Posted on 11/05/2008 10:51:00 AM PST by Delacon
Well, we Republicans have just made history. Not the type of history we wanted to make, mind you, but history nonetheless. Not only did we lose the White House but, after losing our House and Senate majorities in 2006, we followed it up last night with even steeper losses in Congress.
In January, Democrats will enjoy lopsided congressional ratios not seen since the 1970s. Let's face it: We Republicans are now, by any reasonable measurement, deep in the political wilderness.
The temptation for Republican members of Congress today will be to assume the role of the post-Watergate Republicans of 1974 and accept minority status as a permanent condition. Indeed, the terrain is more difficult for us now than it was in 1992. Then, Republicanism was still largely defined by the Reagan years. Today the party is defined in the public mind by the Bush presidency. We've got a steep hill to climb.
Much of the backroom maneuvering and media speculation in the coming weeks will focus on identifying new standard-bearers for the party. This is important, and after a second straight drubbing, the House Republican leadership should be replaced. But the far more critical task is determining what standard these new leaders will bear.
I suggest that we return to first principles. At the top of that list has to be a recommitment to limited government. After eight years of profligate spending and soaring deficits, voters can be forgiven for not knowing that limited government has long been the first article of faith for Republicans.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hear, hear him very well. Same thing goes for the Senate in my book.
Jut because the election is over....does NOT make it ok to quote the WP...they hate us and fought hard to get their guy elected.
They launched 24 misslles to Israel after the announcement ov Barack Hussein.
Is did fire back. You can bet that Israel will defend their people.
After Obama gets done, limited government will just be a wet dream....
I would also like to see a new chairperson for the National Republican Committee.
Jeff Flake gets it.
This was an unavoidable consequence of GWBs two election (2002+2004) stretegy and GWB staying in office after 2006 midterms to lose one more election. Karl Rove got a soft job at FNC predicting Republican defeat after setting us up(Iraq costs was not his fault, that was GWB) . Look, now it’s time to clean up the party (Palin yes, McCain NO!) and hold Obama saviour to his idiotic promises. The dynamics of politics change dramatically with GWB gone and Obama pres. What did we learn? We learned that independents and illegal aliens wont sweep into office a republican that makes a career opposing fellow republicans on NBC and making illegals citizens because the media will turn on him and poor illegals will go for the tax rebate checks. So lets stop whining and form the opposition. Remember 1993-1994 !
We have to replace the entire leadership of our party.
We need Pence as Minority Leader in the House. I have some ideas to put in a “Help Wanted” ad:
WANTED: Energetic people to transform fossilized national political party. While not exclusive conditions, qualified appplicants should;
1. Be under 35 years of age.
2. Have current residence outside the Washington DC metro area.
3. Have had private sector management experience.
Applicants must be capable of cleaning out dead wood, and purge the party of “bipartisan” traitors.
Somebody needs to teach the GOP some algebra: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1
According to the exit polls, Whites comprised 74% of the 2008 electorate. McCain got 55% of them: 57% of the White Male vote AND 53% of the White Female vote - and still got trounced. I’m sure many in the GOP will say McCain’s the reason we lost: a real conservative would’ve got more white votes.
They are wrong.
The truth is that there is a massive - and real - diversity of opinion in this country found across the broad spectrum of white Americans. Accordingly, any strategy that requires a candidate needing to obtain over 70% of them to win an election is insanity.
Those of us who honestly believe in Ronald Reagan’s message of lower taxes, limited government, rugged individualism, wealth creation, and entrepreneurial spirit must also understand that it applies to all human beings, not just those who look like us and live in our neighborhood and go to our church.
Instead of ridiculing President-elect Obama’s “community activism” maybe we Republicans ought to learn just exactly what the heck it is. Much as our military is achieving victory in Iraq - not by shock and awe, but at the grassroots, one community at a time - we need to wage our own counterinsurgency. The GOP must develop and insert an inner city/suburban organization capable of establishing rapport and trust with Lamont the Plumber in Mitchellville, MD and Luisa the Cleaning Business Lady in Woodbridge, VA. A daunting challenge to be sure. But certainly not more difficult than what our service personnel faced as infidels who had killed many Iraqis. Then, after earning their trust with deeds, not words, they must methodically and courageously spread their message to counter and challenge the hidebound collectivist dogma of the Taliban/Civil Rights Left wing. A dogma that has still not introduced prosperity into the minority community after 40 years of miserable failure.
I did not say it will be easy. They’ve always tried the shortcut - dropping in a couple of high profile minority candidates from the top down. That will not work, as they are not trusted and viewed as sell-outs. We need to work inside the community.
The electorate is not going to get whiter. It is going to get more diverse. We just need to be the ones who can redefine what diversity means.
We need people who are prepared to explain and defend principles. For two long we’ve tried to reduce our philosophy of economics and governance to bumper-stickers about tax-cuts.
Tax-cuts don’t motivate people. Tax-cuts don’t explain the proper role of government, or the relationship between liberty and prosperity, or the importance of personal liberty for its own sake, or why people should govern themselves and their families and their communities and why letting government manage them is such a tragic mistake.
We don’t explain those things, we just talk about cutting taxes because in an MTV world we figure no one has the attention span for the whole philosophical discussion.
And in a world in which there are a hundred channels, thats understandable. Most people don’t have the attention span. But too many Repubs don’t have a talent for this kind of discussion even when they have the stage and the microphone.
After decades of a dumbed down education system, most Americans don’t know what the defining principles of this country are. They don’t know what socialism is or why we should not want it. They don’t know why an infantilized populace is bad and wouldn’t recognize themselves in the description.
We’ve abdicated control of the education of our own kids. We’ve abdicated control of the news and entertainment media. Lose the schools and universities, lose the news and entertainment media, and you’ve lost the game. Maybe not immediately, but you’re fighting a rear-guard action from that moment forward. Sooner or later an Obama shows up and down you come.
Well said.
And the Vichy Collaborator RINO's exposed and expurgated from the Party. Such as Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, and yes, John McCain. Vichy Republicans should be the epithet to replace RINO.
our party if shrinking and the demographics is changing in this country
we will never get the black vote so forget that
screw the homo vote (no pun intended)
Hispanics are increasing and that is where we have to get our support form
many Hispanics are conservative in nature and want to work believe in work, these are the ones we have to get
we still need to close the border but we have to figure how to get this group on our side before the Dems do
If the Dems get this voting block too then we can forget many more states and in 20 years forget even TX
they care about immigration so surely we now have to figure how to get them American so they can vote for us
maybe they have to serve for 3 years in the military, don’t know but we need to get them republican or we’ll never get power again
Not the young generation. They are lost to the righteous wind.
I am not for illegal immigration far from it but we need to get Hispanic on the republican side
they are usually wanting to work, they believe in work, they are against homosexuality they believe in families
some how the GOP needs to get them voting for us other wise we will never win any election, we cannot just count on whites any more,
blacks we’ll never get but Hispanics we can
and we have to do it before the Dems do
look at the Cubans, we helped them and now they vote for us
met many young ones here in Florida and they are all eager to work, they just want to become American the problem is how do we get them on our side without leaving the border open
our party solves that and we have the,m as a huge massive voting block whihc will easily out number blacks and liberals
Oh to heck with all the limited gov’t crap! Don’t you frigging GOP idiots get it? You got booted out because you have lost your humanity and don’t give a crap about real, down-to-earth human beings. You think all the poor people are abunch of bums, when really only a part are. You think that Wall Strett and big business guys are some kind Knights of the round table. About the same way your typical starry-eyed liberal sees JFK or now, Obama.
Trickling wealth down from Massa to all the peons out on the plantation seems like a good idea to you, but you never thought about percolating wealth up. What it would take to cure you is either re-education camps or make you work at a Wal-mart type job for about six months so you could learn what’s its like to work your tail off and not be able to pay your bills, or not be given enough hours for medical coverage or have to pay $27.50 everytime you bounced a check or pay $5.00 to cash your paycheck at a bank where the check is drawn or go thru the million other little daily humiliations that most people go thru.
parsy, who is on his sopabox today.
Mike Pence from Indiana. This guy defines the word ‘principles’, and that’s what we need.
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