GOP hopes to rebuild in wake of potential election day loss

This is from Boston.com:

Conservative Republicans, for their part, say the party has lost sight of its mission under Bush and needs to get back to its ideological roots of small government and fiscal discipline.

While congressional Republicans will not publicly concede that the presidential race is lost for the GOP, they speak frankly about the real possibility of an Obama presidency. They are discussing ways to reenergize the Republican party at a time when Democrats will probably be in charge of the White House and hold larger majorities in the House and Senate.

"It's time for a fresh start. We need new faces and new people to communicate what our party stands for," said Representative Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee. After the elections, Republicans need to develop a simple, five-point plan that gets back to the principles espoused by GOP icon Ronald Reagan, he said - smaller government, no deficit spending, and a strong national defense that does not entail making the United States the "world's policeman."

Capitol Hill Republicans say they lost their way and are now being punished for it.

"I don't think it's any surprise that we're being turned out. I don't think it was a surprise in 2006. We haven't done anything in the last year to show that we've learned anything," said Representative Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican.

Bush "destroyed us," said Ed Rollins, who served as an aide to Reagan. "He was supposed to be a conservative, and he wasn't. We're spending money we don't have."

Wamp and other House Republicans said they expected a change in GOP congressional leadership after the elections, especially if Republicans lose many seats.

Excuse me, but I don't buy this GOP crap of rebuilding the party. The Republican Party screwed itself, when the elephant got into bed with George W. Bush, and then found out that Bush stole the GOP elephant's wallet, car keys, and the national credit card. The congressional Republicans had a chance to save themselves in conducting strong, congressional oversight investigations into a myriad of Bush administration scandals--from the non-existent Iraqi WMDs, to the Valerie Plame outing, to the Cheney energy task force, to the Bush administration's domestic spying agenda, Gitmo and the administration's use of torture, and even the political firings of the U.S. attorneys. Each of these scandals led back to the Bush White House, and the congressional Republicans decided it was better to do nothing, than to investigate the "high crimes and misdemeanors" that this Bush presidency had engaged in. President Bush "destroyed" the Republican Party? Excuse me, but that is only half the story.

The Republican Party destroyed itself.