Retirement season hits GOP hard: Will defend more Congressional seats with less money than Dems

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Retirement season hits GOP hard
In 2008, Republicans look certain to be defending more seats in Congress with less money than Democrats.
By Janet Hook and Theo Milonopoulos, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 16, 2007

WASHINGTON -- This is crunchtime for members of Congress who must decide whether to seek reelection next year or leave office, and so far Republicans seem to be lunging for the exits. While 16 GOP lawmakers have decided to throw in the towel on their Capitol Hill careers, only two Democrats so far have called it quits -- and they both are seeking higher office.

The disparity underscores the sharply different moods in the two parties: Democrats, still heady from winning control of Congress last year, are enjoying the fruits of power. Republicans, their party in disarray and reduced to minority status in the House and Senate, see more allure in retirement or private life. "I don't like being in the minority," said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), who was first elected in the 1994 GOP landslide and will retire after this term. "It's not that much fun, and the prospects for the future don't look that good."

The wave of retirements compounds the challenge facing the GOP in the 2008 congressional election, because the party is significantly trailing Democrats in fundraising. That means Republicans will apparently be defending more House and Senate seats with less money, and they will be fighting battles in places that otherwise might have been secure.

What is more, many of the Republicans choosing to retire are older, more pragmatic lawmakers, such as Rep. Ralph Regula of Ohio; moderates like Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio and Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia; and mavericks like Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. These departures reflect the generational and ideological changes that have pushed the Republican contingent in Congress steadily to the right over the last decade.

Eddie Mahe, a former GOP official, says it is no surprise that many Republicans are thinking about quitting politics at a time when President Bush's popularity is low, Iraq is in turmoil and the U.S. economy may be going soft....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-retire16oct16,0,7971354.story?coll=la-home-center

[Uben]

1. A virtue for republicans

Quitting. When the going gets tough, they leave, because they won't be getting wooed by lobbyists, they won't be getting earmarks for their constituents, and they won't be able to go home and be praised for the great things they have accomplished in congress. So.....they quit....give up. These are the values they espouse. I wouldn't be a republican for a million dollars!
Well, for a million, I would consider it, but I'd have to lie a lot!

[gratuitous]

2. "I don't like being in the minority"

Which shows beyond a doubt that the Republican politician is there for the perks, and not the job. As clear as anything, if you ask me.

It's also the culmination of the GOP's worst fear: That they will be subject to the same treatment they doled out for so many years. "Gee, we're getting the shitty end of the stick we jabbed the Democrats with for all that time we were in the majority. That's no fun!" And even at that, the Democratic majority isn't a patch on the tactics and abuses the Republicans so cavalierly visited on them when they were in the minority: Holding votes open for hours, denying hearing space, and on and on.

Well Mr. LaHood, as eminent philosopher Tom Friedman said in another context: Suck. On. This.