National Thoughts
Nationally, the election was a train wreck for Republicans, but not as bad as a lot of people had anticipated. Of course, if President Bush fired Secretary Rumsfeld a week ago, Republican losses could have been even more minimized.
- In Virginia, George Allen lost not because of national politics, but because of self-inflicted wounds.
- Soon-to-be former Speaker Hastert is stepping down from leadership, and not a moment too soon
- RedState's directors are right; the Republican Party nationally needs to return to its principles, and a ticket of Mike Pence for Minority Leader and John Shadegg for Minority Whip is a good start. I originally supported Pence to replace Tom DeLay as Majority Leader, and Shadegg when Pence passed.
- Pence and Shadegg have both, thankfully, formally declared their intentions. From Congressman Pence's statement:
- If I am the Senate Democrats, I am really hoping to make nice with Joe Lieberman, because Lieberman could decided to tell the Dems to pack sand and throw control of the Senate to the GOP. Right now (as expected) Lieberman has more influence than Lamont ever could have.
- Incidentally, the Kossites are blaming Lamont's loss (and Harold Ford's, too) on the DSCC
So what do we make of this mess? Frankly, it's a minor bump in the road. It may sound Pollyanna-ish at the moment to try to look at it this way, but the fact of the matter is that the country continues to trend more Conservative. Even some of the Democrats who did win in the Senate, for example are guys like Bob Casey, Jim Webb, and Jon Tester; more conservative than a lot of Senate Democrats. Plus, a lot of these races were particularly close, even in states that Republicans loss.
The bottom line is that Republican losses stemmed from dissatisfaction with the White House and Iraq, but also with corruption. Once again, as I noted last night, some more conservative districts turned out corrupt Republicans, quite possibly providing an opportunity to elect new Republicans in two years.
Where we go from here, who knows. But the battle for Minority Leader, like the battle for the Republican nomination for President in 2008, will wind up a battle for the soul of the Republican Party
- In Virginia, George Allen lost not because of national politics, but because of self-inflicted wounds.
- Soon-to-be former Speaker Hastert is stepping down from leadership, and not a moment too soon
- RedState's directors are right; the Republican Party nationally needs to return to its principles, and a ticket of Mike Pence for Minority Leader and John Shadegg for Minority Whip is a good start. I originally supported Pence to replace Tom DeLay as Majority Leader, and Shadegg when Pence passed.
- Pence and Shadegg have both, thankfully, formally declared their intentions. From Congressman Pence's statement:
I am running for Republican leader, because I believe that we did not just lose our Majority—we lost our way. We are in the wilderness because we walked away from the limited government principles that minted the Republican Congress.Amen.
- If I am the Senate Democrats, I am really hoping to make nice with Joe Lieberman, because Lieberman could decided to tell the Dems to pack sand and throw control of the Senate to the GOP. Right now (as expected) Lieberman has more influence than Lamont ever could have.
- Incidentally, the Kossites are blaming Lamont's loss (and Harold Ford's, too) on the DSCC
So what do we make of this mess? Frankly, it's a minor bump in the road. It may sound Pollyanna-ish at the moment to try to look at it this way, but the fact of the matter is that the country continues to trend more Conservative. Even some of the Democrats who did win in the Senate, for example are guys like Bob Casey, Jim Webb, and Jon Tester; more conservative than a lot of Senate Democrats. Plus, a lot of these races were particularly close, even in states that Republicans loss.
The bottom line is that Republican losses stemmed from dissatisfaction with the White House and Iraq, but also with corruption. Once again, as I noted last night, some more conservative districts turned out corrupt Republicans, quite possibly providing an opportunity to elect new Republicans in two years.
Where we go from here, who knows. But the battle for Minority Leader, like the battle for the Republican nomination for President in 2008, will wind up a battle for the soul of the Republican Party
posted by Brian Griffiths at 3:06 PM
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