Bush win or loss, GOP is up for grabs (Al Neuharth, USA TODAY Founder)

Bush win or loss, GOP is up for grabs

By Al Neuharth, USA TODAY Founder

Here's what should make the Republican convention next week especially intriguing: Whether President Bush wins or loses in November, the GOP leadership in four years is up for grabs.

Reason: Vice President Dick Cheney, 63 and with serious heart problems, is not a presidential possibility in '08.

In modern political history, the veep always has become the next nominee for each party when the president served more than one term. Bill Clinton's VP Al Gore four years ago. Ronald Reagan's VP George H.W. Bush 16 years ago. Lyndon Johnson's VP Hubert Humphrey 36 years ago. Dwight Eisenhower's VP Richard Nixon 44 years ago.

If Bush wins re-election, his "compassionate conservative" followers likely will power the party in '08. But if he loses, look for a fight from some who still sometimes are called "Rockefeller Republicans."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/neuharth/2004-08-26-gop-2008_x.htm

The GOP really has nobody to lead them for the future. They are surviving mostly on old Nixon, Reagan and Bush I retreads. These guys are just too old and stale to lead the charge years down the road.

Just a quick look at the names Neuharth gave shows that these guys are pretty stale. I can't see any of them getting the GOPers excited, or even uniting the party.

A combination of lack of solid future players and a potential splintering of the party by moderates and fundamentalists shows that the GOP is gonna be worse off after the Bush regime than the Dems were in the 1980s. They are a party destined for turmoil.

It was right after Obama's speech at the Democratic convention, and I wondered if the Republicans had any equivalents -- exciting new faces in their late 30's or 40's.

Most of the names that came up in response were people who are already over fifty, like those listed in the article you cite. The few who were younger were mainly from the extreme right wing of the party, like Rick Santorum.

I'm getting a strong feeling that the future of the Republican Party lies with neither the Bushistas nor the remnant moderates, but with the religious right and political extremists, who have been organizing, taking over party organizations, and promoting their candidates for the last couple of decades.

If these people are able to achieve power in this country under the guise of being traditional Republicans, heaven help all of us. My best hope is that there will be enough infighting within the party to strip them of any cover and reveal them as the narrow-minded fanatics they really are.