Posted on 05/07/2009 3:37:24 PM PDT by pissant
Social conservatives are blasting the National Council for a New America, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) nascent effort to rebrand the Republican Party, as a misguided and weak-kneed initiative that is out of touch with the GOP rank and file.
The council, unveiled last week by Cantor and Sen. John McCain, is designed to be a “forward-looking, grass-roots caucus” that formulates policy prescriptions and communicates with voters in a way that could expand the Republican ranks. In announcing the formation of the group, McCain said he hoped the group would attract moderates and “like-minded Democrats” to a series of public forums around the country.
But social conservatives couldn’t help but notice that the policy areas the group will focus on included no mention of same-sex marriage, immigration or abortion. And the roster of GOP luminaries who signed on to the effort was missing a few of the pols who are most popular with values voters.
“The moderates have been saying the same thing all these years, and now they’re just seeing a renewed opportunity to push their ideas,” said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a leading opponent of gay marriage.
“It’s a losing proposition to try to divide social and economic conservatives,” Ken Blackwell, a one-time Ohio secretary of state and former candidate for Republican National Committee chairman, told POLITICO. “They will constantly find themselves backpedaling and apologizing and repositioning because the composition of that group does not reflect a basic reality, which is that social and economic conservatives complement one another.”
Blackwell noted that the slight did not go unnoticed among social conservatives, as they “have the experience of being used and then abused and then forgotten.”
Mike Huckabee, the former presidential candidate who was not invited to join the so-called GOP panel of experts involved with the effort — a list that included Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Sarah Palin of Alaska and Haley Barbour of Mississippi and former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Jeb Bush of Florida — said that it was “sad day” in Republican politics when “we think it is necessary to form a ‘listening group’ to find out what Americans think we should be fighting for.”
“Our problem is not lack of ‘experts,’ but too many of them and not enough attention to the hard working people in our communities that aren’t connected to the Beltway, but to the heartland,” he said in a statement.
The former Republican presidential candidate also knocked Bush, who suggested at the group’s first town hall event on Saturday that it was time to get past “nostalgia” for the Reagan era.
“Frankly, the party was in pretty good shape then and can be again, but Ronald Reagan didn't summarily dismiss values voters like this new group of ‘experts’ has by not listing any of the issues that still matter to many of those common Americans this group wants to listen to,” Huckabee said.
Rob Collins, Cantor’s deputy chief of staff, said the expectation that every top national Republican would be included in the council would be “unrealistic.”
“Were we perfect in the rollout? No,” Collins said. “We want to get all these national leaders on board and we’re going to try to do that.”
Collins said the seeming omission of certain issues from the domestic policy categories the council is examining isn’t a sign that the group is excluding social conservatives or overlooking the issues that matter most to them.
“How is the life issue left off when we’re talking about the economy and education?” he asked.
Indeed, the council’s roster is stocked with prominent Republicans with nearly unassailable conservative credentials, ranging from Bush to Barbour to Jindal. Palin was also invited to join at the same time as the others, though she did not sign up until after the group’s rollout.
A source close to the group’s planning said McCain personally called Palin to urge her to join before the group’s announcement.
Cantor has insisted that no slight toward any of the party’s constituencies was intended.
“The National Council for a New America is meant to be a wide-open policy debate,” he said Monday during a CNN interview. “There is no exclusion about what we'll talk about.”
Still, for some the very creation of the council has proven to be a sore spot. Nearly a dozen conservative politicians and leaders contacted for this story either declined comment or did not return multiple calls.
“Too many Republican leaders are running scared on the claims of the left and the media that social conservatism is a dead-end for the GOP,” the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins said in a statement. “If that were the case, why are pro-family leaders like Mike Huckabee creating such excitement in the conservative base? The Republican establishment doesn't draw a crowd.”
Another critic, influential conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, ripped the group’s proposed “listening tour” as a “scam” on his Tuesday show.
“Maybe we've gotten to the point where you have to scam the American people in order to get their votes. I hope not,” Limbaugh said. “See I'm enough of an idealist, probably a little naïve, and hopefully a bit of a realist, to understand that it really works out best if you respect your audience, respect their intelligence, approach them that way.”
Cantor’s team, which is planning a phased unveiling of the council, is not planning to announce any new members or appearances for a few weeks. In addition to Palin, the council has gotten Sens. John Ensign of Nevada and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas to sign on in recent days.
After the council’s initial events, invitations were also extended to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), though neither has agreed to sign on yet.
“We got the invite on fairly short notice,” said Joel Sawyer, Sanford’s communications director.
Sanford may join the group, Sawyer said, but will wait until the conclusion of his state’s legislative session to look more closely at the group and make his decision.
Collins, Cantor’s aide, said that despite some sniping, the overall response among the Republicans he has talked to has been very positive.
“It’s been an incredibly successful rollout,” he said, noting the inherent difficulty of organizing any group comprised of political figures. “There has been some grumbling, but there has been an incredibly positive response.”
Cantor, Palin and Jindal have all damaged their standing with conservatives. And for what? Just to hang out with McCain?
So, I asked Stapleton, is Palin heading out on a listening tour?
No, she said, Palin's not going on tour and has no events scheduled with the group.
http://community.adn.com/node/140924
They should call it what is is ‘Dimocrate Lite’ no taste and no substance just filling!
Cantor is just another twit, get him in the background where he belongs. At present, we have one viable Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. We have no others, at present. Maybe someone else will surface, but I don’t see any signs of a single politician with enough guts, other than perhaps the Texas governor. But I would rather he stay in Texas, in case I need to move there. We all might need to move there.
Regardless of that the scope of her involvement has been (surprise) been overblown.
There’s nothing grass roots about John McCain, or any other member of Congress for that matter. It defies the whole definition of “grass roots”. But, John McCain, more than anyone, needs to ride off into the sunset and stop hurting the GOP for his own ego.
A newAmerica...I don't even like the name. This sounds like progressive Obama BS...we want the best of the old America, not a new country with new values...hence 'conservatives.' Thanks just the same. DOA.
She is not going to ANY events with them, how is that damaging her..if she were hanging with these people, yeah maybe I would see your point, but she has not gone to any of their events and has no plans to. She is just playing it safe, she doesn’t want to piss off everyone in the Republican party. She does need allies ya know, even if those allies are dirt bags
Cantor is absolutely pathetic. He needs to take a hike.
Cantor is my guy in congress and I think he’s terrific, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why he would align with McCain.
And oh the irony of inside-the-beltway career politicians creating a “grass-roots movement”.
We don’t need a group. We need individuals who have what it takes to be honest about who they are.
We need grown men that have studied American Histroy, know what it means to be conservative, and are able to articulate the pro-America, pro-conservative viewpoint without having to “listen”. The people follow leaders. If you are a mish-mash of incongruous nonsense, they will follow a demagogue who lies well.
Oops, I forgot, none of these "moderate 'New American' GOP" candidates got elected.
Could it possibly be that they were just the kind of "Republicans" that Colin Powell, Eric Canter and others believe we need in the Republican Party???
Leave them in the Party -- just don't run them for top spots. They've already proven they cannot get elected to office!
I watched him being interviewed by Regretta Van Sustren the other night. He was so PC and RINOISH in the interview I was screaming at the tv, “And the difference between you and the democrats is???” You are the lets do it on the cheap version! He blabbered part of the democrats talking points for the last 20 yrs. If your spouting your enemies talking points as something you want to do, something is clearly screwed up in your head!
If this is the best the republicans can come up with God help us they are scared of their own shadows when answering a question, less they come across as conservatives.
AMEN to that pissant. And pressuring Palin to come on board will not “pacify us” as it is intended to do. We know you are using her, again!
Even the name of the group sounds ghoulish.
The National Council for a New America...
Give me a break.
It will take about five minutes for that name alone, to alienate every single person not already a card carrying Conservative, they could have hoped to get behind the agenda.
How about something like the Council to Study and Reconnect With our Founding Principles. Thus it would indicate the strengthening of individual liberties, state’s rights, and the proper role of the federal government.
By the way, do we want a new America? No, we want the old America, sans the things that our Founding Fathers were unable to eliminate at our founding.
Damned if these puddin’ heads didn’t trash our nation in one fell swoop. New America? Good grief, even they seem to think our Founding Principles were faulty.
Mike Pence is GREAT, but again, we need him where he is, and Congressmen don’t usually get elected to President. But then until the annointed one, Senators didn’t really either!
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