On being a permanent minority Party

The feckless Republicans are still at it:

Operating outside public view, the House Democratic majority is taking extraordinary steps to maintain spending as usual while awaiting the arrival of a Democratic president. Remarkably, the supine House Republican minority hardly resists and even collaborates with its supposed adversaries.

There has been little public Republican protest over the seizure of the appropriating process by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her clique. For the second year, no appropriations bill other than defense is scheduled for passage. Instead, spending details are crafted in the speaker's office, negating President Bush's veto strategy. In a little-noticed maneuver on April 23, Pelosi won passage of a bill preventing billions from being saved through Bush administration Medicaid regulations. Despite the GOP leadership's nominal opposition, House Republicans voted 2 to 1 for higher spending.

Adding in Pelosi's unprecedented tactics in blocking the Colombian free trade agreement, she has in 16 months established herself as one of the most powerful speakers ever. The stunning aspect of Czar Nancy's rule is the degree of Republican acquiescence. Neither the loss of their House majority in 2006 after 12 years nor the prospect of more losses this November has toughened the Republicans.

More:

House Republicans had another chance last Thursday to demonstrate interest in restoring their anti-waste credentials. Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona offered a proposal to keep the individual limit on direct farm payments at the current $40,000 instead of raising it to $60,000, as the House did earlier. The state of the GOP is indicated by the fact that even though Flake's proposal failed, the 104 to 86 supporting vote by Republicans was seen as progress. Voting against it were Blunt, Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam and Republican campaign chairman Tom Cole.

Sadly, this is par for the course in Congress. It is why I keep saying their must be wholesale change in personnel. New faces with new voices need to be elected to Republican leadership. The current leadership structures within the GOP are incapable of putting forth a compelling vision for conservative governance. They are incapable because they are part and parcel with the old regimes that have been part of the corruption and complacence that the American people now overwhelmingly associate with the Republican Party.

As much as I bristle at the thought of strengthened majorities for liberal post-2008, I do think (hope is probably the better term) the GOP congressional bloodbath at the polls will provide a window of opportunity for conservative reformers to push the Party in the right direction.