Bush 41 lost because enough " conservatives " decided to take as whole clothe, the propaganda heaped upon Bush 41, held it against him, that he dared to try to work with the Dems and then was used and abused by them, the never ending, mindless rantings about the " READ MY LIPS " thing, the abjectly gullible believing the snakeoil, that Perot was spooning out and, as is often the case, enough people deciding that 12 years of one party having the White House was too much. Historically, it is exceedingly RARE, for a V.P. to win the presidential election and then winning re-election.
Bush 41's loss and Clinton's unConstitutional tax hike, made enough people angry, so that they took the House away from the Dems. Yes, the CONTRACT WITH AMERICA helped, but a fat lot of good that did, when all is said and done. And as far as " teaching the GOP a lesson ", the " lesson " you imagine it taught, wasn't really taught at all and your saying so, doesn't make it a fact. ;^)
Earth to nopardons! Come in nopardons!
The CWA was the deciding factor in the '94 elections. You're the first person I've heard say otherwise. I'll agree that it did a fat lot of good because Newt never had any intention of following up on it. But he did do a nice sales job (I voted straight GOP that year).
And if Bush 41 didn't deserve to lose that election, then no President ever did. When you sell out the basic principles of your party, then don't expect your party to support you. I really wonder if his son is paying attention.