The Occasional Observer

Fran Combs, managing editor of the Washington Times, weighs in on the decision to put Sen. Martinez in charge of the RNC. I'm in complete agreement with the WaTimes disgust.

I hate to say it, but it's official: Bush/Rove has jumped the shark. I'm just counting down the days till we're free of these two millstones. And it's not the mid-term electoral loss--it's the fact that they refuse to absorb any lessons and confront reality. On issue after issue--illegal immigration (most importantly), nation-building, failure to confront earmarks/K-street corruption, overspending (where's the VETO pen?), and the failure to open foregin markets and foster fair trade (which is killing us in the rust belt, the biggest swing region)--this President is MIA. And apparently, based on the "architect's" musings, his absence is quite intentional.

If Clinton was a "new Democrat", taking on (in rhetoric, anyway) GOP tax policy and shying away from welfare, Bush is a "New Republican." He's absorbed the Democratic way of viewing the electorate and how to get votes: pay 'em off.

To give him his due, Bush has been good on taxes, and fair on the most important issue: appointing conservative judges. But the same can be said of most any Presidential candidate the GOP has offered since Reagan. And the same will be true after '08, assuming Rudy does not win the nomination (and I'm skeptical that he can).