Honest, when I picked this photo to post, I was not thinking about the following.

I know only a couple of Republicans, and I can't say as I count them among my close friends. Which is good, because it's always painful (I imagine) to have to sign the papers committing friends to a lengthy stay in a hospital for the mentally deranged. But, on the off chance that someone reading this might actually be a Republican, and might actually be considering voting for a Republican next fall, I'd ask them to pause and consider this. Bosh.....er, I mean, Bush, a Republican, took office in 2000. At that time, both the Senate and Congress were in Republican control. A clean sweep, as it were. Republicans - the party of fiscal responsibility - controlled everything. And George was taking over a country that was - what? billions? trillions? - of dollars in the black. The American dollar was worth, roughly, $1.40 Canadian. Wow! What an opportunity for the party of fiscal responsibility to really take off! Total control! A huge budget surplus! Zowee! Remember, that surplus was generated while a Democrat - the evil Bill "Blow Me" Clinton was President. Imagine what these folks could do now that they had COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. It had to be a dream come true for Republican voters all across America.

So? How'd they do? Well, they burned through that huge surplus and created a record-breaking deficit, for one. And before next week is over (heck - before this week is over!) the Canadian dollar will be equal to the American dollar, or maybe worth a little more. Yep, Americans owe the rest of the world (mainly China - the Commies, remember?) trillions of dollars and, on top of that, those dollars are now worth 40% less than when Bush took office. Nice going Party of Fiscal Responsibility!

I'd mention the war that's killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and a couple of thousand Americans, but that's not something that would actually concern the average Republican. Money, however (especially their own), tends to get their attention.