They All Were Despised

Pawlenty, Shmawlenty! This is the first time I’ve heard of this man. We know nothing about him except that he can talk and say all the right things in a campaign commercial while a rousing dirge plays in the background. Where has this man been for the past two years? He should have been shouting ‘Fire!’ in this crowded American theater all along – along with everybody else. Now it may already be too late. Reminds of that sorry-looking fish he’s holding on the cover of TIME. (What is that? Buckshot?)

Pawlenty is portrayed as a loser with close similarities to McCain. He even lost to Palin when it came time for McCain to pick a running mate. No, I’ve actually been reduced to looking at Kucinich for leadership. At least he had the guts to call for Obama’s impeachment. Wouldn’t it be delicious irony if Obama’s greatest threat came from the left?

Maybe it is right what Islamists say about us; that our days are numbered; that we have lost our way; our will; our resolve to fight and prevail while dancing pointless pirouettes on White House parkette, just marking time before the barbarians arrive and knock down the gates. Perhaps it’s already happened and we’ve got our heads so far up..., we can’t even see what’s being done to us. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? - our precious, gilded as*es, making believe our sh*t doesn’t stink.

That’s how they see us – our enemies: faded prima donnas in drag. There won’t be much to sweep away after it’s all over; our egos lying shattered on the ballroom floor. It shouldn’t take much to clean up the mess. Hell, we could do it ourselves – but we won’t. There are certain jobs Americans just will no longer do.

Right now our enemies are doing a pretty fair job of cleaning our clocks. One janitor is as good as the next. Maybe we’ve cried ‘wolf’ too many times: We can no longer tell the difference between them. Clinton, Bush, Obama (actually it started in earnest with Reagan). They all were despised.

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A Jumble of Nine

It has become easy to connect the dots in the Middle East. We already see the outlines of the end game. Michael Vlahos is right when he says that underlying it all “is a search for dignity”. I did not hear the show but, I assume, he did not go so far as define ‘dignity’ as seen from the Islamic perspective.

At the same time, we refuse to connect the dots here at home. Most conservative pundits and political hopefuls openly state that our nation cannot survive another six years with Obama at the helm. What they really mean to say is ‘two’ (years). Most do not yet connect the chaos in the Middle East with the chaos in Wisconsin and elsewhere. Yet, clearly, the demonstrators themselves have made the connection. Their talk and signage shows that they are keenly aware of what’s happening in the Middle East and are in solidarity with it.

Last week marks the first time a major, nationally known politician raised the ‘I’ word in an interview with Newsmax TV. He did it in a sort of circumspect way, suggesting if President Sarah Palin had done what Obama did (re: DOMA), there would be immediate calls for her impeachment. Then, immediately backing off, he went on to say that, in Obama’s case, calls for impeachment are not warranted.

So, which is it Newt? Is it the old sock-in-the-mouth double standard again? With talk like that Newt cuts his own throat. And DOMA is not the only issue on which Obama finds himself on thin ice - constitutionally speaking. And that’s not even the sum of it. Look at where we are today domestically as well as internationally. Are we really better off now than when Bush left office? Or is the calliope crashing as we watch? Do we have a Plan B, or C, or D…? Or has what we are seeing been Plan A all along?

Come on Newt! You can do better than that. Say it like it is and then stick to it come hell or high water. Show some spine!

Kudos for getting the word out there, anyway. Hopefully, it’ll get the ball rolling (even though we all know that it won’t be you to roll that ball).

Here’s a prediction: The first one who owns the ball and takes charge of it wins. If no one is willing to do this much, then we’re even worse off than I thought we were.

How many glossed-over low blows will it take before we lose all appreciation of four corners (as in a ring)? How long before the number ’8’ becomes just another meaningless cipher among a jumble of nine?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

A Condo For Hillary (in Brasilia)

The difference between Republicans and conservatives is that conservatives know that present policies will not bring the economy back. As present policies are in control, the jobs picture will not improve. What’s left, is to determine who gets the blame.

POTUS will blame Republicans for obstructing. Republicans will blame POTUS and Democrats for policies already in place. Stalemate, so far. Enter the press. This tips the balance in favor of the Dems.

I’m telling you, Obama has it sewed up unless we get serious; meaning, starting immediately with impeachment proceedings.

Bolton is my guy as well. He is smart, serious and articulate. He knows his stuff. He is a patriot. He is practical. He is not a politician. He’s everything that I would want an American leader to be. As such, he is unelectable. America no longer elects competent leaders. America elects only show horses. The ideologues among us know this.

Where would you say Hillary Clinton is right now as we speak? Nobody knows. But I know. She’s down in Brazil, hobnobbing with the likes of Hugo Chavez and Dilma Rousseff, a Chavez client. Rousseff is taking office today. Hillary is there to make a down payment on a condo in Brasilia just in case things don’t work out here.

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Who Will Be Left Standing?

We tend to be arbitrarily selective in weighting individual events as to their relative importance. Almost every pundit concerns him or herself with simply categorizing the flotsam to satisfy some curatorial interest or bias. Officially, our country has already become a museum - desultory displays in every room - static, enforced silence; no running; no cameras allowed. No hint of the wave that continues to build.

During Clinton’s term in office, some tried to make hay of his brother’s cocaine use. It fell flat and was quickly dismissed as irrelevant - yet, it most likely occurred. Then, Republicans made a lot of Bill’s peccadilloes outside the sacred vows of marriage. That too fell flat, though it did ended in impeachment; in this case, merely a technical term - an asterisk - that essentially meant nothing.

Then there was Gore’s stolen election, which, as far as it went, only proved that a “bird in the hand…”

Then, it all started with 9/11.

In my view, Bush was an adequate caretaker, but the wave was already building: a hardening of positions, a disrespect of government in general. A whole line of American presidents had already been discredited, reaching back all the way to our founding.

The Left was the first to take advantage of our political chaos. Republicans had to be defeated at any price, even at the expense of the country - and things went from bad to worse. Obama was elected in ’08. He was supposed to be the messiah who was sent to bring us together and heal us. The country had been proclaimed a basket case - but, at least, we still had a country.

Obama changed things alright. He cut us loose from our moorings. It’s become clear to many of us that the Left has managed to hoist its red sail even without openly stating our destination. Meanwhile, the Right has dropped anchor. Horse latitudes. We’re not going anywhere.

Meanwhile, the wave is building. It is expected to crash on shore in early November, scattering flotsam all across our beaches. The clean-up may cost us more than we can afford.

Already the tourists are leaving the continent. The tsunami flags are flying. Both Democrats and Republicans are running for the hills. Losing has become as risky as winning. Who will be left standing? Who will right the ship? Who will clean up the beaches?

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Scapegoats

It’s quite enough for me to know that Obama supports and actively campaigns for Alexi Giannoulias. As I said before, the midterms have turned national. Local issues are strictly incidental. On the other hand, POTUS must know that his endorsement is poison. Perhaps he wants the Republicans to win after all, and is only going through the motions. Clearly, Obama shows no sign that he fears a Republican majority. Is it out of resignation? Or is it a strategy?

Perhaps the name of the game is to determine who will preside over America’s collapse? With Republicans taking charge of Congress, it is they who will likely suffer the slings and arrows of the state-run media. POTUS - always pure as the wind-driven snow - could come out the winner.

I know it’s cynical to suggest that Republicans - even while victorious - are quietly being made into scapegoats. I know it’s cynical to assume that Republicans do not see the trap - just as I see the our economy so booby-trapped that even the mere prospect of optimism could serve to set off the (inflation) bomb.

The fact is, we’re playing catch-up. Things may have gone too far already; I doubt it can be reversed piecemeal. I’m still amazed that nobody on our side is seriously talking impeachment. That would settle it.

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Impeach the President

There are two reasons for why Obama won’t extend the Bush tax cuts: one is Bush, the other is ‘tax cuts’. Obama’s sole support came from those opposing Bush. He’s already had to swallow hard and continue some of Bush’s signature policies, especially in foreign affairs. This has already eroded his base of support significantly. Then there are those who have changed their minds about Obama in general. It is fair to say that Obama has very little support from the electorate overall. Caving on the issue of extending the Bush tax cuts will surely erode his base even further, though it is difficult to see how this is even possible at this point.

Two, if, as I have come to believe, that it is Obama’s intent to implode our economy, it would be silly of him to extend the Bush tax cuts. Doing so, would only serve to stimulate the economy.

POTUS may know that even if the economy were going full tilt by the time 2012 rolls around, he would still not be re-elected. In short, he has nothing to lose but his ideological principles. As far as the electorate is concerned, POTUS is dead meat no matter what he does.

I still say, his next target will be our electoral system. Without it, he is free do what he wants, whenever he wants to do it. He’s practically there now with his army of czars and regulators and left-wing judges. The window is closing fast on all those who still maintain that Barack Hussein Obama wants to do us no harm. The only way out for Republicans is to impeach the president as soon as possible.

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'The Glass Bead Game' (continued)

Jerry Seib is entirely too cautious in predicting the outcome of what the incomparable Hermann Hesse would agree is America’s version of the ’Glass Bead Game‘. These elections, as any others, depend on the overall perception of the disenfranchised electorate. Insofar as the federal government has seen fit to insert itself into virtually every aspect of American life, the exercise becomes an essentially meaningless referendum of Obama’s performance in office.

The only difference is cosmetic. During the last cycle, the media did such a bang-up job in demonizing George W. Bush and Republicans, the only choice left for the public to make was ‘other’ Obama was sufficiently ‘other‘. This time, the media will be powerless to affect the outcome.

When Obama was up for election back in ‘08, it was merely a matter of rearranging the political deck furniture. The clarion call for ‘change’ was mere fluff. This time, a real sense of alarm has descended like a black cloud over America. People will vote out of fear. And their vote will favor Republicans.

The game remains a game. As I have previously stated elsewhere, Obama retains power for at least the next two years. Unless Republicans mount a serious effort to impeach him, he will continue to determine the direction of the nation. As things continue to fall apart, (enter the media) Republicans will be blamed - and defeated in 2012.

Prosperity will continue to diminish, but will appear as robust in relation to the greater diminishing prosperity of others. It will be enough to keep the markets from collapsing and the people happy.

The game continues as scripted. Republicans will take control of Congress in November.

Will They Have the Guts?

China and America are in the process of trading places. Both are set to experience massive dislocation by significant segments of their populations. There will be blood on both sides. Indications are that the carnage on the American side will be greater primarily because America seems to have lost its identity. China has not. A second factor may play an even greater role: Whereas America seems resigned to continue its march toward atonement and subsequent obligatory punishment for past sins, China in general appears confident that its future remains bright.

Listening to Larry Kudlow, and anyone else who keeps talking about the November midterms as being our nation’s salvation, is starting to get on my nerves. Let me say categorically and unambiguously that the midterm elections - no matter how they turn out - will have absolutely no effect in stopping Obama’s hard left re-distributionist agenda.

Any legislation that a Republican-dominated congress is likely to advance will be immediately struck down by Obama’s veto pen. This would apply to any rollback of existing legislation as well as any legislation that can yet be expected to pass in the ‘lame duck’ session. We’ll be stuck with that. In many ways, the barn door is already wide open and the horses are long gone. There are numerous confiscatory tax increases in our immediate future that will absolutely cripple our already anemic private sector. More will surely be added during ‘lame duck’. Expect ‘cap and trade’ to pass; expect VAT; increased health care costs can be expected to add to our already insupportable deficits. Individual states will begin to default.

Republicans can shout all they want but they will not be able to do anything to change even one iota of the spending, tax policy, and regulations that are already in place. Add to this the fact that the president retains the use of the executive order in all matters; he will continue to make interim appointments and possibly even float a Supreme Court choice. Even if successive SC appointment are not approved for the remainder of this president’s term, it’ll make for devastating headlines, and the Court itself would now consist of eight. Not sure to what extent 4-4 decisions count.

Best of all, when things go wrong, as they surely must, Obama can and will blame Republicans.

Let me put this as delicately as possible: There is only one way we can get back on sane footing. And that is to impeach the president. A Republican congress may actually have the power to do just that. But will they have the guts?

People like Kudlow (which includes most of our media - right, left or in-between) are still assuming that the midterms will send such a powerful message that the White House will have to change course. Think again. Obama does not listen to messages; he does not play at politics in the usual sense. Obama has a dictator’s mentality. It is filled with rage toward any opposition. He will not rest until he sees this country destroyed or bent to his will.

No, my friends, we cannot survive another two years of this. We would end up like the Thanksgiving turkey left in the oven to defrost when someone decides to run the (oven) cleaning cycle without first checking if anything’s been left inside.

Animal Farm

Since the early beginnings of our welfare state, we have come to view our presidents as father figures. There are two basic approaches to disciplining one’s child. One is to enforce respect; the other is love. There is no greater psychological damage that accrues to human beings than from the sense that their father does not love them. Such lack of love can range anywhere from benign neglect to outright abuse.

Barack Hussein Obama does not love America. We all sense it. Whether we tend to remain largely unconcerned about our political realities or invest a great deal of our emotion in the political process, the statements and policies of our current administration to date have been so egregious as to demand our attention. For most people, both on the right and the left, there is now a sense of being abused.

This factor alone will drive the midterm November elections. These can be expected to send anyone who is perceived as being aligned with the president down to defeat. Will it be enough to curb Obama’s leftist ambition? I seriously doubt it. By that time Obama will have accumulated enough regulatory power to be able to override anything that Congress may demand. He will double down and press ahead with his agenda as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. In fact, he should find the going even easier because he will now be able to blame his failures on the Congress (as he has blamed the previous administration all along).

Obama has a grand, audacious vision. A divided and dysfunctional Congress will not likely rise to the occasion and present an even greater vision to counter his. Expect only a sharp increase in meaningless chatter, finger pointing, and the clucking of forked tongues while Obama forges ahead in remaking our nation.

If the Congress should desire to make a real change (as I feel it must in order to save both itself and us), it will have to immediately deal with the issue of impeachment. Obama has already shredded his parent card several times over - and we all know it.

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter went to an animal shelter to adopt two kittens. She was required to give two references of people willing to swear that she is fit to take care of her pets. Unfortunately, no such precaution exists re new parents or American presidents.

A Bad Joke

Secession. An interesting idea; one, among several, the states may have to consider if they are to have any hope of rolling out from under our suffocating government monster. Expect a slew of law suits originating from within our various states, challenging federal mandates. As long as the Supremes remain split 5 to 4 we have a chance. We’re hanging by a thread.

Those of us who predicted this back during the last presidential campaign were called all sorts of names. Now it’s happened. What to do? Secession? Impeachment? It’s not that McCain would have been better. In some ways he might well have been worse. It would have given the Left even more time to arm and organize. Just the fact that they don’t yet own the Court means that they jumped the gun.

The problem with the Left is that ‘they have distilled a kind of world history to suit certain purposes. It consists of nothing but the chronology of ideas. It is bloodless and lacking in reality …nothing but laws and formulas, no reality, no good and evil, no time, no yesterday, no tomorrow, nothing but an eternal, shallow academic construct‘.*

‘Suppose an anatomist is dissecting a body. He does not confront wholly surprising discoveries. Rather, he finds beneath the epidermis a assemblage of organs, muscles, tendons, and bones which generally conform to a pattern he has brought to his work. But if the anatomist sees nothing but this pattern, and ignores the unique, individual reality of his object*, he has lost touch with an essence.

Similarly, today’s Leftist relies on the power to manipulate data (the bones) to suit some highly improbable Utopian purpose, quite without regard to the spirit that girds it.

When we elected Obama, we essentially decided to attach a Rolls Royce logo to a Yugo. It made people sit up and take notice without making the car run any better. Now it’s become just a bad joke.
-------------------------------------------------
*roughly translated from passages in Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game.

The Takeover of America

At this point there is nothing the president can do to save himself or his party. Even embracing conservative policies, personally rolling back health care, building a 20 ft. razor wire fence along our entire southern border with Mexico, slashing tax rates across the board, disbanding the unions, plugging the hole, etc. would not return to him a single vote he has lost. Obama has revealed himself as far too left, too radical, too Muslim for the bulk of those who are seriously concerned and likely to vote. The same metric applies to all Democrats who have supported Obama all along.

November will serve as a big eye-opener for Democrats. It is now still possible that Obama and the Dems do not yet know how far their initial support has fallen. If they read The New York Times and watch MSNBC; or talk to pointy-head academics, they may well get the idea that they still have a chance. But, I hear, even the Jewish vote is seriously compromised.

I predict that Democrats will lose both the House and the Senate. Moderate Republicans also will be shown their walking papers. Republicans, as we speak, are planning to hire dozens of investigators to target Obama with an eye toward impeachment. Again, I predict, Obama will weather the storm, but he will find himself so tied up fighting to defend himself, that he will be unable to advance his agenda. Meanwhile the public will be mesmerized. Their bloodlust will be stoked.

Again, actual governing will come to a standstill. Obama is the third president in a row who will have reached this point. His hardcore support will at some point abandon him and call for his resignation. Hillary Clinton will assume de facto power.

The public will be dazzled and dazed by the dramatic action. Once again, they will take their eye off the ball. Note: Our nation’s lunge to the left will not in any way abate. Democratic governance will continue to erode. Strategically timed disasters here and there will facilitate the Left’s continued power grab. By the time 2012 rolls around, there will be so much chaos; there won’t even be a prayer of holding elections.

The takeover of America will be complete.

Serious Enough

From the evening of December 24th to the 6th of January it's been a tradition at our house to put electric candles in the windows. We generally turn the candles off at around 12 midnight.

Sometimes, especially around the holidays, my brother comes up on weekends to spend the night. In order to avoid traffic, he generally leaves his house late. When I'm expecting him, I'll still turn off the candles before going to bed, but I'll leave the one in the kitchen window (that’s facing the driveway) on for him. When my brother does arrive in the wee hours of the morning, I can expect him to turn this one off as well.

It has happened that my brother never arrived at all; in which case the kitchen candle is still lit when I get up in the morning. As the temperature outside often drops below freezing at this time of year, there'll be a halo against the frosted window where the candle had shone. It’s the only window - in a house with 27 windows - that exhibits this obvious feature.

Now, one could ignore it altogether; or one could take note of it without being curious; or one could investigate as to why this should be so; say, at nine-thirty in the morning (after all the candles have been turned off). It should be relatively easy to walk it back and reconstruct exactly what happened and why.

I cannot understand this insistence by otherwise intelligent people in our country who continue to claim that Barack Hussein Obama is a friend of the CIA; of the military; of capitalism; of America itself, when indeed all clues point to the contrary. It’s exactly like saying, "we know there’s global warming (because a little birdie told me); now let’s go out there and prove it scientifically. But, oh my! The factual data disproves our theory. What to do now? I know: we’ll simply fudge the data; we’ll outright lie if we have to. One way or another, we’ll prove that there’s global warming and that mankind is the cause of it and that the very exhaled breath of human beings puts the entire planet at risk and therefore 80% of the planet’s people will have to be eliminated; and therefore, for the first time in history we will have managed what has never been done before: justified mass murder on moral grounds. God we’re good!"

Same with Obama. Look at the evidence of all that’s happened since Obama has assumed office. Look at all the stuff that’s come out about him: his beliefs; his associations; his appointments; his actions, past and present. And you still think he’s not a Leftist? A Marxist? A fascist? That he just loves the military, capitalism, freedom and America to death?

So, when things go wrong, we use phrases like ‘amateur’ to describe him; like ‘not ready for prime time’; or if we really feel like being cruel, ‘inept’.

No, folks. It’s deliberate! And we all know it, even if we can’t get ourselves to say it yet. All the evidence is there - iust like the circle on my kitchen window that tells a wider tale. And it’s serious. Serious enough to start thinking about impeachment.

Pictures of Tyranny

It seems, everybody can accept that Obama wants to get out of the Middle East any way he can. He wants to do it soon (before the mid-terms) and there’s pretty much nothing to stop him. Any rough edges can be easily papered over with words. After the U.S. military leaves, the president is betting that the media will no longer have much interest in the region. In the meantime, a bunch of fall guys are already in place – both, at home and abroad – to take the heat for anything unpleasant that might happen between now and then. (Israel is one of these.)

If all of this relatively complicated global stuff is so obvious to everybody, why on earth is it so hard for us to come together concerning where he is planning on taking our country? I’d be willing to bet the farm that if people were shown a color photograph of what Obama has in mind for America, every one of us would reject it outright. All of us already know it in the pit of our stomachs. Yet, we pretend to be blind, deaf and dumb. Intellectually, we hide behind humor, cynicism and denial.

Plenty such pictures exist: China during the purge; Cambodia during the murderous rule of the Khmer Rouge; Cuba under Castro; Iran, now. There are even more such pictures I could show: Russian re-education and labor camps, and all the countries that served decades essentially as prisons behind iron and bamboo curtains (the list could easily run into volumes).

The response here is always the same, “You’re crazy! This is America; it can’t happen here.”

Can’t it really? Just look at all that’s already happened, and what’s still in the offing? On the economic front alone, look at all the equity lost; all the jobs lost; the dollar crashing. No hope in sight. Double-digit inflation dead ahead. Can’t sell the house because it doesn’t meet government energy standards, and you can’t afford to get it upgraded; can’t pay the property taxes either. Walk away from what was supposed to be your nest egg – the one you paid into for most of your life – watch the government bank take it and convert it into an ACORN office.

Neither does it look good for the world, by the way. There’s any number of hot spots around the globe ready to blow, and we appear to have no clue as to the meaning of words like ‘friend’ or ‘enemy’. I take that back, we actually do know, but the world is upside down today: Our so-called ‘friends’ don’t really seem to want us (as friends); and our other friends are all looking at us funny. (Note: ‘Enemies’ do not exist in the new world order.)

It’s become all too clear where we’re headed. And I want very much to help stop this train wreck before it happens. And I’m not even really sure if it hasn’t happened already. They’ve clearly done their homework; it’s not likely they’ve failed to nail down the end game as well.

Even if there’s still a chance of stopping it, none of us can do it alone. Yet, I know that there’s a whole lot of us out here who feel the same way (the same, perhaps, as the ordinary Palestinian once felt, or the ordinary Iranian). Only, they’re afraid to speak up because they feel they’ll be ridiculed (here, which is, of course, considerably less serious than being shot, over there).

If it should come to shooting – as it has in Iran – it’s already too late. The hole for us to climb out of would already be much deeper than it ever needed to be. The good news is, we’re not there yet. There’s still free speech in America. And Obama still hasn’t built his private army that he said would be equally well (or even better) funded than our present military. The fact that he’s even thinking of doing this means, that what he has in mind for America would likely fail to win the support of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Our last chance will come in the next election cycle. It’s good news indeed that next year’s elections haven’t been postponed or canceled yet. To Obama, it doesn’t really matter which way elections go next year. He has enough czars to override anything Congress might ever want to do. But there’s one thing that he apparently forgot: that Congress can initiate and execute the impeachment of a president.

We can demand from any politician – Democrat, Republican, Independent or Socialist – who may be asking for our vote next year that he or she get behind any one of the various gambits that are already underway in this regard. I’m not saying it will be easy. Obama has a lot of clever friends in high places. But if we stick together, we can get it done.

I believe there are more of us than there are of them. I believe it is vital to the continued existence of our nation (as our founding fathers intended it) that we stop Obama in his first term. I believe that if we fail to do so, we must consider ourselves beaten.

At the very least, this exercise will be a test for us. It’ll give us an idea of just how many are willing to show up to defend our nation in her moment of need. If we lose this one, it’ll take us a long time to recover – long enough, certainly, to learn Russian or Chinese.

Trends

Any election from now on will appear as 'no trend' (to anyone who does not understand what's happening on the ground). Instability? Perhaps. The Left is breaking apart between Obama sycophants, toadies and lackeys; and those who think that Obama is not radical enough. Republicans think they can just waltz into the breach. They couldn’t be more hopelessly wrong!

It's not about parties anymore. Republicans are just as distrusted and despised as Democrats, particularly if they are perceived as trying to be more like Democrats (or ueber-Democrats) in hopes of winning elections; particularly if they have mocked or tried to marginalize popular conservative talk show hosts and tea parties participants in order to gain favor with the press; particularly if they have consistently broken ranks with their own party for the sake of expediency; particularly if they have remained silent since Obama has been in office.

Republicans too will be voted out along with the Dems. The (as of yet unspoken) trend is towards a movement to impeach the president in his first term. Anyone - Republican, Democrat or plutonian - who implicitly or explicitly promises to work towards this singular objective automatically wins.