Dead Troops. Constituion in the Gutter. Allah only knows how many dead innocent Iraqi men, women and children. Destruction of the Environment. Hatred of America around the World. False Flag terrorism. Who cares ?

Halliburton making lots O'Money !!!

Untold Millions in the Bush/Cheney Vaults. Record Oil land Arms profits.

Lies, Lies, Lies.

Payback is coming America - the Bill for Iraq will soon be due. Karma.

Disgusting filthy criminal Bush should be Impeached and HUNG.

[NickOhio]

And, this is new news???

Try reading about what Bush had to say at last week when speaking to a number of economists! To say that he is totally and completely oblivious to anything and anyone outside of his pea-brained world, is to only scratch the surface. This man has exhibited himself to be the worst possible President at the worst possible time. It will take decades to correct the woes he's inflicted to not only the GOP, but also to the US and the world.

May he forever be remembered as the man "who couldn't".

[AcitizenNJ]

i read the comments here and one thing remains clear, the status quo in the political system that is in so much need of change will continue to profit from the bickering over who is right or wrong about the past. our future is a crap game in my opinion due to accountability is an after thought. solutions for education, heath care, jobs, transparent government (w/o lobbyist), are as clear as mud. this guy living on pennsylvania avenue is just the pinacle of what comes to the top of a systems that has no accountability to the people it should serve rather the self serving nature to consume.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Don't you pick on my prizbizzle! The GOP did it to themSELVES. Don't hang it on George, he did the best he could, I think, given the circumstances he basically walked into, you want to start handing out blame, go back through the rank-and-file of all the oil and war profiteers, there, hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars, even, have exchanged hands in the course of this whole thing, and the Dems un-fortunately do not have a safe following distance established when it comes to laying blame either.

Scapegoating George hides quite a bit, you know? Like things and people that don't necessarily want to be FOUND...no­t with the Silver Suitcase Full Of Money in their possession, at any rate...

[midwestvoter]

Not so fast. Bush is a mere puppet, the "poster child" of the Republican ideology that has destroyed "the brand". Bush could not have destroyed our economy and international reputation on his own. He's had tons of help. It's not hard for a thinking individual to realize that a party that boasts loathing government and wishes to shrink it to the size small enough to drown in a bathtub would be horrifically incompetent, not because they are a party of utter morons, but because destroying the very fabric of a working government has and always will be their goal. When Bush rightly declared "Mission Accomplished", he was talking to his base and they cheered. They own this guy and these failed policies. And to the idiots who think Republicans are appointing right leaning judges to overturn Roe v Wade- you've been had again. These judges don't give a shit about that. They are there to destroy any regulation on businesses so polluters can pollute at will, defang our rights as citizens to have representation in the event we are harmed by corp greed and/or malfeasance, and side with industries and private companies that seek to take away your land, (see TTC) and turn the other way when poisonous foods and products pour into our country unchecked.
Republicans have accomplished exactly what they set out to do. Unfortunately, citizens still have some rights left and our Constitution hasn't been completely destroyed yet, so there is much work left for these fascists.

[sassafra]

while i admit bush is widely reviled i find it highly amusing to hear a republican blaming the entire failure of the gop "brand name" on bush alone.
everyone who voted for bush, supported his policies, sent a check to the gop, and voted with the gop are complicit. and this is an election year and we remember who the enablers were.

[doug108]

That's what Tom Davis wants you to think. He wants you to blame all the Republican woes on Bush. The fact is that Bush had plenty of help to botch things up from a Republican congress. It's not Bush the failure who has ruined the Republican brand. The death of the GOP brand is the result of horrific Republican policy implemented by a sociopathic president with the active assistance of the entire Republican Party.

They can run, but they can't hide.

[cdifrances]

Unfortunately, I don't see the end of the Evil Empire just yet. They own the MSM and all we hear is the ongoing saga of Hillary vs Obama. Hear any bad news on McCain lately? If so, I missed it. It's divide and conquer the Dems and McCain gets a free pass. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[TLV]

I've actually said myself that it's as if only Democrats are subject to scrutiny this time around. McCain seems to be doing NOTHING to gain the trust of the American people. I suppose since the neo-cons have already made him their poodle, he will win in November and needn't spend any more campaign cash.

[RAStewart]

"Correct me if I'm wrong."

I would if I could. Unfortunately, you're right about the MSM. And whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee will have so much dirt--real, exaggerated, or completely made up--dug up and thrown at them, that we'll think we've stumbled into the biggest archaelogical dig of all time. Whereas I fully expect the media to take the McCain legend at face value. And that's not even counting the predictable vote fraud and the weird synergy that has developed between the two parties since about Carter's time, at least on the national level--one party whose only real talent is getting and holding power facing another party whose main talent is losing elections. It's as if the whole baseball season consisted of matches between the Yankees and the Cubs.

But--all that said--I live in Illinois, and I can tell you that the loss of Hastert's seat to a Democratic challenger was a very significant upset. This was one of the most solidly Republican districts in the country, a district comparable to Newt Gingrich's Cobb County, Georgia. I only exaggerate a little when I say it only recently became legal to be a Democrat in Hastert's district. Some have tried to lay the results to the Republican candidate's deficiencies as a campaigner--he's lost six of his first six campaigns, so there's a grain of truth to that, but that also points up how much trouble the GOP is having fielding strong candidates in many area. Plus, as recently as say two elections ago, they could have run Mr. Potato Head against Jesus in the 14th and won handily.

So maybe, just maybe, people are starting to wake up.

[WorkingClass]

Cant correct you. You hit a home run. What strikes me funny, is the corporate media (a hand full of white men) set up a fight between white women and black people. yuk yuk

[the964kid]

Dayum - you can't imagine the republicans having any real chances for many years. Hopefully the Dems don't over-reach in the coming years and cause another 1994 or 2006 'throw the bums out' moment. But republicans should get used to being in the back seat for a long long time. I'd like to thank all the voters who put the worst and probably dumbest president in american history into office, the true architect of this Democrat tidal wave : George W. Bush.

[globality]

Nice try,

Let's blame it all on the outgoing president

all the GOP are to blame as they ran rampant drunk on power and dismantled all regualtions and protections enjoyed by th eaverage america.

Their corrupt ideology of supporting only the investor class while distracting the lower classes with gays and guns is to blame

From the lies of Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Pearle, Cheney to the corruption of De Lay, Abrahmoff, Enron to the illegal activities of Scooter Libby or the hateful comments of Trent Lott there is plenty of blame to go around

Yes Bush was one of the worst presidents ever but the GOP as a whole did as much damage to it's name as did Bush.

Mc Cain is just the Bush 3 term that no one wants

Impeach NOW