GOP Is Suddenly On a Good Run Only Because The Dems Are on a Bad One

The GOP has had a few good days...finally:

After three nearly uninterrupted years of favorable political news, Democrats have finally hit a rough patch.

Over a period of less than 10 days, Democrats have seen their nominee go down in defeat in the Georgia Senate runoff— eliminating the prospect of a filibuster-proof majority—lost two winnable House races in Louisiana and witnessed House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) sink deeper into ethics trouble.

Then there’s the still-unfolding Illinois Senate debacle, which exposed Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s tawdry attempts to auction off President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat and forced Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) to hold a press conference Wednesday denying any inappropriate discussions with the governor.

Democrats aren’t exactly disheartened by these developments – they’re still set to control the entire federal government in January – but the streak of bad news has tempered the party’s post-election euphoria. And the string of post-Election Day congressional wins has given the GOP some of its first good news in a long time.

“I think Republicans are approaching these wins with cautious enthusiasm,” said Republican consultant Ron Bonjean, referring to the GOP’s victories in Georgia and Louisiana, “that the party isn’t completely down and out, that the American people are willing to give them a chance.”

Democratic missteps alone won’t be enough to spur a GOP recovery, Republicans said, but they give the party some time to fortify its political position.

The Democrat scandals are likely to go on with more and more information coming out of Chicago. However, it will take more than crooked Dems to put the GOP back in contention. Republican leaders need to find where they hid their conservatism, because it's going to take a new commitment to conservative principles to get voters excited about putting them back in power.