The Year the Earth Stood Still for the GOP

by Julian Krasta

On New Year’s Eve of 2007, as the clock struck midnight, the chant amongst friends at a small gathering was: “2008 – and everything’s going to be great!”

I sipped my bubbly but chose not to join the chorus, keeping this adage in mind: “Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed.”

2008 zapped by and, guess what: nothing is what we got from the Republican Party, because they took their eyes off our base principles and veered onto the embankment into a ravine with respect to the primaries and the presidential election.

I know, I know. Oceans of water have passed under that bridge. But this is the one presidential election in my lifetime I must say I will remember as the darkest, because, though the lights might have been on at RNC-HQ, absolutely nobody was home.

Philosopher Thomas Paine said: “He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” Following this credo, I will, as always, be blunt. Today I’m going to be more so to fully illustrate the stumbling and bumbling within our party, and the self-indulgent brawling between our candidates, all of whom seemed to be out cold on their feet, save one:

With the exception of Gov. Romney, none of them had the daring to stand rock-firm on Republican core standards: less government, national security, lower taxes, tax breaks and writeoffs; less government, protection for the unborn and the partial-born; less government, job creation; enforced national security, and, of course, less government – to name a primary few.

Backroom deals and public disdain of the governor and his religious beliefs during the primaries amid certain of the other candidates were the mechanisms that relegated his candidature (all of which were eagerly blown out of proportion by the media). The result was the discomforting promotion to frontrunner of the more anemic representative of the group.

We needed the man who was unafraid to fight the fight but we got stuck with the guy who could only talk the fight – and he couldn’t out-talk his Democrat opponent.

The GOP as a whole parked on the tracks, set the brake, and watched the “BHO Express” flatten them. Just like The Little Locomotive, Barack Hussein Obama huffed & puffed: “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!” And he did, with the unimpeded rocket thrusters of the triturating liberal mainstream media – in spite of the fact BHO was never road-tested for soundness, safety or structural integrity by relevant authorities.

Speaking of relevant authorities: Why haven’t congressional Republicans rained enfilade fire on BHO’s choice of Timothy Geithner as Treasury chief (who, to my eye, scarily resembles the right-hating Sean Penn)? If John Q. Citizen had “forgotten” to pay $43,000 in taxes as Geithner claims he forgot, the IRS would harass Mr. Citizen to his grave, then back a moving van up to his house, empty it of its contents, and put the house up for auction, with all proceeds going to the U.S. Treasury. How’s that for irony?

But that’s not all – and this is for the steaks & chops and legal hunting enthusiasts out there. Just when we thought BHO’s choices couldn’t get cuddlier, there is now Cass Sunstein, who is being slated as regulatory tsar of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Go to both links in this paragraph and read about the “changes” being cooked up in the incoming administration’s kitchen. Just be sure to read them on an empty stomach.

While I’m on the subject of stomach aches, let’s not forget the $150 millions for the spectacular ceremonies to install the incoming president, the cost of which will further bleed our already busted bank accounts. We’re drowning in debt and the new guy spent three times more on his inauguration than was spent on the second swearing in of President George W. Bush. This is change? And Republicans only cowered back silently over this outright selfishness.

As for the moderates in the Republican Party: they are under the impression that conservatives are out of touch with reality. The fact is this: Moderates are out of touch with Republican Party tenets. The best learning curve for them would be to take an un-jaundiced look at my home state of California and the election to governor of the actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Under that thespian’s mismanagement, the state rapidly toppled into a fiscal vortex long before the current worldwide meltdown. And, as of Friday, January 16, 2009, the State of California became officially out of cash; the Franchise Tax Board will be issuing I.O.U.s to taxpayers entitled to refunds for the tax year ending 2008.

This is happening because conservatives (in name only) in my state chose to support the immoderate moderate rather than the experienced conservative career politician, Tom McClintock (who could have easily won the recall election if the voters hadn’t gone wonky in the head from too many hours of looking at “Terminator” movies and video games).

Do you still think that Hollywood has no significant influence over which direction this country is steered? Think again. The migrant sun worshippers bought the hype, voted the muscleman into this state’s highest office, and we are all now facing staggering sales and state tax increases as a result of their refusal to see the circumstances of their choice.

So, children, don’t question why I am exasperated. My anger, above all, is aimed at Democrats, their sugar daddies on Wall Street, and especially the RINOs who have gotten away with the unspeakable damage they rang down in the form of the financial “Krakatoa” that has blackened the economic skies all over this planet (and which has caused the sales of liquor, anti-depressants, anxiety meds and thoughts of suicide to skyrocket).

Don’t question why I’m mad as hell at Reagan Republicans in congress who dozed off while the liberal panzers threw flames at and scorched everything and everyone conservative. Our team on Capitol Hill could’ve landed a few of their own knuckle sandwiches – or at least put a headlock on Nancy Pelosi – before being slammed to the mat. Going down fighting is more honorable than not fighting at all.

We stood behind our party from the start. Even at the bitter end, we urged them to do battle on the same terms as their opponents. Instead, they just stood there and said and did nothing.

The epilogue to the GOP’s failures was heard worldwide on January 20th when the “Tax Man” took the oath of office of President of the United States. And his endowment to Americans shortly thereafter could likely be a notice in the mail that reads: YOU OWE ME.