Even the New Republic Gets This: Conservatives Are Striking Back

From the New Republic:

In November, Republicans fretted about party unity, fearing the loss of the majority would liberate once-slavishly obedient members to throw off the leadership and cast all sorts of maverick ballots. The opposite has happened. On the votes, Democrats have been cursed with almost exclusively bad surprises.

Why hasn't the opposition behaved as expected? Maybe it was unreasonable to expect that the fear of being offed in 2008 would provoke Republicans to vote more moderately: If you look at those GOPers who lost last year, they are--generally--not fire-breathers but moderates. National Journal's neat graphic charting the ideological center of the House and Senate--last updated in 2006--is peppered with November losers. Looking at it this way, I don't blame moderate Republicans for hesitating to remake themselves into Lincoln Chafee. Party activists and pundits like Limbaugh have picked up on that trend, too, pressuring wavering Republicans to stay the course or face attacks from two sides.

If the New Republic can get this, why can't the Crying Man, Our Senator George "Deficit Hawk" RINOvich???

And check this out: "New commercials urge LaTourette and Voinovich: Don't surrender". We are finally seeing groups from the right fighting back against the nonsense. Look for this sort of thing to become a trend. The real lesson is that conservatives aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Of course, the uber-liberals at the TNR are still looking for Karl Rove:

It's possible there's a genius behind the mysterious Republican unity, a person or persons exerting masterful persuasion and conniving tricks to keep the GOPers in line. Minority Leader John Boehner in the House deserves a lot of credit--or blame, depending on your point of view--for keeping his troops together, and some conservative young Turks like Adam Putnam in the House and Jim DeMint in the Senate have showered their compatriots with a hearty bit of winger energy to keep everyone feeling good about the cause. It's also possible the Democrats are to blame for failing to win enemy hearts and minds, mis-timing or mis-framing resolutions like the Gonzales censure and the May Reid-Feingold out-of-Iraq legislation and turning off moderates like Arlen Specter and Chuck Hagel. But the Webb amendment was designed to offer the utmost palatability, the gentlest means of changing course. If it wasn't enough, then nothing is enough.

Of course, it could also just be that the Democrats have no agenda that the American people care about... Just putting it out there with a reminder of that 18% approval rating.

So how does the GOP regain prominence? Start by cleaning house of the dead rot that has damaged the brand and then put together a real platform with real ideas and real solutions. Guys like Rep. Eric Cantor get this concept...Ohio needs to find somebody just like him. Could it be Kevin DeWine or Kevin Coughlin? Maybe...