Well, here's one opinion as reported by the NYT:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 22 — The speaker of the Iraqi Parliament criticized the American government’s involvement in Iraq on Saturday, likening the invasion and its consequences to “the work of butchers” and demanding that the American authorities disentangle themselves from Iraq’s political affairs.

The speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Islamist who quickly developed a reputation for provocative public comments after his election in late April, also said the American government wanted Iraq “to stay under the American boot.”

“We know there was a corrupt regime in Saddam, but a regime should be removed by surgery, not by butchering,” he said during a speech at a United Nations-sponsored conference on transitional justice. “The U.S. occupation is butcher’s work under the slogan of democracy and human rights and justice.”

was once the party of small government but under Bush, the party has proposed three political constitutional amendments (gay marriage, flag burning, the Pledge), federalized education standards, forced school vouchers on DC even though they didn't want it, been pushing Yucca Mountain on Nevada even though they don't want it, formed a new Cabinet post, initiated warrantless wiretapping, mingled church and state institutional spheres and federal spending has exploded.

And that's why the true conservatives are abandoning Bush and the rest of the neo-cons. Perhaps they will convince some of the neo-cons to go with them.

There is growing agreement from all spectra of the political sphere: George W. Bush is not Republican. Just what I've been saying for years, but it gives me no satisfaction to say "I told you so." The truth is, today's republican party is a conglomerate of corporatists operating like marxist-leninists, using the Lenin playbook of political tricks. Not quite total fascists, not quite totally socialist (except when it comes to corporate welfare). The name of the game is getting and holding power by any means, the end of holding power justifying any means.

Yes, Karl Rove, often called a Machiavellian, is really a closet leninist apparachnik in terms of the political tricks and the naked used of power in which he indulges. Look at the iron party discipline, the character cult of Bush, the endless agitprop, the politicization of every little thing, the ruthless character assassination, the sharp party turns requiring somersaults and slavish fawning by every single party member. All this is painfully familiar to those of us who fought the Cold War and studied the Soviets carefully.

that the US is doing all the things Americans were told during the Cold War that made the USSR so evil. Americans were told we were the morally superior nation because we didn't spy on our own people, we didn't imprison people without counsel or trials, we didn't launch wars of military aggression, we didn't kidnapp people, we didn't put up walls sealing off our neighbors. I guess becoming the world's sole superpower meant accumulating all the things the former other superpower used to do.

The modern "conservative" movement deserves some study.  I am conservative about some things.  But what sort of conservative movement is this that uses an ends-justifies-the-means approach to organizing, uses crudely manipulative propaganda techniques, demonizes the other side, lies, is more interested in Republican Party partisanship than in promoting conservative values in both parties (to the point of attacking good conservative Democrats as extreme liberals and using redistricting to force conservative Dems out of office in Texas), and defines themselves by what they are against instead of having a positive agenda of their own?  No movement that any real conservative would want anything to do with.

Having said that, Buckley is partly responsible for creating the modern conservative movement.  Maybe he too has come to see that the movement he created has spun out of control.  Maybe not.  He does have a history as a gadfly.

I too have noticed similarities between today's conservative movement and old-line Marxism-Leninism.  Not in their ideology, but similarities which come to the fore because of both movements being ruthlessly ideological.  A better name would be "true believer", from the Eric Hoffer book.

RaisingKaine really is one of the top blogs. Rarely do I see much provocative thoughtful exchanges on the blogs I read.  I would give Lowell much credit for this, but also the number of very bright people who contribute should get their due also.  I spend too much time on these things--anything to keep from writing, I suppose.  These days I'm making my way writing screenplays, an odd job I stumbled into, somehow managing to sell a couple and now I'm desperately working on another to not have a permanent break in service and lose my 3 vested years in the Writers Guild.  It's a long way around to explain how I end up in front of this computer 10 to 15 hours a day. 

But when I'm out of ideas and thinking about that bottle of Rip Van Winkle 12 year old in my desk drawer, I can always come here, I'm entertained, enlightened and generally come away from RaisingKaine feeling my time was well spent.
And though I think the RVW 12 year old is some of the very best Kentucky whiskey made, it alway sips better while perusing the fine pages you folks have made here. 

Here in Kentucky our netroots community is in the same shape as the state Democratic party.  And from what we can find out, the KDP has less than $20,000 in the coffers.

  There a couple of pretty good blogs, but the best one, Bluegrass Report is not set up on the diary system and the owner, Mark Nickolas, puts up everything and then we comment on his thoughts.  He's pretty fair and stays with story, so I can't fault him, but it just his world. At it's best, its a benevolent dictatorship and at it's worst it helped sink Fighting Dem Andrew Horne's ship in the primary.  But there is never so much lively discussion as I see here.  Lots of trolls and lots of talking points one way or the other.

I have a secret, though I'm a lifelong Democrat and always will be, I've always liked old Buckley.  He's one of the old Conservative and of course very bright.  I've been waiting for him to put the fire to Bush.  The time has been coming.  The true conservative viewpoint is a good one.  They want  government too small and I want mine a little bigger, but I never had huge differences with true conservative.  There's so few of them around anymore and with the assention of the Neocon madness we live in, guys like Buckley and even Buchanan seem like they're making sense.  Anyway, I'm mumbling around not really on point, but I wanted to respond to this story. I loved the comparison to the soviet union.  I worked the soviet problem for a while in the service and was required to learn a lot about the country.  Some of the response here are very knowledgeable.

  I miss the good old days, when politics wasn't just a series of screaming matches and when good men could sit down, work though their differences and come up with a workable solution to the problem. 

John Sherman Cooper was a republican Senator from Kentucky and was a fine, fine representative for the whole state, regardless of party.  He was a man of the people and the people loved him and sent him back term after term, because we knew he was doing our business.  Sadly, there are no John Sherman Coopers any more, especially in the neo-con party.  But I long for those days, like I long to hear my Dad and Uncles drink whiskey and talk about how they won World War ll all by themselves.  I guess I'm getting old.  Soon I'll start talking about how good my mother could cook and how much better everything tasted back then.

  I grew drinking sulpur water, a foul excuse for water unless you grow up drinking it.  It smelled like rotton eggs and turned your bathtub rusty red, but when you grow up drinking it, no other water would cure your thirst.  There's a motel in Whiteburg, Ky I stay in sometimes.  I stay there because they have the sulfur water.  I get a bunch of ice and filled my glass full of the odorous stuff and when I drink, for a little while, a thirst that's been with me since childhood is quenched comepletely. I guess Buckley like that water.  He's a little stinky and no loved by all,but when I want true clear conservative thinking, he's the man.  Good for him. This dressing down of Bush is long overdue and I'm sure is only the beginning salvo in the next phase of the struggle for the heart of the Republician Party.  We need the GOP to be a good conservative party.  These neocoms have lost their way.

Thank you for your comments Mr. Stump. It is good to hear from some one who puts up something besides tired talking points. Be comforted: you are not alone, and there are many who long for the saner, somehow more adult times when we had basic agreement on our constitutional system and disagreement on methodology, but could disagree (as they say) without being too disagreeable.

Do you think, from your vantage point, that the Democrats have a chance of taking back the House? the Senate? Several governorships? I am very much concerned that we have here a window of opportunity to redress the terrible wrongs and the imbalances of the past decade, but that the money-laden machine of the neocons will manage somehow to tear this opportunity from us.  And once that happens, I do not see how we can recover, ever, because things will have changed past saving.

I keep remembering that Hitler was elected in the first place, that there was a strong religious element in the original national socialism (Nazi) party, and that big business financed his rise, being utterly terrfied of an external threat (at that time, Soviet communism) and also being desperate from the inflationary excesses, enormous debt load including reparations, and the economic collapse of the Great Depression.

Teddy, I share your fears.  The GOP has perfected party building over the last two decades. When I look at Kentucky, I see our state party in shambles.  We have a Republican Governor who has been indicted. Bush is in hot water. You would think this is the Democrats year to make a lot of progress, but I worry it's not going to change.  We have one Democrat in Congress and here in the 3rd District of Louisville--the most liberal district in the state--there's a good chance we'll send Republican Congresswoman Anne Northup back to Washington for a 4th term. 

Mitch McConnell is one of our Senators and as you all know, Mitch is a powerful fundraiser and can bring the muscle to any race in Kentucky.  Northup has millions and her opponent, John Yarmuth, though a millionaire in his own right, can't raise near the money Anne can throw at the race.  Yarmuth's other problem is 18 years of newspaper columns he wrote in his own weekly giveaway newspaper.  John's a bright guy, but over the years he's taken some dumb positions and Northup's people are going over every word he's printed with a magnifying glass.  Yarmuth also had a local "Crossfire" type tv show with a conservative radio host as his opponent.  Yarmuth is not exactly TV friendly in the first place, and I cringe to think of the ads the Northup campaign will put together with Yarmuth doing all the talking.  Our Fighting Dem, Andrew Horne ran against Yarmuth but was smashed by Yarmuth's money advantage.  We didn't have money and though Horne had great national recognition, it didn't trickle down to the community. And though he was on KOS and Air America there just weren't enough donations give him a fair chance.  We also don't have the strong netroots community you have in Virgina.  With Horne gone, I think we lost our best chance to win back the 3rd district seat.  I hope I'm wrong, but Cooke has this district Republican leaning and once the tv ads start, I fear the worst.

We could win one or both of the houses back.  What happens in the news up til the election will mean a lot, but we can't lay back and expect W's poor polling to bring us home.  The GOP knows how win the close ones.  That's Rove's genius.  If they're within striking distance... well, we all remember Florida--their army of lawyers, the Republican congressional staffers acting as protesters. I always fear the worst. I not pessimistic, but I have a good memory.

In many ways, it's our own fault.  In Kentucky, we haven't fielded the best candidates and our party is broken. Just a couple of days ago it was revealed the state party is also broke. We have somewhere between six and sixteen thousand dollars in the state Democratic coffers. And no one knows what happened--at least no one is saying.  So, Kentucky Democrats are going into the fall elections with less money than many people have in their checking accounts.  I understand, I hesitate to give money to a state party like we have here.  I suspect my money is better spent giving it directly to a candidate, but my attitude does little to help  the state party.  I don't know what the answer is, except to  get better people involved with the party--no easy task. 

We need more candidates like Jim Webb all over the country, but that's going to take some doing.  I thought Chuck Schumer's endorsment of Webb in the primary was not only surprising, but a good sign the liberal wing of the party was willing to reach out to the center to win this fall.  I like Howard Dean's fifty state strategy. I think it's the real solution long term.  The question is: Will Democrats be  do the sort of low level work and organization it takes to build a strong party.  Many Democrats have given up on the South.  Remember the letter that went around after Kerry lost--it said F..K The South and then went on to explain how anyone with an accent like mine was just an inbred redneck, etc, etc.  One of the big reasons so many people in the South have left the Democratic party is that particular stereotype we all know so well.  Nothing like calling someone ignorant rednecks to make them want to vote Democratic the next time. And thing is, Kentucky had for years been a blue state until recently like much of the South and contrary to Lyndon Johnson, I've never thought we lost the South over the Civil Rights Act.  That's just playing the stereotyping of rural America out to it's natural but complete wrong conclusion.

The Democratic Party abandoned a lot of our populist issues.  We used to do a lot more work for the poor.  We used to trying to reach out to the working folks and the unions.  Yet here in Louisville where we are building a new arena downtown, our Democratic Mayor Jerry Abramson just vetoed union labor to build the thing.  This arena is probably not needed in the first place.  But it's a place for all the rich folks to have a box or a suite.  The University of Louisville Basketball team doesn't fill up Freedom Hall, but there's not enough boxes for all the rich people to each have one so we're building a new one downtown.  Union workers can still work at the arena, but they'll have no rights beyond what they're handed.  It must be noted Mayor Jerry has a long list of builders and contractors on his donor list.  I've belonged to a half-dozen labor unions in my life and presently belong to the Writers Guild and the Musicians Union. How can I vote for Abramson again?  Where does that leave me?  We've seen how the weakening of the UMW and governent deregulation has affected the safety of our coal miners.  But when Democrats start turning their backs on the labor movement, I feel like I have nowhere to turn.

We can win back this country, but it may come in pieces.  If Webb can pull off this race, the Senate may really come into play.  George Allen's seat was supposed to be safe as milk until Lowell and his fellow conspirators drafted Webb--a brilliant move.  I say this all the time, but I truely believe this Virgina Senate race is the most important race in the country.  I believe James Webb is a lot bigger deal to the country than anyone might think.  Plus he's living proof the netroots movement works for more than just raising money.

  Teddy, I've taken a long time to tell I don't have a clear vision of how things are gonna turn out in the fall, but I do see this country standing at a huge crossroads.  I hope and pray we take the right path. 

I just saw Al Gore's movie yesterday.  It reminded me of when I met him many years ago.  He was a young congressman speaking at a fundraiser in Eastern Kentucky and I was in the band providing the entertainment.  After the thing was over, I had the chance to chat with him for a while.  We were both Vietnam vets and anti-strip mining zealots and I remember thinking how nice and easy and smart this young man was.  At the movie, I heard that same easy voice I had heard so many years ago and at the same time, I thought how we really missed a chance with his presidential run.  How different our world would be today. Well...spilt milk and all that. I'm gonna get back to work. 

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Mr. Stump, you said that Democrats abandoned many of their populist issues. That is the problem in a nutshell. That is Webb's genius, if we can ever get his message out: he is a populist Jacksonian Democrat.

All the whining about message and Democrats don't have a plan is mostly Republican propaganda, typical of their usual effort: tell it the way you want it to be and do it repeatedly until it does indeed become true. When the Democrats stop trying to be Republican Lite and stick to their fine tradition of populism they do very well. Stop being timid, I say, go for the jugular, make the republican failures the issue, don't claim "we can do better," just say the Democrats will clean up the messes we've got, restore our constitutional system, get a grip on the over-weening greed of global corporations, level the playing field for the common man, and restore sanity to both our finances and our foreign policy. Only a republican would claim that is not a plan.

The Kentucky Democratic Party seems dispirited as well as money-less. No wonder they've got problems. Consider it a given that the republicans will always have more money; that's simply what they do (suck up the bucks). So plan campaigns that don't depend overhwlemingly on money since you can never match 'em dollar for dollar.