Posted by Jed Lewison on Wed Oct 29, 2008 at 5:04 PM Pacific

Left With Nothing

John McCain and Sarah Palin are basing their entire campaign on a series of nasty, false personal attacks on Barack Obama. Their bet is that Americans are a fearful, frightened bunch who won't be willing to vote for a new direction. But their assumptions are wrong; their bet is going to fail.

And when it does fail, it will leave the Republican Party with nothing. John McCain will almost certainly outperform Barry Goldwater in this election, yet he will leave his party in far worse shape than did Goldwater. At least Goldwater left his party with a devoted base of conservative activists, energized by his commitment to conservative ideology.

McCain, meanwhile, has simultaneously stood for nothing and for everything. He has taken a Republican brand that had been shattered by George W. Bush and rendered it even more meaningless. And the fact that almost nobody in his party seems to understand the devastation that they are inflicting on themselves is a strong indication that they will be in the political wilderness for some years to come.

Left With Nothing

John McCain and Sarah Palin are basing their entire campaign on a series of nasty, false personal attacks on Barack Obama. Their bet is that Americans are a fearful, frightened bunch who won't be willing to vote for a new direction. But their assumptions are wrong; their bet is going to fail.

And when it does fail, it will leave the Republican Party with nothing. John McCain will almost certainly outperform Barry Goldwater in this election, yet he will leave his party in far worse shape than did Goldwater. At least Goldwater left his party with a devoted base of conservative activists, energized by his commitment to conservative ideology.

McCain, meanwhile, has simultaneously stood for nothing and for everything. He has taken a Republican brand that had been shattered by George W. Bush and rendered it even more meaningless. And the fact that almost nobody in his party seems to understand the devastation that they are inflicting on themselves is a strong indication that they will be in the political wilderness for some years to come.

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