Canaries in the coal mine

For a real taste of what ails the Republican party these days, look at the comments left on conservative, pro-war blogs, like John Cole's:

Hey, now. I’m as righteously angry as any misanthrope who posts on this Godforsaken website. But I’m not a Democrat yet, and I won’t be signing up as one any time soon.

I’m a Republican, whose parents knocked on doors for AuH2O in 1964; whose grandparents cast lonely votes for Willkie. I even voted for W in 2000.

Man, was that a mistake. Something has happened to my party, and a bitter rod of chastisement is well and truly overdue. So I have voted straight (D) for the first time in my life. (I live in Oregon and have already voted by mail.)

The biggest problems for me are the rise of the neocons, and the reliance of the GOP on the Old Confederacy to win elections. The Old Confederacy vote is why the anti-science stuff has such pull nowadays. The fact that it (used to) might rein in votes from Montana to Pennsylvania didn’t hurt.

Right now, I am white-hot with rage at the horrific course the GOP has charted for my Republic. Politically, I fall somewhere between Pat Buchanan and Russ Feingold.

And I’d lay you decent odds that a majority of John Cole’s commentariat is made up not of Leftists™, but of disaffected moderates and mainstream Republicans left in the cold by the wild-eyed neoConfederate wingnuts who control (for now, God willing) the GOP.

Democrats can capitalize on this fresh wave of disaffection by stressing fiscal discipline, evidence-based science, and governmental transparency.