As Losses Mount, GOP Begins Looking in the Mirror

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: As Losses Mount, GOP Begins Looking in the Mirror
By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 11, 2008; A13

Since losing 30 seats and their 12-year stranglehold on power in 2006, House Republicans have kept asking themselves the same question: Can it get any worse? On Tuesday, they may get another answer they won't like. With lots of help from Washington -- including more than $1.3 million in campaign cash and a last-minute visit by Vice President Cheney -- Mississippi Republicans are desperately trying to retain a congressional seat in one of the most reliably conservative districts in the nation.

The stakes in the 1st District special election couldn't be higher, strategically or symbolically. The loss of a traditionally GOP seat to a Democrat would be the third in a special election this spring and the second in the Deep South after the May 3 victory of Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.). Rank-and-file Republicans say that would force a day of reckoning for their leadership. "When you connect three dots in anything, that's a bad thing. This connects the dots. At that point, everybody's got to come together and have a come-to-Jesus meeting," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a retiring centrist who will help form a new advisory panel at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"It's a time of sober reflection and, to some extent, resolve. I hope these special elections are a wake-up call," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), the leader of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

Democratic leaders have stopped tamping down expectations and instead have set a new goal for the November elections of establishing a long-lasting majority that could dominate the chamber. "We will have a strong, confident, predictable Democratic majority to take us forward, and then we will be in 2010, 2012, on the path to a strong Democratic leadership for a long time to come," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)....

Independent analysts agree that a loss Tuesday would leave Republicans with no excuses. They blamed poor candidates in races in Louisiana and Illinois, where the GOP lost a special election for the seat long held by former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert. "The Republicans would be ignoring reality if they try to explain away this race," said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the Rothenberg Political Report....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/10/AR2008051002441_pf.html

[Selatius]

1. All their mirrors are broken. nt

[Fovea]

2. a come to Jesus meeting?

More like a bow to Cthulu meeting, no?

Coming to Jesus is the last thing the wide stance party is likely to do.

[pretzel4gore]

3. how is it that damn pelosi has anything to do with anything?

treason and more treason and more treason, far as the eye can see

[katsy]

4. losses, worse, won't like, desperately, reckoning,

bad thing, sober reflection, wake-up call, no excuses, ignoring reality...

There are so many words/phrases that bring a smile to my face in this article, but the one that clinches it for me is "begins looking in the mirror".

Just what would they see in the mirror?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNzZzsvOClc

[LiberalFighter]

5. Hopefully the mirror will break here in NE Indiana

[tanyev]

6. Uh, Tom, I think all those come-to-Jesus meetings are part of your problem.