Posted on 11/14/2006 5:42:25 PM PST by Reagan Man
The main reason is right there in the above posted article.
Rick Santorum, a man whom I love and consider the best and brightest of all US Senators, was unfortunately also the BIGGEST proponent of the President's 'Stay the Course' mentality in Iraq.
That's practically all Santorum talked about the last eight weeks of the campaign. (not really, but that's the way the mainstream press made it look)
In retrospect, Santorum should not have run those 'mushroom cloud' campaign commercials over and over, and instead should have run commercials showing THE RECORD HIGH STOCK MARKET, and the record low unemployment.
And even though it would have been against his nature, he should have repeated ad naseum that it was HE and the REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT who saved each senior citizen thousands and thousands of dollars on prescription drugs. (Bush's MediCare prescription plan was, after all, a reality even though conservatives criticized the costs)
Instead, he ran away from that issue, which left the Democrats to effectively accuse the GOP and GWB of mandating a "HUGE GAP" in MediCare prescription drug insurance which cost seniors a $3,000 "gap" in coverage.
I live in Penna, and to me, THAT MediCare lie was the most damaging commercial put out by wimptoid Democrat Bobby Casey Jr.
Neither Santorum or the GOP ever pointed out that the GOP plan literally SAVED all seniors tens of thousands of dollars in coverage THEY NEVER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN if not for Santorum and Bush.
Man, what a frustrating election.
I am still peeved. I love Santorum, but whoever was giving him advice should be drawn and quartered.
No. Many good conservatives also lost.
The hard reality is that there was a percentage of Americans, Republicans included, who are leery and demoralized over this seemingly endless Iraq war.
And they are (were) heartbroken to see good, young virile American men and women getting killed on the streets of BAghdad, all for what is turning out to be a Sunni vs Shite religious spat.
The bottom line is that President Bush's "Stay the Course" mentality simply did not sit well with about 10-percent of Republican voters --- AND THAT'S ALL IT TOOK to bring down those Republicans who live in evenly split purple districts.
It was not simply RINO's who bailed on the GOP, or who caused conservative Republicans to stay home.
It was simply the case that Democrats were way way way more energized, and Republicans were despondent and demoralized.
It was obvious to me all day at the election polls, where I was a volunteer.
And I live in a county which has a 12-percent Republican voter registration edge over Democrats.
Still, all Republicans got thumped, including those long time incumbants in local and state offices.
Once we can extract ourselves from Iraq, the GOP can once again begin expanding its base across America.
Until then, I'm afraid we are facing an uphill battle.
The party leadership in Washington are incompetent because they are moderates.
So, you think that the Democrat politicos have a better method of quelling the strife and killing in Iraq. I think that the military tacticians have a better handle on the situation than some Senator or Congressman in DC.
As far as the death of our soldiers is concerned. Yes we have lost brave men, yet our losses are actually minor as compared to other wars. I don't think that the loss of these individuals is any less less than the men that have gone before them.
I think you made a sick joke about the welfare and immigration statements. Putting Democrats in charge of repairing Welfare? Who do you think created these entitlement programs?
Immigration? All the sanctuary states and cities are run by the Democrats. Do you really think that the Democrats have a handle on it? I don't think so. The Democrats will only make things worse. But, I'll just sit back and watch on this one. I predict that by June the Democratically led Houses will be retreating from Iraq and will attempt to give illegal aliens amnesty. If these things come to pass, before 2007 is out we will have attacks on American soil and a flood of illegals crossing the southern borders. As far as our spending is concerned, if you haven't read the papers lately, we are at war. That costs lives and money. That is, if your in it to win.
Never said that. Those are your words. I gave you the two biggest reasons the GOP lost the election. Period. Bush having the Democrats and most of the independents against him in the battle for Iraq was bad enough. Bush ignored his conservative base on a wide range of issues and that cost the GOP the election. Fact.
>>>>As far as the death of our soldiers is concerned. Yes we have lost brave men, yet our losses are actually minor as compared to other wars. I don't think that the loss of these individuals is any less less than the men that have gone before them.
First off. If we were fighting the battle for Iraq like we did WWII, the results would've been different. Throughout US history our troops have acted brave and courageous. That's not the issue. The tactics in Iraq have failed to bring an end to the conflict, nor are we seeing light at the end of the tunnel either. Again, IED`s and RPG`s are killing most of our troops as they stand around. The results are no different today then they were in 2003. The American people said, enough. Its time for a change. The Baker-Hamilton group will be offering advise, and I think Bush will listen and act accordingly. Bottomline. We can't afford to fail in Iraq.
>>>>>I think you made a sick joke about the welfare and immigration statements. Putting Democrats in charge of repairing Welfare? Who do you think created these problems?
I made no joke. Congressional Republicans abandoned the conservative agenda and paid the price at the polls on election day. Outside of his instinctive tax cuts, Bush has governed as a liberal on most domestic issues. Bush has promoted the most spending, the largest bureaucracy and the largest welfare state in US history. Bush`s trillion dollar prescription drug program has joined SocSec and Medicare, adding another liberal social entitlement program on the backs of taxpayers. And lets not forget Bush`s promotionn of liberal immigration reform and amnesty.
If illegals are granted amnesty, Bush will have played a role in that happening. If US troops are pulled out of Iraq, Bush will have played a role in that happening too.
If intentions equal results, they all lied to us and we got sick of it. That's why they lost, and the Dems will lose equally too.
LOL. This was the whine heard from our former governor as he was all but run out of office on a rail. The dems took over because he was a fat,incompetent, corrupt, lying RINO. As he all but handed the state over to the dems after his one ignominious term he stated that this is what we get for pandering to the far right and unless we move back to the center blah, blah, blah.
Most of the evidence points to disgust with Bush, who also has barely a nodding aquaintance with conservatism.
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