Although I think they are of at best only anecdotal value, I really enjoy the "Another Republican Throws In The Towel" diaries. Sometimes it's a relative, sometimes a friend, sometimes a coworker. I don't have any Republican relatives or friends and, as a consultant, I make it a practice not to talk politics with my clients. So I never thought I'd be able to make a contribution to this genre.
Imagine my surprise in learning, right here at dKos, that my old Red State and Swords Crossed buddy Ender (EnderRS here at dKos) is giving up on the Republican Party! And he says:
This administration sucks. Bush is a blundering moron of the epic proportions. He's assembled the most pathetic bunch of yes-men and women to do his bidding and we are seeing how well that worked out when one has no vision whatsoever.
Yes, he says that and much, much more -->
Ender took last weekend off from blogging and politics and seems to have come back on fire. In his post over at SwordsCrossed, all his disappointment at the incompetence, corruption, waste, and dishonesty of the modern Republican Party explodes.
Now, Ender is not giving up on Conservatism -- or at least that story-book conservatism that Republicans have long sold to their voters as they happily sucked at the teat of corrupt lobbyists and holy rollers. He still believes in small government, but now he understands:
Our spending has gone up at a higher clip than under a Democrat right before this dimwit of a president... We have a huge debt and deficit you corrupt bastards. Get serious about governing and actually adhering to the platform you were elected on instead of defending everything our joke of a president is letting through. Good lord almighty. Do you actually think your gay marriage vote is going to excuse the sorry last 6 years? Idiots.
And Ender, who is anti-Abortion, hasn't changed his mind on that. But he has realized that Republicans have been playing bait-and-switch on that subject as well:
And then when you get Partial Birth Abortions finally outlawed with the support of the US Supreme Court you scream and yell that this finally justifies everything and just on its own makes electing George Bush and GOP Congress worthwhile... What? Have you looked at what the f*** is going in the world lately? Outlawing one of the rarest forms of abortion that is probably still going to be performed 99% of the time because it is usually either necessary for mother's health or because the baby is braindead is worth being stuck in hellholes, wasting trillions of dollars, being investigated left and right for being stupid and corrupt sons of b****es, following a complete moron to the wasteland of minority status (probably for a long time), and completely abandoning your original ideology in favor of some fantasy land promises and fear mongering? Yeah it was all worth it to ban those 10 abortions. It excuses the last 6 years. Get the hell outta here.
One thing that worries me about the coming Republican meltdown is that it might somehow be limited Bush and his immediate cronies. If the bulk of the Republican Party were to run as far and as fast from the Bush Administration as possible (something they don't seem to be interested in doing, oddly enough) I worry that they might be able to contain the Bush fallout and be in a position to do the same thing in four, or eight, or twelve years.
But they're not fooling Ender:
The congressional republicans are compassionate towards spending even more money, supporting a losing strategy in a major war because of complete lack of principles and courage, and being corrupt and arrogant assh***s without an ounce of leadership qualities.
Now, Ender is leaving the Republican Party to become an Independent. And he still doesn't like Democrats -- or at least the story-book Democrats that the Republicans have sold to their voters for 25 years. But the first step is always the hardest, making the break from the mob is difficult. I have every hope that someday Ender will be able to see his way to voting for competence over cronyism, even if that does mean pulling the lever for a Democrat.