Where We Went Wrong

Washington Post ^ | Oct 29, 2006 | Dick Armey

[ez]

Just because the DBM/dems are able to put the lie out, you automatically accept it? Good grief, don't you pessimistic proclaimers get it? The LIE maybe shown, but the monopoly is over!

My point exactly...Mr. Armey's piece is written from "inside the MSMatrix."

[Louis Foxwell]

Nonsense.
Republican leadership from the President down are not committed to grassroots conservative issues. That is the plain truth. It will cost them this election and the presidency in 2 years. Americans do not want Democrats but they want conservative hypocrites even less.

[Suzy Quzy]

Dick Armey has gone to the DARK side....did he get a new young pro-choice WIFE? Or the ACLU has gone to his once good head.

[Suzy Quzy]

You are in Rhode Island right? Your Senator SUCKS....thanks for passing that POS onto us.

[vpintheak]

Even if he did listen to that drumbeat, it is still true. refer to the posters comment #1. You will then completely understand why I am not a member of any political party.

[Semi Civil Servant]

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has launched an attack on Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, saying Dobson and his "band of thugs” are "nasty bullies” and accusing the Republicans of pandering to the Christian right...

...Sager asked why it seems that Christian conservatives are more powerful now than in the 1990s. Armey replied: "To a large extent because Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies. I pray devoutly every day, but being a Christian is no excuse for being stupid. There’s a high demagoguery coefficient to issues like prayer in schools. Demagoguery doesn’t work unless it’s dumb . . . These issues are easy for the intellectually lazy and can appeal to a large demographic.”

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/9/27/131928.shtml

It's always a brilliant plan to trash one of your major voting blocks during election season. Thanks, Dick.

[rob777]

"I don't mean to be making excuses, but even our alternative media has no legs unless the mainstream media picks it up."



I understand and was not suggesting that the alternative media is a silver bullet. I was merely pointing out that we always have faced media bias and probably always will. We have won before DESPITE media bias even without an emerging alternative media to help. The GOP leadership needs to be held accountable for the mess we are in and blaming it on the media only serves to avoid the issue. Both Reagan and Newt faced a hostile media with much less help from alternatives and got their messages across. Dick Armey is right, the GOP lost its way after it lost the showdown with Clinton over the budget and the resulting government shut down. I am still simmering over that to this day as I had such high hopes for the Contract With America GOP. As the Dems move further left, the GOP is moving left with them to appear as "moderate" and "reasonable". This has been going on since 1996 and I think that we need to make every effort to put a stop to it if we are to have any hope at all of their being one party committed to limited government.

I have two concerns in this coming election. The biggest is the mess that the Dems would make if they got a sizable victory. The second is that the GOP may not learn a lesson if they emerge from this election with their power in tact. I absolutely DO NOT want the Dems to gain either a House or Senate majority, but am hoping that the GOP holds its majority. At the same time, while working to keep the Dems from gaining power, we need to remind the GOP that it has lost its way. This is a hard act to balance.

[rob777]

"I submit that the vast majority of the independent voting block is mad at the Republican majority, not for excess spending, not for failing to protect the boarders, not for ANY of the pet peeves of the conservative block."



These may not be the only reasons, but they certainly are reasons even for the independent voters. They are THE major reasons for the discontent of the GOP's conservative base. In off year elections where turn out is low, a fired up base is vital to victory. Not only do they turn out in greater numbers than moderates and independents, but they contribute time and money to campaign efforts. The GOP would not be in as much trouble if its base was fired up.

[rirepublican]

I totally agree. I'm a Ronald Reagan republican and would never vote for a democrat. My disappointment is with the leadership. They have no backbone and let the democrats walk all over them. I was hired as a congressional aide to a Washington state republican after the 1994 elections. I was privileged to work for a congressman that was instrumental in getting the Contract with America through congress. There's no comparison to the congress of 1994 and the current congress. They seemed to have lost their way. When I go to the polls here in Florida, you can bet I will be voting a straight republican ticket. Have a good day!

[RKV]

If power is your only consideration then perhaps you are correct. For myself, I view nothing less than a restoration of Constitutional government as the goal. By that measure, things are not going well. The Repubs have presided over a huge increase in spending in real terms. Not what I would call limited government. Social Security reform is dead. Border control is a back burner issue, only trotted out near election time. Can you name one unconstitutional law these characters have repealled? McCain-Feingold is still on the books as are many other laws which are an affront to the Constitution. No, this hasn't been a great Congress for Conservatives - of either the cultural or the libertarian variety.

[drsbb]

Hello, Everyone:

It's one thing to acquire power and it's another thing to make the world run the way you'd like it to run. Simply because we've had majority power for a number of years doesn't mean that people who believe differently from us don't have any power to shape the world or that we can or should stop them. We also seem to think that virtually everyone who is elected as a Republican should have highly similar beliefs as if every Congressional district was pretty much the same.

I think that Republicans are doing a remarkably good job in power all things considered and especially if you compare them to the times of Democrat majorities. A lot of Freepers seem to hold Republicans against some kind of an ideal standard of action like a husband looking at Pam Anderson (or insert your preferred image HERE) then casting a disparaging eye at his wife. Yeah, politics isn't exactly like marriage, but you get my drift. Dance with the one you brung.

[RKV]

Could it be that Dobson really is an ass? Based on what I have read (and I have specifically researched this issue) I agree with Armey.

[Phlyer]

I submit that the vast majority of the independent voting block is mad at the Republican majority, not for excess spending, not for...

I submit that it doesn't matter what the vast majority of independent voters are mad at.

It's clear from the last several elections that it is at least as important to get your own voters out as to get independents to vote for you. And a lot of the independents will split along the lines of the base voters - they just don't vote consistently on one side or the other overall. Clinton won on 1996 not because a lot of independents voted for him, but because a lot of Republicans stayed home. The vote totals (and not just the percentages) show this dramatically.

And I submit that the increasing partisanship of the MSM is being balanced by the increasing availabilty of alternative media. What it takes to overcome that challenge is a message that people find desirable.

I submit this election is about 'honest' big-spending, big government Democrats being preferred to 'stealth' big-spending, big-government Democrats with an (R) behind their name on the ballot. Given that the MSM will always support the Democrats and there is nothing the alternative media can point to as a difference between Democrats and Republicans except esoteric 'nuances' on something happening half a world away, there's little reason to vote Republican except as the lesser-of-two-evils.

Despite all that, I think the Republicans will retain control of Congress because (despite the MSM support) the Dems have not really managed to nationalize the election. And so, they have not managed to motivate enough socialist voters in the majority-conservative districts.

[RKV]

That pretty much spells out my take. Thanks for posting.

[Blackirish]

The likely Republican losses in next week's elections will not constitute a repudiation of the conservative legacy that drove the Reagan presidency and created the Contract With America. To the contrary, it would represent a REJECTION OF BIG GOVERNMENT CONSERVATISM. When we get back to being the party of LIMITED GOVERNMENT.....

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TRUE>>>TRUE>>>TRUE

[Blackirish]

Speaker Hastert is an honorable man and a great leader. Our country is well-served with him as Speaker of the House

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Only if you like speakers who have K-Street on the speed dial and spend money like they hate the stuff.

[sirchtruth]

For myself, I view nothing less than a restoration of Constitutional government as the goal. By that measure, things are not going well.

So your idea of obtaining this goal is by firing Republicans? Who in tarnation is going to have a better chance of even coming closer to your goal, Repubs or DBM/dems? Because this is your choice Right Now.

I'm for obtaining the same goal, but the reality RIGHT NOW is the WOT HAS TO BE FOUGHT! If we lose, you think this "limited" Constitutional Gov't is going to restore itself? Your goal is fine, but first we have to reach our objective, and that WILL NOT happen by firing Republicans and letting the DBM/dems control Congress. It will ONLY take us backwards, BIGTIME!!

Are you seriously arguing to let the DBM/dems take control this election because Repubs haven't reached your goal, yet?

[Doohickey]

So. Do you disagree with with Armey said, or the fact that he said it?

[iopscusa]

Concentrate on fighting the real enemy, DBM/dems when it matters, not some lame dissenter rinos. True as night follows day!

[Dems_R_Losers]

You have to remember that Dick Armey is a hard core fiscal conservative and that is what motivated him to run for Congress in the first place. He was never a career politican which is why he left a safe seat. He never cared about social issues. It's not hard to agree with him if you have the same perspective. If you are a values voter you might have just as valid reasons to disagree with him. The fact is that neither group of voters constitutes a majority in American and the Republican party needs to attract both to win elections. I get pissed off when a Republican just dumps on values voters or those like Dr. Dobson who represent them. I get equally pissed off when social conservatives go and boycott somebody like Rick Santorum just because he supported their arch-enemy Arlen Specter. The Republican circular firing squad seems to be in full force this year.