Posted on 11/17/2006 11:13:00 AM PST by Miss Marple
I swear the most popular politicians I can think of all laugh easily, even at themselves -- not that they're necessarily not serious thinkers. I sometimes think the ability to laugh good-naturedly is the single most important qualification for success in politics. You can win without it, but it's an uphill struggle!
Unless you live in PA and saw the bias in the print and TV media aginst Santorum it would be difficult to understand. They have been against this guy since he first won 12 years ago and they were going to get "righty". I am so disappointed in the defeat of Rick by that bubble headed, empty suit Casey.
As for the Contract with America, I believe it was brilliant politics and something that should be done every election. The original Contract with America was printed in all things the TV Guide. Just how many yellow dog dems sitting on the couch watching Wheel of Fortune were exposed to the Contract and liked what they saw and voted for Newt and the gang? I think a lot. The Contract presented some easy to understand positions and policies that appealed to a broad segment of the voting public and is a campaign strategy that should be used every campaign. IMHO!
Thank you for your comments.
Very well done, and your thoughts about not helping destroy the President and the party even more are spot on. Thanks!
You know...I've written and emailed the WH on several occaisions regarding our southern border. The first time being when he referred to the Minute Men as vigilantes. I am not a one note singer on this topic and got into more than my share of tiffs with folks who I regarded as thread jumpers who came onto every thread about Bush and started criticizing about the border. I changed my tune after I heard Tony Snow saying that the WH considered it good news that they would have a new Congress to work with on immigration and then that was followed the next day by the President jumping with both feet on immigration and minimum wage. I don't trust them on immigration and the border anymore...and now that Rummy's been so uncerimoniously dumped I don't trust them on anything.
Very true. I personally believe our biased leftist media played a very big part in this election, and will continue to.
I don't agree with much of this, but I must compliment you on a very well written piece.
I would add that the GOP was seriously hurt by the fact that many voters sat out the election because they refused to turn out and support a congress that was, rightly or wrongly, viewed as an inept, corrupt, self serving crowd of blatant fools whose primary interest was protecting their own jobs, image and package of perks. Their main plank was 'vote for us. sure we are are a worthless lot but the dims are even worse and their election will mean the end of the country'. Why should they get our support?
"If the GOP campaigns on notions of personal responsibility, and then our Congresscritters and Senators fall over themselves inserting earmarks into budget-busting bills, how can that possibly mesh with the stated core philosophy of the party?"
It can't. And I don't think that the current elected leadership in Congress, or what's left of it, is going to be willing to make the changes necessary to win for conservatives or even themselves in the future.
The election of Sen Lott and Rep. Boehner to the leadership positions are in my view an indication of a defensive strategy. They're going to try to defend the existing seats they have in 2008; they're not looking to go out on a limb and try to actually win one for conservatives.
"This year the media decided to get behind the dems and help them win."
As they always have.
Thanks,
Good read.
Excellent summary .
Rahm Emmanuel did an effective job picking candidates locally.
Also the Libertarians are a force to discuss for the future. If we continue to often lose to the rats by 1 percent or so and the Libertarians can often get 3 percent...we will have a mess.
I thought there was no way in hell that Patrick Murphy, a 32 year old kid who moved into the district just to run for Congress, could win in my district against Mike Fitzpatrick, a well-known and well-loved man who had served with distinction for 10 years on the Bucks County Commission. But Murphy worked his ass off, made the national Democrats believe in him and send him money, and the local Repupblican organization did not take him seriously until it was too late. They they went totally negative and everyone forgot what they liked so much about Mike Fitzpatrick.
There are stories like this in every district we lost. Few of our candidates actually outworked the Democrats and then lost anyway; Jim Talent may be the only one.
Conservatives also have to admit that Democrats have outfoxed us on this stem cell research issue. Independent voters think it is worth spending their tax dollars on, and they think conservatives who oppose it are cruel and holding sick Americans hostage to their far-right "Christianism." This issue lost Jim Talent's Senate seat and it hurt Mike Fitzpatrick too. Jast as we did a good job forcing Democrats to say yes or no to partial birth abortion as the extreme pro-abortion position, Democrats forced Republicans to take sides on waht amounts to the "extreme pro-life" position. There are going to be times when "wedge issues" work against Republicans, and this was one of them.
My personal view, which I have arrived at after much agonized thinking, is that other than Ronald Reagan, Republicans really have not been good at governing this country. We have been very good at stopping the worst excesses of liberalism, and very good at cutting taxes. We've been pretty good at standing up to our enemies, when those enemies can be clearly identified. But when the public wants government to get something done and fix problems, we stink. Democrats are better at the nuts and bolts of running government. They bring in people who want to run government agencies and do good. Republicans bring in political hacks, token women and minorities, and cronies of the President, because smart Republicans are out there running companies and making money. Reagan was the exception, because he brought with him a group of philosophically committed people who wanted to fix the excesses of government and had a plan to do it. Trust me, Bush 41 and 43 didn't. Mike Brown was not an anomaly.
Two different Bush administrations have completely failed to manage natural disasters, and these failures led directly to tanking approval rating for the Presidents and Republican losses in the next election. Bush 43 completely failed to learn the lesson from the failure of Bush 41 after Andrew. The day after Katrina he was in California at a fundraiser. The Republicans in Congress refused to demand any heads rolling after Katrina, they let the "George Bush doesn't care about black people" comment stand without any answer (and made it even worse by pointing fingers at Mayor Nagin), and instead of spending some serious time talking and debating what should be the future of the Gulf Coast, they simply threw $80 billion out the window and left town.
After Katrina, it was not very hard for Democrats to craft a narrative that the Bush administration was incompetent - incompetent to manage the biggest natural disaster in U.S. history and incompetent to manage the war in Iraq. They cleverly demanded Rumsfeld's resignation, knowing the stubborn Bush would not fire him and scared Republicans in Congress would not demand it (the few that did, did it too late to matter). It worked.
Today I heard Newt Gingrich on the radio giving a speech. He added something else that I had not thought of. He said the GOP has become too entrenched with political consultants who think you can slice and dice the electorate and micro-target them, and that the key to winning elections is to tear down your opponent. People are sick of that. They want something and someone to vote FOR, which is what the GOP gave them in 1994 with the Contract with America. He said Republicans were overconfident after the 2004 election, because all they did was prove that they could get more votes against John Kerry than the Democrats could get against George Bush.
I think he is right. Republicans have been running on fumes since the end of the Cold War. Bush had one big idea to cut taxes, and it worked. His other big idea, Social Security reform, needed more airing during the campaign in 2004 so he could get a mandate for it. But Democrats as usual made Congressional Republicans afraid to campaign on it. So when Bush tried to get it done he couldn't.
So now, Newt says, Republicans have lost their edge on ideas, lost their edge on hinesty, and lost their edge on competence - even in national security. He thinks we are lucky to have lost only 30 seats, and I agree with him.
Without a doubt, they made no pretense of the orchestrated effort to stick it to President Bush. The Republicans must learn to fight back the media!!
President Bush is the president for two more years. The media has done a number on him and does NOT need our help in attacking the president.
The future is really not about GWB. The future is about the electability of the GOP members. I support the Republican Representative/Senators breaking with this President's agenda when it conflicts with reestablishing conservative principles.
I would hope that the break is accomplished with respect---but the next two years cannot be about protecting GWB.
Just MHO.
Putting my Congressman Tom Cole as head of NRCC will help us get back the House in 2008. Boehner without Hastert will be much better IMHO.
One way to not fight it is to say, "I campaigned as a conservative and I will govern as a conservtaive" -- then leave our national border unguarded -- push for and sign bloated give-aways like "No Child Left Behind" (Teddy's bill, loaded with pork), the Prescription Benefit (massive pork), the farm bill (billions more in pork) -- muzzle political freedom of speech by signing McCain-Feingold -- repeatedly refer to the murderous barbaric cult of islam as a "religion of peace" -- propose rewards for the criminal behavior of millions of Mexican illegals -- nominate Miers -- pass over Scalia in favor of unproven newcomer Roberts for Chief Justice -- and on and on it goes.
As dumb as many voters are, they know good and well that this is not "governing as a conservative."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.