House Republicans Face Late Exodus

[NATO AIR]

Well, its bad but its also an opportunity for some new blood to get into office. New conservative blood that is. We have some excellent people out there, we just have to recruit them and get them in the game.


House Republicans Face Late Exodus

By Reid Wilson
A wave of late-breaking retirement announcements have left beleaguered House Republicans swamped in recent days as five members have told House leaders they will not seek re-election this Fall. The announcements bring to 27 the number of open seats Republicans will have to defend throughout the year, and some believe the end is not yet in sight.

In the past week alone, Reps. Jim Walsh, Ron Lewis, Dave Weldon and Tom Davis have all announced they will not seek another term next year. Missouri Republican Kenny Hulshof, who represents a district just north of St. Louis, said he will run for governor, a seat that came open when incumbent Republican Matt Blunt surprised political observers by withdrawing after just one term.

Some candidates dropped their re-election bids after surveying what is likely to be a difficult, if not uphill, battle for them next year. Walsh barely survived a challenge from a former congressional staffer, Democrat Dan Maffei, who is running again. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will surely make certain he is better-funded this year than he was last year. Instead of lose, Walsh decided to give up his upstate New York seat, leaving Republicans scrambling to find a replacement.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/printpage/?url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/house_republicans_face_late_ex.html

[Pale Rider]

As bad as I hate to say this... I think conservatism is a dying thing.

[5stringJeff]

Rats off a sinking ship. The Dems are going to sweep this fall. :(

[Kathianne]

Rats off a sinking ship. The Dems are going to sweep this fall. :(

That's been my thinking too. At the same time, one can hope that there's been some new folks like NATO alluded to that have been waiting their chance and can sell themselves to the voters. Personally I think the Dems have an excellent chance of getting their 'super majority.' I think there's a better chance of a GOP President than keeping a narrow margin in Congress. The chance for the WH is up to the Dems. ;)

[NATO AIR]

That's been my thinking too. At the same time, one can hope that there's been some new folks like NATO alluded to that have been waiting their chance and can sell themselves to the voters. Personally I think the Dems have an excellent chance of getting their 'super majority.' I think there's a better chance of a GOP President than keeping a narrow margin in Congress. The chance for the WH is up to the Dems. ;)

Bullshit on the Dems winning UNLESS Obama is the candidate.

The Clintons are not getting back in the White House unless they steal it. More than half the country hates their guts, the independents and even some of the Dems will not vote for them en masse.

If Obama's the candidate versus McCain, then yes, we could be looking at a Democratic sweep. I don't see it if Clinton is the nominee though... there's no way in hell all these red-state Senators and Governors are supporting Obama for nothing... they know deep down they stand to lose big if HRC is the nominee.

Now, we as conservatives screwed up on a lot this decade. Kind of like the Dems in the 60's. We don't have to give up or go away though, we need to retool and look at what's important. Read the David Frum book that's just out... a lot of good points there... as well as the new "Sam's Club Republicans" book by Ross Douthat (which was a great Weekly Standard article about a year ago). We've got ideas, we just need to use them.

We're winning on immigration... look at the STATES (not the federal gov't) passing tough & fair laws.

We're winning on defense... we've got a strong SECDEF that understands what went wrong and is busy addressing it. He'd likely stay in office with a McCain in office and that's the best thing I can imagine for our military. He's been a Godsend in terms of fixing morale, fixing our gear, fixing our problems and fixing our screwed up strategy and tactics.

We're winning on social issues... not the red-button ones we get seduced on like abortion and gays, but the most important one of all; people want strong, healthy families. The nuclear family is the backbone of this country and more people are returning to that after years of BS delusion.

We've got issues... Lots of THEM! But we can work them out. We can co-opt more Dems than ever before on our issues. What do you think we've been doing the past year in the Senate?

[theHawk]

Rats off a sinking ship. The Dems are going to sweep this fall. :(

Yep. We can only hope that after four years of a fully Democratic Congress and Hillary or Obama Presidency, America will wake up again from the liberal nightmare that will destroy this country.

[gabosaurus]

I've been telling you this for the last year or so. This is why REAL libs wanted Bush and Cheney to finish out their terms. No one wanted Bush to become a martyr (no 47 virgins though, sorry) to his party. Their continued screw ups have come close to destroying the GOP.

The only thing that can save the GOP is a Hillary nomination. Liberals and moderate Dems would flock to McCain en masse. There would also be a backlash against Dems in Congress.

If Obama gets the nomination, he will be unbeatable. McCain might put up a decent fight. Romney would get as many electoral votes as Edmund Muskie.
Dems will control both houses of Congress with more than the two-thirds majority.

Conservatives can either work with the Dems (not likely) or go back underground like they did in the first Clinton term.

[Pale Rider]

I've been telling you this for the last year or so. This is why REAL libs wanted Bush and Cheney to finish out their terms. No one wanted Bush to become a martyr (no 47 virgins though, sorry) to his party. Their continued screw ups have come close to destroying the GOP.

The only thing that can save the GOP is a Hillary nomination. Liberals and moderate Dems would flock to McCain en masse. There would also be a backlash against Dems in Congress.

If Obama gets the nomination, he will be unbeatable. McCain might put up a decent fight. Romney would get as many electoral votes as Edmund Muskie.
Dems will control both houses of Congress with more than the two-thirds majority.

Conservatives can either work with the Dems (not likely) or go back underground like they did in the first Clinton term.

Or states can start seceding, and we'll just get this Civil War started.

[gabosaurus]

So you WANT another civil war? Come on Pale...

[avatar4321]

So you WANT another civil war? Come on Pale...

im not sure anyone wants it. but there are signs.