Summer has arrived in East Tennessee. The weather is hot and now beings a very long 5 months until the general election in November. But before we get there and before we get started on this long road, let me kick off the season by saying the Republican Party is in desperate need of new leadership. A couple of weeks ago the GOP lost a seat in a special election in Mississippi. Everyone started using the word “blood bath” for the GOP in November. I agree. With the current leadership we are heading for a blood bath. However there is still time to turn it around. Instead of playing defense the party needs to play offense. I have never seen a more scared bunch of candy leg politicians than in the GOP right now. Everyone is running away from the president, until it comes to raising money for them. Maybe the Republican Party needs to get just a little tough. I believe it was Rep. Davis from Virginia, who made the comment about the President, basically saying it was President Bush’s fault that the GOP had lost seats that were in heavily republican districts. I find that very hypocritical. Coming from someone who is a member of congress that has approval ratings lower than the President, Rep. Davis and the rest of the so called GOP leadership should take a long look in the mirror. It is true that President Bush is very unpopular. It is easy to blame someone eles for failure than to accept some of the blame yourself. The leadership and those running for congress should return to the values of the Republican Party. Instead of running scared the GOP needs to stand up and get tough. Return to the policies of lower taxes, illegal immigration, against gay marriage, for the family. The democrats winning in heavily Republican districts are running as conservative democrats. If the GOP would to return to our values then they could defeat the democrats come November. We need real leadership. We deserve better.