Prometheus 6

After String of Losses, Republicans Face Crisis
By Jonathan Weisman and Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 15, 2008; A01

House Republicans turned on themselves yesterday after a third straight loss of a GOP-held House seat in special elections this year left both parties contemplating widespread Democratic gains in November.

In huddles, closed-door meetings and hastily arranged conference calls, some Republicans demanded the head of their political chief, while others decried their leadership as out of touch with the political catastrophe they face.

It cracks me up how clueless Republicans have become. 

GOP leaders sought yesterday to "re-brand" the party with a new slogan and renewed pledges of fiscal rectitude and limited government. But the slogan -- "The Change You Deserve" -- came under mocking fire, because it parallels Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama's "Change We Can Believe In" motto and it mirrors the advertising slogan for the antidepressant Effexor.

And do you know what change Republicans think you deserve?

None at all.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, who on Monday presented his new election agenda to fellow House Republicans, said what is ailing the Republican Party is largely beyond its control but that the party's basic message can still be a winner if it's properly conveyed to voters.

"It's not that the party's going to change, it's what we talk about and how we talk about it," he said.