If Bush loses...

摘要

In the wake of George Bush senior's defeat in 1992, the Republican Party had a collective nervous breakdown. One of the many bizarre manifestations of the breakdown took place at the Heritage Foundation: a group of young conservatives filled a hall with friends before marching in carrying a plastic head of the former president on a plate. The plate was covered with blood-coloured crepe paper-and the young activists were almost as jubilant as the triumphant Clintonites down in Little Rock. What will happen to the Republican Party if the younger Bush goes the same way as his father next Tuesday? Everything depends on how much he loses by, of course. But let's assume that the opinion polls are right and any defeat is marginal rather than catastrophic. And let's assume that the Republicans retain control of at least one chamber of Congress. What then?