The Party's Over

"It's time to wind up the masquerade
"Just make your mind up, the piper must be paid..."*

Some are questioning whether the Republican Party will survive the tumult of this primary season and end up like the Whigs in the 19th century. But Growltiger wonders whether there has been a Republican Party since the helicopter carrying Ronald Reagan vanished into the distance. In catspeak, that means America's two party system hasn't existed since President George H. W. Bush announced the arrival of the "New World Order" and abandoned the "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge he used to gin up the base in order to win the 1988 election. In short, there is a Democrat wing of the Party and a Republican wing of the Party and most of the time it makes no difference to the establishment in Washington which of the candidates prevails. Other than his problems with the ladies and a plethora of "gates", how differently did Bill Clinton govern than George H. W. Bush?

Like Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama has been a transformative president. Unlike President Reagan, he has done so with little push back. In 2015, with the House and Senate in Republican control, Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, delivered in the budget everything on President Obama's wish list. Even Minority Leader, Pelosi, couldn't believe the cornucopia of gifts the Republican wing of the Party gave away.

And that, dear reader, explains Donald Trump in a nutshell.  We the People finally caught on.

Currently, the Republican wing of the Party is in an uproar. Pundits like George Will, Steven Hayes and Charles Krauthammer weigh in nightly on Fox News to warn the viewers that nominating Mr. Trump would be a disaster for the country. (Running the risk of sounding too catty, Growltiger wonders how? Like crashing the economy? Like destroying America's health care system? Like invading Iraq? Like drawing red lines in the sand? Like taking out Libya? The list could go on, but it would be redundant.) Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, in a last ditch effort to derail the Trump locomotive collected a group of intellectuals to denounce Mr. Trump (published today). Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard has stated he would vote for the Democratic wing of the Party if Mr. Trump got the Republican nomination.

Lest her dear readers think Growltiger has gotten into the catnip again, below are quotes these same anti-Trump pundits made in 2008 about president-elect, Senator Barack Obama. Viewing the past seven years through the rectrospectoscope, the Growler especially likes what Dr. Krauthammer and Mr. Kudlow had to say.

Richard Lowry:“the only presidential candidate from either party about whom there is a palpable excitement”.

Charles Krauthammer: “Obama would be a president with the political intelligence of a Bill Clinton harnessed to the steely self-discipline of a Vladimir Putin”, who would “bestride the political stage as largely as did Reagan.”

Bill Kristol:“I look forward to Obama’s inauguration with a surprising degree of hope and good cheer.”

Larry Kudlow: “[Obama] loves to deal with both sides of the issue.” “He revels in the back and forth. And he wants to keep the dialogue going with conservatives.”

As Growltiger observed observed earlier in this essay, it's quite possible that the (Republican) Party is over, and has been for twenty-eight years. "So long, and thanks for all the fish." **

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*from the lyrics of "The Party's Over" from "Bells Are Ringing."

**From Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy