Republicans have their backs against the wall, facing a bloodbath on Election Day that will leave the party in shambles and the nation in the hands of the worst conglomeration of demagogues, scoundrels and loony leftists ever put together in our nation's history.

When you're fighting for your life, you have two choices: whimper about your plight while the other side cuts you to pieces, or fight as if your life depends on it, which of course it does.

Dark as the outlook for survival may seem, there is a ray of light that if taken advantage of can not only save the GOP, but turn it into a rout of the Democrats that could make Election Day a victory celebration for the Republicans instead of a mournful wake.

The Democrats, who have long shown a shocking talent for snatching defeat from the jaws of near certain victory, are now trying mightily to commit political suicide, yet the majority of elected Republicans are either too blind to see a golden opportunity handed to them on a silver platter, or too stupid to take advantage of it.

Think about it, the vast majority of Americans -- almost 80 percent of them -- are angry and demanding that Congress allow drilling for oil here in the mainland United States, offshore and in Alaska, and the Democrats are thumbing their nose at them and adamantly refusing to lift the ban on drilling.

Their leadership is so committed to preventing the commonsense, long-term solution to the energy crises that they not only refuse to allow a vote on the measure, but skip town without addressing the crisis, with the speaker of the house gadding off to Florida and elsewhere to sell her worst-selling book (a pitiful 2700 or so copies sold thus far, according to Matt Drudge) while her fellow Americans groan under the burden of $4.00 a gallon gasoline.

Her motto isn't Marie Antoinette's "let them eat cake" -- it's more like let the people buy my book and keep shelling out $4 a gallon for gas.

That's a gift from the gods, a life-saving issue that puts the pro-drilling Republicans on the right side of the year's hottest political controversy, and provides them with a weapon they can use to draw the majority of voters to their side and save the party from an impending electoral disaster. Pushed to the limit, it can make Election Day 2008 a banner day in the party's history.

That was obvious to me the minute I saw which way the wind was blowing. Here was the issue that puts the GOP solidly in league with the American people. When I talked with Texas Congressman John Carter on the phone I told him the media was not going to present the GOP's position on the matter, so the Republicans had to do the job themselves in a way the media could not ignore. They had to dramatize their stand.

I told Rep. Carter that with the Democrats fleeing town in droves the Republicans in both houses needed to get back to the Hill and by their presence there in the empty House and Senate chambers demonstrate the Democrats' shameful refusal to respond the demands of the American people,

I said they should demand that the vacationing Democrats come back now and respond to the people's wishes for a solution. I also said that the president needed to call the Democrats' back to deal with the crisis.

I added that the media would have to cover the event, thus dramatizing the Democrats' flight from Washington in the middle of a crisis facing every American. He agreed with me and went to the leadership and they agreed, and the resulting GOP response is getting the media's begrudging attention.

It's not enough, however. This needs to be a party-wide strategy. The entire Republican House membership and all their Senate Republican colleagues need to be on the Hill now, making the case for Congress to reconvene now as loud as they can. And the president needs to call the Congress back into session and demand that the Democrats act to put an end to the crisis now.

This is a golden opportunity, and if the GOP fails to take full advantage of it they will deserve it if the voters go with Democrats in November. The American people are with the Republicans on the most important issue of our time.

The question is, are the Republicans on their side and willing to lead them in the fight to use all the oil resources the Lord has given us in such great abundance and which now are untapped beneath our feet because the Democrats won't allow us to drill down to get it.

Republicans can unite to fight and win. Or they can do what they seem to do best these days, cringe and surrender.

It's up to them.