If true conservatives like Hunter and Tancredo couldn't get above single digits, in a GOP *primary*, that tells you all you need to know about the state of conservatism today.
I strongly disagree with your take on Pres. Bush. I've met the man, followed him closely, and he is in it for ANYTHING but "himself." You may not agree with his ideas, but he definitely has done what he thought was right.
Absolutely. It is distressing that cheap-shot attacks on Bush pass for conservative wisdom these days. They do a disservice to him and to the truth. Bush has in many ways been a great President.
One main reason I don't buy the "true conservative" will win is 2006. There were simply too many VERY conservative senators and congressmen who lose, and it can't be blamed on "macaca" or Tom Foley. Talent, Burns, Santorum were very conservative as was J.D. Hayworth. DeWine, although he had problems with conservatives on some issues, still had a lifetime ACU rating of 86. Conservatives just lost in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Right on. The idea that this is all about the GOP being too moderate is lunacy. We have serious issues with the base, but that is only a part of it. Basic issues of war, economy and trust have hurt GOP brand. People are much more accepting of big Govt now than 10 years ago. Partly to blame are GOP leaders who stopped articulating smaller Govt, but partly its change in voter attitudes. War footing perhaps?
Sometimes, we conservatives need to ditch the notion that the country is "always with us." It ain't. Churchill had to be a voice in the wilderness for 10 years against Hitlerism before he was accepted. The Brits had to sink into real depths before they elected conservatives and Margaret Thatcher. Our own Declaration stated that people will put up with evil or corrupt government much longer than they should, because, Jefferson said, it's the nature of people.
We above all have to shed the phony and easy whistling past the graveyard that if we try something that worked 14 years ago that it will work again. NO CAN DO.
Here's a bright spot: Jindhal won in Louisiana. Look into that race read the tea leaves. What is his message, agenda, positioning, capability?
The party is way too moderate. It has abandoned its base and contradicts the will of the people with pieces of crap like Dubya’s amnesty bill.
Nor do we have a clear agenda. We are now basically wandering vagabonds representing every end of the politcal spectrum from libs like Specter and Snowe to TRUE Republicans like Coburn and Mike Pence. We can win the people back by repudiating the big government “moderate” label and by turning the GOP back into an instrument of conservative change, not just blurry non-democrats.
Im swear, the apologists for the Ted Kennedy wing (i.e., Juan McCain, Arlen Specter) of my party utterly sicken me. Who the hell are we now? What happened to all of the ideology of the Reagan Revolution and the Contract with America? Think about the answer to those questions...