It will get worse, and people will want change (which of course allows the Republicans to -again- offer their own choices to an increasingly troubled public, just as Bush did..).

From Wikipedia.org's GOP page, for anyone not believing that these people are indeed long-term schemers:

"Republican Karl Rove and other commentators had speculated about a permanent political realignment in favor of the GOP along the lines of the presidential election of 1896, in which William McKinley constructed a Republican majority that lasted for the next 36 years."

Need I mention that Newt Gingrich should be permanently restricted from any and all positions of power and influence?