So there I was. And am. Sunday, early evening, watching the light diminish as rain turns snow to the proverbial Sierra Cement, listening to some classic Cat Stevens. The Academy Awards are on and, quite frankly, I couldn’t care less and can’t now think of a greater waste of my time than watching with the rest of the brainless masses. I already know that Brokeback Mountain will be hailed as the new Second Coming by Hollywood. It’s a given.

Ooh baby baby, it really is a Wild World.

With all the things going on societally and in politics, my mind began to drop back to my last ocean cruise. If only things could be, I thought, as simple as they appeared during that time.

Far away, over there, away from sight and mind — and my current self attached to the railing watching reeling gulls cartwheel through the mists of the narrows we navigated. I can remember that time in place so distinctly, frozen as it is in the wrinkled cortex of whatever hemisphere controls that specific thought.

The turbulent, tremulous times whirling and cascading, for a moment, and then clearing to something so free and light and unfettered by complication. Oh, to be there again, I considered for a moment; my hands on the beautiful teak veranda railing varnish, the deep green ocean hissing, literally hissing some fifty feet below me, wind buffeting my face, blowing salt droplets into my hair and collecting on the hairs of my arm. How strange that seems, I note. This ship seems so solid, such an incredible mass overcoming, by sheer power, the primal force of the sea. Is this Man, I wonder for a moment, flaunting his position in nature against God? What have we learned since 1912, I ask myself? Are we more astute, more assured in our technology?

What have we gained, vs. what we have lost?

My mind moves to politics, shifting gears abruptly. Clunk. That was jarring. . .

And I began to think of today and tomorrow.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER:

– In about 8 months, 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats will be subject to the democratic election process.

– It is my opinion that Republicans are in Large Trouble.

– In the Senate, there are 15 Republican and 17 Democrat seats up for bid. Republicans may hold the majority here, though perhaps cut by two seats.

– In the House, (where Republicans hold a lead of 231-202), GOP insider information indicates that Republicans may lose more than 20 seats.

– Democrats need to pick up only 16 seats to take over the House.

– An “erosion of confidence” may take its toll on governors as well. Currently, there are 28 Republicans and 22 Democrats, but there are 36 gubernatorial elections this year, and Democrats will likely pick up between two and five of those seats.

WHY MIGHT THIS HAPPEN?

You likely don’t want to hear it or read it, but I can sum it up this way:

President Bush, for all the good things he has done, held the reins of Power and refused to take those reins and leave dead, burned bodies behind. He truly had a Mandate and squandered it on any number of levels — for reasons I have yet to fully comprehend. Politics, my friends, is all about leaving dead, burned bodies behind — and having the guts to do so.

He has managed to alienate his primal Conservative base — myself included. In one of my earlier Blogger BZ profiles, I listed myself as “a Conservative first and a Republican second.” That is true to this day. I have given my last donations to the RNC. No more until things change.

I can hear some of you squalling: “That is so fundamentally unfair! Can you imagine if we had Gore for a President! Where would we be now?” And a fundamentally flawed argument. We didn’t and we have Bush now. I don’t care about what could have been. I care about what is here and now. The Dems and the DEM live in the past; we cannot afford to.

All logical thinkers agree that President Bush gets high marks as Commander in Chief in the Long War against terror. Domestically, with the help of Congress, he has made good on his commitments to nominate constitutional constructionists to the Supreme Court (with one HUGE blip!) and pass modest tax cuts — but he and the Republican Congress tend to crash from there.

Conservatives like myself expected Bush to restore constitutionally-constrained limits on government, and the promotion of free enterprise and traditional American values, as outlined in The Patriot’s Statement of Principles. He has not and the Republicans have not.

Most Americans can’t distinguish Republicans from Democrats on the Big Issues.

It pains me to point out that, under Republican leadership, the size and regulatory role of the central government has expanded horrendously since President Bush took office, and his fiscal budget for 2007 reflects spending increases of almost 50 percent more than Bill Clinton’s last budget.

I am astounded and horrified. This is not what I stand for as a Conservative. Per the PatriotPost:

Republicans have so demoralized their conservative base that even the most staunchly ideological conservatives are suggesting that a Democrat-controlled House may be necessary to remind Republicans why, precisely, we voted them into office.

That is not to say that all Republicans have neglected their conservative base. Some Republicans are conservative, and chief among them is Rep. Mike Pence, who chairs a group of 100 House conservatives who, as “The Republican Study Committee,” are charting a course to maintain their majority in ’06—and beyond.

Rep. Pence and his fellow conservatives have rallied around principles that he outlined in a speech last fall, “Another Time for Choosing,” picking up the central theme of Ronald Reagan’s famous 1964 speech “A Time For Choosing.”

If only Bush could “Rally the Troops” — but he cannot. As the Post points out:

Strike one was signing the bloated highway bill, which became symbolic of Bush’s failure to contain government spending. The second strike was his perceived failure in taking charge of the Katrina catastrophe—perception being what it is. (It was probably not advisable to be on the Left Coast political circuit the day a Cat 5 hurricane is making landfall.) Strike three was his stupefying nomination of Harriet Miers.

Bush works in ways I cannot comprehend. He leaves our borders open; he apparently allows our ports to be compromised; he makes a nuke deal with India leaving too many loopholes; he spends money like water.

George, listen: you had the power. It was in your hands. You worked it well and did what you felt needed to be done to insure our domestic security. But you won’t or can’t communicate. And in the end, this will be your greatest downfall.

Just explain it to me. Tell me.

Because, after all, you leave me hanging not just to your party’s detriment, to the Conservative detriment, but to the detriment of your entire country.

Per Dickens: “You are the best of times; you are the worst of times.”