John Nichols: Slapping Down "The Entire GOP Establishment"

From The Nation:


BLOG | Posted 07/18/2007 @ 11:45am
Slapping Down "The Entire GOP Establishment"

John Nichols

There is no question that Americans are frustrated with the current Congress. Polls suggest that approval ratings for the U.S. House and Senate are even more dismal than those for President Bush -- although not quite so bad as for Vice President Cheney.

But are Americans merely frustrated with the current Democratic leadership of the House and Senate, or are they disenchanted, as well, with the leaders of the Republican caucuses?

An indication of the indignation with Republican leaders came from a unique Georgia special election Tuesday, in which two Republicans ran against one another. Under Georgia law, candidates of all parties run together in primaries to fill open House seats. Then the top two finishers -- no matter what their partisan affiliation -- face each other in a runoff.

In the overwhelmingly Republican district of the late Congressman Charlie Norwood, primary voting last month produced a run-off featuring two conservative Republicans.

That's where things got interesting -- and instructive. The frontrunner in the primary voting in north Georgia's 10th district, former state Sen. Jim Whitehead, was the consensus choice of the Republican establishment. Whitehead essentially promised to be a rubberstamp for the Bush White House and Republican leaders in Congress.

His opponent, Paul Broun, was a quirky physician who claims to be "the only doctor in Georgia whose practice is almost exclusively house calls." A frequent candidate who was very much on the outs with party insiders, Broun barely squeaked into the run-off and most pundits stopped paying attention to a race it was assumed Whitehead would win with ease. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=215225