Posted on 05/15/2008 10:48:53 AM PDT by MovementConservative
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.”
“It’s critical that our candidates have a very clear set of principles,” Romney says. “If we are ill-defined or, worse, if we’re defined by the failures of the administration or the failure of Congress in the last eight to 10 years, then we’re going to lose.”
The name of the agenda doesn’t matter, but the substance does. Voters no longer think lean government, smart and strong defense, and good old-fashioned family values when they think Republican. They think reckless spenders, misguided war and hypocrisy. Republicans “don’t have a vision,” says former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). “Their behavior is being governed by a bad political model, and we’re losing races.”
Republicans need to focus on cutting taxes, slashing spending and rediscovering their edge on national security matters. More important, they need to jump ahead of Democrats in thinking anew about entitlement programs, health care, technological innovation, global trade and new energy plans.
Bill Frist, the former Senate majority leader and now a visiting professor at Princeton University, also recommends the “big idea” approach. His prescription: “Take on health care in a way that focuses on consumer-driven health,” providing “a contrast to the big government of Democrats.”
2. Cut the crap: Republicans are dominating Democrats in one area right now: humiliating sex scandals. If former Rep. Mark Foley isn’t e-mailing young male pages or Sen. Larry Craig isn’t playing footsie in the bathroom, then Rep. Vito J. Fossella’s getting busted driving drunk and then admitting he fathered a love child. You can’t run on family values when you don’t practice them.
This is no laughing matter to many Republicans. Voters don’t pay much attention to Congress unless there is a good scandal or bad spending, and the GOP has provided a generous supply of both. It has to purge scandal-stained members, swear off boondoggle spending projects and promote — and more importantly adhere to — strong ethical standards, GOP officials say.
Democrats are likely to control Congress for several years, so if Republicans can clean up their act, they can put the focus back on the members of the governing party and their behavior.
“The congressional leadership needs to be very proactive in addressing anything with a potential whiff of scandal forthrightly and immediately and with dispatch,” says former White House chief of staff Ken Duberstein.
3. Beg for help: The Republican infrastructure is crumbling. Making matters worse, Democrats are erecting a pretty impressive network of donors, think tanks and activist groups that is exploiting the GOP’s structural weakness. The GOP “needs to realize what the opposition is and how formidable it is,” said former GOP leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). “The Democratic Party is organized chaos, but it is so much better than what we are doing.” It will take no less than three to five years to fix, smart Republicans estimate.
For now, Republicans need their rich backers to crack open their wallets. Democrats such as George Soros are so much more willing than rich Republicans to fund get-out-the-vote operations and clever negative campaigns. The GOP needs to somehow cajole its big donors to fork over millions of dollars to counter Democrats and then achieve a competitive edge.
It needs to be smart while spending it, too. Influential Republicans feel the party must fortify intellectual think tanks, establish new activist groups and get a clue about using the Internet to rally its forces. The GOP also needs to fund programs to train young Republican candidates and activists.
“There is an entire infrastructure that needs to be thought through, and it seems to me no one is interested in building that,” said former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.).
4. Burn the Bush: There is something honorable about loyalty. But taken too far, it can start to look downright loony to voters. President Bush is as unpopular as Richard Nixon was in the days before his resignation. Cut him loose — quick, says Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.). “We can go our own way with our own programs, and even disassociate ourselves from President Bush,” Davis said in a memo to fellow Republicans.
In some cases, say GOP leaders, Republicans should cozy up to presumptive presidential nominee John McCain, who remains popular with many swing voters. In others, they should simply run on their own merits and promise to pay attention to local concerns. But under no circumstances should they stand by their man in the White House. It won’t be easy, because so many marched obediently to the Bush tune for so long. But voters have short memories — exploit that.
5. Change the pitch — and your face: Several well-known Republicans said the party needs fresh, reassuring packaging and a more diverse crowd to deliver it.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said it’s time to return to a family values message — backed up by ideas families actually like. “Our reforms and beliefs need to be framed in the context of how they help families. A family-friendly focus is really important, given the angst that people feel these days.”
The image of the white men’s club needs to go, too, says Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. “The country is changing. The Republican Party has to have a message that reflects faces and voices of America. We have to do a better job of recruiting women candidates, candidates of color and diversity.”
6. Fan the fear: Ignore the critics, Republican wise men say — there is still no better way to win than to stir up concerns about Democratic patriotism and their commitment to national security and killing terrorists. It often remains the best call in the GOP playbook, especially with McCain atop the ticket.
Republican officials privately urge lawmakers to whack their opponents whenever they can for worrying more about coddling terrorist suspects than condemning them, failing to support U.S. troops, exhibiting weakness in dealing with dictators, and rushing to a quick Iraq exit that could put U.S. servicemen and women at risk. Polls still show GOP strength on national security and fighting terrorism — at least when compared with their lousy numbers on domestic issues.
“Put bluntly, can this party be saved?”
Hell, SHOULD it?
Reaganomics is what we need to put back in place (low taxes, the government is not the solution, it is the problem, pride in country, a strong national defense, etc.).
“6. Fan the fear: Ignore the critics, Republican wise men say — there is still no better way to win than to stir up concerns about Democratic patriotism and their commitment to national security and killing terrorists.”
Frankly, the Repubes have nothing else.
“It often remains the best call in the GOP playbook, especially with McCain atop the ticket.”
Well McGore is only getting the same loyalty that he showed us for the better part of the last decade.
Conservatives have to take back the party or start a new one.
Our political system is being Mexicanized. We’re in for 150 years of single party politics.
“Conservatives have to take back the party or start a new one.”
There are two that I like and I wish they’d find a way to merge.
They don't even have that -- it just reminds people of the bungled Iraq war.
Republicans should give up their principles and bow to Democrats’ agenda in the spirit of bipartisanship.
McCain’s got it covered!
I couldn't disagree more. Republicans need to go back to the old ideas like:Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, faith, family, freedom, small government, protection of private property and the common defense. The constitution is a good place to start! Only a big government socialist wants new government controls and innovations.
“We talked to some of the smartest minds in Republican politics....”
That is the problem. All their so-called answers come from inside the beltway, they quit talking to the ‘people’.
This is hands down the best article I have seen yet on a solution to the GOP’s problems.
Yes and no. We have to have a vehicle for our conservative tenants. The GOP has given us Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan. We need them as much as they need us. I recently changed my registration from GOP to independent because I can't stand all the big government, earmark loving, toe-tapping toleraters in the GOP. Doesn't mean there is any chance I will vote for a Dem, but I wont be associated with this national GOP as it currently is.
“Conservatives have to take back the party”
BINGO!
We have a winner!
What the GOP lacks is leadership!
They had the majority in the House & Senate for four years while Bush was POTUS and what did they do?
Nada, nothing, zip, zero!
And that is why they are not in the majority today.
The Gelding Old Party needs a testicles & spine implant.
And if we are ever going to turn this mess around;
true blue conservatives need to “step up to the plate” and run for local, state & federal offices around the country;
including getting elected to governorships so that we have a better field to choose from for POTUS!
We’re a country full of freeloading socialists and they seem to be in the majority. Whatever repubs do will be too little too late.
Illegal immigration: Close the border and deport the illegal aliens.
There it is.
Thats all six reasons rolled into one. - Nobody is listening.
[shrugs] I am quite sure
four (or eight!) McCain years
will scare the splitters
who’d rather stay on the plantation.
than admit the world doesn’t
revolve around them.
A better question is can the Democrats capitalize by moving to the center and embracing soldiers, small businessmen, hunters, and last, but not least, Christians? A: probably not. So they will fail as well and the pendulum will bounce back.
Uh ... that's what they've been doing to get into this mess! Cooking up new ideas? crafting attractive agendas? How about trying that which works - CONSERVATISM! the point of which is that we _already_ know the answers, and problems stem from deviating from them.
The RNC and Republicans in Congress could save the party by stopping sodomizing the Conservative base and appeasing the liberals at every turn.
Actually McGore announced today that the border problem has been solved.
No, he didn't. Read his speech again.
So, is this real bad? maybe not. Four years of liberal trash in power will take this country down a path most people cannot begin to comprehend and by then they might just wake up and put real Conservatives back in power. We would have the added benefit that by then the pubbies would have cleaned house, in spades!
“and by then they might just wake up and put real Conservatives back in power.”
And hopefully those candidates will be able and willing to articulate a strong, intelligent conservative message. Not just “we suck less, vote for us.”
It's annoying, childish, and likely to go unread.
I've been here two years longer than you -- so what?
Along these lines, the Pubbies need to figure out why Ron Paul took such a big bite out of the voting and why his new book is at the top of the charts. Having discerned the truth they should embrace it.
One piece is absolutely missing and has to be face up to. First, tear the administration to bits for not telling true statistics on inflation. We all know what has happened to food and energy and derivative products, even if statistically massaged Commmerce statistics try to hide the truth. Second excoriate Bernanke and Paulson for deliberately seeking hyperinflation as a way to bail out Wall Street. The health of New York investment bankers is not identical to life liberty pursuit of happiness and protection of private property in the US (excluding NYC and DC). The subprime mortgage mess as part of the overall financial mess leaves an awfully big lump under the rug. Standing around claiming innocence while looking guilty is not a solution.
I have just one suggestion: Stop listening to The Washington Post, The New York Times, and their spin-off, Politico.com. Start listening to the folks back home.
Amen!
I don’t know that I can come up with six ideas, but here’s a few...
1) On the war: Have the guts to tell the American people “Grow up!” We’ve been at war with Islamofascism since before Jimmy Carter left Plains to pretend to be President. Whining and bitching about the war won’t end it. It ends when we kill the bastards who started it or they kill us. There’s no in-between. You may not like the way George Bush has run the war, but at least he had the balls to actually do something about it. Can you say the same thing about any Democrat who’s not named “Lieberman”?
2) On “Family values”: Stop carping about them! The GOP spends way too much time worrying about who’s schtupping whom and in what position. We wind up sounding like a bunch of Church Ladies and get little done to actually promote the values we claim to support. Government can’t promote family values. The best you can hope for is that it does as little damage as possible. Don’t whine about Britney Spears flashing her goods outside a nightclub. Instead, point out that she and her fans are overtaxed and that this harms all families. Then point out that the Dems think that we’re all undertaxed.
3) On man-made global warming: This is a tough one since most of our idiot neighbors buy into this myth. But whatever we do, McCain’s stupid carbon tax crap isn’t the answer! Killing off the American economy won’t change the Earth’s surface temperature by a single milliKelvin. Instead, hijack some of the Greenies’ ideas and promote them from a national security angle. Reducing fossil fuel use won’t affect global temperatures, but it will de-fund our enemies. (Giving the Saudis money that they, in turn, give to Al Qaeda is pretty stupid.) If it turns out to benefit the environment, so much the better. But point out that the Democrats’ only plans end with the US economy in the crapper.
I can probably come up with more; so can others here. But in any case, it’s a sure bet that the Stupid Party won’t listen.
Mark.
How big a bite was that?
Second excoriate Bernanke and Paulson for deliberately seeking hyperinflation as a way to bail out Wall Street.
Just look what they did to M1!!!
Weimar Germany........
good start. :)
This should be #1 on the list. When Bush first suggested amnestying what were then only 6,000,000 criminals from Mexico on 9/10/01, I knew we were screwed.
Do it all in the name of upholding the rule of law and the whole country will fall in behind them. Point out that without the rule of law the country will fall apart (and it will) and that any amnesty is assault upon it, works to undermine our social fabric and will only encourage further lawlessness.
“Pushing all the right buttons” is not the same as holding the right beliefs and principles. We have been disappointed many, many times by office-holders and candidates that manufacture their persona to attract our votes but are no more committed to it than our worst enemies.
Even Newt Gingrich has failed to maintain both his stated ideals and his personal behavior in ways that make him an untenable candidate for primary leadership.
McCain bears an incredible hubris for a man of his unimpressive intellectual gifts. He is capable of being absolutely certain of the correctness of his positions in the face of a total absence of supporting evidence.
George Bush is loyal to a fault - and far, far beyond the most egregious of faults. He has made a few GREAT appointments - as well as some of the worst in my memory. And of course, he lacks the rhetorical skills to either explain his policies or to exercise effective leadership of his party, which has fallen apart on his watch.
I’ll stop here, before I need a double dose of Zoloft.
The only thing that will save the Republican party is a Democrat President and Democrat controlled Congress for four
years, and the things that will bring:
1. Iran with a bomb
2. Israel even more marginalized
3. Pandering to terrorists
4. Creeping Islam in America
5. Oil price at $250 a barrel
6. Same sex marriage being inacted into law
7. Three more liberal Supreme Court judges
8. Another 20 million illegal immigrants
Then the country will be ready for Conversative Republicanism again....but by then, it may be too late.
At the least it will take 15 yrs to undo the liberal accomplishments (an oxymoron if there ever was one), of this next four years....and many will never get undone.
Unfortunately, McCain isn’t the man to stop the liberal bandwagon....he’s one of the horses.
Your smarmy smart-aleckness is irrelevant to the fact that the Pubbies are going down and going down real hard. While you live your Panglossian existence, other people don't like what is happening. You can whine all you like about the fraudunlent government statistics on inflation, but real people know what is happening to real bank accounts.
Of course you are sophisticated enough to know that folks hold little ready money as cash anymore, because it generates no interest, but rather as near term case equivaltents, i.e. money market funds that do bear (some) interest. Thus the FED tracks MZM, and look at what they did to MZM!!!! LOL!
Cash is not only a part of M1, it is also part of MZM. You don't think M1 is just cash, do you?
You really are a smarmy idiot, aren’t you.
You are correct, he was speaking of the future of what will be, I don't think rush played that part :)
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