Conservative Republicans are scrambling to “right” the plight of their party. Having an “R” next to your name on a ballot could potentially mean death in an election.

For example, I once had a sociology professor attempting to rectify years of racial injustice by telling us to enact certain radical social policies. He classified Americans into two groups: liberals and bigots. That’s not even the most troubling part.

No one, neither staff nor students, voiced a single word of opposition to his opinion. I am proudly further left than Dennis Kucinich, and even I was mildly offended.

It’s a sad state of affairs for members of the GOP when they can’t respond in the one place they’re supposed to rightfully express their (mostly misguided) opinions — the free and open atmosphere of a university. So what has caused this collapse of these typically heated debates?

Year after year of the Bush administration’s incompetent actions and inept policies, not to mention the fact that it’s been plagued by scandal since the Florida mishap in 2000, have led to a climate of shame that is associated with being on the right.

President Bush’s policies lost Republicans both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections and, more importantly, lost them respect in the minds of millions of Americans.

Although the president thinks he’s doing quite well — so well in fact that he was overheard telling Australian Prime Minister John Howard that we were “kicking ass” in Iraq — Bush digs his party into a deeper and deeper hole with blatant civil rights violations, incompetent underlings, greater losses of life in Iraq, poll numbers so low they might be counted on one hand