Posted on 05/15/2008 8:24:51 AM PDT by bilhosty
Things are so ugly for the members of the GOP right now, it’s worth pondering their political mortality: Put bluntly, can this party be saved?
We talked to some of the smartest minds in Republican politics, and their prognosis is pretty grim. They think it will take pretty big changes — and possibly many, many years — to repair a Republican brand sullied by excessive spending, an unpopular war and an even more unpopular president.
Republicans are deeply divided over how dramatic changes should be and how precisely to change things. But there appears to be an emerging consensus on six steps they must take — and soon. What follows are the composite views of key Republicans we interviewed.
1. Get a clue: Republicans desperately need to cook up some new ideas and craft an attractive agenda to have any chance of success. Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney says it should be a modern edition of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America.”
“We talked to some of the smartest minds in Republican politics”
Who might those people be? Newt, Dole, Lott. Give me a break. Those you talked maybe Republicans but I surmise are not conservative.
“Republicans are dominating Democrats in one area right now: humiliating sex scandals.”
Huh? The state of NY alone has had more humiliating Dem sex scandals than repubs this entire year. Perhaps the author impliedly recognizes that they’re only humiliating if they’re republicans involved because if it’s dems, it’s the norm.
Judging by their list, no - they do not get it.
They did what they want instead of what we told them, so they are getting fired.
Because almost all of them have not listened, they will all get fired. It will be hard on the business (our country) for a term, but it is their doing, not the voters.
After the house has been cleaned and punishment meeted out, we can hire better employees at the next election.
A business cannot stand too many cycles like this, and neither can a nation, but IT IS THEIR DOING, NOT OURS !!! DON'T BLAME US, IT'S TIME FOR CONSEQUENCES ! THE TIME FOR ACTION HAS COME AND PASSED !
Amen!
Well, Politico is a leftist website, hardly likely to understand what the problem is, or even if they understood it, to offer advice that might fix it.
But I hardly think that Mitt Romney, Bill Frist, or Tim Pawlenty are credible people to turn to at this point.
Jeb Bush is the only one quoted who makes any sense, and I’m afraid his brother has wrecked any chance he might have ever to run for office again.
TAXES TAXES TAXES
SPENDING SPENDING SPENDING
SECURITY SECURITY SECURITY
Everything else is small potatoes
The solution is for the party of Reagan to lead like the party of Reagan again. We've seen that conservative leadership can win over moderates when our views are well communicated, and leadership does what it says it will do.
Calling yourselves conservatives and acting like lefties will get you nowhere, at least when you're Republican.
I don't see things improving for the Repubs unless the Demos win it all and screw things up even worse. Then we might see things starting to turn around in 2010. Otherwise, we're screwed because most of this nation is blaming the Repubs for the current state of the nation, and in many ways they are right. We had it all and we BLEW IT!
New ideas are the last thing the Republican party needs. Simply adhere to the core party principles and you've corrected the mess that the RINOs have created.
The Republicans can win in a two step.
1. Reveal the Dems for what they are - put their quotes, their lies, their corruption, and their wrong predictions before the people. The republicans don’t have to beat the Dems. The Dems have provided sufficient ammunition for the dems to beat themselves. They’ve been wrong about Iraq since 2007. Wrong about the economy (increased min wage + regulation + energy policies have contributed to this mess, in fact, their housing policies created the subprime issue). Wrong about Iran. They’re corrupt. They haven’t remained true to their campaign promises, from earmarks to transparency. They’re hypocritical on every issue from taxes (Kerry, Obama and other pay at the lowest rate), environment (flying around while telling us to change our lifestyle, compare gore’s house to Bush’s ranch), and corruption/earmarks/special interests.
2. Come up with real plans that actually solve problems. There are some good ones out there. Combine them all and put it forth as an agenda for America. Compared to the hollow words of hope and change, it should prevail.
Everyone is making like the GOP is in shambled, with good reason, but they are forgetting how bad the Dems have “performed” since 2006 and the GOP needs to do what the Dems did in 2006. Non stop attacks. Use the Dems’ record against them. This is the Congress with the lowest approval ratings and two inept “leaders.” It shouldn’t be that difficult. Today’s Duke Cunningham is Jefferson and Murtha. Today’s Foley is Spitzer. Today’s Mecca is Biden & Clinton. There’s so much cannon fodder.
They are no friends of republicans.
The republican party had better wake up fast!....or it’s going to be replaced by the conservative party!
Maybe I just suffer from the “fecal encephilitus” that an earlier poster mentioned, but I have trouble taking seriously, a party named after a bird. No matter how noble falcons might be.
The GOP desperately needed to start putting new faces in front of the crowd right after the 2006 election. They put Bonior (MR K Street) and Blunt back in their house positions and whola, we suck still. They wrote off all of the Rat infrastructure building in the last 4 years and we are paying the price.
The brand is damaged without a doubt. Many here on FR and as much as I like Rush are suggesting solutions that are not win alls and are more “all or nothing, solutions.” For example, their is no reason in the world that Conservatives should not embrace alternative energy at the same time we seek to increase domestic oil production. But Rush and some here on FR think it's foolish, so the GOP and Conservatives in general get labeled as being against new thinking in this area.
Bash if you will, but some on here and on talk radio need to step out of the echo chamber and hear some other thinking on issues that we as Conservatives can win with, without surrendering our principals.
IMHO, would’nt matter. In my mind, I keep coming back to what happened to Tom Delay.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1802383/posts
Washington is so jammed with parasites looking for a teat...that ANY organized opposition-IOW any Conservatives-will be run out of town . Period. This, folks, is a far BIGGER problem than just one with the Republican leadership.
The fall of the GOP is tied directly to it’s identification with the South. The GOP looks strong in the South, the true weakness is everywhere else in America.
The GOP started out tolerating, then supporting and finally taking marching orders from Christian Conservatives and Creationists driving out all the Socially Moderate/Liberal/Fiscally Conservative out of the party.
The GOP has to decide if they want to be the party of small government, individual liberty and pro-business or if they want to be the party of busybodies.
I will be helping purge them come November.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
“Maybe I just suffer from the “fecal encephilitus” that an earlier poster mentioned, but I have trouble taking seriously, a party named after a bird. No matter how noble falcons might be.”
No problem...I feel the same about a party that uses an elephent as their symbol when they clearly should be using a rino...
The jackass on the other hand is entirely appropriate..
The problem: "What is a republican?" is still the problem by any other name: "What is a conservative?". And even if we, the Freeper faithful, can come to terms on those fundamentals, for many of our fellow Americans, it seems that political allegiance is as tenuous and ethereal as fashion.
Gosh... This really pisses me off!... But can't you blame them really?... For thinking we voters are really a bunch of brainless... morons... who forget easily... And when we actually 'remember, then, we don't seem to have the spine, the convictions... to hold our vote until we get the changes we want. Like cows really..
... This is the way we look to the GOP bosses :)
These three (along with a score of others who call themselves Republicans) are jackasses.
1. Newt- Poses with Pelousy to endorse the war against Gorebal Warming.
2. Dole- A Viagra salesman who, after dosing himself, doesn't know what to do next. (Just ask Libby.)
3. Lott- A fopish fool.
I have to admit the Chicago Democrat machine, led by Emanuel, Axlerod and others are wiping the floor with the stupid party.
Just wait until the dems seize complete power in 2009, the entire country will be a “sanctuary country” and many the little dunces in the GOP will be sent to prison, one by one. The GOP will not even put up a fight, they instead will be “apologizing”.
I blame Presidente Jorge Boosh, the lil cream puff who will not even fight for his daughter’s honor, much less the country. His family gave the swimmer Kennedy a full dinner and medal when fatso was pounding Jorge to a pulp.
Jorge turned his back on the conservatives and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
The Dems play for keeps and play to win, while the GOP plays footsie.
SUPREME COURT SUPREME COURT SUPREME COURT
All Pubs in Senate and House get together on the steps of the capitol for a press conference and announce:
1. Push for immediate drilling and refining of our petroleum resources.
2. Push for immediate cessation of ALL benefits for people entering/living in the country illegally.
3. Start making plans for landslide victory partys in November....
It's not so much as being against "new thinking" as it is being skeptical of "unrealistic thinking".
"Alternative energies" are fine...as far as they go. There's nothing wrong with pursuing them...but there should be no expectation that they will make a significant contribution to our energy deficit in the foreseeable future.
By the same token, "energy conservation" also has its limits. Turning out the lights when you're out of the room, so to speak, is not going to have a significant impact on our energy consumption (the same can be said for compact fluorescents). Again, though, a good thing to do...but not an answer in itself.
All of these partial solutions avoid the main point: if we want to be energy independent, we're going to have to drill for our own oil! That's "realistic thinking"...but the greens don't want to even consider it.
And, down the road, when an alternative to petroleum becomes economically feasible, the market will tell us.
Until that time, petroleum will remain the most efficient lubricant of our (and the world's) economy.
To misquote some famous movie: “If you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made.”
The GOP is a shambling, rotting corpse, lurching around with no leadership. A delivery system for earmarks and graft. The demo-thugs are worse, but just a matter of degree.
1. Lower taxes.
2. Smaller Government
3. Conservative SCJ
4. Stop Global Warming scam.
5. Protect our borders.
5. End Nationlized education.
6. Prevent Natioalized health care.
The jackass on the other hand is entirely appropriate..
The those political symbols were not chosen by the parties but were the invention of the cartoonist Thomas Nast. IMO, a falcon might be a fine symbol for a party that might be called, for instance: "The Federalist Party" or something. Teddy Roosevelt started a Bull Moose party, but it didn't get very far.
The True Republican Party died the day the RNC turned its back on The Contract With America, because it’s conservative base was shut out. That was the day a new Conservative Party should have been born. Perhaps we could have averted the criminal Clinton years, and the globalist Bush debacle.
“Big tent. They no longer needed the conservative “wing” (which is the heart and soul of the Republican electorate).”
The Republican Party’s contempt for the libertarian “wing” is even deeper than it is for the conservative wing (and it was Ronald Reagan who said, “I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.” in Reason Magazine, 1975)
Big-Government Republicans like GWB, Karl Rove and Tom DeLay did more for the Democrat Party than Clinton, Reid, Pelosi, MoveOn.Org, and George Soros combined.
But you're right, of course. We can only kneel and genuflect to the Yankees.
The fact they think 6 steps are needed to "fix" things is evidence enough of that.
I like your thinking though I would raise defending borders and court picks to an even higher priority. As far as taxes the problem is that we have spent all of our political capitol on taxes and neglected everything else. We have come to believe we can just lower taxes and revenues will rise and we do not have to worry about cutting spending. I don’t believe taxes inhibit investment any more as there seems to be plenty of investment. As far as cutting spending we have to win and then show we can do it as we do not have any credibility on the issue. Most pollsters and focus groups that I have been reading about find the public is no longer so interested in cutting taxes as taxes have been reduced and are under control. They do however, do not want tax increases.
Preventing nationalized health care means coming up with an alternative. I have long thought that a buyers coop would be agreat deal. You pay to have you policy underwritten and put into a pool and then it is picked up by the lowest bidder. Since 40% of the cost of health insurance premiums is marketing and commssion we have an instant savings and a strong incentive to be very efficient in administrating.
If you want to know whats wrong with the GOP you need look no further than this kind of elitist drivel.
I can agree to the first two but it wil take more than that to accomplish 3 (unfortunately).
LMAO! I choked on my M&M.
I agree that the name of the Falcon Party lacks seriousness. Besides, our national symbol is the eagle, not the falcon.
“All of these partial solutions avoid the main point: if we want to be energy independent, we’re going to have to drill for our own oil! That’s “realistic thinking”...”
Could it be that someone, somewhere, or maybe a group of people have made the decision that this country will have the last oil reserves on the planet?
I remember when AT&T was broken up. One very wise economist said, “If AT&T did not want to get broken up they would not have been broken up.”
Conversely, it is my opinion that if the oil companies wanted to drill here, offshore, ANWR, etc, they would already be drilling.
The GOP needs to do all of the 6 basics in the article. In addition, the party needs to position itself back to the right away from the middle and the liberal fringes (for example, global warming is a hoax and the GOP should be as far away from taking positions on offering a single penny from the federal government).
The GOP can save itself by being consistent in its return to a conservative approach. This means that the following principles are not just used to get somebody elected but are the platform for the party:
Smaller, limited government;
lower taxes;
preservation of life;
strong national security;
defense of the borders;
high moral standards and ethics;
support of judges at all levels responsible to the constitution and existing laws and not interested in “making laws”;
politicians working for the people, not themselves.
Remember that government is rarely the right answer when you are looking for a solution to a problem.
“The GOP started out tolerating, then supporting and finally taking marching orders from Christian Conservatives and Creationists driving out all the Socially Moderate/Liberal/Fiscally Conservative out of the party.”
There they go again, saying Republicans need to appeal to moderates.
Its superior stand on moral issues is one of the main ways the Republican Party is different from the Democrats.
I doubt it. If that were the case, why would we be maintaining a Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
Moreover, known reserves of petroleum are probably good for hundreds of years. And, over time, other reserves will doubtless be discovered.
The question isn't about how much oil is left, it's how much will it cost to exploit those reserves?
If we were to save our oil until it was the only oil on the planet a.) it would be a long, long wait and b.) alternative energies will almost certainly have obsoleted crude oil by that time.
SUPREME DISAPPOINTMENT SUPREME DISAPPOINTMENT SUPREME DISAPPOINTMENT
The GOP can be either a regional party or a National Party.
I think they need it spelled out for them in greater detail as they appear to be slow learners and we can’t afford any further misunderstanding.
LOWER TAXES
DECREASED SPENDING
INCREASED SECURITY
Silly me. You are right. I should have been more specific...
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