vs 
Posted on 11/15/2008 6:39:12 AM PST by old patriot
I know that many of you were as disappointed in the last election as I was. But why was the election lost by the GOP? There were a number of factors contributing to this, and early on with the Northern states allowing open primaries for Democrats and Moderates to "cross-over" and vote for "their" candidate of McCain.
Taking nothing away of the man's military service, these early primaries ensured that all we got as a candidate was a Democrat-Light who made a name for himself of "reaching out and across the aisle." And he then went so far as to alienate the conservative base by ignoring their concerns and issues while courting the RINOs (Republican In Name Only) members of the GOP like his life-long friend Phil Gramnesty and potentialy choosing Joe Lieberman as his VP choice.
McCain's full disdain of the GOP and Conservative base was so blatent that many of these same people openly refused to follow the GOP leadership and support McCain as their candidate; and going far as stating that they would vote against him or not vote at all.
But some favorable wind blew away McCain's mental fog and he nominated Sarah Palin, a staunch conservative. This infuriated the Left and the so-called "New-conservatives" within the GOP, but the rank and file loved her Reaganesk views and statements. McCain's campaign came alive, so much so that it threw the Dems off-message and against Palin. And if McCain had had a fixed message, rather than shooting from the hip and keeping certain things "off-limits" for discussion, we very well might have a different president-elect now.
So why did the GOP lose this election? It goes back to the 1949 "Revolt of the Admirals" and the projection of atomic or nuclear power projection.
The Navy lost the conflict with the Air Force referred to as the “revolt of the admirals.” They did not lose the conflict because their doctrine was weak. In point of fact, naval aviation doctrine, and by extension naval doctrine, was sound and based in principles validated in combat. Likewise, they did not lose because Air Force doctrine was particularly sound. Air Force doctrine was neither fully tested nor validated in World War II and contained major flaws in 1949. The Navy did lose the battle because of leadership failures and a lack of appreciation for public perceptions in the changing environment of the post unification military.
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/docs/98-166.pdf
And from the above we know that our president-elect's own words that he: "will not weaponize space." This clearly gives an open door issue for the 2010 elections with Russia rattling her swords over missile-interceptors projected for being based in Poland
So how does the GOP win in 2010 in the Congressional races? They must clearly identify a simple message to the American public about what they stand for using clear and concise conservative principles as laid out by Reagan. With clear and firm conservatives in leadership roles and promoting what the CONSERVATIVE message will be, and supported by, the GOP, a new conservative revolution can take place and sweep both houses of congress in 2010.
To fully illustrate where moderate thinking as was shown in this last election will get you, here is a more telling example besides all moderate republicans being voted out of office. I recently Got my Ka-bar tactical folder tanto this week. Ka-Bar is the company famous for their US Marine Corps fighting knife (first made during WWII). Much to my chagrin, my latest Ka-Bar is stamped, "Made in China". Nothing from Ka-bar should ever bear that marking.
And, Nothing from the GOP should ever sound, look or is anything but CONSERVATIVE in nature.
Old Patriot
ahhh because McCain was on the ticket, pretty simple really.
Really. You can write 150,000 paragraphs on the subject, but the bottom line is we had a candidate with about as much charisma as a grouchy old frog, who seemed one step away from a nursing home.
I’d forgotten about the primaries, though - and how our party “faithful” came up with the bright idea of allowing Democrats to vote in it, so we’d be sure to end up with a candidate that most of us disliked. Now, that’s using your brains, fellas!
Until the GOP returns to the smaller gov't and lower taxes positions of the Reagan years and kicks the RINO's out of office, they will see no true conservative support.
Goose...gander. Some Republicans switched over to vote for Obama in the primaries to keep Hillary out of the oval office. That part worked, but I fear we threw the baby out with the bath water.
Exactly! Way back in the 70's I worked with Lugar's campaign as an economic adviser. Now, I don't even recognize what he stands for. He's as much a Democrat as Harry Reid. We need to find new candidates between now and 2012 and throw the RINO trash out the window.
Palin/Jindal in 2012!
The GOP must investigate, expose, and insist on prosecution for the millions in illegal campaign contributions that the Messiah got from questionable sources as well as the massive and inexcusable voter fraud. If this doesn’t happen, we will continue to get beat by corruption. We have to organize a team to expose and refute MSM lies and distortions and support alternate sources of getting the truth out. We must find candidates with spine, guts, and fortitude to fight back. McCain ran a poor campaign and “never” challenged the Messiah. Conservatives have got to find candidates that support conservatism and vote out moderates and RINO’s.
Buyers remorse has already started. As the economy tanks, unemployment becomes massive, and our security is threatened, the truth that Liberals and the media have sold us down the river will become reality. We have to direct that anger to Pelosi, Reid, and every DemocRAT in the US Congress. I believe that day will arrive very shortly.
you also forget the GOP is tech illiterate.
While they have buffoons like Whitless meeting in miami to give backhanded complements to the governor of alaska, the net left has already started organizing for 2010.
Instead we on the GOP have leaders who are 100% clueless because they do not get information beyond the NYT, WSJ, or WaPo.
you are so right.
DINO trumped RINO.
Obama ran on CUTTING TAXES and the suckers bought it fair and stupid square.
imo....
“I realize that many of you are incredulous. You are thinking that my assertion is a physical impossibility, that no human being could be more personally obnoxious than el Senador Juan McCain. How could you be more obnoxious than a man who screams the foulest obscenities at his colleagues in the Senate; who screams at POW families and makes their women cry? “
Ref
http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/hey-obamatrons-the-yokes-on-you-by-alan-stang/
Why McCain Lost!
http://www.network54.com/Forum/578302/thread/1225618519/last-1225618519/Why+Didn%27t+John+McCain+Oppose+The+Bailout-—
Mind you, this is an intelligent, successful guy.
The liberal MSM dropped the ball as far as any discussion on taxes. No scrutiny as to the impact on Obama’s desire to nearly double capital gains rates, or let the current tax cuts “expire”. No discussion in the MSM as to how people who pay no federal income taxes suddenly have a “tax cut” (welfare check) bestowed upon them. No revelation that people earning $250k+ represent the TOP 2%, not the top 5%.
The list goes on. We already knew that the media was completely in the tank for Obama, so McCain needed to cut through the Obama obfuscation, and explain directly to Americans why John McCain and the Republicans were the party of low taxes, fiscal conservatism, free markets, and maximum liberty.
He had golden opportunities in each debate. He chose to ramble on about “earmarks”, as millions of Americans’ eyes glazed over. He talked about Joe the Plumber (a golden opportunity) and “spreading the wealth”, but never truly articulated a vision. It is frustrating to have watched this take place, then listening to Laura, Rush, Sean, Mark Levin and others clearly and concisely lay out exactly the message that McCain either refused to voice, or was simply incapable of voicing.
vs
That you can buy a KAbar still is a testament to the company management who realized long ago that buyers are price sensitive. Unions don't give a damn if they run a company out of business, if that company doesn't buckle to union extortionist demands
And those same unions cheat and deceive for the democrats at election time and are about to be rewarded by the criminal enterprise democrat party with federal legislation forcing non-union shops to NOT have sealed ballot voting on unionization.
The incest between criminal union thuggery and demcorat party thuggery is not hidden, if We The People had an actual fourth estate press instead of a fifth column enemy of the people.
Explanation is possibly the primary area where Mitt Romney would have been a superior nominee. But the treachery of the media must not be under estimated.
The middle-ground or waffling on issues does not a conservative make. If we cannot control immigration effectively, then CLOSE the borders. If we cannot agree that ALL late term abortions should be illegal, and shun Obama's own record of denying human rights to infants that survive abortions, then we have lost ground and our principles.
Until we stand against the subsidizing of the Labor Unions and let the auto-industry fail through bankruptcy, and start putting some Wall-Street types in jail for running their companies in the ground as opposed to giving them exorbitant bonuses and resort trips, then we cannot tell the general public that we have anything to offer than the ones who want to get along and not be divisive
Establish a clear message of strength in national security and immigration enforcement, absolute fiscal responsibility to all firms means allowing them to fail no matter how large, quit trying to get along and start getting ahead with clear and firm ideas, and leave the moderates, wimps, and weak of heart hooked up to their oxygen tents of getting along, then we can grow our party and nation from the ashes of national poles.
The only poles that this new GOP should be concerned with are the stakes of new power that they are going to claim in every "blue" county and state in America. America is RED, WHITE and a very little blue. Amerika is all blue.
Old Patriot
Idiot vanity number 424 posted on FR.
It was McCain’s candidacy that led to a lack of agenda and program. He did not choose to articulate any vision to the country on how we will help people with their problems. That is the candidate’s problem. It was a continued problem for the party because Bush nor any other elected official presented solutions either. Since the 2005 inaugeration speech, Bush was essentially absent in terms of using the bully pulpit.
McCain continued that trend.Even where he had good ideas (his health plan), he completely failed to articulate it. For that reason, I cannot say he was the best candidate out there. Here lost a portion of the base, and failed to bring over the ‘moderates’ and independents that he is famous for reaching. In the end, he didn’t deliver on what was supposedly advantage in this campaign. For that reason, I cannot agree he was the best candidate this year.
Unfortunately, the DemocRATS still have Bush to blame for everything (not that Bush is entirely blameless).
To reinforce your point, OP, a couple years ago I bought a pair of combat boots for a soldier in Iraq. They had to come to me, then on to him. Made in China. I kept the box.
The ideas put forth by conservatives in 2010 need to be authentic. Not 'Pubican ideas, but conservative ideas.
When JtP surfaced and got Obama to say "spread the wealth" we waited and waited for clever ads blanketing the media, exploiting Obaba's faux pas.
Nothing.
At the open forum debate McC INSISTED on having (claiming it would showcase him at his best), he looked like an over-the-hill Home Depot man, mincing around, looking for the paint stirrer............while Obaba solemnly talked about big ideas.
McC was oblivious to the folly of bi-partisanship---his fool's errand of reaching across the aisle to hold hands with Dems like Pelost and Reid with mob-boss instincts, who were waiting to kneecap him.
The sad thing is that McCain could have won.
The O outspent him 8:1 and had the media in his pocket yet only beat him by 5 points at most.
A 3 point swing was all he needed to win.
So when you look at how weak and lame McCain’s candidacy and campaign was, O’s was even more lame!
If it hadn’t been for Palin I would not have voted for the GOP ticket.
bump......
some days you're the bug.
We lost because we ran a Schmuck of a candidate! That conservatives never liked! I could only imagine what the bloodbath would have looked like if it were not for Sarah!
To put forth the idea of “compassionate conservatism” as some new idea served to qualify conservatism, as though “conservatism” in and of itself lacked compassion (hence, cold, cruel, draconian, mean-spirited, Darwinian), was a huge tactical blunder that the left, naturally, exploited.
This played right into the hands of the demagogues on the left, as did the Bush strategy of out-spending the Democrats on boondoggles like prescription drug legislation so as to take the issue off the table. this is playing defense, and I would argue that it plays right into the left’s grimy little paws.
Outside of Voter Fraud, 700 million in corrupt funds an adoring media and a financial crisis McDole was a terrible debater/candidate. Move TX forward in the primaries.
Pray for W, Palin and Our Troops
The Republican party lost because they CHOSE to handle this election without US. We didn’t want McCain - THEY did. Just like an adult taking the school project out of the ‘child’s hands, they didn’t want to trust this election to us.
I’ve had nearly enough of the Republican party.
Just a guess but I'm thinking...because they got fewwer votes?
Simply because McCain was really lame. He "got close" only because of Palin.
But that is exactly what the Bush's believe. Recall the older Bush's slogan after eight wonderful healing years of Ronald Reagan: he promised "a kinder gentler America." McCain, incredibly, managed to lose the votes of countryclubbers, Bushbots and conservatives all together.
Which principles, applied to which issues, with what specific results?
What exactly do you suggest?
Americans asked “OK, so what is your plan?”, and McCain fell short. He's not a conservative, and (as much as I hate to say this) I don't really believe that he even understands the true principles of free market capitalism.
To your point of “reaching across the aisle”...
Charlie Gibson interviewed McCain a week prior to the election, and asked “Will you appoint Democrats to your cabinet?” to which McCain replied “Oh yes! Many!!” That's hen I knew we were screwed, either way.
Everything wrong with the GOP was on display this week at the republican governors conference. While Sanford and Barbour are fine they will be impeded by the jerk faction ably represented by Pawlenty et al.
Whatever "moderates" and "independents" believe is irrelevant to fashioning that agenda, else we would be no better than them.
Right now the best thing we can do is get across to the RINOs and the countryclubbers that we are not "the moderate" party, nor are we "the independent" party, and certainly not "the liberal lite" party.
Those people have no answers to the pressing problems of this nation and the world else we wouldn't be in the fix we are.
Exactly. He couldn't make the case because he doesn't know any better. In the end it appears McCain really is economically illiterate.
I’m having a hard time with these post mortems.
The election wasn’t LOST.
The election was STOLEN!
...By biased media promoting the Obama campaign free of charge
...By ACORN activism
...By “fuzzy” campaign contributions that out financed McCain 3 to 1.
...By early voting
...By provisional ballots
...By ignoring military ballots
...By allowing voting without proper identification
...By vote recounts
...By failing to vet Obama’s eligibility.
...By failing to acknowledge Obama’s evil friends, foreign contributors and lack of experience
...By allowing our education system to be hijacked by revisionism
There will always be a loser in an election, but this
time it’s not the GOP, or Sarah Palin, or John McCain.
The flat out losers are the American people. Like frogs
in a boiling pot, we’ve already croaked.
Instead of (easily) demonstrating how the Reagan policies “lifted all boats” (JFK) and brought about the greatest economic expansion of our time, instead of demonstrating the great surge of upward mobility of Americans moving from the lower to upper quintiles of income, Bush the elder tacitly contended that Reaganomics created a “meaner, harsher America”. Once again, he opened the door to a charismatic demagogue, (to quote Mark Levin), who falsely touted a middle class tax cut he never intended to follow through on.
I left the Democrats in 1994, and Newt Gingrich, the last great articulate proponent of conservatism, was the reason for my transformation.
Palin has captured our imagination because she truly “gets it”, and is able to articulate that message, and walk the walk. Unfortunately, the MSM and liberals immediately set out to savage and nullify her, and she frankly had precious too little time to turn the tables in this election cycle. The die was cast, and voters had already made up their minds. Palin, Jindal, pence, Cantor and others need to lead the next wave, and they need to start immediately, which I sense they are doing. We're going to be in the wilderness for some time. Thats simply reality.
1. GOP registration required to vote for GOP candidates so that crossover voters do not select our candidates in primaries.
2. Move primaries up in several large conservative states so that RINO-infested northeastern states no longer chose our presidential candidate.
3. Allot delegates to the GOP convention from each state based on the number of registered GOP voters in that state. Just because a state has a big population does not get you more delegates to the GOP convention- Dark blue states should not choose our candidate.
4. Divide the delegates from a state between candidates based on primary results- No more winner-take-all primaries.
some days you're the bug.And some days, you're a freeper frantically trying to squish the ant that's crawling around on your monitor. :-)
Unfortunately, the conservative agenda has been partially removed from the Republican party's agenda. Compassionate conservativism is simply "liberal lite". "Reaching across the aisle is simply "liberal lite". As for defending freedom, that seems to have gone by the wayside as well. Republicans have participated in expanding the nanny state just as the democrats have, and the nanny state is in direct opposition to freedom.
When they get back on message, they'll win.
McC bought into the bi-partisan scam: "forget those conservatives----they have no place to go, they'll fall in behind you no matter what you say or do."
It's unbelievable that McC could not comprehend (and/or did not particularly care) his associations were a huge turnoff to the crucial conservative base.
Conservatives were appalled that the McC campaign was shadowed by abortion worshippers RINO Rooty Giuliani, and bi-party Lieberman.
The Everything-For-Us-Nothing-For-Conservatives crowd took over McC's campaign---even more disturbing is that McC allowed this to happen. Conservatives were incensed that McCain allowed himself to be duped by conservative-haters (as did Bush).
ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ELECTON NIGHT PERFORMANCE: Smirking little jerk---Fox pundit Billy Kristol---putting on his performance of: "I Know Nothing About This Republican Disaster."
AS FREEPER TADSLOS COGENTLY POSTED: "People forget that candy-ass Kristol, and his crony, metro-sexual Brooks are the original makeover artists for McCain post-2000. They are McC's original groomers and media switch operators. For Kristol to be urging McCain (to fire his staff) to start all over at the 11th hour (as McC's numbers were tanking) belies how ill conceived, advised, equipped and poorly managed McC's campaign continues to be. But then, I expect as much from a Republican candidate made up from Kristol’s and Brooks’ bolt of whole cloth."
The political entrail readings showed the crucial conservative base stayed home.........too bad his handlers "forget" to tell McC that would be one outcome of "bi-partisanship."
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