I thinkw e need to drop any and all outreach to blacks—and yes I am certified black enough to say that—and start reaching out to legal hispanic voters.
Your big party guy just lost. I think Reagan had the correct plan.
“OK. What do you think.”
I think I’m feeling homicidal and should resist replying to your post out of respect for the older and younger FReepers present.
I disagree. We need to throw the RINO’s out. Now is not the time to quit. Now we need to fight harder. I’d rather die on my feet fighting then give up and piss away my values.
We need a party of ideas, not a party of men...
If I told you what I think I would be banned from FR.
Go away.
DEATH TO THE RINOS!
Outside of McCain and that idiot from Maine, how many are left?
the big tent WAS this election. The big tent does not win. Articulating conservatism is what wins moderates over. We have to be inclusive, yes. Being Dem lite (McCain) does not win. Reagan or the Gingrich revolution was about bringing people to our side, not capitulating to the other parties views.
NO! With the big tent come compromised conservatism.
I think Reagan’s appeal was that he was a Republican that espoused Libertarian and Nationalistic feelings in people.
He espoused Freedom and Individual as well as Economic Liberty. At the same time, God, Country and National Defense were important.
But you can win with a message of Freedom.
No Conservatives talk like that. They get muddled up talking about the minutiae of acceptable Tax Rates, Capital Gains, etc...
The American People need to be presented The Big Picture. That’s not something we’ve seen much of.
Log Cabin Republicans know all about pitching a big tent.
“I firmly believe that conservatism — genuinely articulated, passionately articulated — wins in national elections most every time it’s tried.”
-Rush Limbaugh
Um, yeah, try selecting an even more liberal main nominee next time and see where that gets you. McCain was the most moderate of the choices for pete’s sake!
You do realize that if McCain hadn’t selected Palin as a running mate that he would have lost by even greater numbers. Palin drew thousands.
Obama won because we’re in an unpopular war and experiencing weak economic conditions. And yes, people tied McCain to Bush.
Oh, and the people who defected were elitist republicans who care more about what the world think of us than what is right with America. Douglas Kmiec, Chris Buckley, and the rest can kiss my ass.
The Republican Party doesn’t need “A Big Tent”, that’s a media created fallacy, derived by number crunchers.
What we NEED is a Republican Party based on SOLID CONSERVATIVE IDEAS, with LEADERSHIP that is able to COMMUNICATE those ideas across a braos swath.
It’s a PROPOGANDA WAR, folks. And we have lost EVERY round but a few since the election of 2000
When we said 'she rallies the base', it seems now that we only meant 'she rallies the social conservatives'.
Yea, because the Republicans used to be the conservative party before all those stinking abortion loving rinos big tent believing thugs come in.
Obama won, among other reasons, because traditional Republican turnout was down approximately 10%. McCain does not inspire Republicans. He is not a candidate of ideas. His political claim to fame is “reaching across the aisle”. A candidate of ideas would have others reaching out to him.
Principles are either principles or they are opinions. The problem with your approach is it is the reason we lost and will continue to lose.
If you don’t offer an alternative don’t expect for someone to chose you over the other guy.
The problem IS the big tent. Not the other way around. That is a proven fact. If you give people something to vote FOR they will come out.
McCain was chosen for us by the states with open primaries. He isn’t, and wasn’t a conservative. If you remember he and the gang of fourteen hamstrung the Republican Congress and Bush from actually accomplishing anything meaningful.
Yes he was strong on defense, but he is a social liberal...sorry maverick.
He wouldn’t have even made it this close if it wasn’t for Governor Palin. He was well on the way to being the Republican Dukakis.
I say it is Palin that shows the true path to success for the Republican Party. My only fear is that watching the Republican leadership direct the party is like watching a monkey try and screw a football. After a while the novelty wears off.
Hell knows that the “little tent” full of purists didn’t save America. Big tent time? You bet.
Define what the values of the Party are first and foremost and then extend the tent to anyone who is willing to live with those values. If you are not, get the hell out. Sorry, but we lost because we threw a bone to the members of the party not willing to live with conservative values. Meanwhile, the democrats ran to their base and, small wonder, won big. We need to stop running from our base and start running to them.