Posted on 11/08/2006 12:28:17 PM PST by VU4G10
Every single member of the Republican leadership in the House should be replaced,” Richard A. Viguerie said Wednesday.
"They have failed the conservatives who put them in office, and they have failed the people of this country.”
In a press release issued by the conservative fund-raising guru, he continued: "Yesterday’s mid-term elections were a referendum on George W. Bush and his war on Iraq.
"Voters couldn’t vote to fire Bush, so they did the next best thing — they fired his party, in the House, in the Senate, in the statehouses around the Nation."
He says conservatives and value voters had long since felt betrayed by President Bush and the Republican Congress, which greatly reduced their enthusiasm for supporting those who had abandoned them.
Viguerie said it’s not enough for GOP leaders to be relegated to minority status. "They should get out of the way, and let a new generation of young, principled conservatives take their place.”
New, conservative Republican leaders would be able to "reach out to some moderate and conservative Democrats who were elected yesterday and make real reforms in areas such as earmarking.” Likewise, open positions in the Senate GOP leadership should be filled with conservatives, Viguerie said.
"Congressional Republicans should move as fast as they can to distance themselves from the Bush White House and the 'big business' wing of the Republican Party. That’s the only way to come back from this disaster.”
"This election,” Viguerie said, "was also a referendum on the so-called ‘neoconservatives’ — the 'big government' Republicans who took us into a nation-building war while they busted the budget and enriched 'big business' and its K Street lobbyists."
Viguerie said, "The only thing Denny Hastert and company cared about was holding onto power. That’s what led them to become 'kings of pork.' That’s what led them to protect the likes of Mark Foley.”
"One thing this election was not is a repudiation of conservatism. The twin pillars of conservatism — smaller government and traditional values — have the support of the same voters who threw out the Republican Congress.”
Viguerie noted that, in a CNN poll released Oct. 27, 2006, 54 percent of respondents said they thought the government was trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses.
Only 37 percent said they thought the government should do more to solve the country's problems. Meanwhile, 51 percent said they thought that promoting traditional values was an appropriate activity for government, while 43 percent said the government should not favor any particular set of values.
Congressional Republicans should quickly disassociate themselves from the failed big government policies of President Bush and set a conservative course. The White House has failed them, initiating policies that the voters have now soundly repudiated. Congressional Republicans should always remember who elected them — the conservative and independent voters back home, not the elitist (and lame duck) power brokers in the White House, on K Street, and at the Republican National Committee, he went on to say.
"At the same time, grass-roots conservatives must no longer act as an appendage of the Republican Party. We should concentrate instead on becoming a Third Force in American politics that forces both parties to the Right and sets the nation’s agenda. In that regard, we should reach out to the new Democrats of 2006 and see whether they are indeed prepared to vote differently from San Francisco Democrats," Viguerie admonished.
Today starts the new war for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.
Pssst it's been done.
Amen
Hastert is gone.
The question is who will fill his shoes?
hard to argue with
Ice water in the face bump for the GOP operatives.
Pence comes to mind.
This is why we need term limits.
Whew !!!
Better yet, we need more liberal activist judges. Good thing the Republicans stayed home or voted democrat this time, isn't it? Now everything will be just perfect.
Not completely... Boehner, Blunt, and Mehlman are still at their leadership desks....
Mike Pence is young but I find him a bit colorless when he speaks. We need someone with charisma, vision, and an ability to excite and lead people. I don't know much about Shadegg. Perhaps he is a better choice. In any case, one good thing about this result is that we might come out of it with better leaders for the GOP.
I look forward to having the tough minded Mitch McConnell as minority leader in the Senate. Just maybe Mitch should run for president in '08.
Not preacher Haggard, I trust.
If the rumors are true, Mehlman has had plans to leave after the election.
Not preacher Haggard, I trust.
Perhaps he did his cavorting on the road..?? :)
Yeah, the saying: "throwing the baby out with the bath water" comes to mind...
Was there a fund raising envelop included with this "press release?"
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