Here we go again with the ubiquitous "neocon." It's the buzzword to use when you don't have an argument worth spit. Even the media and the clowns over at DU use that term. Sound like them, get treated like them.
And we are not a damned empire!
Posted on 12/18/2004 8:52:57 PM PST by 26lemoncharlie
Following the Republican landslide victories of the 1994 midterm elections, conservatives watched in amazement as Republican “moderates” proceeded to completely squander the ground they had gained, culminating in the defeat of Bob Dole in ‘96. In the aftermath of this year’s elections, ominous signs point towards a repeat performance.
Apparently, Republican Party operatives didn’t really comprehend why, in the middle of Bill Clinton’s first term, they won big. And to this day, political analysts still don’t seem to grasp the situation. Among conservatives, the conventional wisdom is that the newly realigned GOP Congressional majority had wrongly presumed too much of a mandate, subsequently shocking the American people with an excessively bold agenda.
In truth however, the exact opposite took place. And if the Republican Party doesn’t quickly come to grips with this fact, it may find itself facing larger defeats in ‘06 and ‘08 than the Democrats just received.
By formulating the “Contract with America,” Newt Gingrich brilliantly highlighted the contrasts between the two parties. In presenting America with such a clear choice, he ensured that the liberalism of the Democrats would be on parade. The rest is history.
Yet in the aftermath of the elections, intense media pressure caused Gingrich and the Republicans to backtrack. Bob Dole’s “enough is enough” surrender to Clinton’s bloated 1995 budget sealed Dole’s fate in the following year’s presidential election. Despite Republican wins, the left still dominated.
In reality, the much-heralded “Republican Revolution” simply never happened. Where, for example, was a single bloated bureaucracy eliminated, or required to face even modest budget cuts at the hands of the Republicans?
Far from committing any conservative “excesses,” it was the abandonment of such things which disillusioned the “grassroots” and convinced them that “business as usual” still reigned supreme in Washington. Hence, they stayed home on Election Day in ‘96.
So, how have Republicans fared during the brief “lame duck” Congressional session following this year’s election? Initial signs are not encouraging. Rather than confronting the Democrats’ obstructionism, and their continued pandering to the counterculture, Republicans are once again waffling, conceding, and capitulating.
The recently passed “National Security Reform Act” is a prime example. Key to American security is regaining control of its borders. Amazingly, Congress decided to remove a provision from the security reform measure that would have clamped down on the ability of illegal aliens (such as the nineteen hijackers of 9-11) to obtain drivers’ licenses.
According to opponents of the provision, such discussion belongs in other legislation. Yet if the mass influx of undocumented foreigners isn’t relevant to the security of the nation, little else is.
Beyond all of the excuses, the reality of the situation is that the Republicans in the House and Senate have no stomach to confront the illegal alien issue, for fear of media backlash. They apparently remain clueless as to the receding relevance of the “mainstream” media, or the fact that their acquiescence to it will cause an enormous rift with the “base” from whom they so recently garnered electoral victories.
On another front, Senate Minority leader Harry Reid of Nevada highlighted the tight spot in which Senate Democrats presently find themselves. Completely abandoning any pretence of bipartisan cooperation, Reid pressed forward in the footsteps of his predecessor, the recently deposed Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
On a weekend talk show, Reid sounded like the standard, cliched, liberal Democrat of the Washington “insider” crowd, promising obstruction and rancor, but not surprisingly accompanied by the standard liberal demands that Republicans “reach across the aisle.”
If a groundswell of disapproval occurs in response to his caustic diatribe, Reid, being another partisan Democrat Senator from a “red state,” could eventually face a fate similar to that suffered by Daschle. Fortunately for Reid, Senate Republicans may well ride in to his rescue. Fearing possible negative ramifications from altering the present senate rules that allow legislation to be stalled by a forty vote filibuster, Republicans are again showing their reluctance to play “hard ball” when confronted with such obstructionism.
Presently, Democrats have been using this technique to thwart the appointment of judges who would uphold the Constitution. So, conservatives are left wondering what possible ramifications could be worse than a continued decimation of the Constitution.
John Kerry’s liberalism, when viewed against the backdrop of the War on Terror, provided the contrast that yielded significant Republican Congressional gains, and a victory for President Bush. If Republicans continue to erase that contrast, they will eventually erase the victory.
Comments
BTTT = bump to the top
Best to check Hillary's record thus far in the Senate on her promotion of illegal immigration! (click below link)
http://grades.betterimmigration.com/testgradescategory.php3?District=NY&Category=4&Status=Career&VIPID=896
What does growing population have to do with more govt? If that is the case, why have a Constitution in the first place. Also, the balance between private and public sector is something that escapes logic. I am not sure what you exactly mean by that, but I feel your premise is wrong.
If Republicans want to look forward to being back in the minority, all they have to do is follow Arnold's advice and slide a little to the left. That's all it takes to turn off the base. Washington is full of gutless wonders who run for the tall grass when they see an issue that might offend the Democrats and the legacy media. 'Nuff said.
Take a look around and count all the "Guiliani for Prez" and "McCain for Prez" threads. We won by going Conservative in 2004...but we're getting told that we need to go Left to win in 2008. Bah...
What a losd of crap.
FReepers who don't know anything about Guiliani besides his handling of 9/11 suggesting him as a presidential candidate FOUR YEARS before the 2008 election troubles me not in the least.
There are more then enough things to worry about without fretting over those that are not worthy...
Our business executives cannot jump in bed fast enough with the world's largest criminal enterprise - the world's largest slave owner, the Chinese government.
I remember the argument trade with China would ultimately free its people. I am still waiting.
Meanwhile, American software engineers are helping the Chinese government figure out new ways to control Internet access and suppress the free flow of ideas to AMERICA'S NEW SLAVES - the Chinese peasants.
In the early 1860's, Americans killed each other by the hundreds of thousands to establish that no human being belongs in bondage to another.
It is a disgrace to liberty and humanity that we blatantly fund and encourage the bondage of the Chinese people.
America should not do ANY business with a country in which hundreds of millions of enslaved people cannot control their own govenment through the right to elect their government leaders.
Here we go again with the ubiquitous "neocon." It's the buzzword to use when you don't have an argument worth spit. Even the media and the clowns over at DU use that term. Sound like them, get treated like them.
And we are not a damned empire!
That demonstrates, quite clearly, that you have no faith in God.
God, family, country. In that order.
save for later
Tony Blankley is absolutely right! I'm already hearing from people who not only voted enthusiastically for Bush and worked to elect Republicans this year. If something isn't done about illegal immigration in the next two years, they will not only skip campaigning, they will stay home on election day.
Insane, isn't it.
It makes little difference what H. Clinton's record is on any issue. What counts is what SHE SAYS is her record: that will be the official media position in future campaigns. That way she can co-opt Republicans on whatever issue she needs to address in 2008.
She may proclaim she will stop it.....but once elected there will be no effort whatsoever to stop it....Her track record in NYS is talking the talk but not walking
EXACTLY, and NY voters will buy her every time. All she has to do is duplicate the John Kerry vote in 2008 and convince 65,000 Bush supporters in OH to "come on home." It is most doable. Plus she can get "sentimental" support from AR in 2008.
In TX, one can "register" by party only one time every two years. We could last do so on either March 9, or April 13, 2004 (or during the early voting period prior to each date). We cannot register by party again until March or April, 2006. The only way we can register by party here is to vote in a party primary. If we do not vote in a primary, we are technically "unaffiliated voter" for two years. Well over 75 percent of TX voters are hence "unaffiliated."
The single most important domestic issue, *judicial nominees*.
Well, I am skeptical that a single conservative will be put on the Supreme Court between 2005-2008. I think some real conservatives will go on the appeals court, but for the Supreme Court, Harry Reid will call the shots, thanks to the people of NV.
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