[Preechr]

Why must you make me constantly repeat myself?

*sigh*

Sometimes it's like I'm talking into a rain-barrel, or to my hound dog... or to kahljorn.

I will hit the bullet points for you, in hopes that I might jog your memory:

Grover Norquist's comment, though reflective of previous Republican STRATEGY, is no longer the goal. A cursory glance at the Bush presidency proves that.

Since the Reagan years, the strategy for Republican dominance has evolved into one of growing government in order to speed up the demise of Democrat socialist programs, eg: the world's biggest new entitlement program that nobody wanted and that just bleeds money: The Medicare Rx Plan.

Dammit... I can't do this quickly or concisely... Why must you so easily accept such obvious contradictions into your arguments?

You make this incredibly difficult sometimes, and I'm very tired, so please excuse my bitchiness. Help me help you. I want you to get this. Really, I do. I left for work at 530 this morning, and I just got home at 930... then I sat down here. For you.

Instead of hinging your argument on my revealing the members of a secret cabal of evil Republicans (that you and I both know do not exist) how bout considering for a moment that Republican politicians all carry certain individual amounts of power at any point. I should not be being forced to spell this out for you. That power comes from many places... guys like DeLay add weight to their opinions because they are serious cash cows. Guys like Frist are listened to because of his position in the party.

It's not a Skull and Bones meeting, and you know that's not what I'm saying... so why must you muddy the waters? I'm trying to discuss this, and you're flinging crap.

One second you say McCain's painted as more bi-partisan than he really is because the media loves him, but the next you say he's a viable candidate because the media says so...

I ask you to explain to me how primaries are a Democratic process, and you come back asking why I don't think votes count for nothing, as if the actual elections are rigged...

You know how primaries are decided. You know that so much influence is exerted during those state by state dog and pony shows by EVERYONE that has any sort of stake in the game that the primaries are just big pep-rallies used by the parties to warm the electorate up for the real elections. Primaries are NOT part of the electoral process. The voting IN THE PRIMARIES is for show.

That does not mean that secret groups of half-devils are cronying it up right now, deciding for their own twisted reasons who is gonna get to run in 08. Nobody's hulking over a cauldron, and there's nothing under your bed but that Newsweek and that sad little pile of tissue.

During the circus in 99, Bush's team could have been punished by the party for their actions toward McCain, but they weren't. That lack of support was a sign of greater support among the party for Bush. That's the simplest example I can give you. It's politics.

Notice, please: I am leaving my characteristic barbs out of this in hopes you'll be less spewey with your response. I was only trying to explain something to you, but colorfully. I didn't mean to get you all fired up, making you resort to such extreme flailings of non-logic.

Wait... maybe that was a barb... sorry...

Well, I guess that part about the tissue was also... well, sorry again...

Moving on... The "Neo-Con Agenda," remember, stems from the realizations afforded traditional LIBERALS that had been "mugged by reality." Socialism does not actually help those it was thought to help... it only hurts them more. Neo-Cons switched sides because they liberaled themselves conservative. They decided to teach that guy to fish instead of catching fish for him. They are still classically liberal in that their motivations are to help the little guy, but their methods have changed.

Traditional Republicans also had a realization. By fighting the Democrats tooth and nail over every little detail of their socialist projects and insisting on limitations every step of the way, they were only keeping those projects alive longer than if they had just welcomed the bad ideas and let them die off naturally. Had it not been for Republicans trying so hard to kill it, we wouldn't be looking at another 50 years of Social Security gasping out it's dying breaths.

Competition, if you recall, makes things stronger. Had they let the Democrats have their way with the Welfare State they were building, it would have already failed utterly and there would be nothing left to fight against.

Republicans have launched a two pronged attack that has proven to be wildly successful. First, they inserted the phrase "tax-relief" into the American lexicon, and have been able to hack and slash more and more citizens off the tax roles every year since with tax cuts and by supporting nonsense like EIC credits. Second, they have become adept at both spending the pork before the Democrats can get their hands on it, while simultaneously directing what money is being spent on social programs into the most inefficient areas.

We went from "Just Say No" to the "War on Drugs." Nancy Reagan's idea was FREE, where the Drug War accomplishes less while sucking money out of the budget to such a degree that it's true cost is now a well-hidden secret. Remember when the Republicans were rallying behind the idea of closing the doors on the Department of Education? Right after that was when they switched gears, and now you can't close the doors on that building for the mounds of cash piled on the threshold and our kids are dumber than ever.

Instead of shrinking government to the size it could be drowned in a bathtub, they are attempting to explode it. People don't vote against something that might not fall apart for another 50 years, so they are speeding up the death process. People will vote for conservative solutions only after the socialist programs have failed.

This is so off topic now... We should continue this in Ms. Mod's "I hate politics" thread or something.

Anyhoo, the Republican plan is working. Apply what I'm saying to the seeming inconsistancies apparent in the Bush Administration's domestic decisions, and it really does all make sudden sense, doesn't it? Party platform statements are meaningless in the short game. No vetos and all the pork... Madicare Rx... Hell, even Bush's guest worker program, though too liberal looking to easily pass muster with Republican voters, is designed to kill free healthcare availability in hospitals and pretty much every other welfare-type program we have still struggling along in this country. It all fits with the plan, man...

It's not evil, it's just effective political strategy. As a libertarian, I fully support it. The thing I am most scared of is that I see a lot of Republicans that are becoming a bit too drunk on spending, and I worry that they might stop short of the plan's completion. I have stated previously that we are headed into a Tory style government re-labeled "compassionate conservatism." That's why I've said the Republicans are becoming Democrats and the Democrats are becoming Communists. Everything is shifting to the left.

McCain is not on the Republican bandwagon. He has rejected the plans tactics and is resolutely... as you have pointed out, linked and hammered home... continued to vote in line with the platform.

Please tell me this is making sense to you.

Republicans run Governors, not Senators. They will eventually run a Governor, not McCain.

McCain is a 1970's Republican, and the party has moved on. They will not run him for President because he does not support their long-term plan for returning conservative principles to American government by abandoning them completely in the short-term.

McCain is a popular guy because the left understands his traditional methods represent their last hope in light of the current WiLdLy SUCCESSFUL Republican strategy, and he is doing a great job of positioning himself as a lead candidate. He is starting WAY too early, which is obviously because he needs to. He knows the GOP can't start nailing down their list of possibles until after the mid-term elections because he knows they will pick among Governors.

That being said, I am not implying that McCain has evil in his heart. He believes in conservative principles and he will ive and die by his beliefs. I respect him for that. He has integrity, and the world of politics is sorely lacking in that. I wish him well in his failure, and I hope the Republicans can avoid steering the ship into those big-ass, mean looking rocks just ahead.

Just in case you missed it when I said it RIGHT UP THERE: There is a very good reason McCain is such a darling of the portion of the media that's biased to the left. That reason is that were he to take a lead role in the GOP, the current Republican final solution plan will fail and everything will go back to normal for the Democrats... at least that is the hope. He is not the only Republican politician that is sticking to his guns, but 1999 brought him into the spotlight and he's really good at staying there.

Look at your lists and your stats, but also look at the larger picture. This is not what anybody would have expected a Republican run government to look like, is it? The massive contradictions you see between the GOP platform and the results of the past 5 years should not be ignored because they are proof that I am right.

It's very hard to ignore the effects of the WOT in interpreting what's happening, and I will admit to a crazy time when I considered that the war might actually have been cooked up in an effort to waste money... but reason and my belief in the inherent goodness of men prevailed and I paddled my logic canoe back toward more peaceful water.

The common perception is that the Bush Administratin has done Ok on the WOT to the detriment of domestic policy, but I believe "the plan" is Bush's domestic policy, and I think his administration's done an amazing job of being successful on both ends. I am not even halfway tempted to vote Republican, as I am also a man of principle, but I can smile when I throw my vote away in an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" sort of way.

I am going to go to bed now, but first I am gonna pray that I don't have to rephrase this to you another 20 times before either you get it or I give up entirely.

Did I mention that I'm also sick? I have been sick for two weeks, and I've been working like a dog, traveling my ass off, buring my candles at both ends and in the middle, but STILL I stay up till midnight re-typing my previously explained postions to you in yet another of many, many efforts to explain to you, my dear friend, how politics works. I am obviously supremely dedicated to this cause.

See, I live in the Confederacy and you live in the Nation's Capital, you are a Democrat and I am... well, an economic conservative anyway... yet somehow I (the Redneck) am the one that is able to conjure up the NUANCED bigger picture where you (the Yankee) seem to struggle to advance your political views much past the drivel one might expect to discover in any given Tuesday's USA Today Lifestyle section...

Why do you think that is?

Better question: If you are only going to use these powers for the forces of evil, why am I working so hard to tutor you in the ways of the world?

Maybe it's just too much NyQuil...

Nighty night, Kevvy Wevvy.