Refute:  To prove wrong by argument or evidence, to show to be false or erroneous.

Repudiate:  To refuse to have anything to do with, to disown, to refuse to accept, to reject as unauthorized, untrue, unjust, or having no binding force

Refudiate:  A new term coined by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, which combines the above two words. And what will be done by voters to President Obama on Election Day, so as to demonstrate their anger at his, Speaker Pelosi’s, and Harry Reid’s having forced down America’s throat destructive and wrong liberal policies that have wrecked the economy and threaten our future well-being as a nation.

Don’t be fooled by the propagandist spin of a blatantly partisan liberal media that will defend and prop up at all costs the phony “messiah” they created back in 2008. This is a massive election defeat for the Democrats, of unprecedented historical proportions. Going from near veto-proof super-majorities to losing the House by a comfortable margin and very possibly the Senate as well, in a year when most of the seats up were on friendlier and safer liberal blue turf, is a staggering punch in the gut. To use poker lingo, they badly overplayed a hand that was much weaker than they thought, and now they’re about to lose most of their chips for it.

And this is just the beginning. Even in the best-case scenario for the Republicans, wherein they squeak out control of the Senate, the Democrats would still have a filibuster and Obama’s veto. That means that no significant rollback, reversal, or repeal of the damage that Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have inflicted will become reality. At best, presuming the GOP “leadership” of Speaker Boehner and Senator McConnell actually finds its testicles come January, we’ll see a repeat of 1995, with a GOP Congress trying to cut spending, a liberal president blaming his budget veto on them, and a biased media reprising “The Gingrich That Stole Christmas” demagogic fearmongering – only in even more apocalyptic tones.

While Obama is certainly no Clinton, and will neither be the least bit inclined to moderate his radical leftist views nor particularly graceful at it even if he were, the GOP will need to hold firm. They need to keep what they’re doing simple, to cut through the media’s screams. And most importantly, they need to try it over and over again, even though they won’t be able to pass much. This is for two reasons:  credibility and strategy for 2012.

Thanks to Obama/Pelosi/Reid overreach, the GOP has been given something right away that they’d never thought they’d see again:  a chance to re-establish their credibility with voters after completely and totally blowing it from 2001 to 2006. That they will get Congress back by default is not and should not be read as any endorsement of or trust in the GOP as currently headed by Boehner/McConnell/Steele. They will need to demonstrate they’ve changed, and rather than behaving like liberals will start fighting liberals. If they fail to prove their bonafides on conservative principles now, the Tea Party will put the final stake through the GOP’s heart. That could be in the form of a new Bachmann/DeMint leadership team, or in the form of replacing the GOP altogether.

Passing everything you can and forcing the Democrats to filibuster non-stop and/or Obama to pile up a stack of vetoes also frames the debate for 2012. By trying repeatedly even while lacking the numbers, every Democrat who helps obstruct will have a clear record from which they cannot escape in two years’ time. If the GOP is tactically smart, they can saddle the Democrats with more baggage than they can possibly carry. Then, that baggage can be used in the 2012 elections in combination with the GOP having demonstrated that they have learned their lesson, and a Republican president opposite bigger majorities in Congress can then begin the wholesale repeal, reversal, and repair of Obama’s damage.

And that eye on 2012 is what we should keep focused like a laser, regardless of the size of the Republican “wave” in 2010. This is just the opening skirmish in the fight for America’s soul. On the line over the next 2 years is nothing less than what sort of country we will be:  one that still operates on the founding principles of life, liberty, freedom, and responsibility, or one operating under socialism wherein Washington DC politicians dictate and control from on high. Or, to quote from Ronald Reagan’s immortal “A Time For Choosing” address whose 46^th anniversary just passed:  “This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.”

Even if the GOP victory Tuesday night is as big as possible, we need to keep a paraphrased quote from Gandalf at the end of LOTR: The Two Towers in mind:  “The battle for Congress is over; the battle for Middle America is about to begin.”

The fight has just begun; the Great Refudiation is but Round One.

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