Not having to run for anything is obviously quite the truth serum. Check out this bit of electoral commentary from outgoing U.S. Senator Robert Bennett of Utah:
"As I look out at the political landscape now, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas," Bennett told The Ripon Society.
"Indeed, if you raise specific ideas and solutions, as I’ve tried to do on health care with [Oregon Democratic Sen.] Ron Wyden, you are attacked with the same vigor as we’ve seen in American politics all the way back to slavery and polygamy; you are attacked as being a wimp, insufficiently pure, and unreliable."
There, of course, is the natural urge to convict Bennett of sour grapes, given that his own party unceremoniously dumped him in the Utah state conventions in early May. However, it is worth noting that his condemnation came in the context of his predicting that Republicans will reclaim the House and quite possibly the Senate. His greater concern is that even if snappy sloganeering carries the day in November, the Republicans will not hold any newfound majority with their current "devoid of ideas" status.
Here's hoping that America's voters can see through the emptiness of the contemporary Republican Party, the way that Bob Bennett apparently has.