In 1918, on the stage of the Hippodrome in New York City, Harry Houdini made a five ton elephant named Jennie disappear.
Fucking piker.
At the rate the Bush Administration is going -- A) centrifuging out of the GOP anyone with a shred of conscience, memory or judgment, and B) compacting the loons into an ever tighter, louder, more deranged and more nomination-controlling shit-brick -- by 2008 George W. Bush bids fair to go down in history as the man who made the entire Republican Party vanish right before your eyes.
The latest exile?
This from the NYT.
Hagel Will Not Seek Re-Election to His Senate Seat
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: September 9, 2007
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 -- Senator Chuck Hagel, the Nebraska Republican and outspoken critic of the Iraq war who had been mulling a run for president, will retire at the end of his term in early 2009 and will not run for the White House, aides said on Saturday.
Mr. Hagel will make a formal announcement in Omaha on Monday morning, the aides said.
In announcing his retirement, Mr. Hagel will fulfill a promise he made to voters when he first ran for the Senate in 1996 that he would retire after two terms. But his decision is the latest political setback for the Republican Party in its effort to prevent Democrats from extending their majority in Congress next year.
Former Senator Bob Kerrey, a Nebraska Democrat, who has been president of The New School University in New York City since leaving office in 2001, has said that he might return to Nebraska to run for office again. Mr. Kerrey is also a former governor of Nebraska.
In an e-mail message on Saturday, Mr. Kerrey declined to comment on his intentions. In an interview last month, he expressed skepticism about running, but added, “these moments don’t happen very often. It’s a possibility.”
Democratic leaders in Washington and Nebraska are pushing him to run, saying he would be the party’s strongest candidate.
In just the last two weeks, Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, one of the most influential Republicans on military policy, announced that he would retire next year after his fifth term. And Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after his arrest in a men’s room sex sting at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, announced that he would resign at the end of the month, though there was subsequent speculation after his announcement last week that he might keep his seat. Even if Mr. Craig does not resign — he is seeking to reverse his guilty plea — he has indicated that he will not seek re-election next year.
In all, the Republicans must defend 22 seats in the 2008 elections, compared to just 12 seats that Democrats are seeking to retain.
...
It is a fine thing for Sentor Hagel to keep his word on term limits and walk away from his office, but there is no way in the world I will ever believe that watching his Republican Party go from Very Bad to repulsively fascistic, degenerate and corrupt played no part in his decision.
A Rovian political sewer entirely of their own making. An open, reeking Limbaugh cesspit which shambling, Bible-pounding liars, hucksters and hypocrites like Tom DeLay, Pampers Vitter, and Larry "Jimmy Leg" Craig fight like mad dogs to remain in up to their noses, and adults like John Warner and Chuck Hagel finally can't stand any longer and flee.
So, Chuck, as the last grown-up left in Party of Lincoln I believe it now falls to you to say a few words over its grave and then kill the lights on your way out.
10 comments:
Uh, what happened to your archives? I've been randomly dipping in. Hope they aren't lost.
--adk
"Jimmy leg" LOL
Don't forget his, well, convenient connection to Diebold and why he never should've been allowed to walk into the Senate in the first place.
Whatever his tie-ins with the corporate shits (and they are surely there) Hagel was WAY ahead of the republican curve when it came to breaking ranks with the warpimps.
It helped.
The next Nebraska senator could be worse, but I'm glad he's bailing on the idea of running for prez. I think he would be he most formidable candidate they could possibly field.
To wit: he would wipe his butt with Hillary, and it would probably be close with either Edwards or Obama.
Glad he's out of it.
I heard this earlier and thought it was the news of the day. It was the Thompson announcement, I'm sure, that let him know that the gop isn't going to field any serious candidates. They runned him oft, they did.
Can't say as I blame him. As Tanbark says, his breaking ranks on the war did help and he could have been a serious candidate. I was always concerned with his history and vote machine connection but maybe he's going back to that with rover :-) More lucrative I'm sure. That's IF we have elections. ;-)
The gop has some falwell/robertson grad they're going to shove in there I'm sure. Sad he's forced to give up instead of stay and fight for turth, just us, and the 'murkin way though. 8^]
Funny, 'cos I thought, if Hagel ever ran, despite his baggage, he'd be a half-way decent Rep candidate....... if you choose to vote rethug........ or maybe just independent. He actually got angry, on the record, about all this crap.
Beats Guiliana as Ms. Presidente.
For an alternative view, written in the Driftglass voice, read this.
Regards
It's not every day that we get a front-row seat on the self-destruction of a major political party. Heck, it only happens once every century or so. But it's happening to the GOP right now, courtesy of their lockstep dedication to all things George W.
And even the Governator is speaking out on the topic, comparing the GOP to a movie that is dying at the box office. His speech this week to the assembled California GOP faithful was something to behold. My favorite line was this:
...nearly three-quarters of our own party support the global warming bill that I signed last year. They want this party to do something more about climate change than simply doubt it.
It's a beautiful thing watching the party of Cheney throw itself on the trash heap of history.
I don't think the "Democratic Majority" in the House was ever as strong as we thought it was. There are 47 self-identified "Blue Dog Democrats" in Congress who are nothing more than Repugs with a "D" after their names, and who vote with Bush pretty much down the line. They are the House equivalents of Joe Lieberman, and they are Nancy Pelosi's worst nightmare. Until these assholes are pried out of their seats, it doesn't make much sense to blame all Dems for being spineless.
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