Would You Like to Get Stabbed in the Ear or the Eye?

That sums up my view of the Republican Congress vs. a Democrat one. An interesting discussion on this topic is over at
Patterico's Pontifications.

As I said there, President Bush has seemed to me (and a lot of others) not to be so pragmatic as ideologically driven. And while I have appreciated that idealism in some quarters (faith-based initiatives and the initial reasons for the war in Iraq, for instance), it has certainly caused the President to resist opinions which do not fall in line with his own (a charge from those on the right and the left). I think that's why we got Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court nominee, for instance.

The corruption of the Republican Congress is another matter. Very few people have talked about the disgust of voters with Republicans in terms of their extravagant spending (the bridge to nowhere), pork projects, and inability to pass substantive legislation or confirm judges. For me, the Mark Foley scandal was unfortunate but no worse than Democrats have done in my lifetime, so it was difficult for me to get worked up over it.

When Rush Limbaugh said he wouldn't be "carrying the water" of the Republican Party anymore, there was a firestorm of reaction. Frankly, I suspect there are lots of Republicans who feel similarly; that they've held their noses and voted Republican regardless of what the party was doing because it came closer to representing their ideas than did the Democrats. I would hope that the election would help Republican politicians to realize that they can't ignore their base until right before the election and expect them to vote for them. Too many voters will just find other things to do come Election Day if they do.

UPDATE: Here is another reason for Republicans to lose Congress. If they can't confirm John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador now, who do they think the Democrats will confirm?

UPDATE NO.2: Ken Mehlman is stepping down as chairman of the RNC. This one isn't surprising at all. I would have been surprised if he had stayed. Lots of housecleaning, and it's a good thing.