Glenn Reynolds aka InstaPundit has a detailed analysis responding to John Hinderaker’s post (LINKED BELOW) on how bad it looks for the GOP. It is a MUST READ analysis for people who belong to both parties or no parties.
Just a few highlights here:
So is it over for the GOP majorities in Congress? It’s still too early to say, I guess, but when even John Hinderaker is sounding extremely gloomy that’s certainly the way to bet.
So I want to stress, for the edification of any Republican leaders who might pay attention, that this is the result of a series of unforced errors on their part. Following is a (partial) list:
You need to read the entire original post to see the details, but the items he brings up (and explains why they hurt the GOP) are: the Terri Schiavo affair (“Politically, I think this marked the beginning of the end.); the Harriet Miers debacle (“The nomination was withdrawn, but the damage was done.”); the Dubai ports disaster (“The consequence: Lost faith from its strongest constituency.”); immigration; William Jefferson (“A Democratic Congressman is caught in a bribery scandal with a freezer full of cash, and Dennis Hastert backs him up, making clear that protection of insider privilege is more important to the Republican leadership in Congress than either party or principle.”); and Foleygate (“Not much of a scandal in itself, but the last straw for a lot of people.”)
He writes:
At the end of this process, the Republicans have managed to leave every segment of the base unhappy, mostly over things that weren’t even all that important. It’s as if they had some sort of bizarre death wish. Looks like the wish will come true . . . .
As I’ve said before, the Republicans deserve to lose, though alas the Democrats don’t really deserve to win, either. I realize that you go to war with the political class you have, but even back in the 1990s it was obvious that we had a lousy political class. It hasn’t improved, but the challenges have gotten greater. Can the country continue to do well, with such bad political leadership? I hope so, because I see no sign of improvement, no matter who wins next month.
We’ve noted it before: we have met more and more Republicans who want to see their party lose because they see it as a way to “clean house” — literally and figuratively.
You can’t shake up a power structure if there’s no shake.
UPDATE: Ed Morrissey doesn’t think the GOP rout (if it happens) will be as big as many think and explains why HERE.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.