Posted on 01/05/2010 6:00:06 AM PST by rabscuttle385
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele offers a simple explanation for why the GOP all too often lost touch with typical Americans since the Ronald Reagan era: "We screwed up," he claims in a new book offering a blueprint for the party's resurgence.
That "we" includes the last two Republican presidents and the most recent Republican candidate for president.
In "Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda," released Monday by Regnery Publishing, Steele says the GOP should acknowledge where "we most glaringly compromised our principles" in the past decade and hold its elected officials accountable.
"We must support Republican officials who assert these principles," he writes. "When elected Republicans vote against Republican principles, the voters must withhold their support -- withhold it vigorously and consistently."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Is Michael Steele finally getting some religion?
Well, he is half right about total screwup, Newt and the Fellas were good up until maybe 1999 or so, but they did pass the tax relief measures.
GWB did fight the WoT with vigor, the problem was instead of attracting people with consistency, they drove the base away via inconsistency and the bones they tossed to moderates were not enough to make them Republicans, add in demographic killing Globalism and the R’s alienated pretty much everyone.
He is not incorrect.
Bush 41 screwed up by raising taxes, playing the “get along” game with Dems. His son, sadly, did not learn from that experience.
Bush 41 and Bush 43 were both correct in foreign policy—pushing away foreign menaces.
Bush 43 was right on the tax issue and his SCOTUS appointments, something Bush 41 was only partially successful (Souter was bad, Thomas was good).
What REALLY REALLY REALLY screwed the conservative movement was the forgetfulness of the class of 1994...they were elected in a response to the abuses of a generation of Democrat rule—and quickly thought they would be there for a generation, too.
The next time Rs get a chance to govern, they’d best do it right.
Great analysis.
Hardly. He told Hannity that he didn’t think Republicans could take the house in the fall. Maybe they can’t. But that’s not what your head cheerleader should be saying.
http://bearingdrift.com/2010/01/05/steele-surrenders-before-the-battle-begins/
DUUH! I think we need to send the RNC out for remedial education!
We’ve had nothing but a choice of lesser evils since Reagan.
Trust but verify.
I wish we had Ken Blackwell doing this job. Blackwell may lack Steele’s speaking ability, but it would be easier to send Blackwell to Toastmasters for training than to teach Steele Ken Blackwell’s character.
Nothing in Michael Steele’s policy statements nor the selection of candidates to support indicates to me that his actions support the basis of this book.....
hh
Love him or hate him, Steele is a bright guy and I think he is largely on-target here. GHWB and his consummate elitist insiders game really set them off the rails.
Add the nominations of Bob Dole and John McCain to the list of screw ups. They don’t represent the views of most Reps.
Bush 41 was a DISASTER, from day one he was at work undoing the Reagan Revolution (with his DemWit buddies)!!! 43 wasn’t much better!
Reagan was a TRUE bipartisan, he told the DemWits “go along with my plan, and share credit for the success!” Of course the DemWit left amd media HATED him!!! But it didn’t matter, the people loved him! Winning 49 states is the very definition of “bipartisan” (Note: ole Mondull won Minnesota by less than 4,000 votes). Instead of compromising your core beliefs, you convince the folks your way is better! But the recent GOP’s “core beliefs” have just been “LibLight”.
Brings back the great question of our times... What in DC (water, air, money?) robs DemWits of their minds... and Repubs of their spines??? God help us!!!
What makes him a bright guy?
The ability to state the obvious?
I have yet to hear him saying anything unique, impressive or insightful.
You are so right.
He did have good SCOTUS appointments, especially if you throw out the Harriet Miers fiasco. But on taxes, he ended being very bad, favoring demand side tax rebates, which are highly ineffective, thus giving tax cuts a bad reputation.
Michael Steele is merely the “leader” of the already-defeated and ready-to-be-defeated-again RINO wing of the Republican Party, and a very large wing it is ,indeed.
He is less concerned with winning, than with “competing”, and he’s said so in those very words. Right now he and the RNC are stuck on the horns of a dilemma: they know they can’t win ANY ELECTION without the grassroots Tea Party conservatives (who in many ways are Independents also), so he must court them and come up with his own vetting process for candidates, namely, this “FIRST PRINCIPLES” statement, and assure this group that he’s got their interests at heart, and will do all the careful and proper screening and make all the right decisions: he won’t and can’t. He represents the Establishment RINOs. THey NEVER take a chance. The last time one of them (amazingly) took a chance it was to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate, and from that moment forward their biggest task was to neutralize her. By herself, she grew into something naturally and spontaneously that far overshadowed anything they could artificially contrive for themselves.
It is WE who instead should be vetting the candidates Steele wants to vet, and WE who should be making it clear we have our own “first principles” that we expect OUR candidates to respect-—he’s already getting too much play in the Media, and I know why-—he’s the new RINO of the moment, one the MSM can count on to be ever-so-grateful to be given a moment in the sun.
Reagan gave the needle to the Democrats in almost every speech he made. Something you would never see a Bush do. Reagan also frequently appealed to the people to contact their representatives in order to get his agenda passed.
Good luck with that.
Politicians like the Bushes, Doles, and McCain represent what Republicans were before Reagan came along. Reagan was the aberration.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.