Many Congressional republicans are expressing dismay about the bleak chances for republican victory in the 2008 election. They're also playing more defense right than they would've liked, thanks to the unpopular Iraq war, and standing on the wrong side of the SCHIP battle. On top of that, nearly every major scandal in recent years has involved a republican, not a democrat.
But, republicans are simply reaping what they've sown. Ever since the "Gingrich revolution" in 1994, republicans have silenced debate, even going so far as locking democrats out of committee rooms.
In 2003, I was in Washington D.C. visiting Congressman Leonard Boswell (3rd Dist, -D, IA) and we were having lunch with Congressman Patrick Kennedy. He had his congressional beeper and had to get up and leave as soon as he arrived. It seems that republican congressmen had scheduled a secret committee meeting, and when democrats arrived to take part in the meeting, the republicans locked the door and called the capitol police to arrest the democrats.
Republicans in congress have behaved with impugnity for more than 10 years. Now that many can see the writing on the wall, they've decided to retire or not run again.
I could care less if every single republican retires. They are getting exactly what they deserve.
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