The Republican Collapse?

Anyone paying attention knows that the Republican poll numbers are just terrible at the moment. I have no idea whether this means that we're looking at a Democratic landslide or not. I know that by any reasonable calculation, the Republicans should get crushed this year. But by the same calculations, John Kerry should be President. Heck, Al Gore should be enjoying his 2nd term! So much for reasonable calculations.

What I want to point out is Chris Bowers' insightful piece over at MyDD. He lays out in pretty clear terms that the problems confronting the Republicans are not due to accidents or slip-ups, but are integral to the Republican governing style. Because they are holding power with a remarkably narrow coalition, and are implementing unpopular policies, they are forced to resort to ever more desperate measures to retain power. Scandals and incompetence are the inevitable result of this way of doing things.

Which brings up something I've said before. It's easy as liberals to get demoralized by our repeated electoral defeats over the last few years. But given the Republicans' superior organization, their money advantage, their message discipline, and their ruthlessness, they have never been able to put together anything like a big majority. They've scraped by in election after election, not a strategy that can be expected to work in perpetuity.

Now if only the Democratic leadership weren't quite so incapable, I'd be far more confident that better days were ahead. But perhaps the sheer weight of evils will be enough to drag the Theocons down this time. Maybe.