Just a few weeks ago it seemed that the down-and-out Democrats could find solace only in the gallows humor of an old saying: “Once you hit bottom, at least you know you can push up.”

Incredibly, the adage now best applies to President Bush and his fellow Republicans as they reel from a series of political body blows: skyrocketing gas prices, hurricane fallout, Iraq-in-shambles and indictments of Tom DeLay. Even what should have been Bush’s second slam-dunk Supreme Court nomination could bog down in a squabble with his own party’s conservative ranks.

The question is whether the White House and the GOP can push up before the 2006 congressional election takes shape. Things are so bad for them that some Republicans are beginning to act as though they are ready to put the Bush Era behind them. The intraparty debate over Harriet Miers’ judicial qualifications and her ideological underpinnings signals an end to the unquestioning party loyalty that the president has enjoyed for nearly five years.

The time is fast approaching for Republicans to look beyond Bush and begin elevating their next crop of presidential contenders. (The Iowa caucuses are only about 27 months away.) But the White House adamantly rejects this step, hoping to postpone the inevitable campaign as long as possible or risk seeing Bush immediately cast aside in the dreaded role of a lame duck.

So far the party’s 2008 presidential jockeying has followed the usual course at this early stage: as a back-room discussion among operatives, insiders and financial contributors. These are not usual times, however. The public’s faith in Bush is at a low mark, and the rest in his party could soon start suffering guilt by association.

The next contest is also unique because the GOP has no obvious successor, unless Vice President Dick Cheney defies all expectations and jumps in. For now, though, it is shaping up as the first time in half a century — since the 1952 race between Republican Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Democratic Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois — when neither an incumbent president nor vice president will be on the ballot.

The midterm fight for Congress could go badly for Republicans if they run solely on the Bush record. They can honor his service and praise him to the hilt, but they would be better off staking their 2006 claim on the party’s plans for the post-Bush world.

But in deference to White House concern, the GOP presidential hopefuls have dutifully kept their interest mostly behind the scenes. Lesser-knowns such as Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Sen. George Allen of Virginia are making the obligatory treks to critical primary states such as New Hampshire and South Carolina. Higher-profile possibilities, such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York, make their usual rounds of TV talks shows and party dinners.

Without anyone to claim the next nomination as their turn at the wheel — a rationale for the nomination that Republican voters traditionally accept — and with a president whose record is becoming politically problematic at best, you have to wonder how much longer the GOP field will take cues from a White House that seems to have lost its once-golden touch.

Even public relations wizards such as Karen Hughes are on the ropes. Now the State Department undersecretary charged with making the United States popular again, the Bush confidante who so often saved him from political crises found herself under siege. Her meeting in Ankara with Turkish women’s rights activists last month did not produce the expected tributes to the improved conditions for Middle Eastern women under Bush policies. Instead, they gave Hughes a tongue lashing, blasting the Iraq war. Hughes, while trying to defend the decision to invade Iraq, became “increasingly subdued during the session,” The Washington Post reported.

The episode is a metaphor for this administration. Increasingly subdued is how Bush often appears in public these days. His swaggering Texas confidence is less evident than ever.

As Republicans desperately struggle to deal with the ramifications of DeLay’s criminal case, it might be Bush’s meltdown that most threatens them. Some of this is the usual second-term blues, but the country appears to be on the verge of Bush fatigue.

This president has pushed so much change and upended so many lives, from retirees worried about his intentions for Social Security to the soldiers and their families at risk in the Iraq war. You can’t find a poll number anywhere that shows anything but declining confidence in his presidency.

Most Americans still like Bush as a person, surveys show, but they grow weary of his rule. Republicans need to take steps to make sure that voters don’t grow tired of them too. They need new faces to push out of this hole.

Contributing Editor Craig Crawford is a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and “The Early Show” on CBS. He is the author of “Attack The Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against the Media.”