Strong on... taxes?

When in doubt, try the classics:

Burdened by an unpopular war and divisions over immigration and other issues, Republicans are turning to an old standby -— taxes - to unite the party and boost its prospects in the midterm elections.

From Washington to Sacramento, strategists say the issue can help put the GOP back on offense while energizing Republican loyalists, whose turnout is crucial to the party's November success.

"Tax issues are a fundamental divide between Republicans and Democrats," said Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The GOP effort to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent "is going to be a big issue in House races" nationwide, Forti said.

I've wondered to myself how it would play if Democrats pointed out repeatedly that Bush was the one that called for temporary tax cuts in the first place, and if he'd made them permanent from the get-go, you wouldn't have the looming possibility of a hike.

But Republicans in general need to wake up and read the polls. There is one category that they do better than Democrats on, and that is terrorism. Not taxes, not the economy, not Iraq (which means it's not a part of terrorism, I guess?). The war on terror. And I'm interested to see the effects of the President's or at least his staff's willingness to declassify documents purely for political gain.