No, Steve--the honorable thing would be for them to fall on their own swords. Along with McCain's advisors and Palin's managers. But resignation is as much as one can expect, I guess. As for Boehner, cluelessness about the Right Thing and when to do it may be his salient characteristic.

It is odd, though, isn't it? After a debacle like this, aren't party leaders expected to do the honorable thing and step down?

Are you suggesting that these ass-clowns have honor?

Now can we call them a party of mavericks?

I love the smell of elephants wandering out into the wilderness in the morning.

I think the Christianist wing of the GOP will probably remain quite large compared to the greed&corruption wing, we should all hope the fundies keep their death grip on the party. The G&C wing knows how to sucker the fundies (see Bush, G.W.), but not vise-versa.

Send them an email saying KEEP THE FAITH! PRESIDENT PALIN 2012!!!

Boner actually wrote that piece of tripe? Wow. Not to be the word police but there were a couple of times I went HUH? and had to reread that part again. I am amazed. No child left behind certainly left him behind (albeit a couple of decades late.)

Embarrassing is right. Their principles of smaller government. Spare. Me.

It was just as series of hollow platitudes...
Gee, that's the first time I've ever seen the Republicans substitute hollow platitudes - or empty slogans - for planning and governance.

I don't think they can change, not even to save themselves. That's a far different thing than what they've mangaged in the past: to own and change the national political discourse.

[Boener] published a 900-word letter to his caucus yesterday, explaining why he wants to stay on as Minority Leader, and the text didn't say anything. It was just a series of hollow platitudes, suggesting Boehner doesn't have the foggiest idea how he wants to lead next year, and/or what he expects the Republican caucus to do.

And there you go.

Don't give them any ideas. We WANT Boehner.

The Plan, such as it is, is fairly clear - attempt to do again what the GOP did in 1992: block as much as possible of the new administration's initiatives (this time using Blue Dogs rather than over-the-hill dixiecrats), let the Wurlitzer go on a relentless attack, and then hope to create enough of an aura of failure around the Democrats to let Republicans ride back to power. Hey, it worked before.

Near as I can tell, the direction the GOP is moving in can be described as "we weren't conservative enough." Not a leadership problem, not a policy problem.

In that light, it makes sense that they would hold onto the leadership, just tell everyone to hate gays more and be more opposed to abortion, immigration, etc... /snark on I guess they think that's what America wants, which CLEARLY explains the Obama victory /snark off

Given that a significant portion of the GOP thinks they weren't EXTREME ENOUGH, I'm not surprised. Let's hope they take that live hand grenade and run with it.

Boehner is the epidome of the staunch ideology leading to the Republican defeat. Let him stay that's fine with me. As a matter of fact my guess it will prevent them from improving their party platform in any way that's appealing to the American people. Unfortunately, there will be several in the Republican caucus that will undoubtably catch on to this and turn to a new Minorty leader. Let's hope not.

Change? 21st century Republicans don't do "change". Or admit that they were wrong.

There's slim pickings in the House as far as leadership goes right now. The Republicans in the House are almost to a person rabid wingnut crazies of the highest order (the Senate still retains a few non-crazy Republicans - for the moment). None of them have much in the way of leadership skills.

The good news for House Republicans is that they don't really need leadership skills. Their mantra for the next 2 years is going to be "oppose, oppose, oppose". They'll vote as a bloc against everything that comes up - no matter what it is.

They have to leave Boehner in place or else he'll cry.

You're perfect GOP just the way you are.
Don't change a thing Okay?
See you in 2010.

The Republicans have to make a crucial choice at this juncture in order to remain the party of the loyal opposition. There are plenty of party members who are able to offer a legitimate counterbalance to the now unfettered liberal stance that our government is going to try out. The problem is that the entrenched legislators are either corrupted by 6 years of total power or are running for their lives politically. None of those Republican party members who can offer legitimate counterbalance seem to be in Congress at the moment and may be in the midst of being purged from the party.

The same thing happened to the Democrats a while back and they had to not only re-invent themselves in the minds of the (centrist) public, but make crucial decisions on who they are and how they will act. They made enough progress that they impressed the voters this year and two years ago (the totally incompetent Republican administration helped, a lot) but there is still an element of ideologues who will not approach the problems we face with a realistic demeanor.

Ironically it will be President Obama who will have to take the role of moderator and instill some fiscal and social discipline on a Congress that has no brakes in place. Normally that would be the task of the opposition and while the Senate rules are still intact to promote the kind of compromise that is needed in times of trouble, there is little else. Right now the only Republicans left are the hard right and the resentful. All of the moderate Republicans lost.

This means that there is a good possibility that the crucial legislation needed in the first one hundred days will not be processed well and that there may be a number of red herring issues such as gun control that may take up time needed for more important things. Triumphism and gloating may ruin the chances we have to resolve our fiscal and security problems in a timely manner.

So if the Democrats go wild and the Republicans fail to do their duty of moderating and bringing the Democrats back to the center, we are going to continue to have significant problems.

The chances that we will have a rational and thoughtful legislature in a time of national crisis look slim for now. I trust that President Obama will step up to the plate and do the job for us. That is the reason I voted for him and not Senator McCain who I saw as a poor manager and the center point of chaos.

Jeezus, don't be encouraging them to dump Boner! That moron is a major asset to the Democrats.

I think the reasoning is pretty understandable - right now they're too shell shocked to make any decisions... I do think if the party has a future leader Dems should be afraid of it's Putnam, and he has wisely decided to distance himself from these losers for this congress.

Given that a significant portion of the GOP thinks they weren't EXTREME ENOUGH, I'm not surprised. Let's hope they take that live hand grenade and run with it.

Yeah baby! Michelle Bachmann for House Minority Leader!

Stay the course, GOP! Keep that hand steady on the tiller.

My favorite House Repub moment in recent memory was right after the failure to pass the first version of the bailout bill. Eric Cantor stepped up to the mike, and said that the reason the bill failed was because Nancy Pelosi said mean things about George Bush.

I mean really, is there any better way to portray your own caucus as a bunch of pussies than to assert that because Nancy Pelosi hurt your feelings, you didn't vote for a bill that, for what it's worth, was perceived as an unpleasant but necessary step toward solving a difficult and serious national issue?

That letter was written by a child.
He actually wrote "It ain't gonna happen."

Holly hell, only an idiot would want this man removed from leading our competitors. This guy is an asset, we should be funding his campaign.

That goes double for Palin.

A quick look at the voting pattern shifts (see NYT) shows that there was a double shift in voting patterns. s a southerner, I refer to a Redneck shift throughout the western half of the old south. This is primarily because many (1-20%?) Democrats refused to vote for a black man and left the party.

So, many of the remaining red states, red districts and red counties are redder than ever. These politicians are safer than ever and have a mandate to be more partisan than ever.

The blue shift in the Midwest and the I-95 corridor in the coastal south will probably result in Democrats with mildly progressive instincts (not to be confused with Blue Dogs).

So Boehner's platitudes probably sounded like music to the ears of his dwindling audience.

"After a debacle like this, aren't party leaders expected to do the honorable thing and step down?"

Are you kidding? They didn't lose. This whole Obama win is only a bad dream which they're sure they'll wake up from soon, maybe next week.

If the House GOP members were able to see beyond platitudes, accept responsibility for failure, and generate creative solutions, they'd still be in power. Instead, they want to continue the insanity: they'll go on doing what they've been doing, and hope for a different result. So, fine. Let 'em do it. They're irrelevant because they've made themselves irrelevant.

Oh boy! Another Republican leadership fight in the House!

It's been a while since we last got to hear Boehner comparing the relative virtuals of his "taint" with that of other prominent Republicans.

I can hardly wait!

The Republican Mantra: LESS WORK EQUALS MORE JOB SECURITY.

This would, of course, explain our government's "response" to Katrina, the "Plan B for Iraq equals Plan A", the concept of accountability in keeping emails intact, the GOP primary season, and---of course---the entire McCain/Palin concept of a political "campaign".

Leadership by Bohner? Hmmm, after receiving several hundred thousands from Rep. Jim McDermott due to winning his lawsuit, he could neither find nor use any funds to purchase a new "rug".

Hey, Mr Boner, you won the money, but Dr McDermott just won 85% of the vote atop Queen Anne hill. Plus, the good Doctor and Representative is far smarter and better coifed than you. And, a better Patriot!

I live in Boehner's district and I have been dissapointed by his actions for years. This last election he ran against Nicholas von Stein who didn't run an ad of any kind that I know of and still received over 85,000 votes. One of these days a dead guy will run and beat old Boehner out of his seat.... I hope.

U.S. House - District 8 - General
November 06, 2008 - 04:48PM ET
Ohio - 557 of 557 Precincts Reporting - 100%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Boehner , John (i) GOP 183,231 68%
von Stein , Nicholas Dem 85,426 32%

Boehner may be an asshat, but he can cry on cue and can stage a podium out front and a pity party for the press when he isn't getting his way. That kind of showmanship is a major asset in the party of no ideas.

The Boner gets my vote for minority leader, he's been doing a splendid job these past few years. For the Democrats, that is.

Here's the thing: who's left? Who's got enough years of experience to justify taking on the job of party leadership in the House and yet be young enough to suggest effective long-term leadership? Anybody I know who's got the years of experience (Bill Young, FL) are also old old old...