So I've been peeping over the fence this morning, and I see that Drudge is offering a link to Dick Morris's
column in The Hill. Admittedly, I'm no great diarist, but since many seem focused on the Alito hearings, I thought I would offer this somewhere besides the Open Thread.
I smell Fear, and it's delicious. What do you think?
Mr. Morris, concerned with a 13-point leftward shift for the 2006 Congressional elections, states:
A big part of the reason is the success the Bush administration has had in solving and hence diminishing the importance of the Republican agenda. Taxes have been cut, we have not had a terror attack since Sept. 11 and trial lawyers are on the defensive. The issues that remain -- energy, environment, healthcare and Social Security -- usually are Democratic and liberal.
The drip-drip-drip of Iraqi casualties isn't helping Bush any, and Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has done more to hurt the GOP than any Democrat has, but the fundamental reason for the liberal drift is the salience of issues normally identified with the left. To reverse the situation, therefore, Bush has three options:
(A) Fight the Democrats on issues that are already in play but have a Republican skew.
(B) Raise new issues that have a built-in skew right and a Republican orientation.
(C) Recast Republican positions on Democratic issues that are already in play to make them work for the GOP.
I will leave reading the Republican mind to the better angels on Daily Kos. But don't miss the article. Hopefully, more politically savvy Kossacks can offer more insight.
And please don't turn me in to the Format police. I'm a newbie.