The Republican Ruins (Congenital loser Bob Shrum's take)

The Week ^ | April 14, 2009 | Bob Shrum

[St. Louis Conservative]

Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals should be required reading for Republican strategists and campaign managers. They would know in advance what the Democrat tactics will be and they will have a leg up on stopping them.

The problem, however, with Alinskyite methods is that they are designed to be effective when the agitators are in the minority and/or are out of power. Obama and the Democrats are firmly in power in all branches of government, thus Alinsky agitation methods don’t work as well. They are designed to usurp conservatives while they are in power, but they have no playbook for when they themselves are in power. Thus, Obama has no clue as to how to govern - he prefers to run a permanent campaign.

[Antoninus]

The GOP is still shrinking because people who are more conservative than me are abandoning ship. And this is not because the party is perceived as being too conservative but because they've become too "moderate". I'm right on the edge of saying, "adios" myself.

The GOP is seen as not being a combative alternative to the Democrats. THAT'S the heart of the problem. Having guys like Michael Steele at the helm is only exacerbating the problem.

[bill1952]

Eliminating the electorial college would require a Constitutional Amendment...

No. They have discovered an end run around it.
There is a movement afloat that would require state electors to cast ballots that conform to the National popular vote.
This falls under a compact or agreement within and between states, binding the respective state electors, and could tie us up in knots for decades. - Unless you believe that the courts are going to help us.

There are blue states taking this idea very seriously.

[St. Louis Conservative]

There isn’t much SUBSTANTIVE that the GOP has done wrong since The Messiah’s ascension, IMO. They’ve been pretty unified in opposing him - they just don’t have the votes to stop much without Democrat blue dog help. Stylisticly, they have had some misteps, but it’s the substance that I’m concerned with, and it seems pretty decent so far.

[St. Louis Conservative]

I don’t see it happening.

[Antoninus]

Stylisticly, they have had some misteps, but it’s the substance that I’m concerned with, and it seems pretty decent so far.

The Congressional delegation has done ok. However, the RINO problem persists. People like Snowe, Collins, and Specter simply can't be counted on for critical votes.

And with McCain and Steele out there trashing the base and the most successful conservative media voices, it's hard not to draw the conclusion that the party bigwigs haven't learned a d@mn thing from 2006 and 2008.

[x]

That's the thing about writing an op-ed column.

You've only got to form your sentences and paragraphs with conviction and snarkiness, and -- pow! -- it's like you're a real winner, and Mr. Know-It-All to boot.

[bill1952]

I don’t see it happening.

I don't know. - a lot of good people never imagined that this country would elect a black Marxist Kenyan namedHussein either, but it did.

Remain vigilant.

[St. Louis Conservative]

Specter, Collins, & Snowe are an issue, but you can’t cast them as somehow representative of mainstream Republican opinion. They are famous liberal Republicans, and as 3 senators, they constitute exactly 1.37% of elected Republicans in Washington.

Unfortunately, their position in the senate gives them outsized influence over policy debates, but they are not at all in any way representative of Republican thought.