Shooting an elephant-Why Rethugs are screwed

[malaise]

http://www.slate.com/id/2140538/?nav=tap3
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On the stump, presidential hopefuls John McCain and Newt Gingrich are openly prophesying doom. When party leaders try to act, their base slaps them for it. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Denny Hastert penned an urgent letter imploring President Bush to investigate price gouging. The National Review and Wall Street Journal thumped them like a tub. "Few things are less becoming in a political party than desperation," began the Journal's editorial. "Republicans can blame business all they want for high prices, but sounding like liberal Democrats won't save them in November." The blogosphere echo chamber has also turned sharply critical.

Diehard conservatives are upset over record spending levels and timidity by their leaders, who they think should have responded to high gas prices with renewed calls for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve and streamlined regulation. More moderate and realist-minded Republicans have been turned off by Bush's aggressive, interventionist foreign policy. Military families may still support the war but are fed up enough with lengthy deployments—particularly of the National Guard and reserves—that it's possible they won't turn out.