Posted on 11/14/2008 3:25:28 AM PST by counterpunch
Republicans are in position to play their once and future strong suit of limited government.
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 Tuesday 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 startribune.com ...
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.Since taking over as Majority Leader on February 3, 2006, John Boehner has overseen the loss of 20% of his caucus in the house in consecutive historic losses.
— Congressman Jeff Flake (Arizona District 6)
The GOP leadership has been taking the party gradually towards the socialist left for years in order to expand its voter base and there has been no indication they intend to change.
First national election, that I know of, where a Democratic candidate for the office of the presidency lost out to a Democratic candidate for the office of the presidency.
Let's face it: We Republicans are now, by any reasonable measurement, deep in the political wilderness.And the man who lead Republicans in the House into the wilderness cannot be the one to lead them out.
Since last Tuesday, one of the components of the debate that has been conspicuously missing is that of less government and lower taxes. I hope Jeff will keep pushing...
1. Boehner is not voluntarily stepping down on his own.
2. So few at what passes for "the top" are screaming about #1.
To go from "the stupid party" to "the willfully ignorant party" is not improvement.
Mr. niteowl77
Well, once the Dems create millions of new Dems by Amnesty for Illegals it won’t matter what the pubbies do.
Maybe so, but with the first Al Quaida attack on American soil during the Obama administration and the public will come crawling back to the Republican model.
Bush (and by extension the Republicans) look bad now because they have been so successful in thwarting attacks that the public has become complacent.
That will all change in a heartbeat.
Is Arizona red or blue?
If McCain retires in 10 can Flake get this seat or will the Mexicans claim it as their own?
Next week the few remaining Republicans in the House will meet to vote for their party leadership.
So far, John Boner is unopposed for Minority Leader (#1).
Eric Cantor will be taking over as Whip (#2), and Mike Pence as Republican Conference Chairman (#3).
Boner cannot be allowed to continue leading the House GOP.
He is too big a loser to be allowed to continue.
We all need to implore Jeff Flake to step forward to challenge Boner, and encourage our congressmen to support him. After the GOP’s last landslide defeat under Boner, members of the Republican Study Committee, the conservative caucus, now make up a majority of Republicans. John Boner is not one of them. Jeff lake is. They can replace the hapless, limp Boner if they stand together.
Boner must be stopped!
John Shadegg will probably run for McCain’s seat.
What we need is Jeff Flake as Minority Leader in 2009.
Anyone but Boner.
How’s that strategy working for them?
Not that I’d expect the current leadership to change course....
Now, here's a radical suggestion:
Rush needs to request to be made RNC Chairman.
With the coming “Fairness Doctrine,” this is one way they absolutely could not shut him up; he would have more access to media than ANY chairman we could possibly name; he has fundraising contacts through his business associates that would shame any of the other candidates; he has a grassroots appeal that virtually none of the other names being floated out there have.
He’d possibly say, “I can’t take the pay cut,” but we both know that he wouldn’t have to, that he could shelter his income. Above all, possibly only he could re-galvanize the grass-roots Republican movement in a Reagan-esque way.
When the going gets tough, the tough get BACK TO BASICS
No way. In exactly the opposite manner of how the MSM and the RATS covered for Bildo Klintoon’s culpability in 9/11 will be the avalanche of blame and criminal investigation of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney if there is a terrorist attack during Chairman Hussein’s administration. Mark it down.
Still Red but rapidly turning purple thanks to all the refugees from the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia.
My opinion might sound off the wall but when I say put someone new in there, someone who hasn’t been there long enough to be in the good ole boys club. I swear, the reason that nothing gets done in government is because they ALL cover each other asses. They all have way too much dirt on each other and if one goes down they all go down and none wants to lose their power.
I agree: I really think America wants a government that is small and unobtrusive yet effective and competent in the actions it does take.
The Bush admin and GOP of this decade managed to make government big, obtrusive and incompetent at at the same time.
I want a federal government which:
1. cuts taxes
2. cuts spending
3. balances budgets (and does not pass on the costs of government to our kids!)
4. actually wins the wars we fight (and when we fight, make them fight *all* of us, we all sacrifice for victory -pay taxes, forgo luxuries, drive smaller cars, grow victory gardens, donate blood, etc. - not think “shopping” is our only patriotic obligation)
5. protect from force and fraud
6. maintain basic law and order
7. in pretty much all other manners, leave peaceful consenting adults to do as they please
“That government is best which governs least”
Anyone with me?
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