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

[KQuark]

People need to ask both Obama and Clinton if the support permanent bases in Iraq NOW. Obama stands for getting our of Irag in 16 months which at least is giving us a time table for withdrawal, but it seems like Clinton is still hedging and just says she will start removing troops within 60 days. That fine and dandy but both candidates need to be more clear on this issue.

[hugs4u]

Bush has killed the GOP and Hillary trying to do it to the democrats. Other wise she would realize she can't get enough votes to overtake Obama and she would just sit down and shut up.

[Krackonis]

Nah, he just made it mean "brownshirts" again. It's only one generation between him and his Union Bank CEO Grandfather Prescott Bush.

Union Bank being shut down because it was a "Nazi Bank" by Hoover.

[Trittydi]

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

As if they didn't have anything to do with it.

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[wagonjak]

Now we need to overpower it, stomp on it unmercifully, and hold it underwater until we are sure it is dead, and will not rise up again to commit more mayhem and damage to this country...

We need a Democratic Terminator!

[Bendersky]

snowcat See Profile I'm a Fan of snowcat

"unfortunately Hillary will bring it back in force if she's the nominee. They will rally around to get her and pull together. They will come to together against Obama as well but not nearly as forcefully. They got Bush in due to the country's fatigue with the scandals of the Clinton Whitehouse and they have plenty of fodder."

Plenty of fodder? Snowcat,I get this is popular to say, but all they really have is an intern, a cigar, a rejected medical policy, and a bunch of sleazy pardons at the end of Clinton's two terms. Whitewater was dismissed and ungrounded.

My understanding is that it was a republican strategy: They were going to dig and dig and dig and keep making allegations until something stuck. I'm not saying that Clinton didn't have some sleaze or make some gross blunders, but really, look at it--When we talk of the Clinton Scandals, the best the repubs could do was oral sex from an intern. In comparison, in the near and distant future, it is being, (and will continue to be revealed for years to come) that Bush and Co. have committed many, many egregious acts, any one of which will be much worse than anything Clinton got caught for during his terms.

The Clinton's might have a perception problem, but the republicans are truly criminal. The only thing that stands between the dems and the presidency are those damn Diebold machines. Hey dems? Right around now would be a great time to investigate those things, or aren't you worried about that little knowing smirk that always seems to be on McCain's face these days?

[robotfog]

Republicans destroyed their own brand by enabling and standing with bush. Maybe if some of them had principles, they wouldn't be where they are.

[Trittydi]

BINGO!!

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[Anciano]

So much for the named and branded political party.
What about the financial machinations that the GOP sponsored and profited from? Put a president in office that is firmly connected to them and the problem continues. (McHillary).
Convenient that the only one who had experience prosecuting
the Wall Street thieves, the only one they feared, had that 'embarrassing revelation' just as $200,000,000,000 of the taxpayers' money was about to be handed over to private banks to fix the mess that was made under the watchful eye of the Republican Party.

[mellene]

Yup--it's gone down in flames.

[CheshireCat2]

Just remember though conservatism is dead. Perhaps this is what we really needed is a reality check and I am afraid that McCain is not the answer.

[TrevorWynne]

Don't be so quick to write off the Republicans. We thought we had destroyed their brand in Florida in 2000. Look at what's happened since. That's why the media needs to get off of covering the divisions in the Democratic party and to start re-focusing on what our top priority is: defeating Republicans in November.
-Trevor Wynne
Washington, DC

[Gordon]

The media should share your priority of defeating repubs in nov?

Hate the free press much?

[CheshireCat2]

Ever been snow blind? Your eyes are open but you can't see anything. The Dems have been blinded and victimized by their own tactics and now they are attacking one another at that level.

[situationcritical]

Yeah, tell that to Rupert Murdoch, and Diebold.

[Gordon]

not a big fan of the free press?

[CheshireCat2]

Well have no fear then, State run press coming soon, to a city near you!

[AmericaIsATerroist]

Yeah but Florida is full of Cubans, Trailer Trash, and the Elderly. I don't know why it wasn't hacked off years ago and set adrift towards Cuba.

[Lonw]

I'm surprised that anybody who voted for Bush was able to find their way to the voting machines.

That the Republicans are just now learning/admitting that their Bush-god has "killed the Republican brand" indicates that they are slow learners and should not be allowed to hold any public office.

[browndog2]

There you Dems go again. Just can't help yourself with the condensend­ing,intell­egence superiority mantra. If you didn't vote for Keery or Gore you're a pea-brain.­Nice logic. and by the way,ALL republicans I talk to feel as I, Bush is a stupid,arrogant , partisan. The worst President to hold office. That doesn't make them Democrats, it makes them open-minded, free-thinking Americans.

[chronic5]

They will remain true to their own personal greed and vote for whomever feeds that greed and it will be another lying, stealing, cheating "Christain" Republican.

[KQuark]

Maureen Dowd had won of her best columns ever on the ever gleeful Bush in these dark times. It reminds me of Nero laughing when Rome was burning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/opinion/16dowd.html?ref=opinion

Following is part of her column.

" Everyone here is flummoxed about why the president is in such a fine mood.

The dollar’s crumpling, the recession’s thundering, the Dow’s bungee-jumping and the world’s disapproving, yet George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly, tap dancing and singing in a one-man review called “The Most Happy Fella.”

“I’m coming to you as an optimistic fellow,” he told the Economic Club of New York on Friday. His manner — chortling and joshing — was in odd juxtaposition to the Fed’s bailing out the imploding Bear Stearns and his own acknowledgment that “our economy obviously is going through a tough time,” that gas prices are spiking, and that folks “are concerned about making their bills.”

He began by laughingly calling the latest news on the economic meltdown “a interesting moment” and ended by saying that “our energy policy has not been very wise” and that there was “no quick fix” on gasp-inducing gas prices.

“You know, I guess the best way to describe government policy is like a person trying to drive a car in a rough patch,” he said. “If you ever get stuck in a situation like that, you know full well it’s important not to overcorrect, because when you overcorrect you end up in the ditch.”

Dude, you’re already in the ditch."

[situationcritical]

Maureen Dowd is an idiot, just like The Monkey President.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

" Everyone here is flummoxed about why the president is in such a fine mood."


The answer is obvious.

He's nuts!

[oldrwizr]

I suspect he's drinking/drugging again.

[AmericaIsATerroist]

I'm sure we would have figured out that the "energy policy was not wise" eight years ago but The Decider saw fit to decide that Cheny's energy task force meeting had to be tip top, super duper, secret. I wonder why we weren't allowed to know? Why all the mea culpa now?

[johnfoirdfw]

He hasn't done much for the American brand either....­.

[kellygrrrl]

If there's one thing to be learned, it is this:

If you desire a career in Politics, screw the law degree - go for the Marketing Degree!

[Dap]

Truth-In-Fact be *know*, G.W. Bu$h is the "Rosetta Stone" of Neo-Fascism ideology within the Neo-Conservative movement that have members on both sides of the aisle in America's body politic, which have been systematically trying to change our beloved Constitution by Unconstitutional means. They have nothing but contempt for our heritage and system of checks and balances set in place by our Founders and all those who have fought throughout the centuries to up-hold those principles of equality under the law, and changed any inequities that were found as we've move forward to a better form of governance.

[Mondayboy]

With rising inflation and less and less buying power overseas, the value of the dollar is rapidly decreasing. The American brand is dying.

[KQuark]

People we have to face facts American strength around the world has always been measured by the strength of the dollar, the strength of our military and the strength of our founding principles. Bush has done more damage to all three of those facets than any president in history. If we elect another Rethuglican president we get exactly what the Romans got our eventual collapse as the strongest nation on the planet.

[Trittydi]

Well said.

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