Watching the Republicans flail about, pointing fingers and placing blame for their loss has been most amusing, so the discovery of another "blame the architect"
article in the NY Times, even though it has an Ad Nags shared byline, was too irresistible to pass up.
It starts out with the standard:
Republicans on Capitol Hill said anger ran deep over Mr. Bush's decision to announce the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld one day after the election instead of weeks before, when some say it could have kept the Senate in their party's hands and limited Democratic gains in the House.
And then goes on to say they're also miffed about Rove's failing to heed their warnings that Iraq was hurting their campaigns.
more...
More importantly we find that Rove isn't a very hot ticket these days, and we now have a substitute WH liasion on the Hill:
The White House seems aware of the apparently limited influence in Congress of Mr. Rove, the aide most closely identified with Mr. Bush. Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff, was dispatched to the Hill this week to hold meetings with members, suggesting that he is likely to play a more prominent role. (emphasis mine)
Prior to the election I'd mentioned once or twice that Cheney had been attending GOP caucus meetings but I didn't mention that he'd been known to take Rove with him. My guess is that, for a while anyway, neither of them will be very welcome on the Hill, especially in the senate.
The NY Times concludes with John Cornyn facing the reality of being in the minority for the first time...
Mr. Rove has told his associates the party still has a good-size Congressional minority that will assert its influence over the next two years.
And some in that minority expressed confidence. "We've sort of gone through the grieving process," said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a close Republican ally of Mr. Rove's. "Now we're in the process of coming up with an agenda." (emphasis mine)
Good grief this is going to be fun to watch! I would love to get a count of how many Republicans in the House and Senate have never been in the minority before.