End of the party?

Somewhere today I read a piece that claimed Bush was unimpeachable. The author based this claim on the fact that the House is controlled by Republicans and therefore it can be assumed they would not impeach the President. I might suggest another scenario, based upon reality.

It is quite likely the case that if nothing is done soon the Republican party is simply going to implode and may well be rendered totally irrelevant for a very long time. They are in very deep trouble. There is the almost unsolvable problem of Iraq where the killing just continues endlessly. There is the CIA leak scandal. DeLay is in trouble. Frist is in trouble. The economy is in trouble (in spite of their claims to the contrary). New Orleans and Florida are in trouble. Bush's poll ratings are plummeting day by day. Abramhoff may bring down many in the administration. The torture business won't go away and Cheney is trying to insure that torture can continue. Cheney is potentially in big trouble himself over the Plame case and where that seems to be leading. The Miers nomination is splitting the party. In short, the Republicans are about to self-destruct. How might they avoid this?

Well, they could try to start another war, with Syria or Iran. But given the nature of our armed forces at the moment that would not seem prudent. Of course they could just start dropping bombs again but at this point I don't think that would be well received by the rest of the world. Whatever positive steps they might take, like curbing Israel's greedy land grab and demanding a viable Palestinian state seems to be, for them, unthinkable.

In my opinion (I must warn you that my opinions are not worth very much) the only real possibility they have to remain a major player in the American scene is to jettison Bush/Cheney. They should themselves cleanse their party of this cancer, make it clear that the Bush/Cheney administration is leading them to disaster, and take steps to save themselves before it is too late. They should begin impeachment proceedings forthwith and hope that the Bush/Cheney sacrifice will be enough to save the rest of them (it shouldn't be, but it might work). I see no other reasonable option for them at the moment. If they think that somehow Bush's ratings are going to go back up they are clearly deluding themselves. And while it is true that the Democrats are giving them every conceivable break and benefit of the doubt this cannot continue indefinitely.

I think the choice is quite clear for Republicans: either abandon Bush/Cheney or enter the dustbin of history for a long, long time.