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I\’ve said before that I used to claim \”I\’m not a Republican, I\’m a conservative\”, and lately it\’s been frequently pointed out that this is a stupid statement to make considering I hold a position in my Senate District and I\’m doing quite a bit of volunteer work for GOP causes.  I agree with those observations, but the past couple weeks are a perfect reason why I have made that statement in the past.  There are times, not terribly often, but often enough, where I am so far removed from the Republican Party on an issue that I may as well be a seperate party.

And it\’s not that I\’ve shifted away from conservatism, or flip-flopped or whatever, it\’s that the Republican Party has gotten something so incredibly wrong that I refuse to even consider myself affiliated with them.  This immigration issue is one of them.  While the President, the RNC and most of the Republican leadership supports this piece of shit amnesty bill, virtually every conservative I know, and most I don\’t, are opposed to it.

And not only does \”my\” party disagree with my viewpoint, but the simple act of disagreeing with them draws insults and claims of racism and bigotry from them.  What is a conservative to think???  Does he/she just pretend they didn\’t really mean it and it was just a one time incident?? Or does he remember past incidents such as Harriet Miers, Dubai Ports, Immigration attempts 1, 2 and 3, Rumsfeld, etc and realize that perhaps that is how our leadership views us.

President Bush has been a one-man GOP wrecking crew his entire second term, and while most Republicans have forgiven past transgressions and looked beyond, I fear a line was crossed somewhere.  I see anonomosity and apathy that I\’ve never seen before.  I see stalwart Republicans openly advocating internal rebellion.  I see a party more divided now than ever before.

I\’m firmly convinced that if one of the GOP 2008 Presidential Candidates made his campaign slogan \”President Bush Is A Disgrace\”, he\’d instantly capture a large plurality of the conservative base.  Normally that would worry me, but after being insulted and spit upon by \”my\” parties leadership I barely care.  I find myself strangely apathetic to 2008 Coleman race as well.  When it comes down to it both Coleman and his eventual opponent seem intent on pushing this country off the cliff, the only difference being how hard the shove is.

I just can\’t see the GOP, or indeed this country, surviving this amnesty bill.  And if this amnesty bill fails, while the country may be saved, I\’m convinced the damage has already been done to the GOP.  Rifts have been created that I\’m not entirely certain will easily heal.  The base has so little faith and no confidence in it\’s leadership.  I\’m not even sure new leadership would help that.  While I\’ll agree with Chief that a Sarkozy style candidate has more of a chance than anything else I\’m not sure it\’s anything but futile.

Congrats Bush, you\’ve done what decades of Democrats could not do….destroy the GOP.  Welcome to your legacy.