Something Someone Else Said

"After 9/11, the GOP’s favorability rating stood in the low 60s. Since then it has steadily fallen, with a brief uptick in the wake of Bush’s 2004 reelection, to a low of 34% today.

Cheney, of course, is the less popular member of the duo who brought the party to its knees. He aggressively pushed the policies that squandered all the goodwill the GOP enjoyed (see Iraq, Hasty Invasion Of) and led to last year’s rout. Yet far from withdrawing from public life, according to Gallup’s numbers yesterday, Cheney is seen as a leading GOP voice.

Even more galling to GOPers (see this interview with Mark Sanford), his media tour isn’t even about helping the current GOP. It’s narrowly focused on salvaging his own reputation by defending policies he championed that aren’t even operative or relevant anymore.

The larger story here — absurd, cringe-worthy, funny and sad all at once — is that the guy who did as much as anyone to practically destroy the GOP just won’t let the party move on." -Greg Sargent, The Plum Line

Am I wrong in thinking that for a party floundering in the wilderness and unable to even choose a suitable leader that it's kind of counterproductive to have your least popular member constantly front and center before the national media, especially when this recent turn of events is juxtaposed with his own shadowy existence as far as the press is concerned for the past few years? I keep hearing talk of the need for "fresh new leaders and ideas" yet I see the same tired, old white men (along with the occasional female or minority surrogate yet again spouting the same tired talking points) as the leading faces of this party.

On a related note, you just know that W's kicking back in Dallas with a cooler full of Silver Bullets and "heh-heh-heh"ing about this whole situation. How badly do they need to lose before they actually make some significant changes to bring their party back into the good graces of the American public? I'm not sure but it's going to be fun finding out as the whole thing unfolds.

(via)