NYT/AP: War, Corruption, Hubris Derail GOP Ride
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 11, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- By order of the voters, the Republican Revolution in Congress is over. A dozen years ago, Newt Gingrich and his fellow revolutionaries swept to power, the ''Contract with America'' their conservative calling card.
''We will roll back federal programs, laws and regulations from A to Z. From Amtrak to zoological studies,'' said Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, the majority leader, as Republicans took power.
There were taxes to be cut, regulations to be overturned, perhaps entire federal departments to be shuttered.
Certain of their mandate, Republicans courted controversy.
No one more than Gingrich, who once famously complained that he had been treated discourteously by President Clinton and his staff aboard Air Force One. If that was not impolitic enough, he told a roomful of reporters that his anger had contributed to a government shutdown that inconvenienced millions.
''We were always in such a sure-fire hurry to change the world,'' the Georgian wrote in a 1998 book....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-End-of-GOP-Revolution.html