A Savior for the Republican Party?Try not to snicker as you read
this column by Howard Fineman entitled "A Dark Horse Republican to the Rescue?"
It speaks volumes about the condition of the GOP that at least a few people around town are talking up [Haley] Barbour as a Republican presidential contender in 2008—and that at least a few of his fellow Republicans (and not just his former business partner, Ed Rogers) seem to be taking the idea somewhat seriously.Rolling my eyes here. Fineman appears to believe that the Republicans are in trouble. This is the kind of trouble the Democrats could only pray for: Control of the White House, the Senate (with votes to spare for another Jumpin' Jim Jeffords) and the House of Representatives.
And listen to his dismissal of two obvious candidates:
There is no obvious successor to George Walker Bush as El Jefe of the GOP except perhaps Gov. John Ellis “Jeb” Bush of Florida who, by virtue of being Little Brother to the President, is too oppressively obvious and therefore problematic.Yes, and Hillary Clinton is oppressively obvious as well. That doesn't mean that the Democrats aren't going to nominate her, because they are.
Others in the party have taken the measure of Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader and supposedly Carl Rove’s favorite. They think Frist can be had. Yes, he is from the Bible Belt, but he is too princely in demeanor and had enough faith in (and knowledge of) science to have become one of the world’s leading thoracic surgeons. What’s more, they say, he is studious to a fault in the Kerry mold.Horrors! We can't have a scientist running for President on the Republican ticket! A studious guy to boot? No, we want more morons like Chimpy Shrub McHitler! And I can't help laughing at the notion of Kerry being studious to a fault; even his hagiographer, Douglas Brinkley, noted that Kerry was no grind.
