GINGRICH ALSO RIDES AGAIN - AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  Another Republican figure back from the political graveyard, where resurrections periodically occur, is Newt Gingrich.  Neither he nor Cheney would currently win any popularity contests, but both are hitting their mark once again.  They are making the Republican argument better than anyone else out there.

Why is that?  Consider:  Both men are extremely intelligent, both are extremely articulate, and both possess a characteristic that Americans admire immensely:  They are passionate.  They believe in something. 

Newt gives a very convincing argument as to why Republicans should be optimistic.  He writes in the increasingly important Washington Examiner:

Astute analysts ignore the Washington conventional wisdom and focus on the political winds blowing from the fifty states. And the public opinion currents in America today are becoming eerily similar to those circulating in 1993.

Today, just as then, Washington liberals are getting complacent. They’re ignoring mounting evidence that the American people don’t share their desire for bigger government, higher taxes and a liberal social agenda.

Take, for instance, the political earthquake that shook California this week. On Tuesday, Golden State voters resoundingly rejected five ballot measures that would, among other things, raise taxes, borrow against future lottery receipts and lock revenue surpluses in a Sacramento slush fund—all ostensibly to close California’s gapping $42 billion budget deficit.

Even though supporters of the measures outspent opponents by 10-to-1, the only measure that passed was one that prohibits pay raises for elected officials in times of deficits.

And there's more:

And not just in California, but across the country, opinion is shifting against major parts of the liberal Washington agenda.

Recent Gallup polling contains two major public opinion shifts away from liberalism that Americans have yet to see reflected in their leadership in Washington.

First, in April, Gallup found that fewer Americans support gun control than at anytime in the 50-year history of the poll. Only 29% of Americans said possession of hand guns should be made illegal in the United States.

Then, just this month, came a truly shocking finding. The Gallup poll found that, for the first time, a majority of Americans describe themselves as “pro-life.”

COMMENT:  As Newt points out, only time will determine whether all this is building toward a major trend.  But recent news should push Republicans out of their self-induced depression.

May 22, 2009