Dole: 'I doubt' I could make it in today's GOP

[sofa king]

48. That's a happy memory I do not share.

In fact, I recall everyone in Washington, DC being irreparably pissed off at Dole and the Republicans for ruining their Christmas vacations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_1995_and_1996

I saw firsthand what that bullshit did to hundreds of thousands of people in and around Washington, DC.

The backlash was profound and so damaging that I believe that it directly resulted in the defeat of Dole, the flipping of the Senate, and the resignation of Newt Gingrich.

I'll bet there are a few former federal employees from that time around here. It seemed to me that every single one of them devised a personal and damaging response to the GOP, some of which lasted for years and may well still last to this day.

It was the near-universal antipathy for Republicans within the federal government at the outset of the 21st Century that led directly to the near-complete draining of institutional knowledge from many federal agencies, helped along by the Bush Administration demanding that replacements having "demonstrated loyalty to the President," which selected for fucking morons.

One reason why we have anything left at all is because during the Bush years the executive branch was crippled by institutional incompetence from the top down, and they were unable to work at the pitch of malevolence to which they aspired....

...all thanks to that asshole Bob Dole, who still pales in comparison to the assholes in there today.