Peggy Noonan has an excellent piece in the Wall Street Journal today. It’s linked on Drudge, but it’s worth flagging up here as well. She looks at just how far the GOP has sunk, taking a cue from the party’s loss of a once safe seat in Mississippi’s 1st congressional district this week. Noonan asks Clark Reed, who helped build up the Republican Party in Mississippi in the 1950s, for his thoughts:

“[L]et’s just face it: It’s not a good time.” He meant to be a Republican. “They brought Cheney in, and that was a mistake.” He cited “a disenchantment with the generic Republican label, which we always thought was the Good Housekeeping seal.”

What’s behind it? “American people just won’t take a long war. Just – name me a war, even in a pro-military state like this. It’s overall disappointment. It’s national. No leadership, adrift. Things haven’t worked.” The future lies in rebuilding locally, not being “distracted” by Washington.

Is the Republican solid South over?

“Yeah. Oh yeah.” He said, “I eat lunch every day at Buck’s Cafe. Obama’s picture is all over the wall.”