A Failure of Democracy

Frightened Monkey shares my misgivings (or I, his) about what's happening lately:

I used to say, even about Bush II, that while there are some bad apples, overall the Republicans are trying to do what they see as the right thing. I may completely disagree, I would say, but maybe there’s a compromise position for all of us. Now I’m not so sure. I want to see the Republicans who think that the stench of corruption surrounding the party leaders is cloying and noxious, but they don’t appear. The closest we have to dissent amongst the conservative ranks is dissension about the Miers nomination. This is a failure of democracy.

Of course it's worth noting that even the conservative groundswell against the Miers nomination isn't really about some high conservative principle, it's about the failure to pander to a particular minority segment of the Republican base, about the failure to capitalize on Republican power by appointing the youngets, most rabid conservative available. The entire post is a worthy read, and should remind Democrats that victory at such a cost is nothing to celebrate -- assuming victory even follows these serial revelations of misconduct.