"How much more of a wake-up call do they need?"
No matter what happens there will be no wake-up call. Have you already forgotten who was in the Whitehouse for eight years before our current President? It was a lying draft dodger that "Loathed" our military. Look at the two past democrat candidates for President, both hate our military. If this country suffers another major attack, the democrats will be celebrating and dancing in the streets. Just for the sheer chance that their party may regain control of the White House and Congress. No matter how many innocent Americans die, to them, it will be worth it.
Our enemies are media-savy. They get PR among Muslims from attacking America, but they also risk giving a George Bush the PR he needs at the selfsame time. They have to have figured out the difference between a Democratic POTUS and a Republican one by this time. If we suffer another severe attack our enemies foreign and domestic will rejoice . . . and then start sweating our response.The public won't vote Democrat because the Republicans couldn't "be right all the time when they will know that the Democrats criticize like crazy but ultimately the Democrats are incoherent and don't even try to make the government effective at keeping the country safe.