WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Despite crushing defeats in the last two elections , Senate Republicans have new `` energy and enthusiasm '' for winning back the majority , according to their leader , Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky . A top GOP leader says George W. Bush , politically , was a `` millstone '' around the GOP 's neck . `` President Bush had become extremely unpopular , and politically he was sort of a millstone around our necks in both '06 and '08 , '' McConnell told reporters Friday . `` We now have the opportunity to be on offense , offer our own ideas and we will win some . '' Many of those ideas get presented as amendments to Democratic bills , and even though they 're usually defeated , they can draw attention to GOP policy alternatives and force Democrats to take difficult votes . `` They become the way you chart the course for a comeback , which , in this country , always happens at some point , '' McConnell said . `` The pendulum swings . '' McConnell said many of the ideas for amendments come from conservative think tanks and other Republican thinkers off Capitol Hill . `` Newt Gingrich , for example , has an idea a minute . Many of those are quite good . Many of those become amendments , '' he said . McConnell also said he does n't mind the `` party of no '' label Congressional Democrats and the White House give Republicans . `` I do n't feel anyone should be apologetic for opposing a bad idea , '' McConnell said . `` I 'm not fearful of an effort to demonize dissent . '' After being labeled by Democrats the `` party of no '' for criticizing the budget without offering solutions , House Republicans said Thursday that they have come up with a plan B -- though were later criticized for a lack of details . `` Two nights ago , the president said , 'We have n't seen a budget yet out of Republicans . ' Well , it 's just not true , because here it is , Mr. President , '' House Minority leader Rep. John Boehner said Wednesday as he held up a booklet that he said was a `` blueprint for where we 're going . '' Watch GOP leaders unveil their 'leaner ' budget » . The details of the GOP budget will be presented on the House floor next week , said Rep. Paul Ryan , R-Wisconsin . `` We 're going to show a leaner budget , a budget with lower taxes , lower spending and lower borrowing , '' Ryan said . The blueprint includes familiar Republican proposals to limit `` wasteful '' government spending , cut the size of government and provide incentives to private entities to expand access to health care . It also includes a major overhaul of the tax code , proposing a marginal tax rate of 10 percent for income up to $ 100,000 and 25 percent for any income above that level . White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs laughed off the Republicans ' proposal Thursday , joking that their blueprint has more pictures of windmills than charts . `` It 's interesting to have a budget that does n't contain any numbers . I think the 'party of no ' has become the 'party of no new ideas , ' `` he said at the daily briefing . CNN contributor Paul Begala says that Republicans are simply out of ideas -- and have no one to blame but themselves . `` The Republicans are like an arsonist who complains that the fire department is wasting water . Obama is trying to handle an immediate crisis while also laying the foundation for long-term growth . The Republicans are doing neither , '' Begala said . `` They have no plan to stop the loss of jobs or to get capital markets functioning properly -- and they certainly have no plans for health care , education or energy , which are the keys to both long-term economic growth and long-term deficit reduction . '' Begala added : `` If this were 'Sesame Street , ' the announcer would be saying , 'This program brought to you by the letters G , O and P ... None of the crises the president is addressing were of his creation . All of them were created or worsened by the Republicans who ran the House of Representatives , Senate and White House for years . '' CNN 's Ed Hornick and Kristi Keck contributed to this report .
Top Senate candidate says the party is plotting a ` ` comeback '' Senator Mitch Daniels says Bush was ' a millstone around our neck ' and : No need to blame ` ` for opposing a bad idea ''