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Bob is symptomatic of everything that is wrong with ‘good ‘ol boy’ politics in the supposedly ‘conservative’ faction of American politics. In fact, despite his sterling credentials (cough), both he and Gingrich managed to derail the conservative pressure generated by x42’s first gambit toward the kind of change we're experiencing now. In fact, nearly the entire class of freshmen legislators elected in ‘94 were shunted off into obscurity while the old R network kept things nice and even.

IMO, the elections in ‘94 were not so much about an enthusiasm for the ‘Contract With America’ as much as they were a repudiation of the kind of socialism krinton was taking the country into. Recall the assaults on 2A, the abortion expansion and our first round with full blown socialized medicine with elites controlling policy in secret meetings. Grass roots organizations and citizen actions began to rock this country on those key issues. FR, itself, was a product of those times.

Dole and Gingrich managed to hijack that momentum and, like clockwork, label it an affirmation of Republicanism and propel us from a majority into a stalemate and back into exile with an idiotic Presidential campaign doomed to failure from the outset. Dole simply said it ‘was my turn to run for POTUS’ and the rest is history as he lumbered our chances for supremacy off the cliff we all could clearly see and were screaming about.

Today, with Tea Party power rising (actually, the same kind of organic rejection of socialism), we're seeing the same ‘ol same ‘ol from the R's and Gingrich is even making a comeback as an elder statesman commentator. The R's are resurrecting a new contract, changing the name, and trying out their shuck and jive routine for another tour.

If you believe that the establishment Republicanism (and Bob is certainly an prime example) we're endlessly treated to is the kind of answer we need to survive as a free republic, then you're part of the problem. Pragmatism, however polite or established, isn't going to get the job done.