doomed

Figured I’d jump on the bandwagon and share the insights of Matt Yglesias on what is looking like a weak Republican field for 2008:

But this gets at what's truly insane about the three unorthodox Republican contenders. Given that they're all viewed skeptically by cultural conservatives, the only possible way for any of them to campaign for the nomination is with an escalating race to the right on national security, even though Iraq just led the GOP to disaster last November. Which vulnerable state that Bush won in 2004 is rendered more secure by making the Republican Party less committed to social conservatism but more committed to the Iraq project? Ohio? Virginia? Missouri? Nevada? Iowa? I don't see it. But only a real conservative Christian can afford to put even a ray of sunlight between himself and the president on the subject of Bush's massively unpopular war, and the cult of celebrity has left the GOP's top-tier field without one. It's too early to say anything with confidence, but from where things sit right now, the Republicans look, well, doomed by their tunnel vision about potential nominees.

The “real conservative” Yglesias is looking for here, I think, is Brownback. Or Hagel, but the base seems to hate him with a passion normally reserved for McCain. Brilliant!

My plan going forward is to milk this for all it’s worth, until it turns out to be totally unfounded, at which point I will quietly pretend it never existed.