Pollsters Predict: "Lethargic Republicans" Likely To Be Lethargic Come Election Day

The Wash Times reports on a likely (or is that possible?) reason the GOP is going to take one in the chops come Nov. 7: "lethargic Republicans" unmotivated to rouse themselves from their grotesquely overstuffed couches, turn the ignition key on their Rascal Ultralite scooters, and head down to the local voting booth to punch a ticket for the "lesser of two evils.":

"The message hasn't gotten across because a lot of people are sick and tired of thinking the only reason for going to the polls is to vote for the Republicans because they are lesser of two evils," said Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs at the Family Research Council (FRC), a leading social conservative group….

A top Republican pollster confidentially echoed those sentiments.

"There are very definitely trouble signs in many states of what we call the 'LRs'—the lethargic Republicans," said the pollster, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. "They are unhappy with the president and have little love lost for Congress."

More here.

I, for one, welcome our new lethargic underlords, especially in a divided-government setting.

Why are Republicans and conservatives suffering from the political equivalent of Epstein-Barr Virus? There's the overspending, of course, and the botched war effort. The sense that the Bush admin and GOP Congress, for all their conservative family-values talk, hasn't done enough to stop abortion and Terri Schiavo plug-puliings and stuff like that. Nor have they done enough to electrocute illegal immigrants like "livestock" (as Rep. Steve King of Iowa quaintly put it) or repress the seemingly irrepressible "homosexual agenda," etc. Since I'm not a conservative, I'm skylarking here.

This much seems more clear (and surprising) and doesn't bode well for the Republicans: On terrorism-related issues (stopping it, not causing it), the Dems are shaping up as the party of choice. Early October polls asking which party will do a better job fighting terrorism gave the Democrats sizeable advantages on the issue: 5 points in a CNN poll; 5 points in a Gallup/USA Today poll; 7 points in a Newsweek poll; and 6 points in an ABC News/Wash Post poll. More on that here.