Currently I'm seeing the development of two classifications of Republicans. We have the Ship Jumpers, those who see the writing on the wall and don't like what their Party has turned into. And we also have the Fantasy World Defenders. The Defenders are those who refuse to face reality and instead bury their head deeper into Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for talking points about what is taking place and why their Fantasy World is crumbling. The Fantasy World Defenders have a rallying cry printed in today's Washington Post.To clarify, however, Ship Jumpers are not Party switchers by any means. They are simply discontented Republicans who are fed up with the current direction of their Party. They are what remains of moderate Republicans. The Defenders, on the other hand, will point to Peter Wehner's article in today's WaPo for proof their world isn't crumbling.
The Defense begins in the fourth paragraph:
In addition, there is a natural disposition toward change after a two-term president; that increases when the president's approval rating hovers around 25 percent.A natural disposition? This makes it sound like it's an every day occurrence to have a two-term president with approval ratings below 25%. It isn't. But Fantasy World Republicans want people to believe it's perfectly normal for two-term presidents to be unpopular, and it's natural for people to want change once the president hits 25 percent. What a freakin' joke.
In modern American presidential history (FDR-present) not one single two-term president has left office with approvals as low as George W. Bush. The only comparison would be that of Truman, who, unlike Bush, was not elected twice, but only once. And even he left office with a 32% approval, significantly higher than Bush's current 23% approval. To state there is a "natural disposition toward change" when a president hovers around 25% approval is an understatement. Probably the largest understatement ever made. Logically, and correctly, a disposition toward change occurs once a president hits 49% not 25%. Only in the Republican Fantasy World and only for Republicans does a "natural disposition" occur at 25%.
Then Wehner makes the classic neoconservative lie that mainstream America is right of center. "Moreover, America remains, in the main, a center-right nation," states Wehner. That's a total load of garbage. As proof, Wehner sites two polls. One is a Newsweek poll and the other is the ever-so-reliable Fox News. However, a survey of all national polls indicate that American voters are issue after issue anything but right of center. Dig through Polling Report all day long and find me any evidence that America, "in the main," is center-right. How can a populace that overwhelmingly favors universal health care and overwhelmingly opposes the privatization of Social Security; and one that favors the right to privacy, stem cell research and a new energy plan for the country be labeled as "center-right?" It can't. Only Fantasy World Defenders believe the nation to be center-right and still supportive of modern Republican policies.
Wehner goes on to mention Reagan and blames the current GOP woes not on movement conservatism but on Party members. He blames them for not being true conservatives. His essay is the definitive moment for the last remnant of the GOP.
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