Conservative principles don't fail, people fail conservative principles

They haven't even lost anything yet, and yet the chorus of "this isn't a repudiation of conservatism" gets louder and louder.

The likely Republican losses in next week's elections will not constitute a repudiation of the conservative legacy that drove the Reagan presidency and created the Contract With America. To the contrary, it would represent a rejection of big government conservatism. When we get back to being the party of limited government, putting a national agenda ahead of parochial short-term politics, we will again be a party that the American voters will trust to deal with the serious challenges facing our nation.

The 2006 midterm elections will be a success for the Democrats. Republicans will have to manage their own disappointment. Fingers will be pointed, and various villains will be fashioned out of recent events. But the plain fact is that Republicans have been setting the stage for this outcome for nearly a decade, running from themselves and their own principles. We will not find ourselves by conforming to the status quo, but by returning to our Reagan roots.

Right. It's all about the big government thing. Wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that, given the opportunity to govern with single party control of all three branches of government,

They Just. Couldn't. Hack it.