Give Up blog is going to go on vacation as a majority of our contributors are out of town. Look for regular posting after Thursday the 21st.

In the meantime, ponder this Rasmussen polling indicating that the number of self-identified Republicans is at a 2.5 year low of 32%.

The number of Americans calling themselves Republican has fallen to its lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years. Just 31.9% of American adults now say they're affiliated with the GOP. That's down from 37.2% in October 2004 and 34.5% at the beginning of 2006. These results come from Rasmussen Reports tracking surveys of 15,000 voters per month and have a margin of sampling error smaller than a percentage point.

The number of Democrats has grown slightly, from 36.1% at the beginning of the year to 37.3% now.

Those who claim to be unaffiliated have increased to 30.8% this month. That's the highest total recorded since Rasmussen Reports began releasing this data in January 2004.

Hmm, maybe it has something to do with incompetence, but it may also be corruption, waste, partisanship, and a borderline-retarded president.