Deserting The GOP

Like rats from a sinking ship, are Republicans deserting the Bush-Rove GOP political machine? That's the question answered in this piece at Salon (subscription site, you can opt to choose to look at an ad to give you entry without registration or fee). Snippet below.

I can tell you that in recent days, I've visited a number of campaign sites (in excess of 30 or so) for Republican candiates only to notice that about 80-85% of these GOPers are NOT stating they are the Republican candidate. Diane Irey, candidate for U.S. Congress of Pennsylvania, running on a platform of "eliminate the unpatriotic Jack Murtha - Irey did not happen to donate 34-36 of her life to the U.S. military, I notice) is one example. I think this "failure to disclose" is pretty damned interesting and telling.

From that Salon piece:

When a NASCAR race is on, the patrons at VFW Post 392 don't hesitate to flip from the American League baseball playoffs to watch. This is a watering hole for military men and the women who keep them honest, a place where people keep name tags on their own liquor bottles behind the bar and still talk about their dislike for Bill Clinton. A full copy of the U.S. Constitution hangs on one wall, across from a bumper sticker that reads "I Love Jet Noise." In the men's bathroom, there is a "Hanoi Jane Urinal Target" in each of the commodes, along with a bull's-eye picture of Jane Fonda in all her 1960s antiwar glory.

But you might be surprised by the political views of the folks inside. Hugh McCabe, a retired Navy lieutenant commander who is sipping a glass of white wine with his niece, son and daughter-in-law on a Sunday night, has had just about all he can take from Washington.

"Anybody who is an incumbent, vote 'em out. That's my feeling," says McCabe, who wears a red plastic bracelet at the members-only bar here at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post to show his support for the troops. "We need a third party in government called common sense."