Reprint from Gillian's Blog

Guest post: Michael Cook

"Conservatives today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960's".

Those aren't the words of some smug liberal gloating over the passage of health care reform, not at all.

They are the words of David Frum, a former top speechwriter for GW Bush and a highly regarded mainstream conservative.

Frum went on to say, "It's hard to imagine the magnitude of this disaster. ...No illusions please. This bill will not be repealed".

"...Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to reopen the 'doughnut hole' and charge seniors more for their prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition?... And even if the votes were there, would President Obama sign such a repeal?"

Frum continued, "We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement and they led us to abject failure and irreversible defeat."

Pretty strong words but, thankfully, also true.

If a conservative and diehard GOP loyalist like David Frum holds these views I can only wonder what other mainstream Republicans and intelligent independents must be thinking as they bear witness to the fallout that's resulted from the once great party of Abraham Lincoln being usurped by politicians like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Tom Coburn, and media demagogues like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

All five of the aforementioned people are the personifications of "the most radical voices" in the modern GOP and conservative movement and as Frum said, they led their followers to "abject failure and irreversible defeat."

But I, quite frankly, hope...the so-called Tea Party movement remain[s] front and center on the public stage because the more they do, the more likely, especially as the 2010 political season heats up later in the summer, and more Americans start paying closer attention to politics...[that] Americans will say; "Thanks but no thanks" to the overt racism, homophobia, and xenophobia that "the most radical voices" in the GOP and Tea Party movement are really all about.

I also think we should all fasten our political seatbelts because, to paraphrase Bette Davis in "All About Eve", this coming political season is going to be one bumpy ride, one very bumpy [ride], and quite possibly [a] very ugly ride indeed.

Michael Cook
PV de Limon , CR
& Nbpt
via portreporter.blogspot.com