Let me hazard a counter what is becoming the CW here, that we lost because "Bush or the Repubs in Congress ABANDONED their base and Conservative principles."
My counter is:
To SOME extent that may have caused enough Republican voter erosion, but the REAL reason we lost as I look at the breakouts state by state is:
This time out we lost a VAST MAJORITY of the so-called INDEPENDENT Voters (yes I know many believe they are a myth), the same INDEPENDENT voters who voted enough WITH Geo Bush in '04 to get him elected.
And the main reason we LOST substantially more independent voters this time out is simple: The ongoing quagmire in Iraq.
The independents seemed to vote much more as an "anti-incumbent, anti-Bush" block this time than 2 years ago.
Plus, this is the vaunted off-yr election in year 6 of a two term Prez, and historically that causes erosion.
But if the KosIdiots and the lefty blogosphere is gloating that this was a vote against Iraq, well... I think they may be right, at least among the swingvoters who really did swing.
Your analysis I can buy. I think they're misguided but the MSM has convinced enough stupid voters to believe that Bush is just keeping our troops in Iraq for the fun of it.
Quagmire? I thought that was the buzz word at the beginning of the war. Either way, it isn't accurate.
I truly hope you are not on this forum- for much longer, than the near future.