http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/P...2&date=20060922

Lance Dickie / Seattle Times editorial columnist
Conservatives turn to ... Democrats?

Things are so bad in Iraq, President Bush is talking about Darfur.

I can top that. Seven prominent conservative writers turned up in The Washington Monthly magazine almost begging Democrats and voters to put a spineless, incompetent Republican Congress out of its misery.

I would love to view this introspection and revelation on a loftier political-science plane — restoration of co-equal branches of government, checks and balances and all that. After years of bristling denial, the conservatives cannot ignore a disastrous war, breathtaking federal deficits, congressional inertia and almost physical cowardice on Capitol Hill among a GOP leadership fearful to challenge the White House.

Yes, that is all true, but another reason for the writers to embrace divided government is a dearth of things for these folks to opine about. They and the Fox News ilk gave up touting the Bush administration ages ago. If it were not for the periodic kidnapping tragedy and hurricane season, Fox could hardly survive the 24-hour news cycle.

Conservative commentary exploded as an industry by beating up Democrats, the institution of Congress and President Bill Clinton. All obliged by providing lots of material for columnists, TV talking heads and drive-time radio hosts to be outraged about.

The Richard Vigueries of the fundraising world never had it so good, or easy. Indeed, the king of political direct mail is one of the authors featured in Washington Monthly.

Republicans stormed back into power in 1994 and only gained strength. Historians may eventually look to the impeachment of Clinton as the shining act of hubris that marked the beginning of the end. After being out of power for decades, Republicans loved being in charge. Trouble is, they were not the least bit interested in governing.

The day-to-day boring stuff of budgets, bureaucratic oversight, advice and consent and generally holding the executive branch accountable was abandoned. Not sloughed off or ignored, but forsaken.

The Harper's Index tallied the number of days the House of Representatives was scheduled to meet through its two-year term. The last House that met fewer days than the current one was in 1955-56. Even the infamous "Do-Nothing Congress" back in the Truman era showed up to work more often.

This Republican Congress loves all the perquisites of power and sought to entrench its own people in the lobbying infrastructure. Subsequent criminal indictments, influence-peddling scandals, resignations and jail terms were byproducts of their success.

So what happened to the genuine Republican virtues of probity, fiscal conservatism, small government and skepticism of foreign entanglements? For all their rhetoric about the evils of oppressive, intrusive government, Republicans aided and abetted erosions of personal liberty — not so much as active co-conspirators, but as mute bystanders.

These failings have become so self-evident a raft of conservative commentators is willing to give divided government a try.

Is there salvation for the republic with Democrats? Well, what are they going to do — start a war and go nuts with government spending? Republicans beat them to it. Democrats will ask hard questions and say no to the White House.

A little time in the wilderness was good for the D's. The greatest fear is that being out of power turned Democrats timid and reluctant to face down the president.

Can the GOP heal itself? Not if the vapid primary Washington just escaped is any example. So far, the challenger for the U.S. Senate, Mike McGavick, has spent a lot of dough on TV ads talking about a window he broke as a kid with a skateboard. The seven weeks remaining before the November election offer enough time for him to tell us about high school, college and courtship. He is the Republican, but he seems painfully shy about it.

Another barometer of Republican campaign gravitas is District 2 congressional candidate Doug Roulstone's MySpace.com Web site. The former commander of an aircraft carrier confides he is a Capricorn. He has a look that says he hopes nobody at the officers club ever sees this.

OK, Rep. Rick Larsen squirmed through an appearance on cable's "The Colbert Report." Call it even.

Add it up, and leading conservatives are willing to give Democrats a shot.

Lance Dickie's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is ldickie@seattletimes.com

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