Quote du Jour

From an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal:

Tom DeLay's decision to resign from Congress removes one large Republican liability this election year, but it hardly ends the party's political vulnerability. One pressing question is whether the GOP majority is going to use the few productive weeks it has left to establish a 2006 record and 2007 agenda that are worthy of re-election.

Recent evidence is not reassuring. GOP leaders seem determined to avoid any meaningful legislative fights, lest their own internal fissures show. Instead, they're promising to make the election a "choice"--rather than a referendum on their own governance--and thus mobilize voters by claiming that Democrats would be worse: that they'd raise taxes, impeach President Bush and cut and run from Iraq if they win. And as a desperation strategy, fear does sometimes work.

On the other hand, the biggest Republican problem now is the demoralization of their own voters. Their lack of meaningful achievements this Congress (beyond the two Supreme Court Justices), all of their spending, and troubles in Iraq have left conservative voters wondering what the point is to voting for the GOP. If Republicans want their supporters to show up on election day, they'll need more of a message than wearing a "Speaker Nancy Pelosi" fright mask.