Toggle Menu

A Party Without a Soul

What, if anything, do Republicans stand for anymore?

The party that promised to restore honor and integrity to Washington brought us Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and now, Mark Foley and the subsequent cover-up.

The President that campaigned against nation-building got us into a $1 trillion quagmire in Iraq.

The Nation

October 3, 2006

What, if anything, do Republicans stand for anymore?

The party that promised to restore honor and integrity to Washington brought us Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay and now, Mark Foley and the subsequent cover-up.

The President that campaigned against nation-building got us into a $1 trillion quagmire in Iraq.

An Administration that pledged to maintain fiscal discipline turned a $127 billion surplus into a $300 billion budget deficit and presided over the larger expansion of government since LBJ.

I could go on and on.

The Democrats aren’t exactly a profile in clarity. But Republicans today give nihilism a good name.

Hurray that the Washington Times and other conservatives are calling for Dennis Hastert and his minions in the House leadership to resign.

But the GOP’s problems began long before Mark Foley started soliciting underage boys.

The NationTwitterFounded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life, from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.


Latest from the nation