Eugene Robinson: The GOP Is a Mess and a Fraud

Time to Be Outward Bound is the title of Eugene Robinson's withering assessment of Conservative Republican governance under of Bush/Cheney. His conclusion? Today's GOP Is a Mess and a Fraud.

Since George W. Bush became president, the Republican Party has presided over massive, out-of-control government spending, converted a federal budget surplus into a half-trillion-dollar deficit, and looked the other way while Wall Street's greed and stupidity turned the hallowed free market into scorched earth. Now the party has to watch as a Republican president orchestrates the biggest government intervention into the workings of the private sector since the New Deal.

Robinson rightly points out that it's laughable for Republicans to claim that they are for small government; and he skewers "right wing radio blowhards" -- Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Cunningham, Laura Ingraham, et al. -- for trying to paint Obama and the Democrats as big government Socialists.

It's pathetic to hear right-wing talk radio blowhards try to associate Barack Obama with "radical" or "socialist" views when a Republican administration is tossing aside "Atlas Shrugged" and speed-reading "Das Kapital."

Robinson's prescription?

When a political party reaches the point of lurching incoherence, the most effective cure is a good, long spell in the wilderness. Americans should help Republicans out by sending them home to get their act together.

Robinson is, of course, right -- and even sensible Republicans agree. It is painfully obvious to them that their party needs a time out to rehab, gather itself and figure out what it stands for in a post Ronald Reagan World.

In the meanwhile, Conservative Republican politicians should not be allowed anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and right-wing radio blowhards ought to seek treatment for their rage, hate and racism.