GOP = Gone Out to Pasture?

Did you happen to watch President Obama's address to Congress last night? All in all, I thought it was a pretty good speech. Did you catch the GOP's response to Obama's speech? If you didn't, how can I sum it up for you in a few words? 'Pathetic' comes to mind, as does, 'embarrassing', 'uninformed' and 'woefully out of touch'.

The speech was delivered by burgeoning Republican star, Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana. GOP insiders point to Jindal as a rising star within the party, and someone who - if he doesn't screw it up - may very well head the Republican ticket within the next two presidential election cycles. His speech was stilted, filled with factual errors, and, in some instances, was downright nonsensical.

Honestly...is this the cream of the GOP crop? If it is, then the party's usefulness is past its expiration date.

Please understand, I proudly count myself as a conservative. But I'm a conservative in the Teddy Roosevelt/Barry Goldwater mold. Along with Lincoln, I consider T.R. to be the finest president this nation has ever had. And Goldwater's book, "Conscious of a Conservative" is a must-read if you really want to understand the pure core of conservative thought. The party traditionally associated with this way of thinking has been the Republican Party...but that seems to be a thing of the past. It has strayed from the path of rational conservative thinking as to have perhaps become irrelevant.

Having had their heads handed to them in the last two election cycles, the Republican Party is running around like a headless chicken. A lack of a head - and the rational, thinking brain contained therein - is the only reason I can conclude as to why the Republicans have trotted out the likes of Bobby Jindal...and Sarah Palin and Michael Steele as the new leaders of the (once) Grand Old Party. If this is the future, give me the past, thank you.

It's time true conservatives wrestle back the party from these vacuous, bloviating children, and get back to basic, core conservative beliefs. If it doesn't happen soon, we're in for a one-party country for some time. And that would be a bad thing.