Members of the Republican Class of 1994 reflect on the GOP loss in 2006:
WASHINGTON ? Republicans who helped capture control of Congress 12 years ago blame the party’s leaders for this year’s debacle at the polls.Architects of the 1994 “Republican revolution,” as well as current and former lawmakers elected that year, say the GOP repelled voters by putting self-preservation before the nation’s agenda. “For the first six years of the 12 years, we were focused on policy and principles, and politics was secondary,” says Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee, a member of the 1994 class who won his seventh term this month. “The second six years, politics became primary: raising money, going negative, consolidating power.”
“We did more good work the first 12 hours we were in Congress than the Republicans have done in the past five years,” says Joe Scarborough, a class of ‘94 member who resigned in 2001 and is a talk-show host. “Republican leaders who took us to the point we are right now should be ashamed.”
Two-thirds of the 73-member Republican class of 1994 are gone from the House of Representatives. Twenty-four kept their House seats despite this year’s rout, in which Democrats gained simultaneous House and Senate majorities for the first time since 1994. Five lost their bids for a seventh term. Two others resigned in disgrace.
Most members interviewed from the class of 1994, as well as former House GOP leaders, cite three reasons beyond their leaders’ control: the war in Iraq, corruption scandals and President Bush’s low popularity. Beyond that, they say leaders such as House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and former House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas put staying in power above principles such as limited government and low spending.
Yep, that ’s a pretty fair assessment of what went wrong.
