That seems to be the general mythology, but when you look at each of the 31 seats that changed hands in the House, that doesn't appear to be the case. In the Northeast, we lost the following incumbents: Simmons (CT), Johnson (CT), Kelly (NY), Sweeney (NY), Bradley (NH), Bass (NH), Hart (PA), Weldon (PA), Fitzpatrick (PA), and Sherwood (PA). None of the 10 Dems who won would be considered blue dog dems with the possible exception of Sestak. Generally the Dems made no bones about being more liberal than the Rep opponents.
There were many pissed off 100%ers who didn't get their way here or there and heaven only knows how or even if they voted, that cost us probably enough to tilt several races.
More conventional wisdom without a lot of data to support it. The Dems also took 6 governorships in 2006 and didn't lose any.
Shortly before the election those of us who follow politics closely as sleuth,you and I both do could not help but sense a huge disaffection within our party. Chances are good it translated into rat votes to some degree we will probably never know how much or to what extent but it should not be ignored.
The most divisive issue has been illegal immigration. The WH has elected to go against the majority of its own party. The Reps voted 32-23 against the Senate bill [the Dems voted 38-4 for it] and the House Reps voted 203-17 in favor of the enforcement first bill. Surpisingly the Dems in the House voted only 164 to 36 against it,i.e., almost 20% of the Dems voting voted with the Reps.
When the RNC contacted me for my annual donation, I told them I would not contribute to the GOP as long as the WH stand on immigration stays the same and Mel Martinez is the chairman. I said I would contribute to individual campaigns and would vote Rep regardless of the candidate. The RNC lady responded that she agrees with me and that they have been telling their bosses that this is a major problem. They just don't listen.
Let's hope like you said, we get it together and soon, we have lots of senate seats up for grabs next time around.
The GOP has some serious problems ahead. Demographics and time favor the Dems. More and more the Reps are becoming a regional party with the South being our power base. The Dems are picking off the RINOs one by one and making inroads into states like VA, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. One issue voters are also a problem if we want to continue to be a national party. The Dems are now consolidating their power. It took them 12 years to regain control of the House and it took us 40 years to win it from them. We are not going to regain power anytime soon so it will be important to hang together and keep what we have.