The deafening silence coming from the Conservative wing of the Republican Party over Alberto Gonzalez and Scooter Libby bodes ill for whichever one of the Republican candidate that might win on '08.  We know Chuck Hagel wants the Republicans defeated over Iraq.  We know that Arlen Specter wants the Republicans defeated over abortion. Voinovich in Ohio cost the President John Bolton as Ambassador to the U.N. Now you have guys like John Ensign of Nevada bad mouthing the Administration.  You have guys like the Senator from Oregon that wants us to retreat in defeat from Iraq.  These guys are cannibalizing the Republican Party while the Conservative wing of the Republican Party is rolling over and showing the Democrats their soft underbelly, especially with regard to AG Gonzalez and Scooter Libby.  It is as mind-boggling as it is unconscionable.  Let's review recent history and you will see what I mean.

  Scooter Libby was convicted of not lying to anyone about the identity of Valerie Plame.  He was convicted of not remembering who it was he told that truth to and when in front of a Grand Jury.  Fitzgerald knew that Richard Armitage was the first person to talk about the wife of Joe Wilson in any substantive way mere moments after the investigation started.  The kangaroo courtroom's jury, chocked full of MoveOn.org and Bush hating types, were prevented from hearing the name of Richard Armitage, denied testimony from Joe and Valerie Wilson as to who it was that sent Joe over to Niger, denied the findings of the Senate Subcommittee that determined that Joe Wilson was a habitual liar and were denied know the truth that Valerie Plame was no more a covert agent than my mother.  Who were the star witnesses against Scooter?  Tim Russert, Judith Miller and Michael What's-his-face from the Washington Post. As if those three have any reason to slit their own throats by corroborating Scooter Libby's story. The Drive-by media had a field day mischaracterising the trial as the Bush Administration on trial over the road that led the nation to war in Iraq, which it never was.  Someone once said, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Let me say it again:  Scooter Libby told the truth to everyone but forgot who he told that truth to when he was in front of a grand jury... three times for eight hours at a whack.   

    Now we have the U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez, being excoriated over the firings of 8 U.S. Attorneys. These attorneys work at the pleasure of the President, regardless of administration.  Bill Clinton fired all 93 of them and no one really said all that much and it sure as hell wasn't greeted as a scandal in the eyes of the media.  Sure, there was some finger wagging over the firing of all 93 to get at the 3 that were really bugging the Clintons, but since the U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President, there was not a whole lot that could be said about it. But even still, the Democrats, the Drive-by media and even some Republicans are speculating how much longer Gonzalez will stay on as AG.  Tony Snow said he hopes he stays as if this was a choice that Gonzalez could make on his own and the President was just sitting around waiting to see what he was going to do.
    
    So back to my opening charge. The Congressional Republicans are rolling over and playing dead in the face of this new set of attacks.  Look, folks, the Democrats are creatures of habit.  They have a playbook that they go to without fail.  That playbook has the race card in it. It has the directions on how to properly demagogue someone.  It tells them how to dodge softball questions thrown at them and still sound like they said something when they didn't.  Their playbook tells them how to miscast any Republican initiative as a payback to the "Rich" in America and how to stoke the fires of class warfare.  The Democrats only do what they know works on the uninformed rubes in America. The Republicans right now are split with half running for the tall grass for fear of getting tied to President Bush and the other half can't seem to wait ten seconds before campaigning against the President.  You have to keep in mind that when something new is shown to be working, the Democrats waste no time adding it to their playbook.  With every attack that goes without a response or an attack in kind,  with every successful prosecution of Republicans for being just being Republican, like Tom DeLay, Scooter Libby and (hopefully not) Alberto Gonzalez, the Democrats just update their playbook with the tactics they see as working and trot them out again when the need arises.  Without response, every future Republican administration will be investigated, smeared, lied about, and finally, prosecuted for no more offenses than exercising their Constitutionally granted powers.  How do we fight this?  We need to find a new Representative Newt Gingrich (R-GA).

    Newt Gingrich brought down Speaker of the House Jim Wright with special orders speech after special order speech on the corruption going on in the House, with particular interest in the Speaker.  Representative Newt Gingrich mobilized a movement of Republicans and won back the House for the first time in 40 years in 1992.  That movement snowballed and the also gave the Republicans control of the Senate.  What Newt did was fight the Democrats.  He stood up to them and exposed them for the intellectual and moral frauds that they are.  He was not afraid to get he hands dirty while slinging the truth laden mud that stuck so easily to the Democrats of that time.  It is because of his eagerness to take the fight to the Democrats that Newt probably is unelectable as President, even though he possesses a vision to where this country needs to go that is lacking in the rest of the field of presidential contenders. 

    What the Republican Party needs right now is another Representative Newt that is 1) clean of any personal baggage that would be used against him (or her), and 2) willing to go on every Sunday talking head show, deliver special order speeches in the wee hours of the night, and 3) intelligent and articulate enough to think on their feet and slam these pompous windbag Democrats when they try to pin their yarns on the issues of the day.  Newt was all of those guys.  We need a Republican to take one for the team and be the target as they go out their and, once again, expose the Democrats lies and deceits for exactly what they are.  I don't know if such a person even exists in the Republican Party right now.  Maybe Duncan Hunter or Tom Tancredo or someone else might be interested.  But this passive, wussy, "scared of what they might think about me" attitude that the Republicans in Congress are showing right now is emboldening the Democrats and ensuring that the best Republican candidates will not run for President for fear that the Republican Party won't support them against the relentless attack machine of the Democrats and that they will be convicted of the crime of being Republican in a court of law and their lives will be destroyed because of it.  The fear the Republicans are showing the Democrats right now is the surest path to destruction for the party, and the Democrats are all too happy to oblige them.