So...

What caused this debacle?  Here are my thoughts:

1) Out of control pork spending.  Hey Congress, America doesn't need a bridge to nowhere.

2) Lack of action on immigration reform.  Notice you don't hear anyone talking about a House loss by Tom Tancredo... unlike many other seats.

3) Lack of action on tax cuts and social security reform.  Remember that "Contract with America"?  We do.

4) Lack of action on social conservatism.  Gay marriage bans have passed in, as far as I can tell, every state in which they have been proposed.  Even super-liberal Oregon.  Why can't we get some action at the federal level?

5) Locally, a really bad candidate at the top of the ticket.  I tried to be enthusiastic about Saxton.  I even joined the Saxton Blogroll.  I voted for him, and told others to vote for him.  But I did it all while suppressing the rising bile in my stomach.  He simply was not a likeable candidate.  His failure to inspire Republicans resulted in many losses of other state races we should have won.

What didn't cause this debacle?

1) Iraq.  The anti-war left will try to spin this as a referendum on the war.  But then, explain Joe Lieberman?  No, the war will we blamed, but falsely.  Most Americans want us to win the War on Terror.  The low poll numbers on Iraq don't take into account the many hawks out there who are disappointed we haven't pushed on into Iran and Syria.

2) Bush.  Funny thing is, I didn't see anything on my ballot that said "Bush" or "Not Bush."  It is true that Bush has been less than stellar as a conservative, and that he could have turned things around simply by acting like one.  But it wasn't him on the ballot.  It was a bunch of weasely Republican candidates who were too busy spending money to focus on the conservative principles that got them there in the first place.

3) Mary Starrett.  Face it, Saxton lost by more votes than Starrett received.  If every Starrett (and every Libertarian, too) vote had gone for Saxton, he'd still have lost.  However, there were some other races lost by less than the number of loser-party votes.  But a better man at the top of the ticket would have more than countered that.

4) Liberalism.  What do many of the newly elected democrats have in common?  They ran on conservative platforms.  Look at Bob Casey: super pro-life.  Look at (I'm assuming he wins) James Webb: super pro-gun.  What do some of the big Republican losers have in common?  Mike DeWine, Lincoln Chafee, Gang of Seven liberals who did more to stymie Bush than support him.

5) The economy.  Low unemployment.  Record stock values.  Low interest rates.  Notice the democrats stopped running on the economy.  Funny thing is, now they may have to admit the tax cuts worked.  That is, if the GOP is smart enough to push the issue and make the democrats vote on it.

So what lessons to be learned?

It's time for Republicans to act like REPUBLICANS again.  Hopefully, Congress under Speaker Pelosi will do enough to convince the voters to NEVER make this mistake again.  But we can't rely on that.  We have to also be ready to run real conservatives again, like we did in 1994.

We've survived worse.  We got through the first two years of the Clinton administration, didn't we?  We can make this a short term problem.  I just hope Bush is ready with his veto pen and some conservative backbone.  And I hope John Paul Stevens doesn't die until 2009.

Comments

[John Eyler]

Thank you for finding the silver lining.

[Independent Thinker]

You are right about Saxton. Time for him to be put out to pasture alongside Mannix. Now, if we can just get Vance Day to resign...

[Pillmaker]

Vance Day, John Swanson, Bob Avery, and others. They all need to go.

[kyle foley]

push into syria and iran? whatever happened to turn the other cheek, and the meek shall inherit the earth. thank God, your immoral party is out of power now.

[RinoWatch]

Gully,

Agree on All counts above. The R's (we) have got to find our way and the moderates need to get ottta the party.

I HATE losing, but sometimes I guess a "house" cleaning is necessary.

Losing Billy Dalto was a sign that RINO's should go.

Watch Frank Morse closely....

RW

[Sid Leiken]

Gully

Interesting post. I spoke with several republicans last night and the most common phrase was, now we can finally get back to the Reagan principles of the party.

Last night people were electing Reagan like folks all over the country. The difference, they had D's next to their names. People are looking for real leaders.

On the upside, Springfield hit the trifecta last night. Both public safety measures passed as well as the school district measure. As for the police levy this means a new justice center that includes the operation of a 100 bed jail, the only city with its own jail this size in the state.

[Gullyborg]

Hey, Oregon, see the comment above this one? THIS is someone we need to promote up to higher office.

ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION, CONSERVATIVES?

[Sakaki Onsei (formerly The Sailor)]

Sid Leiken: A real Republican man.

Hey Sid, come on over to the U of O and visit with the CRs sometime. They could appreciate your presence. :)

[Gullyborg]

There is more good news coming out of Springfield. I'll post when I have some more information. But the bottom line is: the rest of Oregon needs to look at what's going on in Springfield, and the man in charge.

[Boy Named Sous]

Think we can convince him to consider the governor's office in, say 8 years?

[landgazr]

""Hopefully, Congress under Speaker Pelosi will do enough to convince the voters to NEVER make this mistake again. But we can't rely on that. We have to also be ready to run real conservatives again, like we did in 1994.""

On the one hand, it is said voters made a mistake - a big one.

On the other hand, it is said *hopefully* Pelosi's Congress will teach Americans a lesson.

It sounds like this poster is willing to sacrifice the country's welfare for conservative Congressional dominance, and it is repugnant.

""Nuts, we wouldn't want Pelosi's Congress to do well for the country! If it did, then the electorate wouldn't be convinced they made this terrible mistake and we could get back in power.""

So have they already made the mistake or are we waiting to see? What's the standard for determination?

Emanuel ran Blue Dog-type Democrats for not Lamonties. And look what happened to him.

[Gullyborg]

Fear not, I can wish for Congress to look like idiots without sacrificing America. You see, we have more than one branch of government and a concept called "checks and balances." Congress can act like a bunch of loons without actually DOING anything, because there is thing called a "veto" whereby the President can approve or disapprove of whatever Congress dreams up. Sure, nothing will happen, but that's a GOOD thing when your central premise of government is that a government that governs least governs best. GRIDLOCK is a wonderful thing. Look at the prosperity of the Clinton/GOP Congress period, afterall...

And this is why Congress got whooped. The republicans in Congress forgot about that "governing least" principle and spent like drunken sailors in a port whorehouse. That was NOT good governance. They paid the price.

Now we have liberal loons in Congress who will achieve nothing without Presidential approval. In other words, they can't do much harm. But they can wave their arms and yell and scream and generally remind America why they lost their jobs in 1994.

I'm OK with that.

[landgazr]

[deleted for privacy reasons]-

My goodness your patronization of me is assumptive and unwarranted. But of course, you can jump to whatever conclusion you wish of my ignorance, that I was unaware of basic civics.

Republicans lost, conservatism didn't lose - just look at issues on the ballot across the nation.

This was not only about Iraq, but rank corruption and ineptitude. If Congress and Bush were acting like a bunch of liberals, it doesn't sound like Bush will be much of check when he should.

I should say -if- he should. I have more faith in the electorate that - you sound like Michael Moore, that we were just "misinformed" and ignorant to vote "loons" into office.

Of course you can profess what you like, but that kind of hyperbole hurts more than it helps.

[Gabe]

So, let's assume Bush passed everything because the GOP held Congress. And now he won't because the Dems do. It sounds like a deficit of fortitude or conviction, which means he probably will start using his veto power, which means he'll be obstructing the will of the people. Ugh.

[Gullyborg]

Wow, now I'm being compared to Michael Moore. Will wonders never cease?