Posted on 01/10/2013 7:02:10 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The 2012 elections showed that the American people don’t like clueless conservatism any better now than when they were getting it in massive doses from George W. Bush.
If the electorate really favored progressivism, they would have given the Democrats control of the House of Representatives, and they did not. Instead, the voters used the election to deliver the biggest jolt to the Republicans that they could without giving the Democrats complete control of government.
The 2012 election amounted to a desperate attempt by the electorate to purge the Republican Party of clueless conservatism. Clearly, the people are trying to force the GOP to come up with new candidates with new ideas. Actually, what the voters really want are new Republican candidates with old ideas—the ideas that produced two landslides for Ronald Reagan.
When choosing a presidential candidate, Republicans have a tradition of nominating whoever is “next in line”. In 2016, this will be Paul Ryan, who was the Republican candidate for vice president in 2012.
Paul Ryan is a brilliant, hard-working, and very nice man. And, he is the very model of a modern clueless conservative.
In his interview on Hugh Hewitt’s show on January 2, Ryan touched upon all of the core principles and beliefs of clueless conservatism. Now, all the Republicans have to do if they want to lose the House of Representatives and 60+ seats in the Senate in 2014 is to follow the precepts that Ryan so earnestly laid out in his conversation with Hewitt.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Heh...just like Sarah Palin was?
Paul Ryan explains why he voted for the McConnell-Biden deal and H.R. 8.
In his words:
“We had been hit with a $4.4 trillion dollar tax increase yesterday, and I had the opportunity to knock it down by $3.8 trillion dollars. That means 98% of the country don’t get hit with a tax increase.”
To think that passing H.R. 8 was a “good choice” is clueless conservatism. The Republican Party is either the party of economic growth, or it is nothing—and being nothing loses elections. H.R. 8 is not something that anyone who is concerned about economic growth (and who knows how to produce it) would have agreed to.
From 2012 levels, H.R. 8 raised all of the taxes that negatively impact economic growth (the top rates on ordinary income, dividends, capital gains, and inheritances), while capping those that have little or no effect on the rate of GDP expansion. As a result, compared with maintaining all of the 2012 tax rates, H.R. 8 will reduce economic growth and yield lower, rather than higher, federal revenues.
Paul Ryan explains why he voted for the McConnell-Biden deal and H.R. 8.
In his words:
“We had been hit with a $4.4 trillion dollar tax increase yesterday, and I had the opportunity to knock it down by $3.8 trillion dollars. That means 98% of the country don’t get hit with a tax increase.”
To think that passing H.R. 8 was a “good choice” is clueless conservatism. The Republican Party is either the party of economic growth, or it is nothing—and being nothing loses elections. H.R. 8 is not something that anyone who is concerned about economic growth (and who knows how to produce it) would have agreed to.
From 2012 levels, H.R. 8 raised all of the taxes that negatively impact economic growth (the top rates on ordinary income, dividends, capital gains, and inheritances), while capping those that have little or no effect on the rate of GDP expansion. As a result, compared with maintaining all of the 2012 tax rates, H.R. 8 will reduce economic growth and yield lower, rather than higher, federal revenues.
RE: I guess everyone is happy to see all of the new taxes from the White House.
We were between a rock and a hard place.
Like it or not, Obama (with the help of many who disliked him but chose to stay home ) was re-elected President and openly campaigned to raise taxes on the rich.
The alternative was of course to vote NO on the McConnell-Biden deal which if it went down would have cause the Bush tax cuts to expire and RAISED EVERYONE’s TAXES (including those making much less than $200,000 ).
Sarah Palin was the one hopeful blip on the GOP screen in decades
If not for her, McCain would have been an even bigger loser than he was (is).
Then, the GOP proved (once again) it’s inability to learn a lesson, and put ‘Reince’ (???) Prebus in charge. If there was anything that could have shown the people how clueless they were other than electing someone named ‘Reince’ I dont know what it could be.
The GOP party has become a bureaucratic organization mostly concerned with holding their own jobs and promoting from within, as bad as any other government bureacracy.
To split hairs, the “good choice” remark came from Hewitt, not Ryan. Obviously, they both agree the Ryan vote was “a good choice”.
Trusting even conservative ponies right now, is very hard for me. Time needs to cough up a Reagan before the ‘16 election, someone with both charisma and brains together, or knows where they can rent some, because the old lions are already picking our next nominee now.
Billion dollar campaigns are fashionable and of course require a very early start.
I hope that is a lesson learned by the GOP never to make a ‘temporary’ tax reduction again. The Bush tax cuts should have been permanent all along.
(HA HA I know... the GOP learning a lesson... That’s a good one)
Mitch McConnell put us there with his "Super Committee" debt ceiling compromise in July 2011, which Boehner forced through the House.
They both own this.
The alternative was of course to vote NO on the McConnell-Biden deal which if it went down would have cause the Bush tax cuts to expire and RAISED EVERYONE’s TAXES
No pain, no gain.
The reason this country is in the shape it is is that people vote their wallets.
Very deceptive. The reality is that the majority of the American people DID vote for a Democrat House of Representatives - by over 1.3 million votes actually. The only reason the Republicans hung on was through skillful gerrymandering.
Yep, I agree 100%.
The only person that I would even think of putting my gun and bible down long enough to go vote for is Rand Paul.
It still dumbfounds me. All that unbelievable grassroots energy that Palin brought to the GOP. The biggest political dynamo they’d had since the days of Reagan. Even after she left office and was on her book tour, there were lines of a thousand people standing out for hours during the night in freezing temps to see her and get their books signed. Lightning-in-a-bottle. Might only happen once in a generation, especially in terms of the political world.
Add all the momentum the tea parties brought. And what did the GOP do, when handed these gifts? They did everything they could to pour cold water on it all. It can’t just be monumental stupidity. No one is that stupid. I ultimately had to come to the conclusion that the GOP leadership is just far more alligned to the ruling elite’s socialist agenda and resulting big-government corruption, alongside the degenerate Dems and their vile enablers in the media. I’ve voted exclusively GOP my whole voting life, but I no longer have any faith, respect or trust in the Party, due to all this.
Wasn’t the Forbes writer’s point that the R’s are infested with Keynesians, and that the thing was a bad choice and should have been voted down?
How do you show the electorate that you believe in your own philosophy when you shield the electorate, by smoke and mirrors, with your own Keynesian vote?
“Let it burn” wasn’t a futile exercise, but a strong show-and-tell for giving the people exactly what they asked for and letting them live with the results. R’s might well be back by 2016 had they stood on sound fiscal ground, common sense, and among the Obama economic ashes.
A very rough game of “chicken”, I realize. Rand and Rubio stood (knowing how the vote would go) and thereby passed one of many other basic tests to come.
Which would have been a good thing, much though it roils my bowels to say so. Any time we can add one member of the 47% back to the taxpaying class, it is good for the debate in the long run.
Is this really what the voters did? No way. It seems more like the electorate was more clueless than even the GOP. Confused, incapable of firing a failed and inept president for fear of not being cool, incapable of doing anything other than fearfully leaving the status quo to continue ruining all things good.
Let's hope the GOP has some kind light bulbs pop off in its collective heads before they continue acting as if they lost the House already. Let's hope that we as conservatives stop being the circular firing squad that enables the left to win forever.......
????
No, if the House GOP successfully held out for all the rates to revert to Clinton levels (beyond New Years Day) the American people would have seen them as the party that raised their taxes for the exact goal this author states he wants above, to get all the Bush rates.
This strategy only works if Obama got blamed for it and that wasn't happening, they would simply believe the House GOP raised their taxes for the purpose of exactly what this author suggests, to get all the upper income cut too.
. Either they all were going up or a small % were going up.
BTW : After most Americans figured the GOP raised their taxes (for the purpose this author states he wanted it done for_) and blames Rs for it instead of Dems this author would blame the failure of his great idea on the MSM in typical ritual fashion.
Maybe this author should have run for Speaker and shown us how it is done.
That's true, unless it borrows it from the Federal Reserve, instead.
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