Republicans

'œWhat have they done to my party?' asked Christopher Buckley in The Washington Monthly. I've been a Republican for decades. But in November's congressional elections, 'œI here admit to the guilty hope that my party loses.' Once, my party embodied fiscal restraint, laissez-faire economics, and personal freedom. Under George W. Bush's 'œincontinent conservatism,' the GOP has come to stand for sleazy fund-raising, runaway spending, and massive deficits. Abroad, the Iraq war is a disaster. At home, social conservatives have been allowed to run amok, blocking stem-cell research and barging into Terri Schiavo's hospital room 'œlike Dr. Frankenstein with defibrillator paddles.' So many traditional conservatives are disgusted with this administration, said Nicholas von Hoffman in The New York Observer, that they're becoming a movement. Former Reagan Justice Department official Bruce Fein and right-wing direct mail pioneer Richard Viguerie, among others, have both come out publicly in favor of voting for Democrats in November, as a way of punishing the GOP for abandoning its principles.

All in all, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, this Republican Congress has been 'œa major disappointment.' It had a real chance to remake the country along conservative lines—repealing the estate tax, reforming Social Security, and addressing soaring health-care costs and illegal immigration. Instead, it grew fat and self-satisfied, concerned only with 'œkeeping power for its own sake.' Not surprisingly, few Republicans are campaigning on their accomplishments. 'œThey're running instead against the peril to the country if the Nancy Pelosi Democrats take power.'