The most recent buzz is that the Republicans (think red, pointed tails, horns, and pitchfork) are going to lose big this year because of the lies that led us to Iraq and the President's unpopularity.  I'm not going to start on the lies part, I've had that discussion one to many times to be nice to the idiots that keep bringing it up.  While the President's Approval ratings may end up hurting Republicans, I don't buy into the fact that the Democrats have a lock on taking the House of Representatives. 

Frankly, unless the Democrats can provide some platform of substantial ideas to run with, I don't think their gains will be that significant in Congress.  They cannot seem to really capitalize on the weakness of the Republicans this year.  They cannot figure out what to say or not say about Iraq.  They want to keep changing their wording to make it sound like they are saying something other than what they really mean.  This lack of clarity does not come across well with middle America.

While I'm optimistic that the Republicans will retain control of Congress, I can't say that I'm overjoyed with the thought since the Republican Congress we have and the Republican Administration we have do not share my conservative values.  They have betrayed the conservative movement by acting like liberals and increasing the size of goverment with wasteful spending (No Child Left Behind, Medicare Prescription Bill, Disgusting amounts of Pork tied to the budget).  I will continue to support Republicans (by voting) because they are a lesser of 2 evils, but I would like to see some responsible conservatives take office and live up to their conservative values and the pledges they make.

The current group of pols in Washington have provided 2 things, tax cuts and conservative supreme court justices, other than that, they have not been conservative.  This is precisely why they are in trouble right now.  If they were enacting a fiscally conservative agenda of cutting spending and the size of government, they would be doing much better regarless of the Iraq War and any sentiment regarding President Bush.

At this point, I can only hope that some true conservative emerge and steer the ship back on course or else they may have a lot more to worry about in 2008 than they do this year.