"Hey look, let's go this way..."
Posted on 05/15/2008 7:32:23 AM PDT by bmweezer
From the GOPNation.com Editors:
GOP voters need to realize this: unless GOP leaders in Congress are replaced, the best we can hope for this year is a President McCain with large Democratic majorities controlling both sides of Capital Hill. And let’s be frank: even a McCain election is an uphill battle at best. Consider this: In three recent special House elections, strong GOP seats (one belonging to the last GOP Speaker of the House) have gone to the Democrats, two of those in the Deep South. Plus, at the latest count, 25 GOP representatives will retire at the end of this term, many whose seats will go the Democrats as well. In the Senate, the GOP 49-seat minority will likely grow smaller thanks to the retirement of five of its own, plus the likely loss of other seats to the Democrats. If the Dems secure 60 seats, which is entirely possible, say goodbye to the Senate filibuster, one of the minority’s strongest weapons against a dangerous majority. The economy, the GOP’s drunken spending during most of this decade and of course, the Iraq war have made GOP prospects heading into an election the worse since at least 1974 when Watergate allowed 49 GOP seats to turn blue, which then lead to the 1976 election of Jimmy Carter to the presidency. This says nothing, of course, about the current White House occupant, George W. Bush whose popularity ratings (or lack thereof) rival those of Dick Nixon thirty-five years ago. How the party got here is certainly not important; rather, what the party needs to do now is focus on the future and do so sooner rather than later. Our suggestions 1. Fire the House leaders now. Since the GOP lost control of the U.S. House last January, its new leaders (Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Roy Blunt, specifically) have done nothing to return the party to its fiscally conservative tax and spending roots. On the contrary. Instead of growing spines and emphasizing a lower tax message, GOP leaders have joined the Democrats and continued to initiate higher taxes and more spending for all of us. The GOP needs new leaders – not tomorrow or after November, but now.
2. Pick new candidates. The Democrats elected to Congress are not left-of-center 1960’s radicals (like their leaders), but rather are styled after the Blue Dog Democrats of yesteryear, conservative on social issues, more liberal on fiscal issues. The GOP needs to remember this and put to the voter’s true conservative candidates neither RINOs nor candidates that don’t pass the ethical smell taste. For so many elections, the GOP won the hearts of the moral majority in this country, but too many times today that is no longer the case. Practicing what one preaches is best.
3. Move away from Bush. George W. Bush has done a lot of good for this country, and for a while for the GOP in general. However, thanks to a second term agenda that no one has liked, Bush is now a liability and an anchor on any Republican running for higher office in 2008. From Representatives, to Senators and yes, to John McCain, GOP candidates need to signal a move away from the White House on key domestic issues whether the Democrats have a substantial lead over their GOP brethren.
4. Back McCain. GOP voters that fail to vote for John McCain, either by not voting for the presumptive GOP candidate or by voting for someone else will simply shoot themselves in the face. Yes, McCain is not as conservative as many would like, but the prospect of a stronger Democratic majority in Congress certainly requires the GOP to retain control of the White House. Those that want to ‘wait until 2012’ when the nomination will be available again (assuming a McCain loss this year) are playing a fools game. On a daily basis, one most remember this: McCain is better than Barack Obama on all the issues that matter most to most Americans.
5. Give to the candidates. GOP candidates (all of them) need donors to do just that, big and small. For the first time in recent memory, it will be the donkey party that has more money heading into the fall. Therefore, give, give, and give again.
6. Back to the basics. We are still a country at war and regardless of who is elected in November; this fact will not change anytime soon. What will change is the direction in which we’ll take on the world stage, depending on the outcome. While Barack Obama and company will likely make our nation weaker by talking and giving into dictators, John McCain will guarantee us that national security will remain on the forefront and that no, we will not negotiate with terrorists.
7. Take a lead. On two issues, the GOP needs to get ahead of the Democrats and do so now as part of its fall message. First, the party needs to emphasize the use of new forms of energy. The old ‘we need to drill in Alaska’ message will go nowhere while the Dems control Capital Hill, so it doesn’t need repeated. Rather, the GOP should push a message of increased funding (part private, part public) for alternative bio-fuels that can be realized today and not ten, fifteen or twenty years in the future. And yes, push for an elimination of the gas tax – forever. Forget a ‘tax holiday.’ Push for a permanent repeal of the gas tax and tie energy company subsidies to the amount of their profits. The more money they make, the less the subsidy and vice versa. Finally, on health care, the GOP should follow John McCain and push his plan for better maintenance of our health care needs. Unlike the Democrat plan(s), which emphasize a government takeover of the health care system, McCain’s plan doesn’t forget the little guy, or the desire from us as citizens to have control over the type of care that we can get. Individual freedom is a message that will continue to resonate if pushed by the candidates correctly.
8. Knock down Obama. Forget Rev. White, the real story that needs to be told to the American people is Barack Obama’s inexperience. The Senator from Illinois has just three years of national policy experience and has never led a company, organization or government entity. This is a problem that needs emphasized over and over again between now and November. John McCain needs to remind the American voter that some changes – no matter how good they may sound in a speech – aren’t worth risking on our future.
The GOP needs to retool its image to compete against the Democratic machine in 2008 and beyond. Only then, will it find itself at the seat of power once again. The time for action…is now.
No, the GOP is going to be stuck with the Huckster as the VP candidate and then all us republicans will be watching Senator Obama take the oath of office in January.
There's a word for political parties which -- when increasingly confronted by anger and rejection on the part of the electorate -- routinely blame said voters for "not getting it," rather than re-examiming their own product for warts and flaws.
That word is "losers."
"Hey look, let's go this way..."
ROTFL! You need a radio show. Love your homepage.
This one may need some work.
The GOP has a new base. No conservatives need apply.
It is an old, and conservative, direction that is needed, IMHO.
Right next to the holes in our hearts and brains, put there by McCain and the Northeast Elitists? No thanks.
McCain's entire campaign is based on targeting Democrats to come to the "big tent". Gee, Juan...get enough of them and maybe we can make just one big political party serving politicians of all stripes!
We can call it "The Cluster-F^ck Party"
It's like the Baseball Hall of Fame, only for retards. ;)
I truly believe that it’s already too late for these comments for the Republicans at every level, and the Democrats at every level will truly become a super-majority for the long-term, starting in January ‘09. The U.S. will soon be replaced by a third world socialistic country for the long-term, and the Republican Party as well as U.S. conservatism will eventually die off, thanks to endless waves of illegal immigrants who truly will only vote for far leftist politicians at every level throughout the U.S. and for always. Some very bad times ahead throughout the U.S.
This is a non-problem. Whoever is the last Republican left on earth after November can go any direction he wants.
Greg Davis of Mississippi was not a RINO, and a high profile conservative not connected to White house could have helped him win!!
“5. Give to the candidates.”
No thanks. I have given to the GOP in the past. But not now. Not while Arlen Specter is my Senator.
“3. Move away from Bush.”
I don’t think this is the right strategy. For one thing, it won’t work. The Dems won’t let the GOP separate from Bush. Neither will the media. They will continue to say “Do you want a third term of Bush?”
The GOP should PROUDLY assert “you’re damn right we want a third, and a fourth term like Bush’s.”
We want a VICTORY over terror, like Bush is delivering.
We want 8 more years of SAFETY FROM ATTACK like Bush gave us>
We want another TWENTY-EIGHT CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS of economic growth like Bush delivered.
We want LOW TAXES like Bush gave us.
We want improved educational standards in inner cities and elsewhere like Bush gave us.
We want more friends and allies around the world, like Canada, France, Germany, Afghanistan and yes, Iraq, that Bush delivered.
We want more, not less of this.
The GOP should invite Bush to the convention and give him a prime-time slot to speak. They should show videos of all the GOOD THINGS happening in Iraq, like hospitals, schools, soccer fields, little kids interacting with soldiers, etc.
When life (and the Dems and the media) try to give you lemons - MAKE LEMONADE!
By the way, I am NOT a Republican. I am registered Independent.
A new direction - how about A direction - what is the Republican message?
You should not have any trouble finding a new one for your list today.
The prospects are abundant!
I am a constitutional conservative.
screw the republican Party.
I am walking away...they are not My party any more.
if This RINO McCain is the best they can Come up with
THEY DESERVE TO LOOSE!!!
He Said “the Border is Secure”!!!
He is a Mad Man......
I want to see Obama win...I want to see this country destroyed.....
You Rino Loving “Fake” Republicans are going to get just exactly what you deserve......Disaster.
You stupid Moderate Republicans think that we real Conservatives will just fall into line and vote for that idiot.
well it sucks to be You!
Until there is conservative leadership at the top, it's futile.
Now, you may ask, why were we successful in 1994? Because the House leadership WAS the "top" of the GOP food chain in 1994, and stood in opposition to Clinton. I think that's probably where we have to head in 2010.
Exactly!
The GOP is loosing by playing by the progressives’ rules.
We are loosing our place as the standard bearer of civil society and quickly becoming a statis society.
We are a Republic not a Democracy (which is what the dumb masses believe)
Democracy is a socialist concept. The essence of democracy is unlimited majority rule. It is the notion that the government should not be constrained, as long as its behavior is sanctioned by majority vote. It is the notion that the function of government is to implement the “will of the people.”
We have so far avoided tyranny by either a minority or majority but the future prospects are not so bleak.
Forget pessimism & optimism & look at reality. This statement is right on.
They lost me on #7. The answer isn’t spending on bio fuels. It’s drilling our own dang oil. These people have lost their minds. That was evident when the set up the McCain win.
The only hope I see is that McCain wins because he picked a semi-conservative VP, and then McCain promptly has a heart attack and dies, so the VP can then take over. That is the ONLY possible good scenario I can see. It’s sad when a patriot like myself sees this as being the only hope out of the current mess.
Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo need to go out and form a new Conservative Party. Screw the GOP. It is a stinking d’RAT infested hulk that should be sent to the bottom of the sea STAT !!!
Form the new party with some discipline. Base it on America’s founding principles, of limited government and more freedom. If you stray off the party line, you will walk the plank with primary challenge and no party support.
Bush is the leader of the GOP.
Whatever good he has done on some fronts has been offset by his lazy disinterested approach to leading his party.
Bush and his dad are similar: start with very high ratings tied to war, and then go down, down to the end, leaving the party in a mess.
Bush signed the bloated spending, signed the earmarks. Bush proposed amnesty first, border security later.
Bush messed up party unity.
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