Will Things Get Better for Conservatives in 2009?
Conservatives now laying their plans for the coming New Year might best be advised to begin by looking backward. A glance in the rearview mirror should suffice to demonstrate the difficulty in anticipating political developments, and the importance of being prepared for unexpected contingencies.
A year ago — in late December 2007 — an NBC poll showed Mitt Romney leading among Republicans in the Iowa caucuses at 27 percent, with John McCain a distant fourth, behind Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson. On the Democratic side, Iowa looked like a three-way dead heat: John Edwards at 24 percent, Hillary Clinton at 23 percent, Barack Obama at 22 percent. About the same time, another poll showed Romney leading McCain by 14 points in New Hampshire, with Rudolph Giuliani a close third.
Most conservatives in late 2007 still held the same “Stop Hillary” mindset they had held ever since Bush’s 2004 re-election. Every bit of bad news for Hillary was cheered by Republicans, who expected her to win the nomination, but who were happy to see her bashed and battered in the process.
Few in the GOP at that time imagined that the damage — as when Tim Russert tripped her up with a debate question about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens — would ultimately sink Clinton and make Obama the nominee. Fewer still expected that McCain, whose fundraising woes nearly ended his candidacy in late summer 2007, would emerge to win the GOP nomination.
Hindsight shows how foolish were the expectations that prevailed as 2007 came to a close. Conservatives shared the Clinton campaign’s belief that the former first lady would score an early knockout in the Democratic primaries, essentially locking up the nomination on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5. As Joshua Green of the Atlantic Monthly has since reported, that mistaken belief was a key factor in the failure of Team Hillary to organize effectively for a long nomination battle.
‘Already, informed analysts are scoffing that Obama’s job-creation math doesn’t add up.”
It’s not just the math that does not add up. Politicians should not be deciding economic winners and losers. That is the responsibility of consumers. The practical role of the government is to stay out of the way as much as possible. Lowering tax rates will reinvigorate our national economy. Any other option simply allows ego tripping elected officials and safely ensconced bureaucrats to run our lives. Keynesian economic doctrines are entirely based on the notion the “elites” know best. Does anyone in their right mind agree with this bizarre notion? Furthermore, are they that historically illiterate? Does any half-way sane individual still believe that Franklin D. Roosevelt “saved American capitalism?”
Things are much better than you are told .
GOOGLE : 500 tons yellow cake Iraq Canada Bush
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History will show George W. Bush as one of our .
greatest presidents .
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Or you can just believe in the left’s lies .
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…… MITT ROMNEY * BOBBY JINDAL * 2012 …….
“Obama will be relieved of responsibility in the short term by a “blame Bush” strategy, but how long will the public accept such excuses as a substitute for recovery?”
To answer your question, about 6 years. More than enough time for 0bama to get re-elected. In Illinois, Blagojevich won two elections by running against George Ryan even though he didn’t really run against George Ryan. 0bama won this year by running against George Bush and he’ll do the same, successfully, in 2012.
There’s always the chance 0bama will get ensnared in the Blago scandal and his presidency will unravel, but if he can skate away from Blago’s troubles he’s home free until at least 2014.
2008 ended for Conservatives in February when Romney, who I considered a moderate, conceded to McCain, a Rino liberal. When Palin was selected as the VP candidate, I had a little hope that McCain was coming to his senses – he quickly corrected me by making an ass of himself in the debates.
A good 2009 and 2010 for conservatives would consist of:
1. Closing the open primaries. Why are we letting non-Republicans pick bad candidates to represent our party?
2. Much Rino hunting.
3. Picking off key Democrats in the mid-term elections – yes I mean you Harry Reid.
Democrats control legislative and executive branches, over the next two years all I will be doing is watching how the Democrat politicians shred one another apart as they each attempt to maintain their own personal power structure. In other words, ‘sObama main political enemy is Pelosi and vice versa.
It will be fascinating to see who comes out on top of the self-inflicted massacre…Obama, Pelosi, Franks, Schumer, Clinton.
Democrats will do the destruction for me so I won’t have to bother saying or doing anything.
It will be good to see no “bad” news for a while. As Obama’s mendacity, thin-skinedness and incompetence become even more obvious, the media will revert to BDS but that won’t last.
Democrat corruption will eventually become so pervasive that the media will have to address it.
Jobs? As “infrastructure rebuilding” becomes as mush of a buzz-phrase as “global warming,” millions of Mexican illegal immigrants will flood north, forcing Obama to take steps. Pf course, the next Muslim terrorist attack on the US will cause him pressure, as well.
The theme for the next four years is based on Obama lies. First, he is lazy, NEVER having done anything. Second, he is a cheap Chicago crook used to operating in the dark and shadows. Third, his medical records prove that he is a substance abuser and has HIV and, therefore, the pressures of his new job will cause him trouble on both fronts, driving him deeper into isolation and secrecy. Finally, as his initial appointees leave, his poor judgment under pressure will cause him to select losers.
Eventually, maybe by the end of 2009, even what’s left of the media will be forced to comment on what a mistake they made.
If the country survives Obama and the future Muslim terrorist attacks, the Conservatives will prosper only if we do Conservative things; no more limitless spending and no more McCain-like candidates.
Fosterdad: Way too pessimistic. Jimmy Carter ran against Richard Nixon, who had been out of office only 3 years and his party got creamed in the 1978 mid terms, following up by losing in a landslide in 1980. Of course, Carter was the singularly worst President in modern history, but let’s give Obama a chance, eh?
Actually, while I don’t think The One is anywhere near as dumb as Jimmy was, he still has 4 years of mistakes to make, sycophantic press or not. If he can avoid any unforced errors (like a giant tax increase in the middle of a recession) than maybe he can run against GWB in 2012 and win – but it depends on whether he gives in to his left wing idiot supporters and serves up a galvanizing issue for a conservative Republican with real political skill to run against him on. I know, you’re thinking “WHAT conservative Republicans with real political skill?” Trust me, they are out there. With a sitting President of their party out of the way, all they need is the right opening. We’ll see if Obama gives it to them.
To RaZor: No, sorry, Bush was not right, yet again: if you and the other right wing yahoos acting like this is a BFD had checked slightly further, you’d find that the uranium was only low grade, non-weapons stuff that had been known about all along by the US, the UN and IAEA. It had also been stored legally by Saddam’s government in accordance to international law. It was transported out recently because the *new* Iraqi government, along with US officials, thought that Iraq was too unstable for it to be stored safely anymore, which should tell you a lot about our true “success” in Iraq.
What this does do more to the point is support Joe Wilson’s findings that Hussein had made no attempt to buy yellowcake uranium from Nigeria — if Hussein already had all this yellowcake uranium, why would he want to buy more of it? Go read this reprint of Wilson’s article that caused to the Bush administration to go in into high smear mode, which resulted in the outing of Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm
Historians are seriously going to wonder why Bush was never impeached.
“This is partly the result of his meteoric rise…”
Um, meteors don’t rise. They plummet.
Then again…
Conservatives need to develop an economic report card as a tool to establish accountability in liberals/dems. My mother was a school teacher and I lived in fear of bringing a bad report card home. I think we should run ads in newspapers weekly, showing Reid/Pelosi with the local congressman. Underneath show 3 columns a)2006 b)Nov. 4,2008 c) current and in these columns show 1)price of a gallon of gas 2)Dow Jones (401k) 3)inflation rate 4)unemployment rate 5)deficit. If this is done weekly, the people of each district or state will see how their rep. or sen. is doing, making them take ownership. I would do it when Reps. return to power, keeping the mistakes of the 1992-2006 Congress to a mininum.
It’s pretty iffy as long as the GOP includes boneheads that distribute anything that could be considered “racially insensitive”. Not that I find it extremely offensive or anything, but it shows remarkably poor judgment on the part of Saltsman. The GOP needs to be smarter than that.
Whoa! Chip Saltsman did nothing wrong. He should not back down even an inch. It’s time we have this long needed national dialogue. Also, if Saltsman chickens out now—the leftist establishment will simply become bolder. They will enjoy the taste of blood and lower the politically correct bar even lower.
CGHill:—
Meteors soar in space. Meteorites fall to earth. Um…get your meanings straight before you try to make clever word play. People like me will trip you up every time.
RS, headline should have read, “Will things get better for Conservatives and Libertarians in 2009″?
We’re a team remember? Conservatives can’t win without us Libertarians looking out for y’all’s back. And we’ve got your back my Conservative friends. Your Libertarian buddies, particularly us Libertarian Republicans will always stand beside you against the Obama/Fascist/Liberal onslaught.
“Joe Wilson’s findings” – damn that made me laugh. The only thing he found was the hotel bar.
Eric,
No libertarian could support the current GOP. The platform is far too abusive of individual rights. You and your buddies would do better to align with the libertarian left. The religious right will hang you out to dry.
DS
PS -Things will get worse for the GOP, for decades to come. The nation is changing for the better.
#7, I live in Illinois. I have no choice but to be pessimistic.
CHANGE….. CHANGE – CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!
Not long ago I read a joke … It said all the politicians running for president are promising change to the American people. We send them billions and billions of tax dollars and they send us the CHANGE.
Funny?
Not really; there is too much truth in it to be funny.
That got me to thinking … They all promise change. How about if they run on a promise of restoration rather than change. A restoration that would take us back in time to a place where things ran better, smoother and life was more enjoyable. CHANGE? That, in truth, is what they have been giving us all along.
We used to have a strong dollar … Politicians CHANGED that.
Life used to be sacred … Politicians CHANGED that.
Marriage used to be sacred … Politicians are CHANGING that.
We used to be respected around the world … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to have a strong manufacturing economy … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to have lower tax structures … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to enjoy more freedoms … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to be a large exporter of American made goods … Politicians CHANGED that.
We u sed to be an openly Christian nation … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to teach patriotism in schools … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to educate children in schools … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to enjoy freedom of speech … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to enforce LEGAL citizenship … Politicians CHANGED that.
We used to have affordable food & gas prices … Politicians CHANGED that, too. .. and one could go on and on with this list.
What hasn’t been CHANGED, politicians are promising to change that as well if you will elect them.
When, oh when, is America going to sit back with open eyes and look at what we once were and where we have come and say, enough is enough?
The trouble is, America’s youthful voters today don’t know of the great America that existed forty and fifty years ago. They see the world as if it has always existed, as it is now.
When will we wake up? Tomorrow may be too late. When will America realize …. Politicians are what is wrong with America ?
PASS THIS ONE AROUND FOR A “CHANGE” WE REALLY CAN BELIEVE IN .
2008–THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
As a tumultuous 2008 draws to a lurching close and a turbulent 2009 waits in the wings for the Times Square ball to drop tomorrow night, it’s an apt time to look back on the past year.
However, since every broadcast and cable network is already presenting its 2008 Year in Review, it would be redundant to do so here. Instead, I humbly offer my picks for the best, the worst, and the ugliest ”things” of 2008.
All of those categories feature multiple, worthy contestants although there are far fewer candidates vying for the peak of the good heap than there are for the bad and ugly top spots.
Far and away the best thing to happen to America over the past year would also have to be the choice for the past seven years as well, namely a non-event, the fact that the nation has not suffered another terrorist attack in almost 88 months.
That fact has led to a distinctly blase’ attitude among many Americans who have pushed memories of 9/11/2001 to back burners or have pushed it off the stove entirely, which is extremely unfortunate since those who forget the past historically ended up reliving it in the future.
Despite one’s view of President George W. Bush, he has to be accorded his due. Our national security programs and systems are deeply flawed, as has been pointed out in this space, but they have evidently been sufficiently effective, so far.
What the future holds, what 2009 and ensuing years have in store for us, is speculative at best but, as of now, we are relatively secure as a nation so the best thing not to happen to America in 2008 is easily the absence of another assault. For that, Americans should be deeply thankful and should be praying the situation continues. GWB deserves tip of the hat.
I struggled to choose the worst thing about 2008 because of the more subjective nature of such a choice….
(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)
@18
ReConUSMC,
How about just the last 8 years:
We used to have a strong dollar … but neo-con deregulation of financial markets weakened it.
Life used to be sacred … but neo-cons support endless war and the death penalty.
Marriage used to be sacred … but neo-cons want the government to decide.
We used to be respected around the world … neo-con preemptive war changed that.
We used to have a strong manufacturing economy … neo-con free traders changed that.
We used to have lower tax structures … which got us into this mess.
We used to enjoy more freedoms … neo-con religionists and fascists changed that.
We used to be a large exporter of American made goods … neo-con free traders changed that.
We used to be an openly Christian nation … which got us into this mess.
We used to teach patriotism in schools … which got us into this mess.
We used to educate children in schools … neo-con tax activists changed that by de-funding public education.
We used to enjoy freedom of speech … but neo-cons prefer to wiretap.
We used to enforce LEGAL citizenship … but neo-cons prefer to employ illegals.
We used to have affordable food & gas prices … but neo-con energy policies prevented reform of our transportation and agriculture systems.
The trouble is, America’s youthful voters today don’t know of the great America that existed forty and fifty years ago. They see the world as if it has always existed, as it is now.
…
We also had racial segregation, McCarthyism and a cold war, and enjoyed the economic benefits of a world rebuilding after a cataclysmic war that barely touched American soil. For better or worse, we cannot go back – we must move forward with the world we have, not the world we would wish to have.
Given the above, it seems likely that a return to Constitutional issues is in order. For my part, I think the first amendment gets trampled by the right and the left at times – “Christian Nation” as a label ought never to apply to the United States. The right to peaceably assemble is practically expired, and the right to petition the Government is even in doubt.
The second amendment has been interpreted far too obscurely – the individual right to bear arms is clear and unmistakable. The third amendment is thankfully not an issue so far. The fourth amendment has been bent and twisted to the point where all of your property can be seized and liquidated with no cause shown.
The fifth amendment has been gutted recently, along with the sixth. Even the seventh amendment has been assaulted. The eighth amendment is as good as gone. The ninth and tenth amendments, however, are where we need to really get to work. The People have far more rights than we assert. I think it is time to get assertive.
DS
#18, makes it hard to be optimistic as a conservative.
@20. David S:
Nice post, but you are wasting your time.
I am convinced that being a right-winger is like being born gay… it’s biologically hard wired in the brain.
All they can do is hate, hate, and more hate.
At least now that they are out of office, they can go back to being the mostly harmless but annoying cranks you’ve historically been.
BC
Try a bit harder to overcome your near-terminal case of BDS. Wilson went to Niger at the request of the CIA (and at the suggestion of his own wife, who was working as a lower-level analyst at the time FOR the CIA.) He spent his time there sitting around the hotel pool, drinking Long Island Ice Teas and schmoozing with a few mid-level government bureaucrats. He then came back to the U.S. and insisted that “Bush lied.” Bullspit! President Bush’s ONLY reference to ANYTHING in Africa during that SOTU speech was to quote the British, who, to the present day insist that Saddam’s Iraq HAD sought to buy yellowcake in Africa. No one, not the President OR the British have ever specified that Niger was involved in this attempt. The only connection Niger has to the issue was the British had discovered a forged document referring to Niger, but they say today that that document had nothing whatsoever to do with their assessment.
Secondly, Bush, Cheney, et al, did NOT go into “smear mode” as you put it. The name of Ms Plame was “leaked” to Novak by Richard Armitage who was a vociferous opponent of Bush’s Iraq policy and had no reason whatsoever to cover for Bush in any way. Besides, Ms Plame was NOT a “covert operative” subject to the non-disclosure rules as the Dim-bulb Democrats have insisted. Wake up and smell the coffee, BC. In 19 days, Bush will be gone and you’ll have your fondest wish…a far-left ideologue who’s both an empty suit and very likely even more corrupt than Clinton was.
“B.D.S.” is what again ..
“Barack Dillusional Syndrome” ?
Ron M
A meteorite is a rock that has fallen to earth, a meteor is what is seen in the sky as it falls to earth.
What “soars” through space is called a meteoroid.
@22
R Disasters,
Thanks for the encouragement. Being a right-winger is certainly a difficult condition to cure, but I have met an increasing number of Republicans that have been traumatized enough by Bush to be shaken free of their preconceptions. Clearly there is a large component of indoctrination and heredity involved, but I doubt the genetic component is 100% determinative.
Even if it is true that all they can do is hate, it may be possible to redirect their hatred toward more productive ends. Perhaps they can be taught to cannibalize one another?
Oh wait… they are doing that already.
I only wish I was as hopeful as you are that they will only continue to annoy – unfortunately there are a lot of people who see personal gain to be had, and will continue to rape the rest of us to have it.
Peace.
DS
The only “raping” being done is being done by the left, DS. Even an ideologue like you should be able to recognize a real rape when he sees one. The Texas Penal Code defines the crime of robbery as: “The taking of the property of another by force or threat of force and converting to one’s own use or to the use of another–not the owner.” Sounds to me like a PERFECT description of the tax system in the U.S. today and THAT’S a construct of (and favorite government “program” of) Democrats. Let’s not forget that the guy in charge of writing the tax codes in the U.S. Senate for the past two years has been Charlie Rangle, maybe the most corrupt congressman in D.C. outside of Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi.
By the way, ’08ama, “BDS” as any well-read person knows, stands for Bush Derangement Syndrome and is defined as the tendancy on the part of the left to blame EVERYTHING that goes bad in the world on George W. Bush…even tsunamis.