The cover stories for next month's Washington Monthly magazine feature seven conservatives (if you count libertarians as conservatives) saying the GOP might benefit from a, shall we say, time out.

Actually they argue that divided government would produce better policy. Hmm.

There are pieces by Bruce Bartlett, Joe Scarborough, William A. Niskanen, Bruce Fein, Jeffrey Hart, Richard A. Viguerie (yes it reads like a direct mail letter) and the inimitable Christopher Buckley, which of course is good for more than a few laughs. His article opens with this: "'The trouble with our times,' Paul Valéry said, 'is that the future is not what it used to be.'"