The Real Problem with the Republican Establishment
“The big mistake of Republican leadership is thinking that going through the motions of listening to their ‘base’ is the same thing as actually listening to the base. They keep trying to drag us to where they think we should be instead of joining us where we are.” — Yael
If candidates who believe in small government, fiscal responsibility, a strong military, patriotism, freedom, and traditional values can no longer win elections in the United States, then we’re finished as a great nation.
A choice between modern liberalism and the “Democrat-lite” philosophy of people like Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is like a choice between cutting your throat with a chainsaw or a rusty saw: one may be a little faster than the other, but both will eventually kill you dead as a doornail. This is something the average conservative understands, but the GOP establishment does not.
At first that may seem puzzling. How is it that so many politicians who’ve actually managed to get elected again and again, often over long periods of time, can be so dumb?
Well, keep in mind that many of these politicians got to D.C. in the first place because they were the scion of a famous family, had so much money that they practically bought the office, or happened to be extremely well connected. Then because of gerrymandering and the incredible advantages of being an incumbent, most of these sitting members of Congress have seldom had a competitive race since. If they have, some slick consultant who has 50 IQ points on them has come in and fed them every line, directed every commercial, and mapped out every campaign strategy.
At that point, after winning yet another election, they go back to D.C. where their staffers cater to them like a celebrity’s entourage and everybody they run into has a great pitch for a museum of cow flatulence or an explanation of why the program to help train orphaned baby seals as lifeguards for Antarctic beaches is dramatically underfunded.
Not to worry we’ll bring down barry and his gang of socialist criminals then we’re coming for these Republican appeasers too. Not necessarily in that order.
In the course of a recent debate I had with a friend I researched California’s election results and found, get this, that voters returned incumbents 100 percent of the time. Regardless of party affiliation. It seems, in California at least, that the only way to get rid of a Congressperson is for him or her want to leave. That is not good, and to my mind, at least, points to a direction Republican marketing and communications should follow.
???
“What it all comes down to is that the Republican establishment is out of touch, doesn’t respect the people who put them in office, and has no principle they wouldn’t compromise for little more than a few kind words from the media.”
then…
“Hopefully, the pain the party experienced during Bush’s second term, along with a more motivated and demanding base, will be enough to teach the GOP establishment a lesson — so we won’t have to spend another few election cycles wandering around in the political wilderness, waiting for the establishment to die off or be voted out of power so we can move forward.”
You just finished saying what their reaction to “the pain of Bush” and “a more motivated and demanding base” already is, dude. Why should we “hope” they change? It’s getting to be hash and re-hash, but I guess repetition is the law of memory. It can also be sleep inducing.
These “old bulls” will find they have been put out to pasture in 2010. The
internet is on fire with sites pointing out the elites arrogance and lack
of understanding. When they do their listening tour, they will be challenged
about who is doing the listening.
The grassroots is on fire and some will get burned.
It is all about MONEY… How much $$$$ you can put on the table for various candidates, political action committees, and party organizations.
I do not mean the occasional $35 or $50, or even $100 that you can scrape together to give to your favorite candidate… I mean the $5,000 Honored Sponsor bucks donated for access to the table closest to the candidate at the rubber chicken dinner.
The GOP has a major problem with its base because it expects the base to pay up, be impressed by being given access for a sum, and perhaps if you suck up to the right candidate get pushed for being cycled into the election mill. School board first, then maybe City council, Soil and Water Board, something small for a start.
But it all comes down to MONEY. The Dems have a non-money “earn your creds on the Street” sort of grass roots organization. They actually do promote promising candidates who don’t have the dough to contribute the “Patron Donor” sums necessary for celebrity access. The GOP does not. If you don’t pay the money, you are the hoi polloi and are therefore to be dismissed as unserious in the councils of the back room.
So, Conservatives who work, knock on doors, attend meetings, scrape together time and a few dimes eventually drift off. They become frustrated that their efforts are unappreciated, and unrecognized. They get angry at being on robo-call lists and dinged for money again and again.
The Dems grub money, too, don’t get me wrong. But they actually appreciate the footwork, the door knocking, the physical participation. They get their money by extorting it from various corporate and rich donors who are paying the obligatory patronage for the ability to stay in business.
Mr. Hawkins is quite correct. Until the GOP Establishment is winnowed away, and someone somewhere begins to replace them with people who are truly Conservative, and willing to work WITH the base, not take advantage of the base, the Party upper crust will continue to do STUPID things like “believe” that moderates win and conservatives lose (like their masters in the media Svengalis tell them.).
The Crist vs Rubio choice should have been an easy one. Rubio should have gotten full support, and Crist an invitation to join the Democrats where he belongs.
There is a “rule of reality” in boxing matches. You can’t win on points against the champ. You have to knock him out. Which means bright young true Conservatives must understand that the Establishment is going to bet on, and support the champ.
Here’s rooting for Rubio. IT’s ime to turn this supertanker back to the right starting now.
r/John
Sometime in ’02 or ’03 I realized that the Republican Party didn’t represent me. I was being lied to for my money.
When my money helped achieve the ultimate goal – Republican control of Congress and Presidency – they turned their back on conservatives. Every line of the “Contract of America” was tossed in the trash. Small temporary tax cuts, no tax reform, increased – not decreased spending, horrible corporate taxes and regulations, and forget term limits or any real reform. The pre-election bailout bill last fall was their final suicidal hurrah.
They abandoned me, I abandoned them. I’m still a registered Republican but haven’t contributed a dime to them in 6 years. Maybe the party can be rebuilt and I’ll be back, if not, conservatives will make a new party.
A buddy of mine in Omaha, during the 1990s, attended a local Republican convention during an election year. As the meeting was getting under way, a contingent showed up at the door, to the sound of booing and hissing.
“Who are they?” he asked the lady sitting next to him.
“They’re Religious Right,” the lady sneered, unable to contain her contempt. “They want a seat.”
I’ve never looked at Republicans quite the same ever since. They’re not shy about asking conservatives for their money or their votes, or above pandering clumsily. When they win, it’s time for conservatives to get back in the glass case, the one that says, “Break in case of election.”
Mr. Hawkins:
“Getting rid of many of the “old bulls” in the Republican Party may be the only saving grace of the last two disastrous election cycles that the GOP suffered through.”
They betrayed the base on conservative issues, notably illegal immigration, and therefore they didn’t have the numbers when the fellow who claims to have been born in Hawaii was running.
And now he’s going after their money.
In fact, I am not aware that there have been any calls for Barak Obama to produce his vault-copy Certificate of Live Birth from any Congressional Republican. A back-bencher could get a lot of mileage from this by using his Minutes to challenge the TOTUS to prove his eligibility to hold the job.
Just like millions of us have to.
Our “Moderate” GOP reps sure are addicted to undocumented workers taking jobs from the native-born and the legal immigrants, aren’t they?
Different rules for the political class of overlords apparently…even those who might not have been born in the United States.
Equating the current Republican Party with conservatism is wrong. There are conservatives in the Party, yes – but in total the Party is more RINO than anything else. Some of Governor Palins harshest critics are voices within the Republican establishment, and that flabbergasts me to no end!
Our country is in the mess it is because of the actions of the people not the habits and personalities of their elected politicians.
Elected politicians blame, sneak and waffle because that’s what the people that elected them are doing. They forever send mixed signals.
Given that the Democrats will band together like a bunch of hungry wolves regardless of what kind of vermin that their candidates are, there can be no, zero cracks in the GOP base.
With 8 hapless years under Bush and 120+days of Obama, the GOP base remains fixated on it’s emotional injuries trying to delicately decide (moderate) whether or not to support Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin or just say, “Screw it!” and stay home under the bed because it’s too whatever to do otherwise.
Meantime there is no serious breech coming from the Democrat base, even while their hero Obama continues to rip them and our nation into shreds.
Well said, Mr. Hawkins. You’re making an argument I’ve been making since… well, since Nixon, actually, about the people we used to call ‘Rockefeller Republicans’. Alas, that the situation hasn’t changed much since then.
Yes, of course, Reagan happened since then, and Regan was successful because he was reflective of American values. Yet, the GOP ‘old bulls’ as you call them never really understood Reagan, and looked down their noses at the conservative values he represented. They never noticed that Bush 41 was chosen by Reagan, specifically because he was farther to the left than was Reagan, as a ticket balance, and yet was less popular than Reagan. They still don’t understand that whole scene to this day, and are thus part of the problem.
The Non-election of McCain, and the tea partes and all that, demonstates quite clearly that the electorate knows very well indeed what to do about that. They’re not willing to deal with half measures, anymore.
Carl–10 “Meantime there is no serious breech coming from the Democrat base, even while their hero Obama continues to rip them and our nation into shreds.”
True–apparently. As far and as fast and ruthless as the Obammer is moving, though, I suspect a lot is brewing under the surface. That not much is coming out is partially the media, but also a testament to the fear this guy is inducing, even in his own party.
The sores will fester and we should see some eruptions soon. You can’t keep a tight lid on a boiling pot forever. Pelosi’s public lithium withdrawals are nothing compared to what’s coming. Let’s just hope whatever happens is actionable and we can shuffle, or hopefully replace, the deck in DC before they destroy us.
Post thought:
If Clinton’s Oral Office escapades and ensuing lies were enough to get him impeached….. I mean, c’mon!!! This whole administration is run by a pack of lying traitors!
I think it was VDH who recently had a great line. Something like: “the incumbent re-election committee called Congress”
I don’t expect those who run the Republican Party to change. They are deeply unsympathetic to conservatism. So how to explain Reagan? He was charismatic, so charismatic that he was able to overcome the party’s natural antipathy to his message. That is conservatism’s only chance within the Republican Party: come up with another charismatic figure. Does Palin fill that bill? Quite possibly.
Pretty boy Charlie Crist is a good reason to become an independent again. He is horrible, and folks down here in central Florida know it.
You are on target.
The current list of “Listening Tour” actors are profiled perfectly by this article. These poseurs don’t need to travel any further than to a radio or cable connected tv and view/listen to the audience of Beck, O’Reilly, Rush. Those voices are no longer willing to accept the Repubican Royalty test of wealth or family genes to represent their conservative views and country. The test failed miserably in ’08.
A choice between modern liberalism and the “Democrat-lite” philosophy of people like Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is like a choice between cutting your throat with a chainsaw or a rusty saw…
You might add Colin Powell and John McCain to that list.
…the program to help train orphaned baby seals as lifeguards for Antarctic beaches is dramatically underfunded.
Reportedly, the American taxpayer is currently funding a study of alcoholism use among Argentinian prostitutes (possibly Thai prostitutes as well) and the “results” of those studies will be useful for our own efforts to get American prostitutes to drink less, thereby reducing “violence” in our own houses of ill repute.
(good piece, certainly captured the way “I” feel)
I have a feeling after the economic thrashing we’ve only seen the beginning of now, voting in a party that is for smaller government and less taxes will look like Utopia in a few short years. We’ve got time to actually contact our GOP’ers that represent us in Congress. If we do not, we get what we deserve.
Now we can continue to eat our own in the meantime as this article implies, or we can reiterate our message of smaller government, lower taxes and less intrusion into our personal lives. Sounds easy enough. Enough whining. Time for action.
You are on target.
The Republican “Listening Tour” actors need only to travel to the nearest radio or cable tv and hear the anger and determination of the American audience of Limbaugh, Oreilly or Beck. The current poseurs offer little other than privilege by wealth or genetic accident.
Regards D-wah:
Your assessment is probably correct, but the point I’m trying to make is that it does not matter if the Democrats end up killing each other, or not. In the end they will unite and support the Democrat candidates.
On the other hand the Republican base cannot decide in pairs where they want to go for lunch and whether to order a hotdog or hamburger.
Worse yet is the current GOP elected leadership trying to decide if they should take a chance and eat onions or not on their lunch, knowing full well that they may end up romancing some liberal and kiss his / her you know what before the day is over.
I voted for Ron Paul in the primary and then left the Republican Party after 20 years of voting straight ticket. I voted for McCain in the general election but I knew he was a losing candidate. It is time for conservatives to listen to their libertarian brothers (small l libertarians.) The Republican Party is dead. The body is still convulsing and twitching, but it is dead. The so called “progressives” ( if totalitarian goodie goodies can be called progressive)own the debate and now they are going to control the electorate by buying them and making them citizens on their collective.
Conservatives need to learn a language and switch their approach. Spouting ideology and scaring people about the government is not going to work. Things are about to radically change in this country and probably for the worse. We need a way to effectively combat what is coming with a sound rational and obvious set of ideas that young people can understand and have some hope. Our focus should be on what makes America what it is and that is Liberty. Without Liberty there is no America.
We need a new conservative party. Everyone will be surprised at the number of people who support it. For a few minutes there after McCain picked Palin for his VP candidate I began to hope we mattered to the GOP elite–even after Huckabee was pushed aside in every debate and denied the support he should have had from the party.
McCain would have lost by a landslide without Palin. Ron Paul, Huckabee, Palin, Jindal, Rush, et many al. PLEASE get together. We NEED you.
Cheney is to give a speech this morning. I’ll bet nobody but those in the audience will hear it. Conseratives are shut out so that the moderates can be heard.
Lord Acton said in part that Power Corrupts. The Congress and the leadership of both the republican and democrat parties are power seekers. The Power Seekers understand perfectly well what they are doing, and they do it for their narrow goal of short term gains of power. Their only purpose is to maintain, and enhance if possible, their power and position. USA be damned. The only way this will, or can be changed in the Congress, is a constitutional amendment limiting them to ONE TERM AND ONE TERM ONLY. Term limits would put Service back into Public Service by eliminating the need for campaign funds thus lessening the influence of special interest. The leadership of the Republican Party has forgotten basic conservative principles. Individual freedom, Individual Responsibility, limited Government, Free Markets, and the understanding that there is “no free lunch” are winning principles that never change.
Why is this a problem? The head donkey ignores his nutroot base (i.e. gay marriage, torture, etc.), and they still dream about shining his knob. It doesn’t seem to be hurting them.
John Hawkins: “What it all comes down to is that the Republican establishment is out of touch, doesn’t respect the people who put them in office, and has no principle they wouldn’t compromise for little more than a few kind words from the media.”
Bingo! The RNC is, perhaps, as much the problem as the liberal establishment because it has, in fact, become part of it.
My way of dealing with that problem is twofold:
1. RNC solicitations go unopened into file 13, and I now make contributions directly to proven conservative candidates — none of whom in the Senate (sadly) represent me in the state of Georgia.
2. I am seeking support for a plan to establish an organization – call it a “Conservative Club” — that will fund ONLY representatives with a 100% ACU voting record. And the 100% is vital; my Senators (Isakson and Chambliss) have “good” ACU records, but on fundamental conservative issues they forsake principle. And they do so without apology.
With many fewer than a hundred eligible candidates in both houses, a relatively small group of contributors would have significant impact in campaign funding. If that funding were seen to be successful by wobblier colleagues, “club” membership would likely become an attractive choice. If not for reasons of principle, then for those of real politik.
Note: For those who prefer short-term victory to long-term principle (apologies to Michael Medved, et. al.) my strategy will seem unwise, since it would weaken the RNC and perhaps cause further erosion of political power. My reply is that the RNC is already weak, if not moribund, largely BECAUSE of its willingness to support compromised candidates. And why would a Democrat vote for an ersatz liberal when there are so many real ones around?
History seems to show us that the Republican Party succeeds when its soul is conservative. And, after all, “…what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”
Ok, term limits for members of Congress, as the 22nd amendment imposed term limits for a President. A Constitutional amendment initiated by the states might get their attention. I would also support a repeal of the 16th amendment (1913) which allowed for the federal income tax.
It is this power of taxation that lies at the base of the egregious growth of the federal bureaucracy in the 20th century. I would support any serious measure to shrink this Jabba the Hutt government with its gaping maw currently extending around (& strangling) even capitalist enterprise.
More states need to pass declarations of sovereignty (such as Oklahoma did a couple of weeks ago), and demand enforcement of the 10th amendment, which “…restates the Constitution’s principle of Federalism by providing that powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.”
Fly in ointment is that incestuousness extends to the states, where career Congresscritters, like Murtha & McCain, are viewed as bringing big sums of Pork Laden money into their individual states.
I see little hope within the current DC structure. Many GOP’ers are as complicit and as vapid (for example, IMO house minority leader John Boehner)as democrats.
As long as the establishment thinks that they have to play catchup, they will concede the initiative to the opponent.
There is room for an alternative message, but that is asking too much of the
establishment. For they like it when they are seated when the powerful gather, and they do not want to jeopardize they being seated.
#2 Chris: this will hopefully change: a new law requires retired judges to re-draw all election districts, since many if not all have been gerrymandered over the years to assure retention of incumbents. For years, an election meant a lifetime job: the voters tried term limits–2 terms–but the job was practically passed to a annointed successor. Now we’ll see what some more open elections do for us.
I had a rather heated exchange with Republican telephone solicitor who called recently. He expected me to be “outraged” at Obama’s 500-person European entourage and other secondary issues. I asked him what strategies Congressional Republicans were employing to combat the Obama administration on illegal immigration/border security, taxes, further “swindle-us” programs, corporate bailouts, single-payer healthcare, etc? I inquired about the seeming void of Republican leadership, principles and ideas. No response to my questions but further “outrage” over Obama’s European escapades. I told him not to bother to call back until Republican leadership was ready to listen rather than talk.
Dems have a fanatical devotion to their principles, which are ‘anti-principles’ as far as I’m concerned. Individuals don’t matter, anyone better off is a target, earth and bugs and snail darters are more important than human beings, religion is bad for the country unless it’s Islam… it’s like that old comic Bizarro World, where good is bad and bad is good.
But Dem politicians are also, more or less, devoted to these antiprinciples, even if they don’t always come through with legislation to that effect. And their voters know it and trust them even when they are disappointed.
OUr guys are the opposite. They pretend to have principles for a brief period of weeks or months every few years, then when the election’s over, so is any talk of principle. I swear, our guys are more afraid of tea parties than Democrats are.
OUT with ‘em all. Start fresh. We have Mr. Smiths all over the country, ready to go to Washington. We need to get the big donor lists for GOP fundraisers and let those corporate big dogs know we’re watching them and have the buying power to screw them up big time if they support limp wristed moderate Reps with their money.
The tea parties are EVERYTHING. Force, numbers, buying power, motivation. We can’t let them slide, they must GROW until NOBODY has a choice in politics but to listen to us.
We have recent history of this working. 2006 immigration reform, anyone?
STAY WITH IT.
I said it before and will say it again, ditch the Bible Thumpers and watch your fortunes turn for the better.
He expected me to be “outraged” at Obama’s 500-person European entourage…
I am outraged, in light of the preachiness we’re subjected to from this administration relative to carbon usage, wastage, extravagant lifestyles needing to be downsized et al. and etc.
Besides that tour (how many teleprompters went along, 20 ?), there is the Caribbean tour, numerous “day trips” inside the US, a trip in June to Europe, an overseas trip in July, over to visit Putin, on and on.
Serial junkets add up to millions, billions. I’m not against a president travelling, but I am against being preached at by a President who is personally wasting more money and generating more carbon emissions, than any other single individual on the planet. (al gore may be a close second)
These behaviors are symptomatic of democrat hypocrisy. For this whole crowd (and the democrat ethos in general) “rules” are for the hapless citizen, not for themselves, whom they regard as too important to be constrained.
/rant off
(ciao)
Wynne,
I have found websites such as http://www.huckpac.com and team Sarah helpful in identifying candidates I can support.
Saltherring:
I had a rather heated exchange with Republican telephone solicitor who called recently. He expected me to be “outraged” at Obama’s 500-person European entourage and other secondary issues.
Bravo, bravissimo Saltherring! That’s the essence of what the Republican phone solicitors, and all the dozens of R. mail solicitations, convey in their pleas: “those horrible Democrats are just about to do some Real Bad Things, ya gotta send money TODAY!”
I follow Saltherring’s lead on the phone: “What have you vacuum-skulled geniuses got to offer in the way of leadership based on principles? What ARE your principles? Where do I go to find out? Democrats are Americans too, tell me why is your chosen path better than theirs?”
And from time to time I respond to a mail solicitation directly, with a letter, and enclose simply a $1 bill as bait to get their attention.
Until the RNC recovers from its TV-induced stupor (what else could it be?), they can only count on maybe 20 of those dollar bills, with suggestions neatly typed up on my own letterhead, between now and the next election.
The current modern Political Parties seem to have the same flaws that G.K. Chesterton wrote about regarding the British Aristocracy in this 1910 book :What’s Wrong with the World.”
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1048325
OPPRESSION BY OPTIMISM
But we are not here concerned with the nature and existence of the aristocracy, but with the origin of its peculiar power, why is it the last of the true oligarchies of Europe; and why does there seem no very immediate prospect of our seeing the end of it? The explanation is simple though it remains strangely unnoticed. The friends of aristocracy often praise it for preserving ancient and gracious traditions. The enemies of aristocracy often blame it for clinging to cruel or antiquated customs. Both its enemies and its friends are wrong.
Generally speaking the aristocracy does not preserve either good or bad traditions; it does not preserve anything except game. Who would dream of looking among aristocrats anywhere for an old custom? One might as well look for an old costume! The god of the aristocrats is not tradition, but fashion, which is the opposite of tradition. If you wanted to find an old-world Norwegian head-dress, would you look for it in the Scandinavian Smart Set? No; the aristocrats never have customs;
at the best they have habits, like the animals. Only the mob has customs.
The real power of the English aristocrats has lain in exactly the opposite of tradition. The simple key to the power of our upper classes is this: that they have always kept carefully on the side of what is called Progress. They have always been up to date, and this comes quite easy to an aristocracy. For the aristocracy are the supreme instances of that frame of mind of which we spoke just now. Novelty is to them a luxury verging on a necessity. They, above all, are so bored with the
past and with the present, that they gape, with a horrible hunger, for the future.
But whatever else the great lords forgot they never forgot that it was their business to stand for the new things, for whatever was being most talked about among university dons or fussy financiers. Thus they were on the side of the Reformation against the Church, of the Whigs against
the Stuarts, of the Baconian science against the old philosophy, of the manufacturing system against the operatives, and (to-day) of the increased power of the State against the old-fashioned individualists. In short, the rich are always modern; it is their business. But the immediate effect of this fact upon the question we are studying is
somewhat singular.
In each of the separate holes or quandaries in which the ordinary Englishman has been placed, he has been told that his situation is, for some particular reason, all for the best. He woke up one fine morning and discovered that the public things, which for eight hundred years he had used at once as inns and sanctuaries, had all been suddenly and savagely abolished, to increase the private wealth of about six or seven
men. One would think he might have been annoyed at that; in many places he was, and was put down by the soldiery. But it was not merely the army that kept him quiet. He was kept quiet by the sages as well as the soldiers; the six or seven men who took away the inns of the poor told him that they were not doing it for themselves, but for the religion of the future, the great dawn of Protestantism and truth. So whenever a
seventeenth century noble was caught pulling down a peasant’s fence and stealing his field, the noble pointed excitedly at the face of Charles I or James II (which at that moment, perhaps, wore a cross expression) and thus diverted the simple peasant’s attention. The great Puritan lords created the Commonwealth, and destroyed the common land. They saved
their poorer countrymen from the disgrace of paying Ship Money,
by taking from them the plow money and spade money which they were doubtless too weak to guard.
I am so tired of the label, “Moderate.” It’s a lie.
TO: John Hawkins, et al.
RE: Indeed
What was it some guy said over 170 years ago?????
And I want to thank ALL the RINOs and Democrats for bringing US to this point today. WELL DONE! Well done, indeed!
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[I 'hope' we're all enjoying the 'change'.....]
Nearly every incumbent of both parties should have been given the boot after the economic fiasco that just went down. Yet most will be returned again and again. If the voters don’t want to do it? Two words. Term limits.
Hey Sensitive,It would help to go to the website Captain Obvious gives us. Find the right politicians.
32. Middleman:”I said it before and will say it again, ditch the Bible Thumpers”
Without the Bible Thumpers the Republicans will be a pathetic rump of miserable evolutionists & racist losers.
Middleman: “I said it before and will say it again, ditch the Bible Thumpers and watch your fortunes turn for the better.”
Completely correct assessment, however the Bible Thumpers are the footsoldiers and the wallets of the party. The party leaders are terrified of the vacuum of activism and $$ that will result from such a schism. That’s why average, non-Bible Thumping conservatives need to consistently practice activism and get engaged in the party. Only until the party realizes that the activism/money provided by the Thumpers will be replaced by money/activism provided by the average conservatives will the party finally loosen up on its religious stance. But when it finally does, Republican victories will not be far behind.
God is in control.
John The Baptist had to go. I’m sure he would have preferred to stay a while and probably have chosen a different manner of exit.
The USA is departing the world. It must needs be so. The Wrath of God is coming.
Look up, for your redemption (or your worst nightmare) draws near.
How about some faliure facts :
The new very Moderate RePublican party under Michael Steel is afraid to call the now radical democrat party the Socialist Democrat party ? Gutless !
There is not One Rockerfellow “Moderate “Republican in the House from any New England State .
The last on was Chris Shay’s from Conn.
Here is a list of a few Very Moderate Rockerfellow Losers who ran for President .
-Thomas Dwey NY Twice
_Nelson Rockerfellow .of NY …. twice
-John Linsey of NY
-Jerald Ford VP Mich.
– Robert Dole Sen Kan.
_ Bush 41 1 and 1 .
– Rudy G. Mayor NY City
- John McCain
– Both Romneys Father of Mich. and Son Mass. Both two term Governors
_George Pataki Gov NY
– Tom Ridge -Gov. PA and Sen .
– Al D’Amato Sen NY
– Lincoln Chaffee NH.
The Name of the of the President who won twice by the most votes ever and carried all votes other than black DC .
Ronald Reagan a devout Conservative ……. enough said .
Reading comments if occurs to me (as it does regularly) that conservatives need a great leader in the worst way.
It worked for the rats and their leader was not even close to great just promoted as such.
So … we need a leader and what do we have. One woman in Alaska.
We’re toast. ‘Arrange yourself’ as the Italians say.
RINOS among the Republicans, CINOs among the Catholics at Notre Dame.
Two betrayals, two deaths.
Sarah is the hammer.
Let’s wield her to smite the insiders of the GOP and open up their ears.
So, I just read up on Barry Goldwater, a conservative I wasn’t familiar with but have seen his name thrown around. Other than his support for McCarthy, there really wasn’t much I disliked about him when I read through. If the conervative movement went in that direction, which in todays world would seem more libertarian, I would climb aboard.
Goldwater in ’94:
“When you say “radical right” today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye”
And my goodness, he was against Don’t ask Don’t Tell!:
“Everyone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar.” He also said, “You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.”
He very much seems like a conservative I could get behind, but I doubt we will se a conservative like that for many, many years.
Stop calling them RINOs, they ARE Republicans. What they aren’t are Consrevatives. Start with a Congressional Conservative Caucus which can grow into a Party. Even if it isn’t big enough to win control of the Congress or the White House, it can be big enough to influence policy.
TO: Scott
RE: [OT] Biblical History Lessons
Hey!
It’s better than the way Herod went: some bizarre worm infestation. As opposed to a quick chop.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.....]
You have hit the nail on the head. You missed one other thing the left is also good at, exploiting this issue to hurt the right. This is why you hear the left out there preaching that the reason republicans are failing is because they are too conservative. We need to remember this much in the republican party; if the left says we need to be doing it we need to run the other way. Great post
Conservative as a label has zero appeal to most under 30 and in larger cities. Equating the Republican Party with conservatism wil condemn it to a minority status (30%) and irrelevance.
That does NOT mean the Republican Party should go Democrat-lite. The Republican Party should offer a strong alternative to socialism. It should be the party that defends the Constitution, capitalism and the American Dream.
That is NOT the same as repeating the same tired tax cuts cliches from economically clueless conservatives. Yes, lower taxes should be part of the agenda, but they should be brought into a broader philosophical framework, with personal responsibility, opportunity, individualism, etc.
When Americans start to experience the mess that Obama is creating, the Republican Party has an opportunity to win over pro-capitalist Dems, libertarians, independents of various stripes. But not if the party continues to argue over how conservative it should be.
The Republican Party already has a rising star who points to the path ahead: Thaddeus McCotter. Google his essay ‘Now, Seize Freedom’. Note that he uses the word conservative only once, in the phrase ‘…so-called “conservative leaders”…’
McCotter’s five principles are an excellent starting point for rebuilding the Republican party:
1. Our liberty is from God not the government.
2. Our sovereignty rests in our souls not the soil.
3. Our security is through strength not surrender.
4. Our prosperity is from the private sector not the public sector.
5. Our truths are self-evident not relative.
Talk about unhappy with the RNC… When I read about Steele, who I had great hopes for, feathering the nests of his “friends” and family at our expense, it makes me nauseous.
@ReConUSMC, Ronald Reagan was a former Democrat, a former actor from California. How was he a “devout Conservative”? How was he any more conservative than for example Rudy Giuliani?
Rudy Giuliani was the best hope for the Republican party in the last election. He would not have ruled as a Democrat-lite, certainly not on economic and international issues.
But his candidacy was torpedoed by the self-appointed “conservative base” (and a primary system that favors them). That’s how we got stuck with McCain, who passed the social conservative litmus tests, but was utterly clueless on economic matters. McCain lost the election when he got himself involved in the bailout and refused to call Obama what he is, a socialist.
If there is any one message of conservatism that can win younger people, it is this:
Big government = more interference, loss of liberty, higher taxes
Small government = less interference, more liberty, lower taxes
The reality of this world is that most young people are inherently selfish. They are all about “Me! Me! Me!” The idea of getting to keep what you earn and having the freedom to live as you please is VERY appealing to them.
The reality is that young people flock towards liberalism because:
1) they’ve been indoctrinated into that belief system by 40 years (actually, much longer than that, but I’ll save that for another discussion) of public education/post secondary education;
2) “liberal” denotes liberty in their minds;
3) “progressive” denotes open mindedness to them; and
4) “conservative” denotes denial of freedom in their minds (stuffed shirt old white men).
If the conservative movement worked to appeal to their basic selfishness through the principle of small government, I believe we could draw more of the young to the right.
There’s no reason to believe that emphasizing the above principles delegates the social issues to the back, or that they are no longer relevant. But, if we want to appeal to people – particularly the younger generation since they are the ones “inheriting” this mess – we need to grab them with something that appeals to them. Preaching and lectures just don’t work (think about how ineffective it is with our own children).
This wouldn’t be a compromise of the traditional values espoused by the conservative party; it would be a re-prioritizing of the principles of conservatism in order to grow the party.
Why not use the same methods used by the neo-Marxists and the left? They appeal to people with their lies of liberty, bait them with empty promises, then trap them with dependency.
We can follow similar tactics along a parallel line, with the major difference being that we rely on truth, and that we are acting in accordance and agreement with the Constitution.
#29 Blackwell: Here’s hoping. I knew there was an incumbency bias, but I honestly had no idea how bad it was!
I’m not sure that judges, retired or not, are the best people for the job as not all judges are created equal. In the best of all possible worlds, I think any group of citizens would be a better choice because they don’t have the, “Oooo! They’re judges and therefore their decisions MUST (by definition) be fair!” cachet that their Honors will attach. Feh! Judges have their own ideologies and appointing them to redraw districts won’t, ipso facto, result in districts any less gerrymandered. IMHO.
“I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.” William F. Buckley, Jr. Okay, not exactly on point, but close enough, I think.
That said, any move to redraw congressional districts is a step in the right direction.
@Moogie, exactly!
Also note this infamous quote from longtime Socialist Party of America presidential candidate Norman Thomas in the 1940s:
“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.”
Classic liberalism was the founding ideology of America; capitalism, individualism, rule of law, seperation of powers, etc. That was all liberalism.
Socialists coopted ‘liberalism’. The Republican Party got stuck with ‘conservatism’.
Republicans should call the Dems what they are – socialists who want to remake America into something else – and reclaim their heritage as the party of the Constitution.
Middleman or PoM: Whats a “bible thumper”? Please be more specific. Once you define a bible thumper then please describe what they do that is not right for conservatives.
As a political-consultant friend of mine once told me, the Republican Party is not about principles, it is about getting elected. The current crop in leadership, thinned though they are, are still making the mistaken calculation that there are more big-government, socially-liberal, not-Democrat types than there are anything else, mostly because they’d rather lead 25% with an iron fist than have to, at a minimum, share power and have 50%.
Talk about revisionist history. The only leg of conservatism that McCain had, and then just barely, was fiscal conservatism. That, plus the Next In Line factor that has governed the GOP Presidential nomination process since 1956, was enough to put him over the top.
In fact, McCain’s social-conservative credentials were so weak that he had to take Sarah Palin to shore them up.
54. Peter Verkooijen:
@ReConUSMC, Ronald Reagan was a former Democrat, a former actor from California. How was he a “devout Conservative”? How was he any more conservative than for example Rudy Giuliani?
Rudy Giuliani was the best hope for the Republican party in the last election. He would not have ruled as a Democrat-lite, certainly not on economic and international issues.
________________________________
Look Peter verkooijn , I liked Rudy a lot but he like some one else I liked a lot Fred Thompson ran as bad as did Bob Dole and then Bush 41 against Clinton .No Gonads !
The both disappointed me terribly .I greatly disliked McCain …. His Militray record as Officer sucks(His Admiral dad and Fleet grand dad got him where he was .. I was a Officer in the ReCon USMC and served two and a half tours in Nam . I was shot twice by the Cong in the Delta .
McCain was the Darling of the Media and the minute he got the position they turned on him and he was a terrible candidate .
The media won for Obama by keeping his past radical Socialist life a secret as did sweetie McCain !
No balls !
My pick for 2012 is General David Patraeus !!!!!!!!! He does not just hit the ball he tears the cover off .
When he went before the Senate he kicked their Butts Twice !
I have a USMC General Buddy that has served in Iarq with General Petraeus and said He is the real deal and very very smart guy really loves this Country unlike Obama that puts America down most of his B/S Speeches .
Gen Patreus is a secret Conservative … but until he resigns in 2011 He can’t say anyting Political obviouly .
#57 Peter Verkooijen: Perhaps it’s time to stop calling ourselves “conservatives” and it’s time to cut the association of true conservatism from the Republican party.
If the Republicans no longer represent our POV and values, and if the word “conservative” is too much of a turn-off for most people, perhaps we should identify ourselves as “Constitutionalists.”
Words do, indeed, having meaning. If, in the minds of the non-conservative, the word “conservative” means narrow-minded, racist, bigoted stick-in-the-mud, then we need to adopt one that truly represents our views.
#55 Moogie: I think you nailed the two messages on the head. And your four points are exactly right: my lefty friends throw around those terms with precisely though meanings as the unspoken definitions. We’ve got to get the language back, for he who defines the meanings of the words used to frame an argument, frames the argument.
I keep thinking about the current problems in the GOP and I can’t help but feel that the Republicans are a victim of success.
In 1994 the GOP took the House and the Senate. In 2000 they made it a clean sweep by taking the White House.
When a political party is winning all the time differences among supporters and members are ignored. Who cares if one person is a Bible-thumper or someone else is a RINO as long as the party is in control. As Michael Steele would say “Just win, baby.”
Then 2006 and 2008 reduced the GOP to an opposition party. All of a sudden people started to look for a scapegoat. “It isn’t us values-voters, it’s the RINOs fault.” “No no, we moderates aren’t to blame, it’s those darned Bible-thumpers that drove everyone away.” Then the party forms a circular firing-squad which makes independents sick. The squabbling makes people more inclined to laugh at, rather than vote for the Republicans.
Personally, I think the GOP needs to isolate the programs that are unpopular and drop them. Then, the party needs to figure out what they can offer voters who haven’t considered voting Republican in the past. Reagan harnessed the votes of socially conservative Catholic working–class voters. These people had been voting Democratic. Nixon adopted a Southern Strategy that took the deep South away from the Democrats. This is amazing when you consider that Dixie had been solidly Democratic for over 100 years.
The GOP should be figuring out how to win over socially conservative Blacks and Hispanics. They are out there and on many issues they are more comfortable with the GOP than they could ever be with the Democrats. Why is it that only white evangelicals vote Republican? Is there a separate Jesus for Whites and Blacks? Why do Hispanic small business owners vote Democratic? Do they love red tape, regulation, and taxes more than White small business owners? Or in both cases is there something in the Republican Party that keeps these people, who agree with the GOP more than they do with the Democrats, from voting Republican?
At this point factional wars between moderates and conservatives do a lot more harm than good. I don’t know what the answers are, but if answers aren’t found in the next 12 months, 2010 won’t be a good year for the GOP. and Republicans can’t take too many more bad years.
As for 2012, nominate Palin. Nominate Powell. Nominate Huntsman, Nominate Bachmann. Hell, nominate Limbaugh if you have to, but if this argument is still going on by then all Republicans, moderate, conservative, Rino, or Bible-thumper will be Washington outsiders because there won’t be any Republicans left in Washington.
It’s important for everyone who is not a Liberal or Democrat to understand what has happened in our country. Take the time to watch the following videos – a little background about liberalism is extremely important if we want to succeed in keeping our country out of the hands of tyrants.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8630135369495797236
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlpODYhnPEo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaE98w1KZ-c
61 ReConUSMC: What would you think of a Petreaus/Bolton ticket?
Romney was a one term Governor. The Big Dig was a big flop. The only reason anyone even took Romney seriously was because he used to be a Private Equity CEO. If he had been nominated, he would have been lucky to break 40% of the vote. Tonight’s dinner menu: Sacrificial lambs, served well done.
Yeah, I get those mailings asking for money too, and they go directly into the trash. As many here have said, the Republican party—to which my family gave it’s allegiance and votes for many generations–no longer speaks for me. It seems like there is no principle that the timorous Republican leadership will not give up to get a pat on the head or to be called “bipartisan,” and no principle they will truly stand for, if challenged. They are afraid to articulate and stand for a platform of truly conservative ideas because they are afraid of being attacked and not being liked, and, moreover, they want to keep feeding at the trough in Washington.
The day that “professional politicians,” who maintained a residence in the Washington, D.C. area, started to replace mostly ordinary citizens/farmers as our representatives in Congress—the farmers anxious to just do the necessary minimum and get back to their farms and real work–was the day that it all started to turn to shit.
We need a party that will fight tooth and nail for a few conservative principles, and is not concerned just about being liked or even necessarily about getting elected, if it means selling out to do so. Until this happens, the current Republican Party is not even a bad second choice, it’s just a rotten joke.
The base? Everyone got a bird’s eyeview of who the Republican base is during the last election cycle. Middle aged, white, racist, xenophobes–and most importantly WILLFULLY IGNORANT. That’s your base.
Unfortunately, there are less and less of these people every election cycle. Now, of course, this poor beleaguered bunch of rebels who never had jack to say from 2000 to 2006 about Republican ideals being based on faulty principles are suddenly finding their revolutionary bearings.
Its pathetic. But its also pathetic and obvious. The more of this bullshit hand-wringing you trot out on to the public stage, the worse things are getting for you.
Here’s a tip for you. Go to Ron Paul and ask him to lead your party. He’s about as popular as any of your ridiculous leaders right now. But he has the saving grace that he actually believes in the small government, conservative platform that out of power Republicans find so attractive now that they’ve exhausted the American coffers on a disastrous war.
And, FYI, I think Ron Paul’s an idiot! But he’s the only one in your party who has an ounce of credibility. If I were you, I’d go down on his ship. At least its less clownish.
Saltherring (#30) and Insufficiently Sensitive (#35) have it nailed. The grassroots effort to reclaim the Republican party begins with every contact a conservative has with them. This includes civilly engaging solicitors in the manner described or civilly responding to John McCain’s and Newt Gingrich’s tiresome e-mails that essentially advertise our need to nuke the hated liberals and leftists by sending money.
In California, the Republican party is so pathetic that it has now taken to hiring pro shills versus the energetic volunteers they used to have when we all worked for GW’s re-election. I ask first if they are paid or if they are a volunteer and, if the latter, I politely disconnect from their spiel. If the former (very, very infrequent) I request that they pass the message back to their managers that not one red cent comes their way until I see the results I expect from a party I would belong to.
As for McCain and his insipid e-mails, I sent the same worded response back each time and — just to be perverse — send unsolicited periodic responses to the same address so that his account is flooded with my opinions.
Tilting at windmills? Perhaps, but it does provide a sense of satisfaction and, if enough of us do it, may wake the old codger up.
..look at what happened in California most recently with the six propositions. Even the reprehensible Gavin Newsome is campaigning for governor of the state as anti-tax.
. chris in Toronto:
61 ReConUSMC: What would you think of a Petreaus/Bolton ticket?
_____________________
Interesting Point ? I do like John Bolton a lot !
If we still are at War and We will be that could be a real winner .
By the Way after my USMC Days I ran Sealy of Canada .. Toronto USA Furniture Div. out in Weston Ont..
Yes I partied on Young Street and at Eaton Sq,
Tell all these Americans about Canadian “free ” B/s health care. cost of gas and” Taxes” !!!!!!
“Constitutionalists” would be a good start Moogie.
I believe we must commit to a few ideas that are long missed in our society and they all revolve around the Limits the Constitution provides:
Sound Money – educate people on what money is and how we are now a Human Commodity. Money is an exchange mechanism for our Time and Expertise. Fiat money has no original value to base the future exchanges upon. When an ounce of gold, silver or other metal is mined, we have an absolute basis for human capital that must be put in to obtain that ounce of material.
Educate – Life, Liberty and Property and be sure to point out that have long ago lost Property Rights and Ownership – we are all Renters. If you do not pay your property tax bill, they will first impose a Lien, then foreclose and confiscate. Let’s not forget about Eminent Domain. If the Government wants the land – they can purchase an Easement or Lease the land from the property owner.
Education – is not Free, nothing is. Invite competition and freedom of choice in educational facilities. Books from the Library are Free to read and underutilized. That would fulfill any Liberal Requirement of providing the opportunity to become educated. Not the Right to DayCare and Social Networking along with Breakfast, lunch and snacks. It is not too hard to see that taking this route would destroy most school districts and voting block (ehm, Union) in the country of the Libs.
It MUST be done soon so that our Retirees are not forced out of their homes that are unencumbered by a mortgaged and where they wish to remain, but cannot meet the higher and higher cost of Property Taxes. USE this as a Major Slogan to Run On! When Social Security cannot keep up with the rise in local taxation, this is going to be paramount!
Abolish the Federal Reserve – we do not need them and they are overstepping their bounds. Our Country has abolished two other Central Banking Schemes in the past- this one needs to follow suit. The major Boom Bust Cycles are being perpetrated by the Fed for their benefit and our detriment.
With the Fed, so goes the IRS – This agency must go too and once accomplished, you will see a HUGE amount of this Country’s issues vanish overnight. This one Act will bring back Community and Commonality like no other.
It is the one agency responsible for a Growth At All Cost mentality in our business environment. It has allowed and demanded companies Boards hire their best of friends for jobs that pay too great…Has no one else considered that the IRS helped do away with Pensions via Social Security (which is now, not even to be considered for the people who pay into it – you NEVER get your money back in payments, unless you never put into it!).
In response, corporations colluded with Congress and the IRS to come up with the Self-Directed Retirement market, namely the 401(k) and 403(b) – here is the catch – they could ONLY INVEST IN MUTUAL FUNDS. Should I also throw Vanguard (privately owned), Fidelity (Privately Owned) and American Funds (Privately owned) as the 3 largest benefactors of these rules into the group of collusion????
Why is this important? Because they do not VOTE PROXY votes for their underlying share holders to Remove the Board of Directors and act as Fiduciary to underlying owners. This game has lead to 30-40 years of Artificial Enjoyment by pushing money out of rather diversified and specified means allocation into Mutual funds that up until a couple years ago were stuffed into 90% stock funds. All the CEO’s had to do was not get themselves kicked out of the S&P500 Index, and they were sure to make money on their stocks – hitting their bonuses.
I could go on into greater detail, but I am sure you get it.
How to pay for Public Services? Double Blind Government Investment Accounts, Fee for Sevice, Best Efforts Revenue Bond Issuance – as opposed to GO bonds, and Individual Project accounts funded through PayPal contributions.
If our Country is For the People, Of the People and By the People, then Voluntary, Non-Forced Taxation would make sure that Every Project that We the People want and need will get funded and completed at the Cost-Benefit accepted.
Term Limits – as FDR showed the country the need for these limits of the President to be bound by law, so too do the Congress need these limits. The STAFFERS must go too!
This sounds unreasonable by many, but if we have a government dead set on staying within its confines, then it isn’t a very big challenge.
I am open to debate, but I would like to find the candidates who will finally pull back the curtains and expose the lies that have been taught so long that they are taken for truth. The World isn’t Flat – and the Sun doesn’t revolve around us.
“The base? Everyone got a bird’s eyeview of who the Republican base is during the last election cycle. Middle aged, white, racist, xenophobes–and most importantly WILLFULLY IGNORANT.”
Care to give some specific examples of racism and xenophobia? Remember that even a majority of Democrats want illegal immigration stopped.
#69 Oscar the Monkey-Boy Wao:
“Everyone got a bird’s eyeview of who the Republican base is during the last election cycle. Middle aged, white, racist, xenophobes–and most importantly WILLFULLY IGNORANT. That’s your base.”
I KNEW you wouldn’t disappoint!
Here, have a banana.
Sing us another song and dance some more for us,you sick little monkey.
#71 ReCon USMC:
I had a whole long story written then my browser crashed as I was looking for a link to a John Bolton interview. Damn CBC anyway. So, here’s a recap:
Healthcare: my health is and has been great so no personal horror stories. Grandma died from same brain cancer as Ted Kennedy has and the whole tragic affair from first symptoms, initial diagnosis, reference to specialist, etc etc was a horrendously long and painful experience. This, of course, was due to a lack of specialists and diagnostic facilities. My last recollection (may be out of date) is that Buffalo NY has more MRI facilities than all of Canada. In other words, rationing and scarcity, just like US conservatives argue will be the eventual outcome under Obamacare.
Gas: regular unleaded, converted: $4.01 (USD/US gallon). We use “litres” at roughly 3.79 per USG. That’s the cheapest price in Toronto according to http://www.torontogasprices.com. The average price is more like $4.15.
Taxes! I hate discussing this, but suffice to say that if Americans think they have it bad, they ain’t seen nuthin’. Although you’re likely to get a taste of it under Obama in the next couple of years as his economic chickens come home aroostin’. Sorry to say.
With respect to Bolton, that man is great. (Here’s where I crashed, last time.) Check out this video of him on the “Mother Corp’s” (aka CBC) The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (IMO a post-modern hipster who believes his own hype). Bolton kicked the twerp’s ass. http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/videos.html?id=952319780
Hope this was moderately informative, ReCon.
#71 ReConUSMC:
Here’s another link to a Canadian blogger who attended the aforementioned taping of the Bolton interview. It’s good: http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/videos.html?id=952319780
Bilgeman. You really are stupid. I mean, it doesn’t take a lot of brain power to insult people. I’m actually giving you all a break here. I know the factual world is where you run into problems, but if its simply trading well-put invective for invective, you should stand a decent chance.
This monkey, thing. Its not creative, its not funny, its not demonstrative of any point of view taken by me or anyone else. Its just stupid, like the many, many slogans you teabagging nancy-boys have been coming up with over the past six months. One after the other. Lamer by the minute.
Carl 20: Agreed. Well said. My point was tangential. Keep on.
I disagree with Hawkins and Yael. It’s not a question of Republicans thinking of conservatives as serfs. It’s worse than that. They think that we just don’t understand how things get done in Washington: logrolling, pork barrel projects, ear marks and all that.
The real problem is that they’ve tried too long to play politics according to Democratic Party rules: tax and spend, then raise taxes to cover the shortfall. They pay lip service to conservative principles but they accept the welfare state as the will of the people. They have a bad case of cowardice, being intimidated by polls and a hostile press.
But consider Dick Cheney. He’s out doing what they should have been doing for the past eight years, making the case for Bush’s policies, and he’s making sense. He doesn’t have to worry about getting reelected and that makes him both free to say what he really thinks and I think serious citizens recognize that and appreciate it.
You can’t win by following the herd. We don’t need pseudo Democrats when we’re up to our armpits in real ones.
We need to push the Pledge. You’ve probably read my whining about it here before but here we go again. The pledge is a written oath that every elected republican official must take: that he/she will not engage in deficit spending for any reason, and until the current debt is paid off we will alot 10% of taxes collected to paying it off. This means that the federal and state governments may not spend any more than they collect in tax revenue and may not get around it by having the treasury print up more.
And for the millionth time, Palin is not articulate enough to be a national leader.
#77 Oscar the Monkey-Boy:
“…This monkey, thing. Its not creative, its not funny, its not demonstrative of any point of view taken by me or anyone else. Its just stupid.”
Ahhh, but it’s factual, Chim-chim.
You behave like a feces-flinging monkey, and I treat you like one.
Are these examples of your simian half-witted creativity?
“…you teabagging nancy-boys…”
“…Middle aged, white, racist, xenophobes…”
That’s all VERY creative and original stuff, Monkey-boy.
I’m sure all the other primates in your cage consider you the Fill-Oss-Oh-Fyzing “Deep Thinkur” of the crew for coming up with such thought-provoking insights.
But around here, it’s just so much nonsensical simian jibber-jabber.
Now put away your hurt feelings and be a good little performing monkey, and beat your feet on the hard concrete for the nice people…
POM”however the Bible Thumpers are the footsoldiers and the wallets of the party. The party leaders are terrified of the vacuum of activism and $$ that will result from such a schism. That’s why average, non-Bible Thumping conservatives need to consistently practice activism and get engaged in the party. Only until the party realizes that the activism/money provided by the Thumpers will be replaced by money/activism provided by the average conservatives will the party finally loosen up on its religious stance. But when it finally does, Republican victories will not be far behind.”
RUH-ROH!clarity ensueing…….
oscar.”This monkey, thing. Its not creative, its not funny, its not demonstrative of any point of view taken by me or anyone else.”
bilgeman…..he’s got you one one point…..he cannot aptly be described as a monkey.monkeys are amusing….this cretin is just sad and in way over his head.
this is a WAY more accurate description http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRZxek8rwNU
Thanks Chris in Toronto !!!!!!!!!!
#83 ReConUSMC: I just realized that I posted the same link twice. My apologies. I meant to post a link to fivefeetoffury… here it is: http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/:entry:fivefeet-2008-12-02-0000/
The Monarch-Serf comparison could have used a bit more historical research…maybe there’s merit in the metaphor.
In any case, I find the King George/George Washington(Americans) metaphor stronger and more easily appreciated.
It all comes down to freedom. Left, right or center, if you try to use the government and politics to impose laws and regulations upon the private lives of other Americans, you are no different than your ideological opponents.
If you want the government to stay out of your own lives, you must ensure that it stays out of the lives of others.
The only issue that matters is freedom. Everything else is tyranny.
Google:
‘Online Library of Liberty,’
‘Liberty Library of Constitutional Classics.’
See what the Founding Fathers actually said, in context.
An exercise I recommend for both Republicans and Democrats.
The problem with the GOP establishment is their roots. Many of them come from wealthy families, as pointed out by Mr. Hawkins, so never had the lower to upper middle class lifestyle that formed the core values and principles of most conservatives. A spoiled well to-do background is often devoid of principle and struggle. What motivates these people to run for office isn’t frustration with the status quo, it isn’t a passion for one or more conservative beliefs, it isn’t a love of country. They run for office simply because it’s another step up their career ladder, another notch in their “success belt”. Something else to brag about. An open invitation to the cocktail circuit.
They are all a bunch of no principles (as opposed to unprincipled) phonies. Unfortunately most of us with real passion and the desire to go toe-to-toe with the Dems simply don’t have the financial resources required to run for political office. Instead we get stuck with oatmeal. Squishy, lumpy, formless oatmeal.
Moogie and friends have some very good ideas. I’ll vote for em if they ever show up in a pubbie platform. Unfortunately I fear its all rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic at this point. But by all means carry on. One never knows.
Could some one explain to me how a War On God’s Plants is in accord with either limited government or Social Conservatism?
Not even the base lives up to its principles. How in the heck you expect politicians to?
#64 — When a political party is winning all the time differences among supporters and members are ignored.”
And this is and has been the problem. The republicans have been bleeding for a couple of decades and didn’t notice. They have lost seat after seat in the west and the northeast in the high electoral count states.
Winning the white house in 2000? Bush wasn’t a conservative. We all knew this. The path for winning was clear since at least 1996; run a centrist. And so they did, and won with it.
If the conservatives who claim the 2008 loss was because McCain “wasn’t conservative enough” were anywhere within the same ZIP code as correct, this would be easy to see: gains in seats by — wait for it — conservatives, especially in the high electoral count states. Didn’t happen. This says the problem had more to do with Palin than McCain.
This article is a bunch of crap. The author says that we need small government and a strong military. Those are incompatabile objectives. A strong military means big government to support it and the patriotism he refers to probably means more wars which means more spending and more government. In the 19th century, when we had small government, the military adjusted for population was the equivalent of 150K-200K today. That’s a tenth of the present military. Then there is the matter of equipment. Anyone familiar with 19th centuary history knows the military was always starved. My favorite story in that line concerns Commodore Foote who before the attack on Fort Henry concluded his speech by telling his sailors “Aim carefully. Remember every shell costs the government $13.10″ Contrast that attitude with the present where thousands of dollars worth of munitions are fired off in the hope of killing one terrorist. Give it up Paleo-cons the U.S. government will never be small again.
And Rap, you’re obviously pleased as punch at the thought of big government—why? You think you’re going to get some money from it, or maybe a cushy job for yourself?
TO: El hefe
RE: What They Do….
….is scare the merde out of their likes with ideas like ‘honor’, ‘integrity’, ‘monogamy’ and ‘truth’.
And I find it particularly telling that neither of those characters has deemed it proper to answer your question.
I’m having a similar discussion over on Dr. Helen’s site, where they’re discussing the sorry state of affairs with marriage in America. Some of them are so full of anger and hatred that they just can’t seem to find it in themselves to read the book they hate so much.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Know your enemy and know yourself and in a hundred battles you will never face disaster. -- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, mandatory reading at Benning School for Boys]
g alston. “This says the problem had more to do with Palin than McCain.”if you think this……then you weren’t paying attention.by 2008 mccain had burned all his bridges.
mccain/ kennedy..mccain/fiengold…he got made into a chump….literaly foisted by his own petard on the latter.no one liked him…..it was a vote between “the lesser evils.”
mccain’s main vote getter was obama,then palin……with him being last.
TO: shaui-jan
RE: Well….
…actually….
….he was the just-as-bad as the other evil. But in a different manner.
BOTH of them ‘hated’ America. It’s just that McCain had literally attacked the Bill of Rights with McCain-Feingold. So he was a proven, in my honestly held opinion, a ‘traitor’ to his country and a breaker of his oath as a Senator and an officer in the Armed Forces of the United States.
Obama had not had quite THAT opportunity as a junior Senator.
But he seems, in my honestly held opinion, to be bent on surpassing Senator McCain in that particular arena.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Be Prepared. -- American Boy Scout motto]
Mr Hawkins- Amen, amen, amen. Excellent explanation of the current state of the Republican Party.Everything you said is true.There is ONE incumbent that I know of in Georgia who is voting the right way every time- Tom Price. The rest of them have no idea what kind of peril we are in. They have no clue that we may have had our last free election – or at least the last election in which there were two parties running against each other (sort of). I just got a newsletter from Johnny Isakson bragging about how he wants to bring a rail system from Atlanta to Charlotte, NC. We are in the middle of a total government/socialist take over- and he’s talking about rail lines. It makes one want to scream!
TO: All
RE: [Slightly O-T] Heh
And TODAY no sooner said than ‘done’.
On top of THAT, today’s paper holds a map of the US indicating the rates of unemployment by state. Looks like all the states that voted for The One are the hardest hit, i.e., double-digits.
RE: On Topic
I don’t see the Republicans doing much about this. Indeed, one gets the distinct impression that they are in cahoots with these cretins.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Anyone for a TEA Party?]
P.S. Everyone have a WONDERFUL ‘holiday’….
A while ago I lived in Maine. I was a member of both the Portland Maine and Cumberland County Republican Committees. On one of the many occasions Senator Snowe sold out the party, I raised the idea of sending a sense of the city resolution to the good Senator advising her that a large majority of her base did not agree with the vote. We sent that and all Hell broke loose. Loud push back. I was not deterred and tried the same thing at the far larger County Committee. Those folk were scared to death and put off the vote for a week using Roberts Rules of Order. The County Committee normally had a turnout of around 50 folk for a monthly meeting. The next month we had over 100 people turn out divided into two groups, elected state and local government folk with party movers and shakers, who almost never show up at such meetings, and the normal envelope stuffing base. After a long and rancorous debate we voted and every single elected official and leader in the party voted against the idea. Worse, they made it very clear to we poor foot soldiers in the base, that our job was to stuff those envelopes, write modest checks and attend rally’s and it was their role to do all this silly ‘republican agenda’ stuff. We were most assuredly to be seen but not heard.
I figure that vote drove maybe a few dozen active members of the base from the party. My wife and I waited for the good Senator to join the Gang of 14 to say enough was enough and stop playing and contributing.
The line “the same way that 14th-century French monarchs viewed their serfs” certainly applied. One did not dare question those elected demi-Gods…we were, after all, the little folk, serfs one and all.
The so-called blue-blood Republicans have never been very comfortable with conservatives. Ronald Reagan is universally loved and revered by Republicans today, but he was really not at all popular with the Republican establishment in the 1970′s. At the time they pretty much viewed him as an interloper and rabble rouser. He didn’t become popular with them until after he won the presidential election.
I got the impression from the headline that this would be a discussion about the reawl problems of the Republican establishment. However, I discovered that its just more delusional responsibility-releasing crap you people have been telling each other and the world for months. Listen, no one believes you. Its quite obvious that “Washington changed you” or that “Bush led you astray”. For eight years you built the pyre, and when it all burned down, you wanted to whistle while you walked away. In your defense, Democrats aided and abetted you at every point where they should have stopped you. If there’s any criticism you could make of the Democrats that’s the one. Maybe you could make a new slogan about it: “Democrats: They Should Have Intervened Sooner”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Main Entry:
ide·ol·o·gy
Listen to the pronunciation of ideology
Listen to the pronunciation of ideology
Pronunciation:
\ˌī-dē-ˈä-lə-jē, ˌi-\
Variant(s):
also ide·al·o·gy
Listen to the pronunciation of idealogy
Listen to the pronunciation of idealogy \-ˈä-lə-jē, -ˈa-\
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural ide·ol·o·gies
Etymology:
French idéologie, from idéo- ideo- + -logie -logy
Date:
1813
1: visionary theorizing2 a: a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture b: a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture c: the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program
— ide·ol·o·gist
Listen to the pronunciation of ideologist \-jist\ noun
====
Whether left, right or center, when it is no longer about your own ideology …is when it starts to be about freedom.