At a time when the Republicans are beset by Tea Party candidates whose serious behavior overwhelms the most conscious satire efforts constructed by writers of Saturday Night Live, a situation that would traditionally redound in favor of Democrats, we have instead a silly season where some of the most unfit candidates ever foisted on the public are enjoying leads in the polls.

Two recent classic cases, both from the West, jump out for inspection.  Meg Whitman, a woman who has unleashed her E-Bay executive millions in a bid to buy the governorship of California, used some of her money to purchase time for an ad where she inadvertently salutes her opponent.  

Whitman is seen and heard longing for the past, for that wonderful California of 1980 when she and her husband moved to the Golden State in pursuit of the good life.  

Just when some believed that things could not get anymore weird, along comes Republican Mad Tea Party congressional candidate Rich Iott of Ohio.  This challenger who, like other Mad Tea Party candidates, is running for office on the premise that he can help fix a broken political system, has an egregious hobby.

Iott explains that he is a history buff.  This is his reason for dressing up in a uniform from the 5th SS Wiking Panzer Division of Adolf Hitler's German Nazi Army from World War Two.  It was pointed out that this division was responsible for helping execute Hungarian Jews during World War Two.

Iott, displaying typical Mad Tea Party self-righteousness, blames critics for attacking him unfairly over a practice he can explain.  Given his fervent interest in history, Iott often dresses up in uniform relative to historical battle re-creations that are harmless.  In this case he earlier stated an admiration for Germany having demonstrated exemplary military expertise sufficient to almost achieve world conquest.

That Republicans will make gains is no surprise. The party out of power - and in this case way out of power --  nearly always benefits in the midterm elections. And, as we wade through the muck of destruction left in George W. Bush's wake, we must also expect that those currently in charge will take a hit for the current state of the nation, regardless of whom was responsible for it.

Also no surprise is that the minority party will be the party with greater 'passion' and thus the most 'likely' voters. The frustration of powerlessness is a great motivator.

Thus the media narrative of which we are all familiar.

There are, however, some elements to this year's election cycle that might be surprising, some things that run counter to the narrative that Republicans will take the day. These are things that will deny the GOP their fantasy of a congressional majority.

And here they are, conveniently bullet-pointed for your perusal:

Top 9 Reasons the GOP Will Fail to Take Either the House or the Senate

A major element driving the issue of creating a third party revolves around the pathetic example the Democrats have provided in recent years.  

The course Obama charted during the 2008 "Yes we can!" campaign on the issues of honesty and prosecuting violations of the law and the U.S. Constitution has been severely compromised.  Instead of prosecuting culprits from the previous administration Obama and subordinates have copied them on the pretext of fighting terrorism, the supreme catchall used by Bushies.

This campaign is shaping up as a repetition of previous ones where Democrats failed to take advantage of opportunities to score big against Republicans.  The ammunition is clearly available with the current debate over tax cuts.

On a recent broadcast Beck revealed the 30 million number and concluded that they constituted the wave of the future.  The Tea Party drumbeat should be one of future optimism.  Beck optimistically asserts that his viewing audience constitutes 10 percent of the American population.  

With such a strong building block, Beck sees these 30 million as a catalyst.  Such a large number of followers serve as a dynamic ripple effect that will ultimately make America a nation representing is viewpoint.  Beck believes it will be just a question of time before spokespersons such as Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell will be in the majority and directing national policies.

Rush Limbaugh has long subscribed to this view.  His regular audience figure has also been said to constitute 30 million listeners.  It should be remembered what happened when Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele recently referred to Limbaugh as "an entertainer."  

Is it mere coincidence that Beck selected the Lincoln Memorial, the venue Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. chose for his 1963 "I have a dream" speech?  The date of August 28 also happens to fall on the forty-seventh anniversary of that historic speech.

Are these both coincidences, as Beck insists, or an insidious way to play to the more radical elements of the right wing fringes?  Anticipating possible trouble, Beck has requested that no signs be brought to his rally.

We recall what happened at the huge Tea Party tax protest rally in Washington.  Congressman John Lewis, a former aide to Martin Luther King, remarked that the reception he and another African American congressman received while seeking to enter the Capitol Building was reminiscent of the South in the sixties, when racists sought to snuff out civil rights efforts by Dr. King.

Absent any analysis or factoring, parties that are out of power, in this case with Republican minorities in both houses of Congress and in the executive branch, historically odds have overwhelmingly favored the outs as opposed to the ins in mid-term elections.

The Republicans held another prospective trump card with Barack Obama presiding over turbulent economic times.  This issue gave Obama a decided edge against Republican nominee John McCain in 2008.  The Arizona senator was unable to shake the specter of George W. Bush Republicanism as Democratic strategists linked the aforementioned Republicans together.

In perilous economic times voters become understandably angry and nervous.  At election time there is a strong predilection to vote against incumbents just as incumbency becomes a more favorable posture during halcyon periods.  

The John Birch Society became active and many grassroots members attached themselves strongly to the national political figure they saw as an agent for change, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona.

Forces quickly developed during the historic 1964 presidential campaign, which saw Goldwater ultimately emerge as his party's nominee against President Lyndon Johnson.  As the first southern president of the twentieth century, Johnson engineered a landmark legislative breakthrough with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

A strong ideological battle emerged that pitted Goldwater against major senatorial figures from his own party such as the stalwart of the then eastern liberal wing, Jacob Javits of New York, and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who had actively supported and voted for the milestone legislation.

The title of his book was "The Vital Center," which ultimately became a catch phrase for a political phenomenon that was far from his intent, and in fact incurred the disapproval  of the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "The Age of Jackson" and "The Age of Roosevelt" series'.  

The title referred to the ideological struggle between democracy and totalitarianism.  Schlesinger let it be known that vital center in a domestic political context involved a muddle, a splitting of differences that was contrary to the case he was making for progressive politics.

Nonetheless the phrase and meaning stuck in a contrary context to the author's intent.  It involves the considered truism, substantiated repeatedly, that the average American voter resides in the center as opposed to the components of activist party politics.

Skepticism on the part of many progressives that the movement is nothing more than the same old right wing Gingrich, Norquist, Rove, Armey, DeLay crowd dressed up in a phony label to make it sound refreshingly new and patriotic have been vindicated.

How nauseating it is to listen to those earnest pronouncements that this is a grassroots populist movement historically extending from Boston Tea Party resistance.  These are supposedly individuals concerned about the impact debt is generating on American society.  They are determined to do something about it, and so this line of argument proceeds.

Recent national polling strips more bark from the fallacious Tea Party tree.  There appear to be two active levels of the Tea Party.  The first group is comprised of a mentality akin to Storm Troopers that got rough on Berlin's streets when they had superior numbers and passed out literature in the period before Hitler's securing of power.  

Chomsky related that he is just old enough to harbor sad and tragic memories of the early Nazi era of Germany highlighted by the stemwinding oratory of Adolf Hitler and tumultuous responses received by the citizenry.

In recent columns posted by me I cited a similar concern.  Chomsky indicated that "The anger of level and (current) fear is like nothing

I can compare in my lifetime."

All that is needed to dramatically corroborate Chomsky's statement is footage from the recent Capitol Hill Tea Bag rally during the critical period preceding the vote on Barack Obama's health care legislation.  The close-up of a shrieking Tea Bagger spitting on an African American congressman was a manifestation of runaway hatred.

It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an American leader the right maligned when he was in office and continued to malign after his death, who began the practice of singing the Star Spangled Banner at baseball games.  This became a practice during the war to instill greater patriotism and love of country during a period of sacrifice.

During World War Two there was a spirit of patriotic unity based on inclusion.  There was a task to be performed and by forming a common front and purpose the goal of victory became attainable.

Look what happened following World War Two.  The two leaders, one deceased by then, who had been at the helm in the effort to thwart Nazi totalitarianism, Roosevelt and his successor Harry Truman, began to be reviled as disloyal Americans by the same type of intolerable right wing extremists that form today's Tea Party.