A failure, on the topic of failure

The Republican strategy is obvious, as revealed in this article. Newt Gingrich is the featured speaker at a big event intended to raise money for next year's congressional races. This is a clue that he's probably the top dog in the current GOP hierarchy. Add his name to those of Wondermom, Joe the Plumber, and Limbaugh as the most recognizable Republicans in America.

The highlight of the past fifty years of Republicanism was Reagan's defeat of Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election. That was as good as it got, or ever would get, for the people who make up the 21st century version of American conservatism. Reagan is still the golden idol they worship, although his term ended two decades ago. The GOP has been trying to recapture the magic for a long, long time.

Second on their list of highlights was the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994. Since Reagan is long gone, the GOP is apparently turning to the runner-up Blast From The Past to restore the glory of their Good Old Days. Palin is the closest thing they have to a rising star, but at the moment she's the punchline of a thousand jokes. The backup plan seems to be slapping a coat of fresh paint on an old corncob and hoping to pass it off as gold bullion.

The cold, hard facts seem to be that the Republican Party isn't going anywhere in the near future on the strength of fresh faces and new ideas. Their freshest faces are two clowns, and their best ideas brought the country to its current predicament. All that's left is to be The Lesser of Two Evils, and for Republicans to win elections on that basis, the Democrats have to fail on a massive scale.

Since it's likely to take more than two years to rebuild what it took eight years of W. to destroy, even assuming Obama guesses correctly every step of the way, the Republican strategy may work in 2010. For the Republicans to restore what they had from 2001-2006, though, they'll really need a constant drumbeat of bad economic news and maybe even another terrorist attack.

Added 11:53 am:

Stuff like this is what has Republicans puking up blood. What if consumer confidence continues to rise, and people start feeling optimistic and begin spending money again ? What if that causes the economy to improve, and as a result businesses increase their profits and start hiring, and the stock market rebounds, and government revenue increases and the deficit is smaller than anticipated ? Oh, God ! The horror ! The horror !