The Suckiness of Long-Term Memory

The Republican Party used to have a lot of grown-ups in it; Bob Dole, Howard Baker, Jim Baker, Brent Scowcroft, Gerry Ford, Bob Michael, Everett Dirkson, the first President Bush, etc.. Hell, people, I might even go as far as to say that the earlier incarnations of Dick Cheney had had some gravitas/common sense.....WHAT, PRAY TELL, IN THE HELL HAPPENED? I mean, I'm sorry, but, damn, I'm just not seeing a similar level of maturity in this current configuration/hodgepodge; the religious right, tea partiers, neocons, supply siders, etc. - not even remotely so. Not, mind you, that the Democrats have been necessarily wowing me, either (President Obama as the next JFK, paaaaleeeease!), but at least there seems to be a few of them seemingly still coherent. A few. A precious few, I'm saying.