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The Most Important Piece Of Advice For Republicans Running for President
Townhall.com ^ | September 15, 2015 | John Hawkins

Posted on 09/15/2015 5:03:36 AM PDT by Kaslin

Here are the current rules of the political game in America.

When Democrats are in office, they move the country to the Left as quickly as possible. When Republicans are in office, the country still moves to the Left, albeit more slowly; so the GOP can claim it’s "gotten something done."

Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been caught in enough scandals, committed enough gaffes and made enough mistakes to destroy any Republican ten times over; yet they've gotten a pass. Meanwhile, Republicans live in holy terror of having their political careers destroyed by having a quote in a speech taken out of context.

The Republican Party has become entirely ineffective at communicating conservative principles to the American people and for the most part, has given up on even trying. The only thing that grassroots conservatives have to show for two landslide victories in 2010 and 2014 that have put the GOP in control of the House and Senate are meaningless show votes designed to distract us from how badly the GOP is getting its clocks cleaned on almost everything that matters.

Barack Obama has broken the law at will and the GOP has done little to try to stop him. Sure, we’ve had endless investigations, but no matter what sort of lawbreaking is revealed, Republicans in Congress treat Democrats as if they’re above the law and can never be called to account for what they’ve done wrong.

Meanwhile, the country is going down the tubes. Our debt is on track to break us, our borders are wide open, a record number of Americans are out of the workforce, Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts while it gets government funding, we've lost in Iraq, ISIS is on the rise, Iran is going to get a nuclear bomb -- and the GOP Leadership doesn't seem to care about anything except saving the export-import bank, pushing the TPA and figuring out how to bring more illegal aliens into America because that's what its rich donors want.

Worse yet, the people who demand that Republicans live up to their campaign promises and fight for the voters who put them in office are mocked as unrealistic even though the GOP controls the House, Senate and has public opinion on its side on many of the most controversial issues. If the Republican Party can’t win a fight with an unpopular President under those circumstances, what good is it?

In other words, America is shaking itself to pieces and the system is so stacked against conservatives that there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it.

Against this backdrop, Donald Trump has risen to the top of the field because there are a lot of things you can say about him, but one of them isn’t that the Democrats will slap him around and take his lunch money every day like they do with Boehner and McConnell.

Trump’s not timid, he's not politically correct and he has proven that he can take shots that would destroy the average Republican politician without even breaking stride. He's also bold enough to address problems that Republicans in Congress have been too cowardly to deal with.

Let me put it this way: all the Republicans in the race say they'll repeal Obamacare, but how many of them mean it? How many of them are willing to kill the program when Democrats are screaming at the top of their lungs, the mainstream media is calling for their heads and the GOP's "leaders" in Congress are encouraging them not to be so hasty?

Trump would. For that matter, so would Ted Cruz. Would Scott Walker? Maybe. He hasn’t covered himself in glory during this campaign (see his “me, too” position changes and his Super PAC’s hiring of Brad Dayspring), but Walker did show a lot of backbone when he took on the unions in Wisconsin.

Would Rubio, Bush, Kasich, Paul, Christie, Huckabee, Fiorina, etc., kill Obamacare? Could we count on them to stand in there and fight for conservative positions the same way Democrats fight for liberal ideas? I’m not trying to insult anybody’s candidate and I’m open to changing my mind, but honestly, I don’t think so. At best, you have to admit it’s an open question.

I say that because every year we have candidates who talk the talk about how conservative they are, but when it really matters, they refuse to walk the walk.

Most conservatives are fully aware that even if the dream scenario for Republicans comes to pass in 2016 and we retain a huge majority in the House, maintain a 51-49 edge in the Senate and we have a Republican President, it's entirely possible that the country will still move to the Left because the Republican Party is so weak, timid, out-of-touch and conflict-averse that it will refuse to fight. That’s just not good enough anymore because a slow motion suicide for America is still suicide.

At this point, the single most important quality for GOP candidates isn’t how many conservative boxes they can check (although that’s always a big plus); it’s how certain we can be that a candidate will shake things up if he’s elected. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz pass that test with flying colors, but as of today, the jury is still out on all the other candidates.

That brings me to my one piece of advice for everybody in the GOP field.

The most important thing you can do is prove to conservatives that it won't be business as usual if you're elected. Unless you can convince us that you’re offering something other than the status quo we’ve been getting not just from Obama, but from the Republican leadership in Congress, then you don’t deserve to be our nominee.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016election; campaigns; cruz; donaldtrump; president; republicanfield; republicans; trump
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1 posted on 09/15/2015 5:03:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

AMERICAN JOBS.

Borders.


2 posted on 09/15/2015 5:04:12 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html)
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To: Kaslin
Pubbies got to eliminate the terms “can't we all get along” and bipartisanship
3 posted on 09/15/2015 5:08:44 AM PDT by kenmcg
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

“Meanwhile, the country is going down the tubes. Our debt is on track to break us, our borders are wide open, a record number of Americans are out of the workforce, Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts while it gets government funding, we’ve lost in Iraq, ISIS is on the rise, Iran is going to get a nuclear bomb — and the GOP Leadership doesn’t seem to care about anything except saving the export-import bank, pushing the TPA and figuring out how to bring more illegal aliens into America because that’s what its rich donors want.”

Sounds like the Grifter in Chief’s plan to “fundamentally transform America” is well on track. Don’t say he didn’t tell us.


4 posted on 09/15/2015 5:12:55 AM PDT by Jarhead9297
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To: Kaslin
This article nails it. The measure of success is which way is the country moving, and it is obvious we are rapidly going down and left. Even when pubbies are in charge, we go left, just slower.
5 posted on 09/15/2015 5:13:40 AM PDT by Awgie (truth is always stranger than fiction)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Spending.

JUDGES.


6 posted on 09/15/2015 5:13:54 AM PDT by petercooper (And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus... Rollin' down Highway 41.)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

We do have borders, but we do need fences and walls that is impossible by the illegals and the terrorists to climb over


7 posted on 09/15/2015 5:15:27 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: kenmcg

“Reach across the aisle”...with a BIG STICK!


8 posted on 09/15/2015 5:15:49 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republican Freed the Slaves" month.)
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To: verga

bkmk


9 posted on 09/15/2015 5:15:53 AM PDT by verga (I might as well be playng chess with pigeons.)
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To: kenmcg

What the candidates need to say is that if elected, not only will they work to get rid of failed liberal policies but also liberal republicans who would rather caucus with the Democrats than the American people.


10 posted on 09/15/2015 5:15:56 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Establishmentistas - RINO's that are for Amnesty. (I think it is worthy of FR Lexicon")
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To: Kaslin
All the above is well and good... IF Trump is really on our (conservatives) side.

If not... we will place in office our own demise.

My biggest fear is that Trump will turn on us once he gets into office and all the things people are supporting him for will be used against us not the left.

But having said that, I would rather take my chances with Trump than elect Jeb or another known RINO who I have no doubts would screw us, albeit less effectively than Trump would.

11 posted on 09/15/2015 5:16:27 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (You can't spell Hillary without using the letters L, I, A, & R)
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To: kenmcg

“The most important thing you can do is prove to conservatives that it won’t be business as usual if you’re elected.”

On that count, Ribio has already disqualified himself because he lied to us from his heart in regards to ILLEGAL immigration. I was there when he propagated that lie when asked in Lake City, Florida in early June 2010. While autographing his “book” for me he did it again right to me eye-to-eye.

I agree with the author on Walker as well.


12 posted on 09/15/2015 5:20:46 AM PDT by mazda77
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To: Kaslin
we do need fences and walls that is impossible by the illegals and the terrorists to climb over

At the international airports: Deny entry, or Ellis Island for processing, evaluation and tagging.

13 posted on 09/15/2015 5:21:00 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republican Freed the Slaves" month.)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network; Kaslin

How about eliminating the NLRB and ending government unions?


14 posted on 09/15/2015 5:28:31 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: kenmcg

Walker’s done it. He’s fought that fight and is a proven winner.


15 posted on 09/15/2015 5:28:58 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Awgie

Correct. Actions not words.


16 posted on 09/15/2015 5:29:22 AM PDT by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

Ellis Island is not used for processing anymore and illegals do not come in through international airports.


17 posted on 09/15/2015 5:30:15 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: kenmcg
Pubbies got to eliminate the terms “can't we all get along” and bipartisanship

Both sides say it, neither side means it, so they're as good as dead anyway.

18 posted on 09/15/2015 5:31:55 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Kaslin
Ellis Island is not used for processing anymore

Re-utilize it or establish an equivalent.

illegals do not come in through international airports.

What do you call foreign nationals who overstay their visas and then disappear?

19 posted on 09/15/2015 5:35:12 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republican Freed the Slaves" month.)
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To: Kaslin

And never mind illegal migrants, how did the 911 terrorists get here?


20 posted on 09/15/2015 5:45:39 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republican Freed the Slaves" month.)
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