Political Perceptions: Republican Hand-Wringing Continues

Republican hand-wringing about the state of the party after the election losses continues apace. “The Republican Party right now is like a midsize college team trying to play in the Superbowl,” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tells Roger Simon of Politico. “It is pretty hard to say our losses were because of John McCain’s campaign. McCain performed way above plausibility compared to where the Republican president was in the polls. We have to look honestly at what went wrong.” Simon writes: “Gingrich said the fundraising capacity of the left in the last election proved astonishing and far outstripped what Republicans were able to gather…The question now, Gingrich went on, is whether Barack Obama intends to govern from the left or not. Simon says Gingrich’s bottom line is this: “Gingrich said that the best thing the Republican Party could do right now is stop worrying about the Republican Party. ‘We need to worry about the nation…Wal-Mart doesn’t get ahead by attacking Sears but by offering ... (link)