[hchutch]

Look, I'm pretty ticked off, and you are, too.

I also agree with you about the fact that at some point, we DO have to stop caving, but tell me honestly, who do you think is in a better position to make that call as to where the line is drawn? Folks like us on an internet forum posting their opinions from places like Atlanta, hundreds or even thousands of miles from the action, OR the guy on scene - in this case, Senate Majority Leader Frist?

I believe I have no more business telling Frist where to draw the line on this issue than I do of telling Ned Yost how to handle in-game decisions for the Brewers against the Cubs this weekend in Milwaukee. That's how I see this. Frist ain't no slouch - he friggin' got us to this majority as head of the Senatorial Campaign Committee - or did you forget about that already? It's only been ten months since he pulled THAT one off - against the usual historical trends.

[steveegg]

I believe I have no more business telling Frist where to draw the line on this issue than I do of telling Ned Yost how to handle in-game decisions for the Brewers against the Cubs this weekend in Milwaukee.

Slight difference between the Brewers (who somehow, despite my dire prediction, are showing a lot more heart than the Senate Republicans) and Senate Republicans; we don't elect who is on or who runs baseball teams. While that is the case, we do have the ability to affect the strategy used to get the runs and wins used to keep score; attendance (full-disclosure; ever since the All-Star fiasco last year, as long as a Selig is involved with baseball, I won't step foot inside Miller Park). If attendance dips because of lack of performance, either the strategy changes or the personnel changes in order to start winning again and get those fans back in the seats.

In politics, it's harder to keep score, but by any measure, the Pubbies lost big today. That continues a trend of caving to the Democrats that began in earnest in 1999. That trend withstood President Bush's election in 2000 and the elections of 2002. Indeed, it flies in the face of the message sent in 2002 that we didn't want the 'RATs running the Senate.

Let's take a look at everything that I can recall the Senate doing this year:

• Tax cut - they cut the White House/House of Representative proposals in half and skewed them even further toward those that already paid next-to-no taxes.
• Medicare - an expansion far beyond what either Bush or the House wanted
• Judicial nominations - complete failure to correct the imbalance brought on by 8 years of Clinton and 6 years of Pubbies allowing the approval of nearly everything he sent down the pike

We could've gotten the exact same result with Cave-A-Lott and almost the same result with Daschle. The big question is what to do about it. There are essentially 3 options; do nothing of note and hope the RINOs realize that conservatism is good, bolt the GOP, or seize control of the GOP.

Option 1, which has been dominant since 1988, hasn't worked. The First Maxim of Washington is, "Left to one's own devices, one will drift leftward."

Option 2 was tried to a small degree in 1992 (before Perot's looniness was apparent to all), and that begat us S(l)ick Willie. We don't have the time to get a minor party like the Constitution Party to the point where it can challenge the Dems, even if the Pubbies fold completely like the Whigs did before them. If the GOP would still exist as a minor party after all the conservatives left, then it would be impossible.

That leaves Option 3. It worked for Reagan, and it worked in 1994. The problem was that we forgot the First Maxim of Washington. We've done it before, we can do it again.

Yes, that means that we'll have to forgo party unity in the primaries. So be it.