I apologize here if elsewhere (on another thread) I had said that the GOP indeed has their own special interests. The criticism of the I heard on the radio when I was out on the road today is worth mentioning again here. (That was listening to NPR, not to Limbaugh, who was on at the same time; I actually avoid most of the conservative and lib-rad talk shows because they're all about the people hearing themselves talk while often interrupting and sometimes abusing others).

The criticism includes not only that the GOP has moved leftward over the past several years and become more Big Government-loving than ever, but that it mirrors the Democrats' special-interest-group politics, not simply appealing to its traditional groups (business, veterans, farmers) but taking money and giving its special interests special influence. What we have seen in particular are sellouts to the business community, especially larger businesses, who are behind the drive on the GOP or right side against immigration reform in favor of amnesty (to keep labor costs down). At the same time, there are minor issues personally with the Bush administration (major to the victims) in that many resent how, for example, vets have been refused VA medical coverage for injuries sustained while in Iraq. (That's not a legitimate way to cut costs in my and other people's book!)

With the GOP it's not so much entitlements except in certain cases (farm bill stuff) but something at once more broad in scale and more corrupt (ethanol money into the pockets of ADM, for example, a contemporary GOP “alternative energy” concept). Certain earmarks and things like them like dedicated tax breaks are not entitlements, but outright gifts.

As for McCain's speech:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/...

Talk about collapse!