The Dangerous Good Old Boys of the GOP
Since the election, the debate has raged. Who is responsible for the 2008 election debacle and the defeat of the Republican Party?
So far this question has centered on various groups’ attempts to reenact the scapegoat scene from Leviticus and cast all the sins of the Republican Party onto cultural conservatives and release their concerns into the wilderness.
The battle has been as entertaining as it has been misguided and pointless. Is there a war between economic conservatives and social conservatives? As someone actively involved in both social and fiscal issues, I’ve seen a lot of crossover between the two sides in terms of people who show up. This crossover is quite common. A leading economic conservative group, Club for Growth, often backed the same candidates as socially conservative groups like National Right to Life, Government Is Not God-PAC, and Focus on the Family Action. Newt Gingrich has begun to go around with slides showing that the most socially conservative members of Congress were also the most fiscally conservative.
I’m going to suggest an alternate conclusion. I’m going to reject the conventional wisdom that the election was lost because of the party grassroots and go out on a limb and suggest that maybe the problem is not the party’s activists. Perhaps (and I know this is shocking) the people who led the party over the cliff are the ones to blame.
The GOP doesn’t have a religious problem, a gay rights problem, or an abortion problem. It fundamentally has a good old boy problem. Let us tell the story of a primary, and we don’t have to name names, because the story is the same across the country.
A vacancy occurs in Congress. Who’s going to fill it? The GOP establishment has its favorite son, an amiable fellow who thinks he’d be one heck of a congressman. And then there are other candidates, probably three or four, who lay hold to the label of true conservatism. They fight it out. Leaders of many right-of-center groups endorse the good old boy. The good old boy is hailed for his electability. He may have his flaws, but he can win, we’re assured. So voters nominate and then elect Congressman Good Old Boy.
Congressman Good Old Boy doesn’t give a lick about issues like right to life or limited government. Sure, he may personally believe in some of these things, but they have nothing to do with why he got into politics. The congressman’s focus is on getting re-elected, so he works his darnedest to bring home tens of millions of dollars in earmarks and to impress a cross-section of special interest groups.
Congressman Good Old Boy is focused on appropriating money, doling out favors, defending the party establishment, and getting re-elected. Rinse, lather, and repeat a hundred times, and you have the story of two-thirds of the Republicans in Congress.
Hold on a minute. I think I need to send this essay to Kathleen Parker.
Excellently written. This should be called the Adam Graham plank of the Republican party, and kept in the party leaderships face as long as there IS a party leadership. Bravo. They have been betraying us since Bob Dole, who ran because it was his turn, even though it wasn’t his revolution.
Could we knock off these puff piece attacks on Republicans?
Attacking good old boys is ageist and sexist, and I’m guessing anti- traditionalist.
Let’s concentrate on the real problem: tax and spend Democrats, now led by a socialist. The Democrats are grossly incompetent on the economy and security and yet the Democrats will support anyone who will toe the party line.
Republicans demand all kinds of purities in their candidates. Stop aiming your gun at your feet.
Excellent description of why the GOP hasn’t received a penny of my money in about 6 years. I stopped giving when it became obvious they were not going to reform the tax code, reduce the size and cost of government, etc…
3. Terry Gain:
I disagree. Individual Republicans in leadership have been doing obvious and serious damage to conservative goals. Now, during a period of political rest, during a period where the Republican party is as weak as it was after Nixon, we have a duty to clear out the entrenched, self-serving politicians like Specter, McCain and Graham. It’s not a witch hunt. It’s a simple repair job. If your train has an engine halfway back the line that’s pulling the opposite direction, you have to stop the train. Fix the engine, then continue to your goal.
Some simple critieria : amnesty, stimulous, defense cuts and appeasement. For or against? I think you will find all of the dead weight politicians have the same opinions on those matter,,,opinions that differ with conservatives.
I completely agree. Off with their heads!
Now is the time to demand the primal change needed to make the GOP conservative again.
The status quo must go. Now is not the time to “settle down” and “focus.”
We need new personnel, and have been duped by those in charge into thinking that they’re actually who we need one too many times.
Old faces are NOT the answer.
I’m reading the parable about “Congressman Good Old Boy” and noticing that your story has this guy elected. One thing you might ask about is where Congressman Good Old Boy is from. He’s not from the Northeast or the Northwest. He’s probably not from the Southwest, and if he was from the Midwest he probably lost in 2008.
The real problem for the Republicans is all the congressmen good old boys seem to be from the deep south.
If sticking to your principles means you can only elect congressfolks from one region you are a regional party.
There is nothing wrong with being a regional party that’s ideologically pure, in Canada we have a party devoted to seperatism (secession) that only runs candidates in Quebec. All their candidates are committed to that issue and they win the majority of seats in their region. But they are mathematically incapeable of forming a government.
Now, it’s true that the GOP runs candidates everywhere, but reality is that the brand of conservatism peddled by the Republicans doesn’t work in Northern urban areas. It doesn’t appeal to young voters, new citizens, people with post-secondary education, or people who think the Earth is more than 6000-10,000 years old. So the GOP is a mainly regional party that appeals to people who listen to Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.
I’m not saying you should kick out the party activists. These are your ground troops and the kind of people who give millions of $100 cheques during fund-raising drives. But as long as the party is going to describe anyone who is not ideologically pure as a RINO, they are going to lose millions of votes. Then it doesn’t matter if congressman Good Old Boy is a true conservative or not, he’s going to be former congressman Good Old Boy.
I witnessed this phenomenon in NH last year in a congressional primary. The GOP had two principal candidates a young, experinced, proven government cutter named John Stephen and an old Rockefeller Type liberal, Jeb Bradley. Stephen was a Paul Ryan conservative, a Bobby Jindal type. Bradley was the classic hack, against drilling in ANWR, for earmarks, you get the picture.
In August the GOP sent John Boehner to NH to campaign against Stephen. The GOP helped Bradley run, what the Union Leader, our state wide newspaper, termed the most dishonest political television ads it had ever seen. Stephen lost in a very close race.
This is the perfect example of what this article is speaking about. It is yet another reason that I am no longer a Republican. It’s why the party must rid it’s self of dead wood like Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, John Boehner, and Sue Collins. These are but a few of the good ol’ boys and girls who are empty, unprincipled, getting reelected is my only cause in life Republicans.
The GOP comeback depends upon three things in my opinion:
1. Get rid of the unprincipled liberals in the party who only care about their reelection and “friends” and keep selling out conservative problem solving.
2. Support the wise young bucks like Paul Ryan and Bob Jindal, they are the future, the appostles of free enterprise and state fiscal restraint.
3. Wait for the inevitable crash of the socialist state that is now rapidly expanding at the expense of jobs and free enterprise. The liberals can not offer long term security or prosperity because their political DNA despises the elements that make up each of these societal pillars.
If the GOP is wise enough to follow such a course, when the crash occurs it will have an alternative to offer disaffected independents and rethinking Democrats. I am not holding my breath. The GOP has been screwing it up for a long time now.
This is spot on. Absolutely accurate analysis. If I may, please the court, there is an bright (or dark – depending on your point of view) illustration of this article in recent action.
We here in the Old Dominion, had a young, energetic, thoroughly ideologically Conservative Party Chairman. He was elected by the delegates at 2008 Virginia State Republican Convention, not chosen by the establishment and rubber-stamped. He was immediately and vehemently opposed by the (I call them) “Old Bulls”.
No matter what he did, he was undermined, back-stabbed, and foot-dragged. The Old Bulls hated him. He was insufficiently deferential to their demands for permission to do anything.
What happened over the last 9 months has been a direct slap in the face to all of the “Grass roots”, door knockers, sign pounders, flyer-stuffers, and County Committee delegates who nominated and elected him to the State Party Chairmanship.
What is worse is the Old Bulls have enough of the magic grease that lubricates the political machinery in the Commonwealth ($$$$$) to turn most of the elected officials in the state, against him.
Our young chairman did nothing wrong. He, in fact, was making headway into modernizing the party’s communications functions from the old “mail” the dumb flyer (ends up in the shredder with the other junk mail) to email, twitter messages, instant messages and other more advanced communications.
The Old Bulls don’t want to spend the money or the time. Their politics are old. Their methods are dictatorial and counter productive, and their campaign strategies are sclerotic.
Who in the Commonwealth has not been daily assaulted by annoying ROBO-CALLS? The Old Bulls haven’t a clue that they are chasing away voters with such intrusions (Do not call lists didn’t become popular for nothing.)
So, the GOP is going through a major shakeout. The Grass Roots vs. The Old Bulls… There are going to be more Old Bulls heading for the tall grass (like they always do) some will even be headed over the fence, back to the Democrats that used to be their masters.
It’s sort of like staring at a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado… The old girl has been neglected. The top is frayed. The tires are flat.. the paint is spotty and the rust needs to be ground out… but given some time, elbow grease, TLC and a box-motor… She can be put back on the road, better than ever.
R/John
Rebuild the Eldo and let her glide
Ozzie at # 5.
My sentiments exactly. The GOP needs to approach this like a chapter 11 bankruptcy, they have some unproductive “union” employees to get rid of and some bad contracts with “upper managment” that have to be renegotiated.
Unfortunately, we conservatives have no court that has jurisdiction to hear our plan of reorganization. So we do what you and I did, we stop giving ‘em money. Hey, Mike Steele, are you listening? Yeah, I thought not. Lots of luck!
The operative words here are “political class”. The leaders of neither party believe in limited, constitutional government. The only true belief they have is filling their own pockets and they have to stay in power to do that. We, the people, are the most guilty of all because we continue to vote them in year after year. A third party candidate has no chance to get elected in most states in this country. Otto von Bismark said that a people get the government they deserve. There is a straight line from the betrayals by the Republicans of the Bush years and the present farce we have with those miserable failures Pelosi and Reid.
We need to look in the mirror for the answers. The members of Congress don’t get there by magic. Every member of the House of Representatives need to be tossed out in 2010 regardless of party affiliation. That’s the only way to get the message across but I fear it is too late. The public debt we now have may be beyond the ability of anyone to cope with.
Our Canadian “friend” helpfully writes: “Now, it’s true that the GOP runs candidates everywhere, but reality is that the brand of conservatism peddled by the Republicans doesn’t work in Northern urban areas. It doesn’t appeal to young voters, new citizens, people with post-secondary education, or people who think the Earth is more than 6000-10,000 years old. So the GOP is a mainly regional party that appeals to people who listen to Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.”
He/she is correct in one sense, Northern city dwellers are largely Socialists. How did this happen? History will tell you, oh Lamp of Northern Wisdom. Read some. Meanwhile, why doesn’t he/she do something to rid Canada of the horror of Socialized Medicine instead of wasting his/her time trying to insult us? (1) I don’t believe this person is a Canadian. (2) I believe this person is just another Democraticic, sockpuppet, troll of U.S. origin.
The real reason the republicans lost, is the democrats got out the illiterate vote…plain and simple.
a good percentage of democratic voters have no clue. You could make the same claim about republicans, but IMHO it’s not nearly as extreme (although talk to a progressive and they will most certainly bring up intelligent design as the cornerstone of their rebutal–at least the repubs know who is on the ticket).
I continue to call ‘em NRCCGOP, the Nelson Rockefeller Country Club GOP. Screw ‘em.
This article is right on the money. We need conservatives in the GOP who will walk-the-walk, not just talk. If we talk about limited goverment, vote to spend less. If we desire to claim the moral high ground on a variety of issues, start by staying out of airport restrooms.
I will not contribute to the GOP until my interests are represented.
7. Northern Light:
Thanks you for the reworded MSM talking points. Please instruct me on the last Democrat party presidential nominee who was off ANY of the left wing planks? Pro life? Pro Gun? Right to Work? Small government? The Democrat party is as dogmatically literal and straight line as a Communist party opinion check list. A check list they apply to nominees for judge, national office and party leadership. The next time the DNC has a president who is pro life, THEN lecture us on how we are casting away people. Conservatives are more accomodating of differences than any leftist. We DO need to make sure our leaders are working towards OUR goals, however, and not the goals of our opponents.
“The division between the GOP’s leadership and its membership..?”
Last time I checked it was something like using America for an illegal Hispanic immigrant dumping ground courtesy of George W. Bush, the GOP in Congress, Wall Street – and did I mention the “Good Old Boys..?”
Not much has changed.
16 Ozzie
We DO need to make sure our leaders are working towards OUR goals, however, and not the goals of our opponents.
So there’s nothing wrong with Obama and his plans. They’re just not YOUR plans. That’s fine. Let’s go with that. That gives liberals the right to enact their agenda, because we have the power. And it gives the right the OK to whine about it. It’s all good. Glad we got that settled.
Now, how do you like your burger?
Painfully accurate. Although to be precise, the Republican party lost the White House in ’08 because the stock market crashed in October. Without that crash, it is another ’00 election with the machinations of ACORN and the Chicago mob becoming important. Pretty much a toss up. The loses in Congress were due to the religious right mostly staying home.
They stayed home because McCain was/is a RINO. Palin didn’t have the political weight to make up for McCain with conservatives.
The MSM is stacking the deck by shutting conservatives out of the primary process. The start of a run at the White Hose depends on free advertising from the MSM. Deny that and the politicians cut off cannot get started. The ONLY conservative running for POTUS in the last election was Senator Fred, and he is too much of the backroom wheeler dealer to get elected. Plus the MSM pretended he wasn’t running and pretty soon there were right.
Rudi, Mitt, Huck are all RINO’s. Mitt might be the most conservative of that lot, which isn’t saying much.
The largest voting block in America is the Christian block, with about 60% of the registered voters. That is about 90 million votes. Almost twice what McCain got. The problem there is Christians seldom vote as a block, they end up voting as one of the secondary blocks. Unless motivated to vote Christian. Bush was able to do that. It was the religious right that put him in office and kept him there. Bush was a RINO and a poster boy for the modern political animal.
I think Huck had the best shot at bringing the religious right on board. Not sure it would have mattered with the October surprise that the Usurper rode into the white House.
Not sure what can be done within the system to put the playing field back on level.
We are caught in the grip of professional politicians that have no political leaning beside “ME first”. Look at the latest defection. Does it really make ANY difference which party Sen. Specter claims? His real party is the party of Sen. Specter. He represents only him self.
Demographics say that if Christians vote as a block, they are unstoppable. That is why the left is waging war on Christianity, the family, and marriage. It is an attempt to destroy the only weapon they fear.
The question is, when will Christians start fighting back? Waiting until the Lions come to feed is a little late.
Hey Northern 40 watt bulb, we spell it “check” here, not “cheque”. Your opinion is like a certain part of the anatomy, everyone has one. Now run along,ay.
Spot on article. The Republican Party doesn’t have the exclusivity that it once had. More people are using the organizing and communicating abilitites of the internet such as was done with the Tea Parties. The internet was a major factor in BO getting elected. We still have to deal with the big money interests supporting the nonconservative Repubs, but we do outnumber them. Give no money to the GOP till we see a thorough house cleaning. The move to support Toomey over Spector looks good to me. Give me some more. The GOP has not done a good job of selling conservative ideas. We have to communicate to the public how big government impinges on individual freedom. I think most people are not willing to give up their freedom if they understand how it is gradually being taken away by crafty politicians. Conservatives including the grassroots have to be active in bringing attention to politicians who are grabbing for more power and communicate how they are doing it.
Close but it missed the important point.
It is in “good ol boy’s best interest and in the GOP’s best interest to vote for small government and against “Nanny state” laws ie: NCLB, Medicare Part D, Patriot Act….
This lesson was first driven home when the first Progressive/liberal George Bush got elected with “Read my lips…!” went back on his word and only got 33% in the next election. The lesson was not learned! So the GOP went “Nanny State” and got smashed in ’06 and smashed again in ’08.
Voting for big government is not in the best interest of most Republicans. Look at the #’s in 92, 06 and 087. If “Good ol boy” were not dumb he would work to get rid of RINO’s as they are hazardous to his health as well as to the health of his party!
The person that hit the nail on the head here is #13 Bear. We let the liberals convince us to this day that it was a “landslide” victory for TeleBama which is not true. But, some of us DO believe that and wrongly think that to counteract the TeleBama “landslide” we must dismantle the entire GOP. What? So the GOP is being forced (from the inside out unfortunately) to totally do an about face now instead of continuing to welcome moderates and conservatives while the Democrats get a blank check to be left or right or up or down. Anyone stop to think that we’re being backed into a corner because we’re BUYING THE MSM’s version of ourselves? Anyone think that the RINO’s leaving now are saving their own skins instead of looking out for the GOP (or the country) by trash talking?
Plain and simple, the GOP lost because we weren’t thrilled with our candidate (which we got because we were lazy during the primaries) and most importantly we lost because the Liberal Left (ie ACORN) saw a voter vacuum that included the illiterate, the college-aged uninformed, the white-guilters, the nanny-staters and the National Enquirer readers. Remember how they were all bussed in? Remember how several states let people vote with no question as to their address?
We can allow ourselves to be led around by the nose, internally combust and get complacent once again OR we can take advantage of the groundswell of the Tea Parties, reorganize, keep to our ideals and find a great candidate early on that we back REGARDLESS and IN SPITE OF what the MSM is trying to point us towards.
Angry White Dude wrote about this last night. Republicans are what’s wrong with Republicans! They only care about power and money. I’d put my money that every single one of them would convert to DemonRats if they had a serious primary challenge. Here’s the post:
http://angrywhitedude.com/?p=1596
Angry White Dude
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely.-Lord Acton. Some, if not most of those who are elected to Congress, go there full of idealism about how they will do what’s right for their country. During their 1st term, all that changes and their main purpose is all about maintaining their power and position. That’s just human nature. To exchange Public Service for Self Service in the Congress, a constitutional amendment limiting congress to one term and one term only will be necessary. Not likely to happen.
What you’re saying, I think, is that the Republicans have been acting like Democrats.
Add to that the political cover the MSM gives the Dems and you understand the problem we are in.
Sadly, we need people like Arlen Specter. But not in Pennsylvania. They are electable in places like New York, California, and maybe even Vermont. If they caucus with the GOP from those states they should be welcome. But not from a state that is half heartland, even if the other half is bleeding-heart land.
Who is responsible for the 2008 election debacle and the defeat of the Republican Party?…Republicans didn’t lose because we had people at the grassroots of the party with strong viewpoints. Republicans lost because we had hypocritical leadership that gave lip service to ideas but was ultimately focused on its own power.
John McCain was a poor choice, perhaps one encouraged and even enabled by the so called MSM.
I would characterize Republican leadership as “weak” as opposed to hypocritical. These days, it almost seems non-existent as democrats seem to be able to roll through Congress with impunity.
My other thesis is that 69 million of the roughly 129 million individuals who voted in November 2008 are brain dead
Anyway, Specter (“I’m not gonna let those nasty Penn. Publicans not vote for me and destroy my entitlement Senate seat of 29 years”) deserves the utmost scorn.
AThinkingPerson: “We can allow ourselves to be led around by the nose, internally combust and get complacent once again OR we can take advantage of the groundswell of the Tea Parties, reorganize, keep to our ideals and find a great candidate early on that we back REGARDLESS and IN SPITE OF what the MSM is trying to point us towards.”
You ran a white war hero with tons of political experience against a nobody black community organizer and LOST.
And you still think the reason you lost was because liberals bussed in homeless people?
You really have absolutely no idea how royally screwed your party is.
Here’s a deal – you keep having your tea parties, and we’ll keep securing new voters.
See you in 2012.
Excellent assessment of the main problem with the Republican Party. As long as the status quo remains static among all those good old boys, the conservative electorate will continue opting out of the voting booth.
And there are enough of us fed up with what’s dished out to us on election day, that we won’t come back anytime soon. It’s going to take more than the same old same old, to get us back.
Whoever says they vote for the lesser of two evils, needs to reevaluate their ethics. Evil is evil, no matter what party label they wear. Chosing one over the other, just because there is an R behind their name, isn’t going to weed out the incompetent, career politicians – the proverbial good old boys.
Mr. Bush pushed the social agenda to the detriment of the fiscal and constitutional agenda. Bingo, regional party. Surely, many fiscal and small government conservatives will vote for the social conservative when the alternative is to vote socialist, but that won’t win a national election. The constitutional and social agendas fundamentally conflict. You can’t push anti-abortion laws at the federal level unless you trash the constitutional mandate that limits federal legislation to constitutional scope. You can justify getting rid of roe v. wade, on the basis that it’s outside of federal scope, but that’s as far as you can go. Unless you can deal with this conflict, you will remain a regional party. Now only the social agenda remains. Moderates, who are necessary to win national elections, won’t vote for a social agenda.
So many interesting responses to this excellent article by Adam Graham. Charm at # 21 is right on the money.
I stopped giving to the GOP in 2006 and resigned from the RNC in January 2007. They keep begging me for money, the latest was a letter from the GOP’s new state party Chair John Sununu(as some know I live in NH). I wrote him a polite letter back about this exact subject about a week ago. Haven’t heard back from Mr. Sununu yet, I know he is a busy man.
Mike Steele and John Sununu had best start reacting to the people commenting here. I only give money now to authentic conservatives, the GOP gets nothing. When they show me that they hear Charm’s voice and mine I might reconsider. Until then, let ‘em feel the pain. The party left me, I didn’t leave it. The party is full of phonies and old bulls. If any GOP Powers are reading these comments I sure hope you are taking this to heart, there are millions of Old Soldiers, Charms, Ozzies, Believer312,and Samizdats out there who have had it with the GOP. You have wasted all of your good will, its high time you begged our forgiveness you prodigal sons and daughters. Once again, not holding my breath.
What do you want to bet the old bulls don’t even know this excellent website exists? What do you want to bet they don’t even know how to access the internet? How pathetic!
A Thinking Person, good analysis. We truly need to ignore the media Obama sycophants. It’s going to be an ugly tsunami of lies in 2010 and 2012. They bent over for the water walker and they’ll do all they can to support him, no matter how the country’s fortunes go in the tank.
ACORN and voter fraud is a real concern because while we instinctively believe in the fairness of elections, the left is utterly cynical and ready to use Banana Republic strongarm tactics and ballot box stuffing to hold onto power. It’s going to take poll watchers in force to prevent Obama cementing his power Chavez style here.
Inevitably, Obama, Pelosi,etc. will bring on catastrophe of one sort or another by their folly. Hopefully it won’t be too severe and we can reclaim our nation.
I don’t see much here. This is the same format used by both parties. Elections today are not the will of the electorate, but the will of the political parties.This will continue until the American People take back the government.
The most sacred right and the foundation of America is the vote. It has always seemed weird to me that I have to take a test to drive a car, go to school, to get a job, etc., and yet any uneducated idiot can vote. Obama only won because he got the black vote which was a very racist vote, they voted color, not substance. The impressionable socialist educated and inexperienced college squirts added to the atrocity voting with their emotions not their logic. The deadbeat socialists also contributed mightily. Thinking people always vote conservative, but there just ain’t enough of them to go around. And certainly Bush leading us into Iraq, the Katrina debacle, and all those horrible verbal abuses of the language certainly made Bush fodder for all sorts of well deserved insults by the comics. Bush failed to act to protect our borders, the financial collapse happened on his watch, there are real reasons why people voted against the Republicans. With no clear message and no strong leadership it was inevitable that a likable, well spoken socialist, with a positive message would win. The Republicans can win again, but they need a leader with a clear message that resonates to the souls of the voters.
trangbang68: “Inevitably, Obama, Pelosi,etc. will bring on catastrophe of one sort or another by their folly. Hopefully it won’t be too severe and we can reclaim our nation.”
Ahh, the unified GOP strategy for 2008-2012: Pray for a national tragedy for which the GOP can blame Democrats.
Pathetic.
Yawn.
MuppetPastor
What we need are conservative candidates who can convince the casual voter, the undecided, to vote for him or her because the middle is the battleground. The party elite wants winners and have for too long thought that mumble-mouthed candidates are the true path to victory.
Unfortunately, too many conservatives are afraid to voice opinions or advance conservative arguments aggressively. Reagan did that and the middle-of-the-road voter responded.
Fortunately, the Obama/Reid/Pelosi years will give voters a painful lession in government and the folly of liberalism and socialism. Voters will be receptive to conservative arguments well phrased and delivered.
Getting that message out will require organization and money.
In other words, the last thing conservative activists should do is give up and crawl into their coccoons. We have an opening and must take advantage of it.
This article is spot on. I’m so sick of never having a presidential candidate who is a real fiscal conservative. Not to mention that the Republican party never seems to have articulate candidates. Although I voted for McCain, I was astonished at his inability to explain his health care plan, which imo, was a good plan. I’ve only recently become interested in politics, because it seems to me that unless everyone starts making an effort to be better informed, we are going to end up with a government that is very far from what this country was intended to be, and there won’t be any way back. I learned during this last presidential campaign that our citizens can not rely on the MSM for unbiased information. I’m afraid most people still aren’t aware, but hopefully that is changing. I know many don’t believe a big congressional change-over will happen in 2010, but I think we may all be surprised. People are sick of the life-long politicians in Congress, of both parties. I think 2010 may see a lot of new faces in Congress. Whether they will be Republicans or Democrats will depend, I think, on the Republican party’s ability to make some of the changes suggested by this article.
We got rid of one RINO here in the state of Utah. His name was Chris Cannon. Two more to go. A governor and a senator (maybe two). I can’t wait.
“Congressman Good Old Boy is focused on appropriating money, doling out favors, defending the party establishment, and getting re-elected. Rinse, lather, and repeat a hundred times, and you have the story of two-thirds of the Republicans in Congress.”
___
Now *there*, Mr. Bones, is a quotation to be treasured up as a possession forever. Make a memorandum of it at once, sir!
That is what what the core of America’s Otherparty appear to have been thinkin’ all along since the 1830’s at latest, but which one can rarely catch them barkin’ and bellowin’ out loud in the Neuhaus Memorial Naked Public Square where somebody from outside the asylum might overhear and use against ’em.
They HATE havin’ to pretend to be a political party, our GOP geniuses do! Always have, always will. But despite umpteen decades of tryin’, they have not down to this very mornin’ found a way around the jackasseries of Gen. Jackson and Van Buren, Esq., that is permanently workable.
You might shed a tear, Mr. Bones, for the wannabe pols of America’s Otherparty. How would *you* like it, sir, if ÿour choice of profession instantly branded you a third- or fourth-rater in the eyes of those whom you yourself piously worship as first-rate? For it goes without sayin’ that every red-blooded Grantite-Goldwaterite wants to be John D. Rockefeller or Bernie Madoff when she grows up.
After that, becomin’ only, say, a Taft Minor of Ohio instead is very sad and shabby stuff — even if a few eccentrics *do* occasionally call you “Mr. Republican” at one of those rubber chicken events. [1]
Happy days.
___
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taft
28. Pastor of Muppets:
You were a bus driver picking up the homeless and taking them to the voting polls and pointing to the button to push to secure the votes for the one whose poster hangs on the cieling above your bed, right?
What’s your game plan next election? Ship the new voters in from Kenya?
Pastor of Muppets: Your outright anger at us discussing what led to TeleBama’s election is indeed telling. Why so much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands friend? You won remember? You are apparently not a member of the GOP, nor a moderate anything so why the angst when we’re discussing possible solutions? I’m guessing we’re hitting a bit too close to home. We’ve now read TeleBama’s playbook which in a nutshell reads: 1) Say anything to get elected. 2) Disclose no personal information and pray to God courts mindlessly back you up. 3) Feign indignity when someone points out obvious flaws in voting record. 4) Use Teleprompter at ALL COSTS. 5) Have VP running mate that is a buffoon and takes spotlight away from you when going gets tough. 6) Promise the world to the underprivileged to win vote and then apologize later. 7) PASS THE BUCK (this one is of utmost importance and a surefire winner). 8) Use humor to deflect tough questions. 9) Claim to be green but use AirForce I if necessary for good photos for future campaigns. 10) Have surefire list of backpocket reporters to call on at “press conferences” and only answer questions containing the word “enchanting”.
Rahm is going to be so peeved when he finds out we’re on to his campaign winning recipe!
This article is correct. The GOP needs to go through a spiritual death and rebirth. To use another corny metaphor, the first dragon to slay is the status quo within the GOP. After that it can go slay the Democrat dragon. Yes, there were technical reasons that could have swayed the 2008 election to the Republicans, in theory, maybe; but the party was dead on its feet.
The GOP will win future elections. For now it needs to be reborn, re-invented, transformed – choose your favourite word. Cosmetic makeovers won’t cut it. Obama is mounting a direct attack on the USA and the mess that he will leave could not be addressed by the current GOP.
George Jonas (National Post) notes that Canadians can’t vote in US elections, but we do suffer the consequences. That’s why we are interested.
The reality is that a large number of people vote based on fear. I’ve used a joke before that people vote for Republicans because they’re afraid the Democrats will raise tax rates to 115% and surrender to the French. And they vote Democrat because they’re afraid Republicans will outlaw sex and good music. It’s a joke, but there’s some truth in it, and the parties both know it. Negative advertising is targeted at these fears, trying to convince voters that the other guy will go too far. When elected Republicans began taxing and spending like Democrats, they threw away one of the big reasons people voted for them without doing anything about the reasons people voted against them.
Then throw in the occasional tawdry sex scandal and people begin wondering if a group that is so plainly hypocritical on fiscal issues might be hypocritical on the moral ones as well. I got a fund raising letter from the RNC last year, but I had to open it to find out that’s what it was. On the outside of the envelope a return address was printed in the upper left for the “Office of Audit and Control” with a PO box in Washington, D.C., using the exact same font that the Internal Revenue Service uses. Nice scam to get me to open it. I received another fundraising request from them that was presented in the form of a bill and all I could think of was that they were hoping some elderly people would be frightened by it and just pay without looking too closely. Are the sort of people who send out misleading fundraising letters really who I want championing morality issues?
But none of that matters any more.
Unless we’re hit by nuclear terrorism first, by 2010 there will be one and only one issue that voters care about – the economy. We’re in rough shape right now, paying for bad decisions in Congress, the White House, and on Wall Street going back fifteen or twenty years with enough blame for both parties. The misguided solutions Obama, Pelosi and Reid are offering will make it even worse. Come 2010 there will be two camps of voters – those who think increased government spending and control are necessary to get the economy growing again (the Keynesians), and those who think too much government spending and control are what’s causing the problem (the Austrian school). I don’t know how big each group will be, but I do know that the Democrats have staked out the Keynesian position. Voters who believe government is the solution will vote Democrat. I also know that right now there is no political party that credibly represents the Austrian position. As Graham hints at here, the GOP GOBs (GOP Good Old Boys) are too interested in their own power to be champions of liberty. They need our money to fund their lifestyle. If the GOP reforms itself and becomes (once again) a credible party of smaller government by 2010, I think they will do very, very well. If they do not, then I think they will simply go away and 2012 will see the emergence of the first new major political party since the Republican Party arose out of the collapse of the Whigs.
Hey Pastor,
It is inevitable that the economy will suffer for a long time due to the spendthrift approach by the Democrats and the ridiculous TARP spending Bush II advocated.
My experience tells me there will be a recovery of sorts starting late this year. It will initially show some signs of strength, the economy has shrunk quite a bit and for a long time now. After it starts inflation will begin to take off. Bernanke will have to push the prime up quickly because of the trillions of dollars the government has flooded onto the market.
When that occurs the recovery will stall. This is an entirely avoidable result, but not if you play your fiscal and monetary hand as Bush, and now Obama, have chosen to play it, with the active complicity of the Dems in Congress.
I don’t know if the resulting stagflation will amount to a national tragedy, but prosperous, productive Americans are not going to like it and are going to look for an alternative way out. This inevitability will occur entirly on the Dems watch as they control both the legislative and executive branches of the Federal government and most state governments as well. There are a few Dems who understand the danger here, Kent Conrad and Ben Nelson come to mind. The rest don’t really understand economic theory or are wedded exclusively to their interpretation of a Keynesian approach. Historically, that approach has led to purgatory, at best.
Pastor, a smart Liberal would see that an expanding private sector provides tax revenue for “do goodism”. Sweden and Norway have adjusted their welfare states and attempted to create more room for private capitol to fund their “utopias”. That ain’t happening in the US as Obama is executing the Clement Atlee playbook to a T. He will reap similar economic performance. American voters kicked Obama’s tires and liked what they saw on the used car lot. They are not going to be happy as the car keeps breaking down.
I am looking forward to your rebuttal.
The problem is that the RINOs usually start by talking like a conservative, but end up not (Chris Cannon comes to mind actually). Republican wolves in sheep’s clothing are a serious problem not touched by this article, although the rest of it is dead on.
You run RINO, you get Rino results…unforntunatly, the GOP party leaders are not now or will they ever be able to see this, which is the reason I will not support them in the future.
The corrupt guys at ACORN didnt have anything to do with all those dead poeple voting democrat?
The word that is missing in this discussion is ‘Revolution’. A revolution within the GOP, which of course will be resisted by the ‘Leaders’ of the party just as all corrupt ‘Leaders’ resist the will of the people.
The article is dead on . True conservatives believe in the the founders intentions and use the Constitution as a base for their ideas. Conservatism happens to actually work.
Republicans seem to be moving in the same direction Liberals are just a little slower. it is painfully obvious that we ran a moderate candidate and that failed. The only thing about John McCain’s candidacy that energized anyone was Sarah Palin an outsider. John McCain could have opposed TARP and come up with his own common sense plan and had the chance to win. The kind of gutsy leadership we needed at the time.
So perfect – Specter leaves, a true conservative is running for Pa senate, and what does the repub senate leadership say? We won’t be supporting Toomey, but maybe TOM RIDGE. Perfect story to add as an obit to the RNC.
“And you still think the reason you lost was because liberals bussed in homeless people?”
No, that was just a few thousand voters and only 1 state was that close (Missouri with 11 EV’s) I don’t think that was because of homeless people either. The homeless card was played in Virginia and Ohio, according to the FBI. Although that investigation was stopped. For now….
Look at the tracking polls ;
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election
{snipped}
“For John McCain, the crash of Lehman Brothers on Wall Street was worse than the Crash of 1929. Looking back over the course of the campaign, it seems clear that the financial meltdown in mid-September was the final, decisive, event that secured Obama’s path to the White House. ”
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/mccain_s_fortunes_fell_with_the_stock_market
{snipped}
“The week of September 8-14 McCain was ahead for the first time – but by only one point. Obama reclaimed a one-point lead the following week. Basically the race was tied going into the last six weeks of the campaign.
Then on September 15, the 158-year-old investment banking firm of Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, marking the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The bursting housing bubble had hit Wall Street. Other firms fell like dominoes, and the resulting “financial meltdown” dominated the front pages. The Bush Administration stepped in with a proposal for unprecedented federal government involvement in the private sector and hammered out an agreement with the Democratic-led Congress. There was plenty of blame to go around, but for voters it was the final nail in the coffin of the Bush years and Republican governance. ”
Sorry bud, It wasn’t the Usurper and his smoking hot teleprompter that won the election, but the market crash that lost it.
Without the market crash it would have been close enough so that the Socialist’s dirty tricks MIGHT have made a difference. After all, it is the ballot box stuffing and control of the Judges that will give the Socialists their 61st Senator.
Unless, of course, some Minnesota farm boy takes his deer rifle to town and makes one final vote. Not that it will matter in the Senate, since the Governor is a Demonrat and will appoint another, but the human race would be much improved by Al Franken’s demise. Or at least that is my opinion, one shared by many.
Samizdat: “Hey Pastor,
It is inevitable that the economy will suffer for a long time due to the spendthrift approach by the Democrats and the ridiculous TARP spending Bush II advocated.
My experience tells me there will be a recovery of sorts starting late this year. It will initially show some signs of strength, the economy has shrunk quite a bit and for a long time now. After it starts inflation will begin to take off. Bernanke will have to push the prime up quickly because of the trillions of dollars the government has flooded onto the market.
When that occurs the recovery will stall. This is an entirely avoidable result, but not if you play your fiscal and monetary hand as Bush, and now Obama, have chosen to play it, with the active complicity of the Dems in Congress.
I don’t know if the resulting stagflation will amount to a national tragedy, but prosperous, productive Americans are not going to like it and are going to look for an alternative way out. This inevitability will occur entirly on the Dems watch as they control both the legislative and executive branches of the Federal government and most state governments as well. There are a few Dems who understand the danger here, Kent Conrad and Ben Nelson come to mind. The rest don’t really understand economic theory or are wedded exclusively to their interpretation of a Keynesian approach. Historically, that approach has led to purgatory, at best.
Pastor, a smart Liberal would see that an expanding private sector provides tax revenue for “do goodism”. Sweden and Norway have adjusted their welfare states and attempted to create more room for private capitol to fund their “utopias”. That ain’t happening in the US as Obama is executing the Clement Atlee playbook to a T. He will reap similar economic performance. American voters kicked Obama’s tires and liked what they saw on the used car lot. They are not going to be happy as the car keeps breaking down.
I am looking forward to your rebuttal.”
Rebuttal: Even if Democrats fail to pull us out of an economic crisis which Americans have judged to be a Republican crisis, why do you believe that they will immediately look to the GOP for answers? Answer: they won’t. Why? Because the only solutions the GOP has put forward to mitigate the crisis has been cuts on income tax and capital gains tax. That’s not enough for Americans now, and it won’t be enough in 2012 if the economy worsens.
Typo,
If you are referring to Pawlenty as a RINO, therefore a Dem, then you could be correct. I don’t know enough about him to say one way or the other. But I do know he was elected as a Republican.
Pastor, a smart Liberal would see…
Sometimes it helps to visualize the brain you are trying to reach…
The Socialist Brain of a Liberal Democrat
We won’t be supporting Toomey, but maybe TOM RIDGE.
Tom Ridge was really unimpressive at DHS, only slightly more astute than the current DHS head, Big Sis.
Everything is so politicized in the Beltway, I really think a clean sweep of the whole crowd is in order…
“…Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
…an economic crisis which Americans have judged to be a Republican crisis…
BS
Ever watch this cast of Fannie & Freddie enablers in 2004 ?
Pastor,
Thanks for responding. You are wrong on two counts. Go look at Paul Ryan’s counter proposals regarding the budget. There was an offered plan that was predictably rejected this winter because the Dems have total control of the House. Never the less, there was an alternative offered, howevr much you wish to dismiss it. That alternative proposed tax cuts and cuts in spending along with a number of other budgetary innovations.
President Obama used the strawman argument that the Republican proposal had been tried over the last eight years and had been rejected by the American people. The Republicans never proposed any thing like Ryan’s plan during Bush’s tenure. Bush pushed Democrat Lite spending every year he was President and gave us No Child Left Behind and Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage as additional governmental obligations. Fiscally, Bush was part of the problem.
Remember as well that you now have complete control of the government. When your plan fails, and it is inevitable that it will, it is going to be tied to you no matter how hard you attempt to squirm from it. The MSM will be even weaker in a year or two, and less able to cover your left flank. There is no third party that can offer a meaningful alternative at this time. If the Republicans regroup(that is a big if, I know) they can offer a credible alternative with a proven track record of ending recession and restoring economic prosperity.
Really looking forward to seeing if you will rebut the above. No platitudes please; it’s too boring.
Furthermore,
The Republican National Party is to blame. They aren’t Republicans, they’re Democrats in Republicans clothing. Ex. John McCain. The only person in that ticket wearing Republican trousers was Palin!
Until the Republican Party gets back to it’s roots (Ex. American Family Association, Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women for American, pro-military, pro-family, pro-life, pro-personal-accountability, pro-personal-responsibility, etc.) and gets away from this social experiament called socialism, I’ll be changing my voter registration to Independent.
Here in IL there’s a civil war about to break out. The Central Committee names it’s delegates and members and has a constant flow of money from skimming the state. The other side has a few noisy well heeled conservatives fed up with the corrupt bosses and wanting elections for committee members, and wild ass litmus test after wild ass litmus test. Caught in the crossfire is any fiscal conservative who believes in personal freedoms on social issues. Both sides end up pushing moderates ever further left, and good candidates that have thrashed strong democrats in their own back yards, like Kirk, get pilloried, and guys who understand social issues kill electability among the educated set that has cash AND VOTES like Roskum (who fought and beat the entire democratic party pouring millions to his opponent), hunker down, afraid to pipe up after getting shelled for having the temerity to say maybe we should be pulling guys like Kirk into the middle.
IL democrats are the most corrupt of the most corrupt, yet IL republicans can’t seem to shake off their own shortsightedness. When your state rep shrugs and say, “eh, what can you do” to a 50% state tax increase, yet can’t even find a way to vote against their own automatic pay raise, the wheels have all come off.
Poor ms attitude – she doesn’t realize that he majority of American voters elected Obama and continue to support him. Tough getting around that fact. THe only way she knows how is to insult the very voters the right wing needs. I love to see the Republicans attacking each other
It seems to me after the election,our leadership expressed the thought that they lost because of the inclusion of Conservatives. That may be true.
This Conservative stopped making donations in 2005. Sent back all solicitations with explicit notes as to what they had to do to obtain money or support from me.
Then the leaders said that if we were against amensty we were racist and ignorant. I may vote Republican but to support them probably never again.
Here’s the problem; They don’t become power-hungry poseurs until AFTER they are elected.
Shadow,
You are correct that the current polls show stong support for President Obama 100 days in. Those same polls showed strong support for Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan and Carter, I believe each was over 60%.
However, recent polling also shows many voters who support the President, don’t support his specific policies. An article by Morris two days ago contains the actual breakdown of the numbers. You should be able to find it archived at one of the common news sites that the webmaster may not want me to mention here.
Its all you guys now; you control the entire shooting match. You better deliver prosperity and security. Americans have a track record of replacing those who can’t. Clement Atlee’s record on both was pretty bad. President Obama has alot of ol’ Clement’s attributes.
#12 Fred Beloit. I have studied a lot of history but obviously I missed the class that mentioned why the populations of large Northern US cities are largely socialist. It does strike me that that must mean that for a “centre-right” nation like the United States there are a lot of socialists. Perhaps the USA is more socialist than people realize. Compared to Canada it isn’t very socialist, but what would I know if I was a Democratic troll who wasn’t really Canadian. Why on Earth would a Democratic troll pretend to be Canadian? I am a Canadian. I remember cheering when the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup which means I’m not only Canadian, but I’m pretty old.
#16 Ozzie. I remember when Bill Clinton tightened up welfare rules in a way that made American liberals sick to their collective stomach. Does that count?
#20 trangbang68. You are 100% right! The GOP gets its money from Americans and Americans write checks. My apologies. I suppose it made sense that you would spell “eh” as “ay” (I didn’t know Americans had an alternate spelling for “eh”). If it makes you feel any better I do not favour big labour because I feel they act without honour and their members lead a life devoid of flavour or colour.
For anyone else that feels I was insulting, I apologise. When I feel like insulting America I do it at http://www.rabble.ca a very nice site for leftwing Canadians. Now they are insulting! What I am doing here is watching American poitics because it’s not only fascinating, but it affects Canada. Personally I believe that the Republican Party has to expand its appeal otherwise it faces permanent minority status. I realize that it wasn’t so long ago that people were saying the same thing about the Democrats and things changed. They can always change back, I know. But if the GOP thinks that the problem is the “Good Old Boys” then I would suggest you draw up a new Contract With America. Right now I don’t see anyone in the GOP offering a message that is working. If the choice is throwing out everyone who doesn’t pass an ideology test and merely attacking the opposition, the party won’t get far.
Just a final note. In the last Presidential campaign there was one Republican candidate that attracted a lot of dedicated supporters and that was Ron Paul. Not only that, but he seemed to be attracting young people and people that were very conservative yet did not usually identify themselves as Republicans. I could never have supported Dr. Paul, but I had enormous respect for the fact that he seems to have never compromised his beliefs after years in Congress. This must be a first in US history. If you want to revive the GOP, you might find out what Dr. Paul had that John Mcain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Guliani, etc. did not.
Ok Northern Light,
You are right about Canada being more socialist, I have been to your wonderful country on many occasions,(my favorite North American city is Montreal) and I have spent quite a bit of time around the eastern towneships of Quebec and further west near Ottawa. The taxes in Ontario province are very high as most of the population is centered around Toronto which funds most of the other provinces, as near as I can tell.
You are pushing a “big tent” theory of political attraction. I don’t agree. The reason the Republicans got in such trouble with the voters is not because they were too conservative, it is because they look and act exactly like Democrats, after promising that they would not be. When the average American independent is given a choice between a Democrat and a “Democrat Lite” they will vote for the real McCoy especially after the Republicans came into power and proceeded to act just like the party they threw out. Are there independents who would never vote for a conservative? Yes. But there are many who will, except they don’t like being lied to. The Republicans have done alot of lieing over the last 10 years. They are not authentic to many voters including me.
If they can purify themselves and start to adhere to the ideals of some of the young bucks, the GOP could attract alot of independents in future elections. There is a huge swing vote phenomenon in the US. This will only occur after the Obama economic policies have failed, which is inevitable. It may be several election cycles before this happens, but the GOP was in far worse shape in the 1930′s, 1960′s and post Watergate and came back strongly each time. The electorate is finished with Democrat Lite AKA George Bush and the old bulls. That’ the way I see it, anyway.
Thank you for taking an interest in our politics and all it’s crazy angles. I leave you with this.
In 1997 I met a friend traveling across eastern Canada after performing a hockey survey in Ottawa. One morning we toured Center Block, saw your national library (some of the most beautiful wood architecture on the planet) went up in the 190 foot tower and over looked Ottawa, Gatineau, Nepean etc, eventually ending up in the Memorial Chapel.
In that small room is a large book with the hand written name of every Canadian soldier killed in battle. Surrounding the room is the poem “In Flander’s Fields” which was written by a Canadian. This was unexpectedly, one of the most moving experiences of my life. I shall treasure and never forget it.
I hope you don’t think all Yanks take Canadians for granted. Best trading partners we could ever have and when push comes to shove, no finer ally.
Throw the RINO bums out!
What a JOKE! You write an article about the GOP old boys network and not a word about how they have systematically thrown PALIN under the bus. The ONLY woman in the entire party with any chance at national office, and instead of supporting her those pathetic has beens try to take her out. They deserve to sink.
Adam, well done, well done. As a grass roots activist for many years, you have hit the nail on the head. The problem is the leadership ( a word loosely used here ) and the good old boy cliques who dominate the state and national parties.
BINGO!!!
Adam,
Close, with many good observations, but you still don’t fully understand this, yet, I think. We are past the point where the problem is just a sub-tribe of established politicians with bad habits in “our” party. The problem is endemic throughout the whole political system: in fact, it is characteristic of that system. Republicans are just displaying mid-range symptoms; the Dems are terminal.
I believe over many years a professional ruling class of careerist politicians has set up shop in Government and slowly shaped a massive, systemic overlay of power to serve themselves and their kind. The way to picture this is that the Tree of Liberty, with its three balancing branches and the Fourth Estate, is now overlain by a heavy, choking, vine-like growth of political influence, privileged interests, unseen power, and connecting relationships not forseen in the Constitution and unmitigated by it. The Framers intended our elected leaders would serve as amateur volunteers for awhile and GO HOME, not become a class of careerist “professionals” with special power interests of their own developing in opposition to the People’s. This strangling vine of professional political culture has a singular life of its own. It has become a separate parasitical “entity,” entirely a burden to the constitutional system intended by the Framers to be the framework of our national governing “Rules.” This Politics is slowly taking our birthright and turning us from masters of our own fate to an obedient biomass managed by an all-powerful professional elites; thus are we “served” by Government today.
Over many years, we have allowed ourselves, as individuals and in groups, to be manipulated and seduced by cunning Players slowly advancing this system. Bit-by-bit, we have compromised and traded away our power and the integrity of our constitutional system, until today when we make our opinion known unequivocally on immigration and massive spending bills we are ignored, even treated like childish idiots. How did we get here?
Every time we compromised OUR principles, or behaved selfishly in a manner we knew was not best for our Country, our State, or our fellow citizens we allowed the inevitable moment of this crisis to draw closer. What we are seeing now is the final turning point, where the Tree of Liberty has arrived at the edge of its life and will shortly become a mere host for the all-consuming parasitical vine of the professional political system, a system which neither serves us nor belongs to us. The constitutionally-mandated system henceforth will serve merely to provide justification: an set of empty principles, ancient, without real meaning, power, or remaining life.
If we don’t stop this now–and it will take a determined political fight comparable to the effort expended in the Civil War–we are going to lose our birthright forever, the remarkable gift of history that is/was our system. Finding a Few Good Men to run for office and actually work for modest “reforms” is too little too late.
It will require a mass uprising of a thoroughly-aroused People, sending their OWN to Washington long enough to tear down the established political system from tendril to root. This will have to be accomplished in the face of hysterical and fanatic resistance mounted to preserve that system, with all of its current players fully involved–including those we now regard as “ours.” Republican has nothing to do with it. To turn this around we need a majority, however narrow, absolute courage and determination in the face of anything that comes our way, and a FULL understanding that it has now become them or us. There are no lesser solutions, in my opinion.
—DCK
What we need to do is cut and past comments like Samizadat’s and others and send them to our congress critters. Find the ones you really like, cut and past them into emails and send them over and over. They have come to respect the tea bags they have received and understand that we are tea’d off.
THe story you tell in this column, Adam, is pretty much a follow on from my article of last week. Nice work.
Northern Light – from another Canadian POV (I’m a dual citizen) – there are certain parallels with what happened in Canadian politics 15 years ago. For those not familiar, the Canadian equivalent to the Republican Party – the Progressive Conservatives – were decimated at the polls in 1993 (reduced from being the governing party to just two seats out of roughly 300). But that left the door open to the Reform Party, which had much in common with today’s Constitutional Republicans, and Ron Paul type Libertarians.
The Reform Party at the time was lead by Preston Manning, who was loathed by the Liberals, the liberal press, and the Progressive Conservatives as much as, and for much the same reasons as, Sarah Palin. Personally I think they are both great; but their straightforward expression of limited government, individual rights, and fundamental liberty was anathema to much of society that had befome dependent on the welfare state. (One of my favorite conversation stoppers in the 90′s was to pull out my Reform Party card when some lib would be ranting on about right-wing illiterate religious bigots, it was quite funny to watch…)
Needless to say, over the next decade, Reform grew, while the PC’s continued to wither; eventually the tatters of the PC’s joined up with Reform to create the current Conservative Party of Canada. Unfortunately it meant a move somewhat more to the center; but the Reform ideals still form the core of the Conservative Party platform, and in the last two elections the CPC has formed the government (albeit a minority one – Canadians still have a long way to go in undoing Trudeau’s “legacy”).
I think the reform of the Republican Party in the States will be faster, since American Conservatism never lost its way as fully as the Canadian one did, and Americans tend to be more efficient anyway. But the cure will be along the same lines – recover what is essential – such as a clear reading of the Constitution, and a return to the roots of the party of Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Ronald Reagan. The “big tent” idea will flow from that.
“The problem the Republican Party faces is twofold. First is the division between the GOP’s leadership and its membership.”
I agree w/much of what Mr. Graham says but I see the problem as having multiple facets. Not only the 2 he mentioned. First, there is no leadership within the GOP Hierarchy. It is managed, not led. Thats what Bush 43 and Rove “the wrecking crew” did for 8 years. Pandering to specific blocks while simultaneously dis’ing the Base. A recipe for disaster. Second, and more important, is the problem with traditional GOP donors. Especially those that funneled their donations through the seditious U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A group whose prime mission was to keep the GOP distracted with their back to the Base, ignoring them. Hence, keeping the southern border porous and the flow of cheap labor uninterrupted. They were extremely successful and, as a result, the GOP continues to remain dependent on them.
If the GOP wants citizen donors from the 59.9 million who voted on 11/4/08 they’d best fully break relations with the U.S. Chamber. Cast them out! They’ll be flooded w/money in a short time. And there’ll be plenty of votes, too, come 11/2/10. Darvin Dowdy
Politics should not, must not, be a career. Terms should be limited to TWO (2) terms per lifetime. WHY? To force those elected to (a) make decisions, (b) document plans for their inevitable successors, and (c) prevent the good ole boy clubs from being so strong.
Elected officials’ pay and benefits must be absolutely equal to the MEDIAN (simple arithmetic, boys and girls) as their constituents…that will add to the desire to “work for their people.”
In the mean time, if it is an incumbent, fire it and elect a newbie.
Reading these comments shows the sad state of the Rushpublican party today. The party of No! The eternal search for the “right” or perhaps righteous Republican. America needs a loyal opposition party, unfortunately this is not what the GOP offers our nation today. Is it time for a new conservative voice?
Adam Graham:
Frankly, I don’t see a hair’s breadth of difference between the blame game you’re playing and the blame game everybody else is playing. It’s high time Republican interest groups quit fighting for ascendency within the party and started rebuilding the coalitions amongst themselves which actually win elections.
HalifaxCB,
Thank you for your instructive story. History provides great guidance, If people will pay attention.
Darvin, Didn’t know about the “relationship” between the US Chamber of Commerce and the GOP. You should educate us further. Sounds duplicitous.
Edward A, It’s people like you, who don’t have a clue as to what the Founding Fathers intended that are primarily responsible for the weakness of the party today. If your not a troll, (which I suspect you are by your comment), go educate yourself on economics and the Constitution and then get back in the game. We critics here ARE the loyal opposition and were damn p8%sed off, if you can’t tell.
JM Hanes, Conservatives are not an “interest group”. We were the core of the Reagan Revolution and the Gingrich takeover of 1994. You best start understanding us, and soon, before your Republican party becomes a foot note in history. I no longer have any interest in a coalition with liberals, like Snowe, Specter and Collins. They belong with their ideological brethren in the party of coalitions, the Democrats.
The little coverage of the April 15 Tea Parties indicated confusion in the demonstrators. That is likely the only thing the MSM reported that was true! The confusion was not due to the demonstrators not understanding what they were demonstrating against, it was confusion on how to remedy it.
At the Tea Party I attended in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the common theme was that “we the people” are not being represented by those we send to Washington to represent us. Most of us at election time find ourselves voting not for the best candidate, but the candidate that likely will do the least harm! The confusion was how these candidates get on the ballot in the first place.
I watched in depth the race for the US Senate in Idaho last spring and summer. At first, it appeared the Republican candidate would actually be selected by the people of Idaho in the primary. Then, little by little, “old time politics” crept into the race. The well established republican politicians unanimously endorsed a candidate they described as “having paid his dues to the party” over the years. Then, one by one, the newspapers endorsed the same candidate. (I am sure party politics had nothing to do with that!) By the primary, the candidate had already been selected.
A similar selection occurred in Colorado Springs recently. When the slate of candidates put forth by the Republican Party was announced, “paying dues to the Party” seemed to trump “being the right candidate to represent the people”! Is there any wonder that many at the Tea Party cheered loudly when it was suggested to throw all of them out of office in Washington?
From a historical perspective, it is dangerous for any representative organization to deny the principles the right to be adequately represented. That is what the original tea party was about and that is what our little party of 1500 voters was about in Colorado Springs. I am not sure the voters will throw all of the bureaucrats out of Washington any time soon, but I surely would not underestimate the power of the people.
I couldn’t agree more!
I think the so-called political class of the GOP should call the conservative base’s bluff and say love it or leave it. The party will be no worse off than it is today. The base will howl but ultimately they will never bolt and form their own party, for the simple reason that in one election cycle they’d be exposed as the fringe demographic they really are.
The GOP in the short term would be on its back, but it will have sown the seeds of its regeneration as a more inclusive alternative to Democrats.
This will happen anyway because the conservative base is not growing, in spite of the hype about double-digit kid evangelical households and mega ministries. The base is shrinking and will continue to do so until critical mass is reached and moderates finally move to assert themselves.
The demographic die is cast; the only question is how long they’re willing to wait.
Halifaxcb. I too have been comparing the Republican problems with what happened to the PC Party in 1993. I agree with you that the GOP can fix itself faster than the Canadian right did (12 years is a long time in politics). But one advantage the No Longer Progressive Conservative Party has that the Republicans do not is Canada’s multi-party system that allows a party to form a majority government with less than 40% of the vote. In a 2 party system 40% support is not going to take you very far. So far the Conservatives have only been able to form minority governments; something that can’t happen in American politics.
The Reform Party could never have formed a government if the dregs of the PC Party had been rejected by the Reformers because they were “Reformers In Name Only”. Reform would still be a regional party. The Conservative Party of today is far different from the original Reform Party (which spent a lot of time talking about turbans on Mounties and how immigration shouldn’t alter the traditional ethno-cultural balance of Canada). While the current Conservative Party is more conservative than the Mulroney PCs, it is not as conservative as Reform was, modification was necessary to win seats in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.
To all the Americans out there, I’m sorry to take up your time.
Wow…it is not the message, but the messenger. You ticked off all the issues of the Rs and said they are good. Well, fewer and fewer Americans agree with you. The party is getting narrower and narrower. This is a big, diverse (in many, many ways) country. The issues you describe, in political terms, have fewer and fewer followers because experience has told us that while admirable, they are not important to governing effectively, which, after all, is what politicians do.
Thanks for the best single election post-mortem I’ve seen.
As Ben Smith notes this morning in “GOP recasts brand, sans wedge issues” on Politico:
“The National Council for a New America launched with an open letter that’s notable for what it leaves out: The issues that a large segment of the party’s base are most passionate about. The letter, signed by 14 congressional Republican leaders, makes no mention of same-sex marriage, immigration — legal or otherwise — or abortion…
“The council marks a new phase in the Republican Party’s effort to remake itself: A formal acknowledgement by top congressional and national leaders that the GOP needs to change its pitch and its ideas.”
Gee, if this is true, then the party’s also going to need new voters. Those issues are all iussue that mater to me — along with controlling government growth, gun ownership, a strong defense, relentless pursuit of terrorism. If the Republican Party wants my vote — let alone my financial support or activism — they need to rethink their priorities. Otherwise I’m going to be home a lot, making better use of my time and what little money I’m allowed to keep by our new Socialist masters.
This isn’t just a republican good old boy network, this is also a republican and democrat good old boy network and it starts in the senate. Everything now goes through the power of the senate and they stick together no matter what. The whole presidency was around the senate and every bill now is made in the senate (directly or indirectly). The locality of the congressional elections makes it harder to control so now the power is in the senate. It’s a crime.
70. dck:
“It will require a mass uprising of a thoroughly-aroused People, sending their OWN to Washington long enough to tear down the established political system from tendril to root. This will have to be accomplished in the face of hysterical and fanatic resistance mounted to preserve that system, with all of its current players fully involved–including those we now regard as “ours.” Republican has nothing to do with it. To turn this around we need a majority, however narrow, absolute courage and determination in the face of anything that comes our way, and a FULL understanding that it has now become them or us. There are no lesser solutions, in my opinion.”
You understand the situation like few others here but I fear it is too late. Those of us that love and respect our liberties and the documents that are the underpinning of those things are seriously outnumbered. The rot in the body politic runs deep. We have become a nation that wants something for nothing. I do hope we get what you call a mass uprising of thoroughly aroused people but it will take some very bad times to get it and the political class has every interest in not letting it get that bad.
74. Darvin Dowdy:
I agree with your comments about the US Chamber of Commerce, the GOP and the border with Mexico. I feel you left out one factor though. If the border were to be truly controlled it would be a major disruption in the drug trade and our political class has no interest in doing that. Political campaigns are a great way to launder drug money and the Democrats are just as complicit as the GOP in all this.
2008? What about 2006? As long as those who take steps to clean up the mess responsible for the GOP being taken behind the woodshed are demonized, like Sarah Palin, those who demonize have the credibility of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
I agree with this article 100%! The wrong people have the power over The Republican Party. I say bring the powr back THE PEOPLE. We need to take control of our election and not be swayed by “the good ole boys in Washington.” We might get a REAL leader in The White House, one who got into politics because he wanted to make a real difference, not as a power rush!
Another example of what Adam is writing about here, would be the leadership’s reaction to Pat Toomey, as listed in at The New Ledger which to my view exemplifies the problems conservatives face with the Repubclican estabishment:
(under breath…Tom Ridge? Ummmm… you’re kidding, right? )
Clearly, the answer is they want more of the centrist nonsense that lost us the ’08 election.
I said here at Pajamas Media about a week back:
That disconnect I mention in that article, between the Republican rank and file and the Republican ‘leadership; has never been exposed as it is in their reaction to Toomey.
To my mind the actions and comments of the Republican leadership, Hatch, particularly, constitutes working directly for the defeat of real conservatives, and favoring the ‘go-along to get along’ RINO spinlessness that has so infected the Republicans over the last several years. Apparently, Hatch shares Barrack Obama’s view of the Tea Parties, and the message they sent Washington.
Either purge this human garbage,or start a third party.
Republican Formula For Success:
Small Government + Lower Taxes + Strong Defense = Freedom & Prosperity For All
This past election shows you how far the GOP has fallen. We lost to one of most liberal Senators in recent memory. A man that will not even prove he is Constitutionally qualified. A man knee deep in scandals (ACORN, “Rev” Wright, Ayers) and who received the second most donations from corrupt banking institutions like Fannie and Freddie. A man with a completely empty resume other than the ability to sound nice, but only through the use of modern technology. A man that is a gaffe a minute (57 states, seeing dead war heroes, bowing to the Saudi King, trinket & trash diplomacy, the apology/grovel tour).
Based on Obama’s first 100 days, I would be licking my chops if I were in charge of the GOP and looking forward to sweeping all three branches by 2012. The formula above is the way to do it. That is something all Americans can unite under. Just find some candidates with integrity and that share those same core beliefs.
Revolution is the only solution to the current situation.
Hey Frank at #81,
I already left along with a couple of million others. The GOP that was recieving money from me hasn’t recieved a farthing since 2006, not the national RNC or the State of NH Republican party. Bob Michel showed the Bankruptcy of your big tent theory during the 1970′s as he presided as permanent house minority leader and played footsie with the Democrats for years.
This pary needs to clean house and reorganize. It needs to adopt some of the street fighting tactics of the Democrats and become more modern while emphasizing economic opportunity, national security and a government that creates conditions under which people have choises and can flourish.
Think about the party you envision, without a conservative foundation, what would you have? The Whigs? You wouldn’t have the most dynamic thinkers and leaders from the right, that’s for sure. You would have a bunch of old bull republicans with little to attract outsiders.
Independents have voted conservative in droves in the past. When the pain gets bad enough, they will be back and looking for a strong alternative. It ain’t about today people, it is about two, four and six years from now.
Obama’s popularity is consistent with Bush, Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Calm down, get a handle on the big picture, and start looking long term. When unemployment is at 10%; inflation is soaring, the dollar is sinking in value, and our country is getting kicked around at the UN and on the international stage, the bloom is going to come off the rose. The party that produced misery is going to be playing defense. That won’t be conservatives.
The problems the GOP’s having aren’t a matter of left or right, of conservative vs. moderate.
They’re a matter of insider vs. outsider.
Did the September-October collapse scupper McCain, or did McCain’s flailing over it, and ultimately signing on to the deeply unpopular TARP and bailouts? You can find polling data to argue either position. Mac was dead in the water before the Palin nomination brought him some unearned street cred — at the price of losing some of his comfortable, elite insiders (Noonan, Frum, Parker, Douthat and C. Buckley, to name a few).
Remember what brought the Dems in in 2006 and 2008 was as much the entitlement-soaked misconduct of R insiders like Mark Foley (pederast wannabee), Ted Stevens (he beat the rap, which the insiders think sure beats being honest in the first place), or Larry Craig (coming soon to a men’s room near you — maybe he can hook up with Foley). Now the Dems have plenty of crooks of their own — let’s face it, they’re all crooks, all 545 of them — guys like Murtha, Moran, Mollohan, Jefferson, Pelosi ($25 mil for hubby! There’s an earmark) and Reid (four of his five kids live off his earmarks as “lobbyists”). But the R’s will never run with that story: how can they when they’re just as crooked?
And the insiders, the Washington payroll patriots, just don’t get the message. Their answer to the Toomey phenomenon that ended Specter’s career (he’ll never survive a primary challenge from a real Democrat)? Instead of getting behind Toomey, let’s force-feed the proles in PA a good pliable insider like Tom Ridge. The guy who brought the enormous tax sink of the Department of Homeland Security — which is now a political secret-police targeted on those Republican primary voters; we will have occasion to thank Providence that Ridge built a gridlocked rather than an effective bureaucracy.
Sure, Ridge is a great candidate. Say hello to Senator Sestak. And don’t forget to thank all those inside-the-beltway Yarvard sissies for him.
To some who seem to have a litmus test – that’s not what I take from this excellent article. It’s that we don’t have any leaders who can articulate anything they say they believe in any shape that is convincing, motivating, or believable.
They don’t have to share all my values – but they cannot argue for any of them in an effective manner. They are drones of the right. Conservative values, whichever you like, are so easily argued with great passion when you really know them.
Nominate a FOSSIL for President = Lose the election. Got any more old white haired dudes to run for Prez in 2012? Dole, McCain? Yeesh. And by the way, “Hey Newt, get out the way!” The big job’s not there for you any more, but as a trusted General to a vibrant Republican Commander in Chief, you could do some damage to the tax and spend Democratic plan:”Destroy the I.R.S. as we know it.”
As this article sinks off the front page of Pajamas Media I thought I’d get in the last word.
Right now there is a group of Republicans on tour “Listening to the people”. This group includes John McCain, Mitt Romney, and some guy named Bush for crying out loud. This seems to me to be the group that is refered to in the article as “The Good Old Boys”.
Meanwhile, there is another group that has fewer names I recognize (Glen Beck is the only one I knew of)who are planning public demonstrations on July 4th in events named after the Boston Tea Party.
Overall, it’s a good thing for the GOP to try to figure out what to do before 2010. I believe that anyone who thinks the Republicans should “Stay The Course” and run campaigns exactly like the ones in 2006 and 2008 is asking for even more Republican losses.
It’s also good that both approaches are being done as early as possible because they seem to be contradictory and the GOP will really need unity if they hope to make gains in 2010.
I find all this fascinating and I will be reading everything I can about this group spearheading change in the GOP that is so heavily composed of the same old names.
I will also be watching everything I can on July 4th.
I have been waiting months for someone to say these things. You Mr.Abrams, have said it all. The leaders of the republican party and our republican leaders in congress think they are hidden from the view of their true base. They are NOT! Soon we will show them so at the poles. But you sir, have revealed just what little regard they have for true cultural conservatives and their lack of love and concern for our country. I do not trust any republican, at any level, to do the right thing at any time, to put America above his/her political agenda. I will never again call myself a republican. Great perception, great article. Thank you.
Mr. Graham,
I got so into typing this comment, I entered your name incorrectly, calling you Mr. Abrams. I apologize and have resent my comment with your correct name, please forgive me.
I have been waiting months for someone to say these things. You Mr.Graham, have said it all. The leaders of the republican party and our republican leaders in congress think they are hidden from the view of their true base. They are NOT! Soon we will show them so at the poles. But you sir, have revealed just what little regard they have for true cultural conservatives and their lack of love and concern for our country. I do not trust any republican, at any level, to do the right thing at any time, to put America above his/her political agenda. I will never again call myself a republican. Great perception, great article. Thank you.
Right on! I gave to Bush 43′s first campaign but not for his second term. Republicans can desire to stay on the high ground but let’s face facts. Libs/Dems don’t give a rat’s ass about the 47% of the voters who voted for McCain, as weak as he was. They are running roughshod over anyone and are doing everything they said they would do. When we elect these public officials, they are hired guns for a set of beliefs. So the definition of politics is the art of compromise! I believe we are beyond that now and need to simply kick some ass. Next time around, our elected officials need to be able to stand up and fix what needs fixing, not worry about the next election. If they would do their jobs, the election would take care of itself.
The fact that the media tries to destroy any new reform minded Republicans and gives Democrats a pass, means we have an enormous problem.
I have a letter from Steel on my desk.
Why should I give my hard earned money
to the entrenched corrupt leadership in DC.
I will stretch and give to local Republicans
that I know, but the shiny-shoe bunch in DC,
not so much.
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