Another Republican waves the white flag

From alert reader Kathleen, we find that Christopher Buckley wants to cut-and-run...from his political party.

Who knew, in 2000, that “compassionate conservatism” meant bigger government, unrestricted government spending, government intrusion in personal matters, government ineptitude, and cronyism in disaster relief? Who knew, in 2000, that the only bill the president would veto, six years later, would be one on funding stem-cell research?

A more accurate term for Mr. Bush’s political philosophy might be incontinent conservatism.

On Capitol Hill, a Republican Senate and House are now distinguished by—or perhaps even synonymous with—earmarks, the K Street Project, Randy Cunningham (bandit, 12 o’clock high!), Sen. Ted Stevens’s $250-million Bridge to Nowhere, Jack Abramoff (Who? Never heard of him), and a Senate Majority Leader who declared, after conducting his own medical evaluation via videotape, that he knew every bit as much about the medical condition of Terry Schiavo as her own doctors and husband. Who knew that conservatism means barging into someone’s hospital room like Dr. Frankenstein with defibrillator paddles? In what chapter of Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom or Russell Kirk’s The Conservative Mind is that principle enunciated?

Thomas Edsall has just published a book, The Making of Red America, arguing that Republicans have put in place a political machine and a solid, social conservative base that will guarantee electoral victories for years to come, despite the fact that Republican politicians are far to the right of the majority of Americans. So, yes, we're fucked for years to come, despite Mr. Buckley's yearning hope for relief from these unprincipled men -- so good at getting elected, so piss-poor at "governing."