Chad the Elder of the Fraters Libertas is one of the few who recognizes how deep the damage runs. He quotes an FL reader who is a longtime Republican and writes in response:
I’ve patiently been swabbing the decks of this damned ship since Jimmy Carter was the captain, waiting for the stars to align so we could get the pilots we were promised. This was supposed to be my time. I wanted to see some major payback action. But what did I get? Mystery Man Roberts. And now Mystery Old Maid Miers? And I’m supposed to be satisfied?
I’m furious. I don’t give a good G** damn if the Republicans never win another election as long as I live. I’m done with them. No more time. No more money. 2008 will probably pit Hillary against McCain and frankly, I can’t tell which one I despise more, a pox on both their houses.
Here’s my attitude in a nutshell: I trusted you. You screwed me. Now there’s going to be Hell to pay.
Dismiss Nathan if you wish. Tell him to sit down and shut up. Wax on about the “perfect being the enemy of the good” all you want. Try to convince yourself that this is just another brilliant strategic masterstroke by Karl Rove.
But, no matter how you twist it, the fact of the matter is that the choice of Miers has driven him from the Republican fold. And I’m afraid to say that he’s far from the only one. Part of the base is goin’ boys and they ain’t coming back.
Believe it or not, people do get disgusted and leave permanently. I was a die-hard Reagan Youth Republican, I was active in the Young Republicans and attended not only the Republican convention in 1988, but also the subsequent inauguration celebration. But personal contact with people like Ken Lay, Georgette Mosbacher and others in George Bush’s inner circle had planted some seeds of doubt in my mind, and when the first President Bush broke his pledge on taxes, I realized that the Republican Party politicians were largely frauds concocted to fool the much more conservative Republican grass roots.
I left the Republican Party then and have not, to the best of my recollection, voted for another Republican since. I have not regretted it, as Minnesota Republicans turned their backs on conservatives and chose a former Democrat from New York as their standard bearer.
Read the whole thing at Fraters Libertas, it’s very illustrative of the serious problem facing Republicans in 2006 and beyond.