Republicans have reason to worry - Indystar

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050930/OPINION/509300448

Our position: House leadership increasingly shows signs that it's arrogant and out of touch.

The word from Washington is that Republicans who have been in control of the U.S. House for the past 11 years are worried about their prospects in next year's midterm elections. They should be.

And not only because Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted this week on charges that he violated Texas election laws. DeLay, who has stepped aside from his leadership post at least temporarily, hasn't been convicted of anything yet, and there's plenty of reason to be skeptical about the strength of the indictment, instigated by a local Democratic prosecutor, Ronnie Earle. It's worth noting that Earle brought charges in 1993 against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. A judge threw the case out of court, and the same outcome may well await the DeLay indictment...

...House Republicans' problems, however, neither start nor end with DeLay. The leadership in particular has been sending the same type of arrogant and out-of-touch signals that cost Democrats their majority in 1994. Witness the dressing-down Indiana's Mike Pence recently suffered from House Speaker Dennis Hastert for daring to observe that federal spending is out of control.

Smart Republicans, both in the House and elsewhere, should take the DeLay indictment as a warning. Either live and govern by the principles that supposedly guide the party or prepare to lose power.