Republicans are bracing themselves to get destroyed in November. In today’s Times, David Brooks refers to November as “the coming deluge.” He’s been predicting big doom in November for awhile. His columns have ranged from “we’re going to hell in a handbasket” to “the Democratic leaders are pretty moderate, so we’re going to be OK.” This column was about an 8 on the Brooks panic scale.

In this column, he writes that the Republicans have been taken over by the religious right and the libertarians, and we need to go back to the social traditionalists who are concerned with values and less about God. Foley and Hastert are not the posterboys for good wholesome American values.

Security and values have been the Republican strenghts, since Reagan brought in working-class Catholic men into the fold. The declining support for the War in Iraq and the Foley scandal have destroyed their hegemony in this area.

Now the Times is talking realignment. I don’t know if you can have a real party realignment without a strong leader, like FDR or Lincoln, leading the charge. Don’t know if Hillary is really up to the task. Gore sure isn’t.

Really fascinating article by the Times looking at age of maturation and life long party attachments.