The Aftermath: Cleaning Up The Mess

I have heard it all day, and we have read it. Yes, we were wrong. The GOP lost, and anyone holding out hope for Virginia, you just keep on doing that. We're realists, and we know it's lost, too. There are two questions on everyone's mind today--whether you are Democrat or Republican:

How did this happen?

What are we going to do about it?

Answer #1--We blew it. We opted to play the politics game, and didn't pay attention to what got us where we were. We are conservatives, and should have stuck to those roots. We didn't. We got comfortable. We got lazy. We got complacent. We thought we were untouchable. Whjat went wrong the most for us is that we faced a Democrat party so incensed with being out of power for twelve years that they wanted it more, fought for it harder, and in the end they got their message out. And it was that message that we hung ourselves on. Instead of sticking to the platform a few decided to get down int he mud and try to play the game at the same level the Democrats were used to enacting. They're better at that game than we are, and we should have known better.

Answer #2--We're not sticking with this sort of thinking again. The conservative revolution scared the bejeezus out of the Democrats in the 1980s with Ronald Reagan coming into office, and directly appealing to the voters. His appeal was part of the reason as to how he won two consecutive electoral landslides--the largest in the history of the nation. We need to get back down to business and start moving the platform forward, again. When we make a promise on issues, such as immigration reform and social secuirty reform, we need to give it eveything we got; 150%, and when we think we don't have anything more, we need to muster the strength to make it 160%. I've listened to John Kyl twice today (a man who should seriously be considered to be the new Republican leader in the Senate) he put it bluntly--they wanted it more, and fought every step of the way to accomplish their goals. We didn't. We need to regain that tenacity, and when we achieve it again, we need to ACT like the majority party, and LEAD our party. A common complaint in the e-mails we received--critical ones for our support of the GOP--always pointed out that the party never acted like it was in charge. They were slapped around by the Democrats, and rarely took a stand when it mattered. That needs to end right now.

Another thing that has to occur is the current leadership in the House and the Senate goes. Dennis Hastert and John Boehner, thank you for your efforts, but you get rewarded for accomplishments, not efforts. They go. End of story. It's time we put leaders in place that aren't going to seem unsure of action when it's needed. We want fighters in Congress, not appeasers. Sen. Frist's seat was taken by Bob Corker, but he won't be the new minority leader in the Senate. That should be reserved for someone like a John Kyl. (And for all you McCain lovers out there, forget it. We don't want him anywhere near the leadership of the Senate. In our opinion, he hasn't earned it.)

Now, whether they know it or not, there is no future for Bill Frist, John McCain, or George Allen. 2008 is going to be a lonely year at the prom for these wallflowers because the base won't accept them anymore. Bill Frist's spineless leadership led to his own political destruction.

John McCain is done worse than dinner with the smoke alarm going off, and it stems right back to April of 2005 and the Gang of 14 Deal. He directly undermined a primary power of the presidency, which deals with the appointment of individuals for federal office, and their distinct right to an up-or-down vote. And he has been nothing but fickle in regard to some of the important issues facing the party in recent years. There's no way in H*ll the base will accept this man with open arms, and I'm not even sure they could if forced by the Democrats by a candidate like Hillary. In that matchup, I picture a replay of 1996 when Bill Clinton soundly beat Bob Dole.

George Allen, I believe, is the only who knows his political career is over. After the "macaca" incident on his campaign trail, and slinging the mud over Jim Webb's smut books, Allen was finished. He didn't stay on message, and despite an early jump on Webb with the initial returns. It has gotten to be such a close race (Allen still hasn't conceded) that there's no way the base will trust him to win a national election. Sorry about that, folks. I like George Allen. He's a good guy, but he fell apart as badly as the party did.

Now for the good news. We didn't get wiped out. It wasn't a replay of 1994, like when the GOP first won the House. But in a couple of years, with new blood in the districts, we could easily take the House back. And the Senate? Before the Democrats start choosing drapes they'd better remember that they only have a two seat majority. That could easily swing back to us in 2008 despite the fact that we have more seats than the Democrats up for reelection then. In that race, we double down, dig in, and we hold the lines. AND the RINOs that caused us problems coming up for reelection needs to have a solid, conservative contender in the primaries to unseat them. Get rid of the Chafee's before the general election.

And that is another benefit of last night. Lincoln Chafee is now unemployed as of January. Granted, it stinks that we had to resort to such means to get rid of him, and the repercussions of losing the seat is now apparent, but we'd rather deal with the party two seats down than one seat up with that seat joining our ideological enemies across the aisle every time he gets the urge to stick it to us. So don't shed a tear for him. He stunk as a Republican, and he was a terrible senator. (Sort of like John McCain, only we know that McCain is a good American. We can't say the same for Chafee.)

Don't get down. This wasn't what the Democrats were hyping last night, and the weeks leading up to the election. The media got their wish with the Democrats in charge. And honestly, that's good too. Hugh Hewitt just noted that this is their last, desperate, death-bed wish. Give it to them. I hope they enjoy it because it's not going to save their worthless papers and news outlets. The dead-tree industry and the rest of the MSM can continue deluding themselves, but they're done worse than Bill Frist's presidential aspirations.

It's time for us to examine ourselves, and make changes. Rumsfeld was the first change this morning, as the president announced his resignation. (He's being replaced by Robert Gates who is a former Director of Central Intelligence, and has served six presidents.) The second change coming is Ken Mehlman's stepping down from the head of the RNC. He's going on to help Rudy Giuliani with a possible '08 presidential run, and there are rumors that Michael steele might be considered for the position. WE agree with Hugh. That's a bad idea, and yes, a technocrat is needed there to rebuild the party, it's platfomr, and making inroads back into a seemingly conflicted base.

We'll do what we have to do. The fight isn't over. H*ll, it never ends. But the next time around we'll be ready for it, and we'll fight just as hard as the democrats did this time around. I hate to break this piece of news to the moonbats, but you can knock us down; keeping us down is impossible. We'll be back, and when we do come back we'll be stronger and more unified than this time.

We also need to remember that we weren't beat by the Democrats in this race. We lost it. We beat ourselves by having the idea that we'd never lose. We were taught a lesson last night, and it's not likely to be one we'll soon forget.

Publius II