Wonkette’s been talking to Republicans. They have no idea how to function without a Dear Leader.
“You walked into the RNC [over the last 8 years] and it made sense–George Bush was the head of the party, and everyone there was working for him. All those ‘dear leader’ pictures of Bush made sense. Now, who’s it going to be? McCain? Seriously? I think we’re going to have to go retro. Nixon. Reagan. Hoover… though McCain’s also been harshing on him.”- Anonymous GOP consultant.
It’s funny that these Republicans always forget to mention Poppy Bush. The economy sucked during the latter half of Poppy’s presidency, but at least he didn’t leave office in disgrace like Nixon, Hoover, and Dubya. In many ways, Poppy had the most successful presidency for a Republican (not named Eisenhower) in the 20th-century. He successfully navigated the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. For that alone, he deserves some serious credit. But I don’t want to fluff Poppy too much. I think he is (and was) basically the head of a legalized crime syndicate (why’d we invade Panama again?). If you really want to find a Republican presidency to be proud of, you have to go to Eisenhower. But Republicans never mention him as a role model either.
In reality, the Republicans will stick with Ronald Reagan. His presidency was a disaster of cronyism, corruption, and incompetence, but at least he gets good press and a so-so deal from historians. And, at least he was conservative on the issues modern-day Republicans care about. Of course, Ronald Reagan is dead and is therefore unavailable as a candidate for higher office. That’s why there are all these articles out there about Sarah Palin becoming the nominee in 2012.
If 2012 brings us a match-up between Palin and Mittens, it’ll be hard to get anyone to pay attention.
