I have been watching Republicans try to operate in the political arena now for thirty-five years, and they still haven't grasped that obvious truth. Republicans continue to give sanction to the Democrats for allowing them to set all the rules and standards for Republican actions and behavior - rules and standards which Democrats have no intention of following themselves. The term 'doing something because it's the right thing to do' will never ever ever be the motivation behind any Democrat action. Back in 2001 when the Senate was effectively split, the Republicans ceded an even split of power with the Democrats 'because it was the right thing to do', even though they still outnumbered Democrats 50-49. But when Jeffords jumped ship, the Democrats immediately took control of all committees, ensuring that each one had two more Democrats than Republicans even though the party split was now 49-49. You would think that after an infinite number of episodes of this that the Republicans would learn their lesson. As Ayn Rand once said, "In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit."
Dems have no respect for Republicans whatsoever because they know they'll cave in on nearly every issue due to their naive desire to be reasonable and their paralyzing fear of being criticized by the corrupt media. The obvious fact of the matter is that Dems and the MSM are going to hammer them no matter what they do. Given that reality, why not take a stand and fight back?
Its really frustrating to watch Republicans cave time and again. In a rare exception, to Newt's credit he stood up to the media in the debates which probably explains some of his recent rise in popularity. The rest of the Party should take note.