Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod on NBC,     

                        Sunday, February 15, 2009: "For eight years when

                         we were doubling the national debt, I didn't hear

                        many of these people moralizing about spending,"

How do Republicans respond to the observation by Obama administration advisor David Axelrod that Republicans were silent when the Bush Administration went on a spending spree?

That is the $64 question and one that Republican leaders should think long and hard about.  Who are these Republican leaders?

Recall when presidential candidate John McCain suspended his campaign and went to Washington to observe the process leading to the Bush Administration’s trillion dollar bailout of the banking system?  McCain did nothing.

Congressman Boehner and Deputy Leader Eric Cantor went along with their leader, President Bush.  Ditto Sen. Mitch McConnell.

One thing the GOP can do is cleanse the party of Boehner, McCain, Cantor and McConnell.  Bring in fresh blood and start over.

Boehner sounds good now, as does Cantor.  McConnell less so since he is the GOP Establishment, but all three need to retire from public service, do penance and write their memoirs.  That’s a sad commentary on the state of the GOP, especially for Eric Cantor who knows better.  But Cong. Cantor was too ambitious, became part of the problem, not the solution and should, along with the memory of George W. Bush, be expunged from polite conversation forever.

These men are losers, have no credibility and the GOP needs to advance those who opposed the Bush Administration’s foreign policies and its domestic spending.

When will this occur?

It’s highly likely that the Congressional elections of 2010 will bring in a fresh supply of new blood that will do to Boehner and Cantor what House Republicans did to Cong. Bob Michel (R-IL). Kick them into retirement and good riddance.  At least former Speaker Dennis Hastert has the dignity to disappear of his own volition.