REPUBLICANS HOLDING BACK ON DONATING TO THE PYGMIES. WAITING FOR JEB?

Yesterday at CNN's America Votes 2008 Breakfast, Ragin' Cajun James Carville predicted (again) that the Republicans will, in effect, give the Democrats (andHillary) the biggest president they can constitutionally present... well, second only to a Cheney nomination: another Bush. Jeb, he pointed out was the governor-- he claims "successful governor"-- of a large state, enjoys the support of social conservatives, speaks Spanish (and he sort of does), and "he's somebody the party could rally around." Yeah... and his name is Bush, the most hated political name in the country and the world.

True, Republican voters are supremely uninterested in the pathetic bunch of pygmies™, as Newt Gingrich famously termed the GOP field. "None of the Above" beats each of them in every Republican match-up. Carville says "There is nobody in this field who can rally the Republican Party; he's the only person in America that can do it." Could that be the reason that around 35% of Bush's high rollers haven't ponied up for any of the pygmies™?

No. Two dozen have been donating to Hillary and other Democrats; others say they're sick of the war and the Republican malfeasance in both the Executive and legislative branches. Others are smart enough not to bet on a sure loser.

Matt Fong, a former California state treasurer, 1998 U.S. Senate candidate and two-time Bush Pioneer, said that after months of disappointment in the Republican Party, he had hoped to be recharged by the new crop of presidential candidates.

"I have yet to get interested in any of them," he said. "I'm just not happy with the direction of our party. I think we have a huge credibility problem, which I have not seen any of the candidates show the ability to rise above."

...Alvin R. "Pete" Carpenter, a former chief executive of CSX Transportation and a Bush Pioneer in 2000, said it was a combination of the Iraq war and the free spending of Republicans when they controlled Congress that slowly drained his enthusiasm for the party. Carpenter, 65, said he has been a lifelong Republican and was a "Goldwater kid." But this year he sent a contribution to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

"I have opted out for all the well-documented reasons that disaffected Republicans use," Carpenter said. "I'm not sure which primary I'll vote in. At the moment I will say I'm keeping my powder dry. It's the first time I'm really a bit confused about what I should be doing, or where the country should be headed."

Democrats are outraising Republicans on every level-- and by massive amounts. People are just sick of them... hate them... want them to disappear. One of the ex-McCain senior advisors, John Weaver said the poor fundraising is indicative of much broader problems for the Republicans. "There is currently a lack of energy, a lack of enthusiasm, a lack of optimism about the near-term future of the party. If it doesn't change quickly, it's a leading indicator of what kind of problem we are going to have next fall." It won't change and it barely scratches the surface of the world of hurt these people have earned and are about to see wash over them.