Gloom

The GOP has pretty much given up on 2008, Novak writes:

It is hard to cut the gloom among Republicans on Capitol Hill about the 2008 elections. They see Democrats winning three ways -- actually increasing their margins in both the House and Senate and putting Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in the White House. These Republicans are counting on excesses of an all-Democratic government in 2009-10 leading to a GOP comeback in the 2010 election.

Take your encouragement any way you can get it, I guess. If all you can hold on to is the hope that the Democrats will self-destruct, opening a door for you in 2010, then I suppose that's better than total hopelessness.

For Democrats and those in the liberal blogosphere, there is a warning here, however. No matter what the Democrats do, the Republicans and their willing accomplices in the establishment media will try to frame it as an outrage against decency itself. They are banking on public disgust with an all-Democratic government to reverse their fortunes in 2010. They are not going to sit around and wait for that disgust to manifest itself. They will do whatever they have to do to nudge it along.

Any political or policy achievement, no matter how positive or benign, will be framed as a need to restore "balance" to the government. A one-party government cannot work, the Republicans will scream. Bipartisanship will suddenly become the highest value to which anyone can aspire. Prominent figures in the media will fall all over themselves to be the first ones to agree. "Liberal" columnists will work to shore up their reasonable, bi-partisan street cred by holding Democrats' feet to the fire in a way they never could manage when the Republicans were running things. Yeah, I'm talking about you, David Broder. You too, Ignatius. You wanna make something of it? I'm standing here.

Just be aware, Democrats. That's all I'm saying. Republicans have accepted the fact that Democratic failure is their only path back to relevance. Therefore, they will pull out all the stops to create the appearance of Democratic failure, even if it's nothing but an illusion. They're not proud. They'll take what they can get.