Spartan4Life has brought up some very key elements as to why we can’t beat the dems! During the 12 years republicans controlled both houses of Congress, they acted defensive rather than as leaders on the offense. In 1994 when they took control of the House with Newt Gingrich as their leader they began to implement their promised ?Contract with America? and acting as the leadership should setting the agenda for the House. Gingrich was a strong leader and the dems knew they were in for trouble, so they contrived to destroy Gingrich by creating a fishy book deal. Instead of fighting back, the republicans abandoned ship and let Newt hang on his own until he resigned his seat. How many ?fishy? book deals have been handed to democrats (Clinton, anyone) and gone away without note.

In my view, that left only Tom Delay as the lone republican in the House who demonstrated leadership by keeping the moderate republicans and RINO?s in line, many of whom would side with democrats on controversial issues rather than hold to republican principles. Of course, he too, represented a threat to the democratic underground and their agenda for the House. So what happens…they set out to destroy DeLay with a questionable set of charges in his home state of Texas that became meat for the liberal main street media. Did the republican house stand up to defend Delay…no, so he was silenced and forced out. I am still not convinced that some of the left leaning republicans weren?t a party to the democratic effort to destroy DeLay. He wasn?t called the ?hammer? for nothing.

During all the years of republican control of the House, seniority rules for leadership and committee chairs fell in the hands of the more moderate and liberal republicans instead of the newly elected conservative members. Thus, those who controlled committees and the legislative agenda tried to convince the public they could work with democrats to implement a republican agenda, and at each turn, the democrats out maneuvered the weak leadership who caved in order to avoid media scrutiny that might threaten their own reelection.

Secondly, this country has been on a monetary addiction for generations, with the philosophy in Washington that members of Congress build job security through frivolous pork barrel projects for their districts or programs that create voter dependency, a policy that allowed democrats to control the House for several generations. As has been noted by others for years, the republicans began to look more like democrats than democrats. So, instead of shrinking the size of government, it grew both in spending and regulation.

Then in 2000 along came George W. Bush and new meat for the democrats. First was his ?illegitimate? election, and a structured democratic campaign of personal destruction. With the exception of a short period of time after 9/11, the democrats have spent the last seven-plus years making sure his presidency would be a failure in the eyes of the public. For example, despite the obvious success of the ?surge? in Iraq, presumptive Dem presidential candidate Barack Obama refuses to acknowledge its success, because it might be seen as credit to Pres. Bush. Again, this could only be accomplished with the support of a willing media. Gradually, the republican Congress abandoned ship with their president and have let him swing alone. Much to the dismay of the moderate/liberal republican wing, the democrats were successfully casting a shadow of ineffectiveness over the republican led Congress, as well as the White House. Thus, the 2006 debacle.

In 2006, the dems accomplished one phase of their master plan and took control of both houses of Congress. One of the primary reasons for this loss was a split within the republican party between the moderate/liberal wing and the conservative wing. The conservative wing failed to put up candidates for Congress in primary elections to defeat those republicans who were closet democrats, and in swing districts that could defeat incumbent democrats. That disparity still exists for the 2008 election as best as I can determine. In this era of career politicians, I don?t know what it is going to take to recruit viable conservative candidates, who are willing to make a long-term commitment to public service.

Further, the RNC, and both the Senate and House campaign committees have failed miserably in taking advantage of opportunities to pound swing states and congressional districts with ads advising the constituencies of how their elected officials have blocked republican efforts to make permanent Bush tax cuts, support our military and efforts to defeat terrorists, and most of all allowed energy prices to escalate and creating an economic crisis for middle and low-income families, the core constituency of democrats.

All of this points to a lack of commitment by republicans to support their colleagues and an agenda that differentiates itself from democrats with a true conservative approach to governing. I believe that the republicans gained control of both houses of Congress because of the ?Contract with America? that, at the time, was a revolutionary reversal of the ongoing direction of government the public wanted. Unfortunately, republicans split from within when it came to defending their leadership and lost control of their own principles. Republicans need to take a lesson from democrats who have shown that party loyalty comes first regardless of their ideological bent, because they know that republicans do not have the stomach to divide them and make those to the right of the leadership pay for their liberal voting record.

While all the attention in the media is focused on the Presidential campaign, republicans should be focusing their attention on finding committed and conservative candidates for Congress, especially the House of Representatives. It is the role of Congress to pass laws not the executive branch. There are dozens of Congressional districts that could be up for grabs especially those represented by self-described ?conservative? democrats who have remained loyal to the Pelosi agenda. Every member of Congress becomes sensitive to the wishes of their district when their tenure and the perks of Congress are threatened. They should be held accountable for their records, setting the stage for republicans to pick up seats in Congress and reverse the perception that they will lose seats in November. It is up to conservative republicans to send a message to their own heretical republicans and vulnerable democrats. A few defeats by conservatives this fall could do wonders to the psychological atmosphere in Congress.

Sorry for this lengthy post, but it is something that I feel needs to be said and discussed.