So Bush is the most unpopular president since Carter (with the longest streak of below-50%-approval since Truman), and the Republican party is a damaged brand. It should be smooth sailing into 2008. And yet...
As Steve M points out, Republican presidential candidates are running even with or ahead of their Democratic counterparts. This is partly because the Democrats have been subjected to more critical scrutiny so far, but it also illustrates the challenge we face. I think Steve is absolutely right about this:
No Democrat, when confronted with a microphone, should ever utter the name of a GOP candidate for president without attaching the word "Republican" to the name...In addition to the Republican label, though, I think we need to do whatever we can to tie them to Bush. We need to make it clear that any Republican would be a change in name only. And there's one phrase I think we need to repeat whenever any of these clowns is mentioned: more of the same.
Romney: more second-generation multi-millionaire values, more fiscal lunacy, more pandering to religious extremists. More of the same.
McCain: more neo-conservative adventurism, more imperiousness, more shameless pandering to religious extremists. More of the same.
And the front-runner, Giuliani: more cronyism, more corruption, more incompetence, more authoritarian narcissism, and yes--you guessed it--more pandering to religious extremists. More of the same.
We need to make Bush the anchor that sinks anyone they nominate. We need to make the nominee as unable to escape Bush as Mondale was to escape Carter (after four years of a Republican president). And really, I think we can do it. Because we know exactly what these guys have to offer.
More of the same.
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