Posted on 11/09/2006 7:48:23 AM PST by SmithL
Washington -- Republicans woke Wednesday to a coast-to-coast wreckage in the midterm congressional elections that many acknowledged was of their own making.
Tuesday's political earthquake -- destroying Republican majorities that took decades to build -- slammed the door on the Bush era and opened the door to recrimination, regrouping and a rethinking of the party's governing philosophy.
"I can tell you none of us wants to spend a minute longer in the minority than we have to, but I think we recognize that this is not a loss where you can just repackage the same agenda and move ahead," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who coasted to re-election by campaigning against "earmarked" spending for lawmakers' pet projects and for comprehensive immigration reform. "We need a major course correction, and some of us have been making that argument for quite a while."
Just what that course correction will be -- a return to the party's small-government roots, a new centrism or something else -- will take shape as surviving Republicans choose new leaders, decide how to work with the new Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate and take sides in what will be a wide-open contest for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination to succeed President Bush.
The loss of the House was expected, but the loss of the Senate came as a hard shock to the party. The consequences are devastating to the survivors, who with their majorities also lose the chairmanship of every policymaking committee -- the power centers on Capitol Hill.
The post-rout housecleaning started first thing Wednesday.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert announced that he would step down, while back-bench fiscal conservatives led by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., began plotting a takeover.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Hastert's defending of William Jefferson, D-LA was the last straw for me. From that point I got totally disgusted, and my old cynical attitudes about government returned in spades.
Gas prices were around 1.00 a gallon when Bush took office. They are over 2.00 a gallon now and began to rise again two days before the election.
If you will recall, there was a gas price spike when Carter was president...he got routed in the next election.
Amen. That's why I say, the best place to start any "comprehensive immigration reform" is with mass deportations. Once the pool is emptied, we can see if there are cracks and re-fill it.
I agree...Yes, the GOP has been their own worst enemy, but there is MORE to it than that.
Here is the problem as I see it. These Bozo's will see the election as move to the left. What it actually is, is a move by conservatives away from the left that has become the Republican party.
They will then attempt to remedy the solution by moving further to the left.
a clusterf#*& if there ever was one.
OK, Iraq/War on Terror: We will be safer when these countries take responsibility for their own representative governments and we continue to help them achieve that. Social Security: We can't afford it, therefore it needs to be privatized over a period of time... oh wait, Bush said that so it has to be wrong now that the Republicans in Congress decided not to suppport him and lost.
I don't buy it, gas prices are low now and everyone is talking about how low they are. Iraq is a MUCH bigger issue right now. When they do spike up again people will be whining but this election? No way.
The agenda isn't the problem. The problem is the lack of intestinal fortitude when it comes to advancing the agenda. For the past six years the Republicans have been the mail carriers and the Democrats have been a pack of yapping dogs nipping at their heels. Mail carriers with intestinal fortitude mace the little bastards, not throw doggie treats to them in an effort to buy their affection. Item number one on the agenda should be, 'grow a pair!'
This is not an earthquake.
It's Not Even A Significant Defeat.
The left is unaware that they seats they took from GOP candidates were won by pro life, pro gun conservative Democrats because the Dems kept that secret from their base.
The GOP doesn't have to change one iota philosophically. All the columns being written are all about earning the columnist's paycheck because THEY HAVE NOTHING TO SAY THAT MATTERS.
The number one issue of voters was corruption scandals because a conservative country will not tolerate corruption.
Present squeaky clean candidates to the electorate and those GOP seats return to the GOP in 2008 -- if those Democrats vote EVEN ONCE with the liberals.
So stop wasting your time pontificating about philosophy and get to work creating spreadsheets to track the votes of these alleged conservative Democrats who will either toe our line, change parties, or not even bother to unpack when they get to DC. Everytime they vote liberal, send notice to their local newspapers.
We wouldn't be talking about "starting over" if our guys hadn't lost their principles in the first place.
If we're not willing to dump the guys who led us astray, we'll be in disarray for years to come.
We can't be successful unless everybody is on the same page.
I asked IF any exit polling, etc. had mentioned the possibility of any effect from the prices...I have not heard, as of yet of any.
I am confident that there are non-political types (millions of them) who do get fired up over matters that effect them personally.
I agree. Any other ideas?
Actually its the continual shift of the middle 5 % of voters that flips this thing back and forth.
The true libs and true conservatives can't win power without them, but they waffle back and forth over issues. Iraq kicked them back to the left. It all depends on whether Pelosi and Schumer's ilk can swallow their beliefs for very long. If they go too far off the reservation, I could see a handful of the house dems revolting...maybe not flipping GOP, but getting out of the game or turning independent.
They already know this. They leave off the word "illegal" with intention. The next Senate bill will likely be worse that the original mostrosity. I'm hoping the Dem leadership will put a stop to it just to keep Bush from claiming credit for it, and put it off until 2008.
No question this is true. We better have some alternatives to offer over the high cost of health care...other than "tough it out" and be a conservative.
Yes, but they are not very popular.........
The guys with no core convictions should just be honest and become outright Democrats...lying numbnuts.
I think a new party rule should be to ban anyone with the last name of 'Bush' from ever running for President again. Just like his father, dubya has led us to electoral disaster.
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