I could not disagree more the contract was a pivotal moment. Remember that everything in the contract was brought to the floor and voted on. Most of it was passed. Newt was the driving force. The party went wrong the last six years when they allowed the Democrats to define them and did nothing to defend the party. Preferring to cower and hope the attacks would go away. Much of this pitiful behavior was at the behest of Geo. Bush doing what his father did before him “try to get along with the Democrats”.
you and I really aren’t disagreeing at all...I’m not disputing that the Contract was, for awhile, a good thing that connected with middle America.
But where is it now?
You point out correctly the party has gone “wrong” the last 6 years, and you are right.
For a brief time we were given the impression that the “Contract” was going to be a continuing relationship with republicans trying to work for families.
But once Newt hit a brick wall - politics returned to business as usual.
Newt turned out to be a typical politician, who was affective for awhile but in the end was exposed for what he is.
The republican party returned to DC politics and forgot about the Contract.