In a lengthy column today — but I do suggest you Read the Whole Thing™ — Liz Mair identifies the five things wrong with the GOP today:
First, a lot of bad candidates have been fielded, and a lot of crappy campaigns have been run. And no, I don’t just mean that candidate whose name immediately popped into your head there.
Second, and tied in with this, we have too many less-than-cutting-edge and insufficiently creative and/or out-of-date consultants making a lot of money off of said crappy campaigns.
Third, our technology sucks in comparison to what Democrats have.
Fourth, growing portions of the electorate—Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans—either loathe us or just don’t like us.
Fifth, the party seems to have forgotten that it’s supposed to stand for something—by which I mean actual principles of some sort, and not just, say, the general bumper sticker concept that “OBAMA = BAD.”
Let’s tackle these in the same order Liz did, because I think there’s a logic to how she’s organized her (totally valid) complaints.
• The first and most obvious problem is of course the candidates. In politics, it’s said the “personnel is policy.” That is, no matter what an executive says he might do, the people he appoints to do the doing are the real test. You can talk like Teddy Roosevelt, but it won’t matter if you appoint Chuck Hagel. Similarly, the candidates a party fields are the party. They’re the ones voters see on the news and on their ballots. So you can’t nominate a Todd Akin while claiming you’re not the Stupid Party any more, and you can’t nominate Christine O’Donnell while telling everyone you’re the voice of sanity. There’s either something wrong with the GOP nominating process or with the candidates it attracts. Or both. This isn’t an intractable problem, but it’s one on which the GOP rank and file need to do some very deep soul-searching.
• Solving the consultant problem is easy: Stop hiring expensive losers. Hire young, hire hungry. Let Karl Rove go back to head-counting in strategic Ohio counties on his own time.
The other problem is the Belief Problem.
The Establishment Candidates don’t beleive what the base believes.
Therefor the Establishment Candidates, like Mitt (that’s the house I’m running for the senate) Romney don’t speak from the Heart, they read from a script.
The Classic example of Reading from a Script vs. Speaking from the Heart was in the Foreign Policy Debate when Romney was Cow Towd by Candy Crowley.
I can easily envision Ronald Reagan, who always spoke from the heart, in that debate saying, “Candy, I’m glad you had the foresight to coordinate with my opponent here and bring along the material he requested. Since you have the materials that he asked you to bring, which apparently include the transcript of his speech, I was wondering if you’d be kind enough to read to all of us here the section of his speech where he specifically referred to the Benghazi Attack as the action of Terrorists. Not just some general nod to Terrorism in the course of the speech, but where he specifically referred to the Benghazi Attack as Terrorism.”
Without whining Reagan would have established an unfair connection between his opponent and the supposed moderator, he’d have called the bluff of Obama and Crowley regarding what was not said in real time, not later when fewer people would see, and he’d have put the whole matter back in his column.
Not because he read, but Because He Beleived!
Let the GOP housecleaning begin!
To All Those Who Venture Down This Thread:
You will notice that the Cultural Marxist/Leftwing/Liberals are demanding that the GOP drop Conservative principles and adopt the Democrat Marxist Cultural worldview.
It’s the culture stupid.
The balkanization of our population is working as planned. Mass immigration will seal our fate.
” There is a small-but-vocal anti-immigrant wing of the party”
please name names
Mark Krikorian and the Center for Immigration Studies, which is prominently featured on forums like National Review and on Fox News. Krikorian is also against LEGAL immigration. He says that America has too many people in it already. (Guess which peoples he’s talking about.)
The Center for Immigration Studies may be a front group for some more sinister white supremacists like American Renaissance.
And right here on PJ Media, we had commenters who posted stuff like this:
“The bottom line for what was once a majority White European nation is that we are being demonized and disempowered by people who dont like us. We need to Identity Politic up to protect ourselves, from hostile “Others,” including colonists. ”
“Time for White Europeans to adjust to this new reality and develop insitutions to preserve their culture and protect their groups members rights.”
http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-overlooked-minority-the-asian-american-voter/
“Genetics is a major driver of culture as culture doesn’t happen in a vacuum.”
http://pjmedia.com/blog/is-america-broken/2/
How do you think even Thomas Sowell would feel when he reads that there are some here who want to preserve our White European Culture which comes from our White European genetics?
They’re entitled to their wacky opinions, and the rest of us are entitled to ignore their wacky opinions.
Wouldn’t hurt if we occasionally pointed out that we just tend to ignore the Delias, and that some others of course are trolls.
(Guess which peoples he’s talking about.)
He is talking about people who are a net loss to the country, mostly because
they will never be able to find a job in a 21st century economy, but also
because some of them will preserve and propagate their un-American beliefs.
Yeah right. Europe has been such a boon to the world. Two World Wars, some genocides and the launching grounds for Communism and Fascism. Plenty of white Europeans are coming into New York City these days. They are artsy Marxists enjoying America’s decline.
The point is we can sell America’s values as the values that have helped many of these developing countries start coming into their own. Rather than being a party of hostility clinging to an idealized version of what European values were why don’t we start reminding Hispanics and other minorities what the world might be like if America declines and their former enslavers get more powerful. The Left talks multiculturalism but it walks enslavement. Maybe we should be bringing out that message instead.
I don’t agree with those comments, genetics, white supremacy or white anything, but there are too many people in America.
Also, spend a few years in places like Mumbai, Cairo, Jakarta, Guatemala City, La Paz, Cuzco, Varanasi, Agra, Denpensar, Manaus, Kathmandu, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and La Ceiba and guess which people you’ll be talking about.
It is what it is. Why, I don’t know, and I don’t care. I am not the coach of the world’s and history’s last place teams with a contract to uplift them to first place. To ignore the truth is to buy into political correctness. If people don’t like you because you tell the truth that’s tough. The reality is that those countries are like they are because of the people in them, not “situations,” or lack of “privilege.” Commit to a wholesale transfer of those populations to America and you’ll re-create failure in excruciating detail.
You can either preside over America’s first shanty towns since the gold rush and opening of the West or be perceived as a nice guy. That’s political correctness: destruction at the service of a form of monstrous politeness dedicated to not offend no matter the reality.
The hilarious thing is that the groups who know this truth better than anyone are the very people escaping from their own failure. They just don’t say it publicly. In private they do and they certainly do with their feet. The clown car known as the Third World has been an open “secret” on the backpacking circuit for decades. The solution for those travelers is either to laugh or cry or go home. There’s a lot of each.
Fail Burton has, unfortunately, nailed it. If you look at the demographic voting patterns it’s undeniable, and it has persisted for many election cycles now. Ethnicity and circumstances of birth may not be destiny, but culture seems to be. Many of the people we’re talking about come from cultures that are diametrically opposed to American values, and they will persistently vote for entitlements and bennies for their tribe no matter what. GOP candidates have tried everything under the sun, short of outright conceding, and none of it has made a damn bit of difference.
To make it clear: I don’t give a damn what people look like. I do give a damn about what they believe in. Let’s be clear: Mexico, to name one, is nowhere close to having a culture of self-reliance and civilized morals. If we continue to allow people from that culture into the U.S. willy-nilly, we are putting a gun to our own heads.
Agreed. I’ll say it again: it is not my job to fathom and explain the failures of other cultures compared to my own. I am not the Peace Corp. I have a life. My country is not a lab experiment for liberal delusions and misreadings of the Declaration of Independence. I am not a lab rat.
Neither will I take it on the chin as a racist because of the shortcomings of other people. Stupid is as stupid does; and smart too. Screw the Dem Party. They have undone America in a way the Empire of Japan and Nazis failed to do.
It really is the height of hypocrisy for minorities soaked in and embracing Identity Politics to actually criticize the white European majority for doing so.
Similar to Israeli Jews, the only way that others will like them is if they (Israeli Jews) embrace self destruction/suicide…and put all others interests before theirs.
White Europeans cant even talk about their interests, without being demonized. American Jews can talk about their interests. Black Americans can talk about their communities interests. Latino Americans can talk about their communities interests. Asian Americans can talk about their communities interests. Etc.
All these groups not only talk about their interests but organize to promote them. They have segregated societies like the Association of Black Lawyers, in every field and industry.
Do you think this might be offputting to white Europeans? Why are White Europeans excluded from participating the Diversity Celebration? Here is a hint, because they arent welcome in the New Zeitgeist, except to stammer and beg forgiveness for their existence on this planet.
Sinz, thinks that White European Identity Politics is beyond the pale, not merely another group joining the diversity zeitgeist. If white Europeans arent welcome to the Diversity Multiculturalism Celebration, what is left for them but to be ostracized outsiders who are hated and demonized?
Shouldnt minority groups embrace their White European brothers and sisters to participate in this new Multicultural Diversity zeitgeist? If they dont, who is the bad guy here. The White Europeans or the New Establishment which has revealed itself not to be Multicultural Diversity Celebrating, but merely Anti White European and seeking that groups disempowerment and their own and all others empowerment over White Europeans? Does the GOP really want to pander to these kind of Minority Politics haters for votes? Maybe their is something wrong with the Latinos and not the White Gringos? Who are the real bigoted xenophobic supremacists?
I’m sick of outlets such as “Fox News” and “National Review” being leveraged as Republican, much less Conservative (by which I mean Constitutional Conservative).
Neither NR or FN are Conservative. The Progressives have asserted their hold over the Republican Party in no uncertain terms. Karl Rove and John Bohner have literally told the rest of us to take to the exits.
On the immigration front, I must say I have struggled in this area:
*I grew up thinking “If I lived in a third-world hell-hole like Mexico, I’d do everything I could to get to America, too!”
*Then I began to understand what a drain on our society Illegal Aliens could be, and I began to be annoyed at the government for giving it away to non-citizens. At the same time, I was angred and sickened that people “who hadn’t earned it” were accepting it!
*Next I started seeing Mexican flags waved in American streets, with angry illegals already on the free cash flow spitting at Americans and shouting at me about my way of life.
*Later, I educated myself on economics, and realized the original problem was taking money from people who earned it, to give to people who didn’t earn it, regardless of where those people were citizens.
I’m not opposed to foreigners coming to America. I don’t care if they compete for jobs. I don’t want them to get anything from the government. I also don’t want Americans to get anything from the government other than roads, bridges, military protection, the mail, and maybe a couple other things.
I don’t want senior citizens to get Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. All of those things are taking from those who produce and giving to those who don’t. It’s that simple. It must stop.
It’s the ultimate intrusion on my rights, and the rights of my neighbors. All else is trivial by comparison.
Youre going to take a lot of heat for saying NO to giving Gramps and Granny a monthly check but….
A little food for thought.
My parents are 90-ish…when dad “retired” at 70-ish they still lived in the “big house” we all (5 kids) grew up in.
Dad worked and paid into SSI all his life.
Full-time Mom worked sporadically.
Both collected SSI bennies.
Guess what THE number one monthly expense for them was, in that house in The Burbs, in their “golden years”?
PROPERTY TAX.
North Jersey, exponential tax growth over the course of the Mortgage, dozens of percentage points, year after year..in the end it was almost a thousand bucks a month in PROPERTY TAX, on two old people who no longer “earn” a living.
ALL of moms, and PART of dads Moms SSI check went straight back to the county, and they lived “modestly” off the rest.
My point is, how many OTHER “seniors” are there across the country, in the same boat….too old to “work” but still too “young and healthy” to be eating that cat-food milkshake through a straw, babbling senile in the nursing home?
No more working income, but still getting RAPED by merciless TEACHERS UNIONS who burden the local tax base to the point you must WORK OR DIE, with NOTHING in between possible any longer.
How much in SSI bennies earmarked to “assist our elderly” are just trickling BACK into the Leviathan, going to Teachers Salaries, police cars, and all the other wasteful and unnecessary things bulging from Suburban Governments?
Its not the entitlements we need to cut, Its the SALARIES of all these six-figure, 180 workday, UNIONIZED Teachers and public servants…That is whats driving the cost of government.
Because they cant even SURVIVE on the local tax base, even at 11 thou. a year average property tax in that town, the still need FEDERAL money, 40% debt laden Federal funds to run the schools, and the police, courts, etc etc too.
WTF!
Next time Obama plays the “we need more tax or else granny suffers” I’m kicking him in the balls.
It aint Granny, Choom-cump..its YOURE crew that needs a haircut.
Why Bonehead the Cryboy cant make that argument, I dont know.
Maybe because he’s gay, and lusts for that “perfect razor sharp pant crease” to go with his spray-tan and “vulnerability”, who knows.
But this Budget Argument is going nowhere, because The Stupid Party wont make The Most Obvious Case since 9/11 who the REAL villians are…
I know, we lost that argument too, WTF huh?
And we wouldnt have a bunch of dual loyalty foreigners all up in Silicon Valley if we trained Americans in those seats at our prestigious universities instead of foreign nationals, in THE FIRST PLACE.
The person who said…
“The bottom line for what was once a majority White European nation is that we are being demonized and disempowered by people who dont like us. We need to Identity Politic up to protect ourselves, from hostile “Others,” including colonists. ”
“Time for White Europeans to adjust to this new reality and develop insitutions to preserve their culture and protect their groups members rights.”
also said this…
“And for the record, I voted for Nikki Haley, who was endorsed by the Tea Party and Sarah Palin, and was very happy to see her elected, and will do so again. I also just voted for Tim Scott, as I was redistricted out of Jim Clyburns gerrymandered racist set aside seat, this year, after decades of having a racist “represent me” in Congress. I am ecstatic about having a black man represent me, just not a racist hater like Jim Clyburn. I am happy to have the Indian-American Nikki Haley represent me. Besides Jim Demint, both are the best thing to happen to our state representation in a long time.”
But sinz double standard of advocating pandering to identity politics minority groups whilst holding that other identity politics groups are beyond the pale is on full display. She fully supports this zeitgeist of minroity diversity multiculturalism that doesnt tolerate much less celebrate certain ostracized groups, namely White Europeans, Christians, and Males.
Sinz is a Cultural Marxist who merely disagrees with the full on Marxists on economic policy. I think she comes from the Minority Identity Politics Feminist angle, and not the useful idiot Libertarian angle. Down the thread you can see the Atheist Agnostic Anti Christian version of Sinz. The fruits of the Frankfurt School, moving to take over the GOP…and continue to disempower the European Christian majority population…in favor of minority group empowerment and supremacy. All in the name of Anti racism, anti sexism, and equality….in Orwellian fashion. The racists and sexists and Anti-Christian bigots are moving to make both parties Anti Christian, misandrist, and Anti White European. The Left vs the Far Left will be the new paradigm, they both agree on Cultural Marxism paradigm but merely argue on economic issues. Kind of like the Social Democrats vs the Communists.
Why should white people accept demonization and the ever-increasing violence (check FBI stats) against our children and elderly because you think my pride in my race somehow offends a black man you don’t even know? What race are you? If white, why do you wish to capitulate your children’s future?
Between #4 & #5, why do people immigrate? Because they see better opportunity in another place. Even the illegal immigrants come here because they see better opportunity (and a safer life) here than in Mexico.
Why not be the party of opportunity, where if you succeed, you get to keep the rewards?
Are you kidding me? Have you ever been in a neighborhood destroyed by these people? They are a dirty, filthy, nasty people who don’t even have a basic understanding of hygene, nor, apparantly, the basic understanding that garbage goes in a trash can! Add to the fact they steal anything that isn’t nailed down and you have created an instant hell on earth for the locals who have no recourse but to leave.
Call me all the damned names you want but I’ve seen it first hand and if you’re not smart enough or in a financial position to bail and are caught in this nightmare then and only then can you possibly understand why people are so hostile to these invaders.
Better yet, why not be the party of “Play by the rules or go home”…?
Somebody needs to be the grown-up.
Rule of Law party. What a concept! But that’s RACIST and XENOPHOBIC NATIVISM!
This has been said, many times, many ways but if I understand the world correctly what the rank and file republicans want and what the leadership wants are at fundamental odds. Someone posted an excellent comment on PJ Media that leadership in both parties just wants the gravy train to keep running. I think you would find very few voters in the “low information” group could even tell you what TEA stands for in the TEA party.
That we are Taxed Enough Already doesn’t get Karl Roves bread buttered for him.
I cannot see a solution for the Republican Party, the other side is too good at giving out freebies, and freebie lite isn’t a compelling campaign plank.
Katherine, excellet points, and yes the current Republican leadership does seem to want to take the party back to the “get along, go along” days of the 1950s and ’60s… rocking the boat might get them kicked off of the Washington cocktail party circuit A-list. There’s a huge disconnect between what the leadership wants, and what the people who would like to vote GOP but don’t trust the leadership want.
And no, being the “party of slightly smaller big government” won’t work; that’s a sure prescription to lose every election. As things stand, the entitlement class has an absolute majority and can elect any candidates they want, regardless of the consequences. I’m starting to think that if the GOP is going to be smeared by the press as being the strict-parent party, then maybe we should buy into that: run on a platform of “if we get elected, this is how it’s going to be, and all candy-ass whining will be cheerfully ignored”. Tell the low-information voters “we’re doing what’s best for you, and ten years from now you’ll thank us”. Be the mean parent who doesn’t let the kids stay out past midnight. Push policies based on a mature approach to our current problems, as rooted in American values: The govenrment needs to stop running debt, and we will take whatever measures are necessary to accomplish that. The homeland needs to be defended against invasion, and we will control access to the U.S. to whatever degree is necessary to accomplish that. Pull our military out of conflicts where there is no obvious American objective, and put them to work protecting our borders and blocking foreign terrorists from entering. No more special breaks and privileges for any group, whether it’s uber-connected Wall Street bankers or bloc-voting minority groups. Take away power from regulatory hobby-shops like the EPA by eliminating their authority to make new rules without Congressional approval. And make it clear that the law is the law by prosecuting everyone connected with Obama who has clearly done illegal things (I’m looking at you, Eric Holder).
The MSM will hate this, but honestly, how much more can they hate the GOP than they do already? If a majority of the country buys into blatantly yellow journalism, then the jig’s up anyway.
Assuming that it hopes to survive, the Republican Party must decide, and announce, what it now stands for. There appear to be only a few options:
a. Getting more Republicans elected regardless of their positions,
b. Principles with which many conservatives agree,
c. Principles with which which the current Republican leadership mainly agrees,
d. Something else, or
e. Nothing in particular.
My observations of late suggest that a. and c., but perhaps e., are the answers but I may be wrong. With the answer decided, announced and credibly supported, perhaps conservatives who have for a long time voted the Republican ticket on faith can decide whether we still wish to do so and whether to encourage others to do the same.
For several years I’ve been in the “A Pox on Both Your Houses,” party. The whole thing sickens me and I’ve been holding my nose for years while casting my vote.
With the results of the last two elections I’d say it’s a safe bet that a lot of conservatives have already decided to sit it out and I’m afraid I’m now willing to join their ranks.
How many years has the GOP gave us the option of voting for the lesser of two evils? To us it means we are still voting for evil and people are tired of it.
Your disdain for both parties sounds like a capitulation to the regime in power.
Can we convert our disdain for the Republican Party into a transformation of it?
At some point, these laments need to become an impetus for action, otherwise they become a justification for inaction and an acquiescence to the rule by the statists and collectivists.
It raises the question of which action would be the most effective, though. What would take less effort and be more likely to be accomplished: a conservative/Tea Party takeover of the GOP, or all of those concerned moving theie allegiance to a third party? Four years ago I would have said “take over the GOP”, but I failed to factor in the effects of no Congressional term limits, which could allow the existing GOP leadership to remain secure in their power bases for decades to come. Now, I don’t think the answer to the question is obvious.
I’m no fan of the existing Republican Party and I’m not opposed to the creation of a third party on principle. But I am interested in what you think the evidence is that a meaningful (a lower standard than effective) effort can be mounted within the next decade or so. Of course, in a decade it may be too late to reverse the movement toward a one-party dictatorship in the United States.
I am interested in some sort of effort that unites the Opposition for as long as it takes the defeat the Democrats. My estimate is that the best bet for that is within the Republican Party.
I realize that social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, moderates, libertarians, constitutionalists, and objectivists don’t like each other very much, but can we work together long enough to stop Obama and crew? Why can’t we develop the same sort of discipline (such as it is) that is enabling the Democrats to prevail?
DJ, those are good questions. I’m not sure that the objective can be accomplished within a decade via either path. That’s what worries me the most. And yes, we seen to have a lot of people these days who have rejected the Buckley fusionism, which is a bad sign; if we insist on perfection in the areas we care about, the movement will fragment and become ineffective. (To an extent, this already happened in 2012.)
I’m a libertarian who keeps telling other libertarians that social conservatives have good points and should be listend to. However, I also think the social conservatives get sidetracked by a lot of things that don’t matter as much as anyone thinks they do. If I were a social conservative, my #1 issue by far would be entitlements, and the enormous amount of harm that they have done to American society. But almost no one in the conservative movement seems to want to touch that. And we know why; it’s because the entitlment class has a majority now.
Yes!!! – let’s start something new — rebrandin – let’s begin with a new name … something like, umm, how about “Compassionate Conservatism”. Let’s ape the commies and give away billions in programs like Head Start, etc. to prove we’re nice… And let’s distance ourselves from that masty hateful wing of the Republican Party, let’s attack them and marginalize them… Let’s ape the socialists and call them vile names like “racist”, and “bigot” and “pastey white men” and “teabagger”… Let’s curry favor with the millions of illegals that we’re too cowardly to eject from our nation amd who are a completely owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party (they vote!) – so let’s do nothing to eject them, in fact, let’s make sure that border stays open – eventually maybe they’ll love us…
Let’s make sure we never allow anyone from the extremist racist pastey white Right wing to gain national attention, let’s shoot everyone like that down and field center-left guys but call the “conservative”…
Let’s use the same ploys and destructive devices that make the Democrat-Commies so successful (at destroying this nation) — let’s race-bait, live and die by identity politics, but let’s try to get along, rather than focusing on destroying our political enemies like Obama and his filth do – maybe if we try hard enough, and copy them in special ways while doing everything in our power to appear a little nicer, eventually people will figure out the we’re the good guys!
It’ll work!!!
Historically, the GOP’s slide with Hispanics nationally is traced to GW Bush’s amnesty push, complete with his sanctimonius name calling of anyone who disagrees with him (Family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande; the minute men, who scrupiously avoided attempting to enforce immigration law, were “vigilates”). Bush’s Hispanic relations disaster was compounded by Republicans like Lindsey Graham claiming those who disagreed with him don’t like “brown skinned” people. Although amnesty proponents like to blame opponents for deteriorating support among Hispanics, there really is no comparable statements from national amnesty opponents comparable to Bush’s and Graham’s. About the worst I have heard was the Cincinnati talk show host Cunningham referreing to John McCain as Juan McCain, as if there was something wrong with the name itself. If Republicans would stop pushing for amnesty, concentrate on enforcement of immigration laws, avoid demogoging the issue, and make broad appeals to all voters, they could at least get back up to the 40% level (where they were before Bush’s second term).
Lindsey Graham dispises the conservative base of the Republican Party and the Tea Party. He is going to be challenged in the primary again, no matter how much ineffective grand standing he does for the cameras and how many Chic-fil-a sandwiches he eats for breakfast. He is already pushing for Amnesty again along with Juan McCain.
RINOs cant win…see the farthest Left Republican Senator John McCain and Mass. Gov. Romney.
1. Karl Rove has this one covered because he knows how to pick winners.
2. The RNC will take care of this one.
3. This is a tough one. Can we get a hold of the dem tech app that can get us the name, address and phone number of everyone on food stamps? The GOP could bus them to the polls to vote for Republicans instead of democrats.
4. Granting amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens will solve our hispanic problem. They will love us even more once we start demanding enforcement and border control which was promised in the reform bill. Ground Hog Day was so cool!
5. We should stand for whatever the Democrats say will help the Republicans. If we are really firm about this then it can work.
Hoot!
Professor Jacobson at LI has an informative post on the tech impact. Notice the huge contribution gap. I have not yet explored all of the links in his post but he does his homework so I’m sure there is some good info there to study.
http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/01/how-republicans-got-clobbered-in-tech-in-two-images-and-a-few-links/
The must read link an excerpt “This post is about technology, but is written for a non-technical audience.
You may think you know what happened with the technology of the Obama and Romney campaigns because of what you read about Orca. You don’t know. This article is incredibly long. It will be worth it, and you will never look at technology and politics in the same way. If someone knows where to post or put this so that the RNC sees it, please do so. I am designating this content under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. Distribute freely with attribution.”…read on
http://www.redmassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=16445
Thanks for this. I’ll look into it later this week.
You are welcome. I work with a lot of techies, they can do amazing work with data. The GOP is consultant driven, they look down upon the grassroots. Notice how the Left invite the netroots folks to DC while the GOP says stay away, we know what we are doing and don’t need the little people.
The GOP needs to reach out to everyone. Andrew Wilkow did some good work on the culture, he talked to some artists / musicians who are conservatives and can reach the younger crowd but the GOP would have no interest just like they are ashamed of the NASCAR crowd.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/12/14/wilkow-where-do-conservatives-fit-in-with-americas-pop-culture/ we need people like Wilkow, Zo, Greg Gutfield, Katie Pavlich and you hitting the college campus tour.
“Notice how the Left invite the netroots folks to DC while the GOP says stay away, we know what we are doing and don’t need the little people.”
That’s because when the MSM criticize the ‘Little People’ the GOP become embarrassed to be associated with them. Heaven Forbid that an elected GOP official be associated with one of those ‘Bitter Clingers’ at a cocktail party, that just wouldn’t be right.
The more intense the negative press (regardless of the lack of evidence) regarding the TEA Party, the less the Carl Rove’s of the world wanted to do with them. And the Media Stirred Revulsion was so strong that they entered into Self Fulfiling Prophesy with the Christine O’Donnell’s out there.
And that’s the biggest difference. No matter how Outrageous (or Illegal – See Marion Barry) someone on the Left’s actions or words, they circle the wagons and hunker down all for one and one for all.
The GOP abandons and engages in pre-emptive surrender.
For his computerized campaign machine, Obama was able to draw on the top-flight talent of Silicon Valley. He got senior technologists from Google and Oracle.
They went to work for Obama’s re-election campaign because they wanted Obama to win. Some volunteered their effort free. Those guys would not have worked for the GOP.
In the high-tech IT world, the GOP is disadvantaged by the fact that Silicon Valley voted for Obama by more than 2 to 1, and Silicon Valley’s campaign contributions to Obama dwarfed those to Romney by 5 to 1. (Romney got less money from some top Silicon Valley companies than Ron Paul did.)
There are two reasons for this, both of which are fixable:
1. The GOP needs to do more to show that it welcomes legal immigration. Silicon Valley depends on a steady flow of immigrants with advanced degrees, as well as others who come here on H-1B visas.
2. The GOP needs to show that there is room in the party for the socially libertarian young people of Silicon Valley. Right now, they’re turned off by the moral scolding they see from the GOP on sex related issues. These Silicon Valley technies will come into the GOP and start advocating for legalization of marijuana or same-sex marriage. We should be pleased that they want to work within the party, not kick them out because others in the party don’t agree with them on those particular issues.
They also have to find a way to stop letting the Proggies conflate LEGAL immigration and illegal immigration into the same thing. If nothing else, that might help make inroads back into the Asian vote.
The Reconquistas, on the other hand, are always going to be a lost cause.
lol. At it again, comrade? Yes, by all means, let’s redefine sexual morality to that which Gramsci et al promoted as a way of weakening the American family. (Did you think I wouldn’t notice that you and the random idiot slunk away when the debate didn’t go your way, only to reappear later like roaches?)
Keep on em Jeanette. The Cultural Marxists are on the march and looking to own both parties.
Disadvantaged my rosy red cheeks.
I OFFERED to help close this gap. I tried to get in touch with Rance Priebus.
These arrogant basket weavers completely ignore anyone who isn’t already inside. For those who know me on these pages, know I am a serious defender against the runaway leftist march to the ninth ring of hell.
They ran a “B” team slate, something I predicted months before the inevitable fall.
Moreover, I have been on record on these very pages for years that the messaging war was a rout. This is not a new evaluation by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone who has read my comments has witnessed this coming. Again, I had a way to close this gap and still do. But, they will keep doing what they have always done and will keep getting what they always get.
They ran a “B” team slate, something I predicted months before the inevitable fall.
And you were wrong. The problem is and has been the destruction of sane fiscal conservative messaging from electable moderates by the culture warriors and the wingnut set.
What you and others don’t get is called math. In an election that’s otherwise close to 50/50 the war on women and gays stuff only has to sway 2% to 3% of the votes. That’s it. It doesn’t have to resonate with the entire electorate. Just enough to make a small difference.
Do you (or anyone else for that matter) really think that the Akin and Mourdock business could NOT affect a percent or two of the voters? Really? On what planet?
And as to the rest of the wingnuttery, you are exhibit #1. Need an example? You have NASA and NOAA and NCAR and every respectable science journal in existence all agreeing that the underlying notions of global warming are real. And then we have you, the all knowing expert, who says it’s a hoax, and surely you wouldn’t engage Priebus without also giving him that advice as well.
You don’t fight the alarmists by denying the science. Not if winning is part of the goal.
Some advisor you are.
Mmmmm. yes, the candidates are problem # 1. Cases in point, Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.
But hey, clone number 4 should do much better. Karl Rove told me so.
You know, I’m getting a little tired of pundits always bleating that the Republicans are fielding a lot of “crappy” candidates. Seems to me the reason the pundits consider them “crappy” is because they don’t conform to what the Republican RINO elites want in Washington. If we had listened to losers like Carl Rove, we never would have elected people like Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, or Ted Cruz. No, not at all. But people like Rove HAVE given us real moderate RINO “winners” like Dole, McCain, and Romney. Hey, how did those moderate hacks yearning for “bipartisanship” work out for us? Not very well.
It is very hard beating a party who’s only platform is “SPEND MORE ON EVERYTHING.” Yep, hard to argue with Santa Claus. Every single Democrat simply says that we need to “invest” (i.e., spend) more on the union-dominated education factories out there ( or schools), more welfare, more food stamps, more unemployment, more of just about everything. And let’s not even talk about Obamacare, the mother of all entitlements. This is all the Democrats have to offer, yet they are winning. Doesn’t that tell you something about the American public today?
I sincerely doubt Ronald Reagan could get elected today. Even given Obama’s lousy economic record, high unemployment, low economic growth, and sky-high taxes, he still got re-elected by promising to spend even more money we don’t have. To the low information voters out there, getting more “free stuff” from the government is always a great idea, especially if you are not the ones paying for all that “free stuff.”
And what do conservatives have to offer? Austerity, less spending, lower taxes, smaller government, fewer entitlements, none of which are very popular with anybody, unless YOU are part of the 50% of the public that gets stuck with the bill for paying for our bloated and ever-growing bureaucracy. The only way you sell these ideas is when the country finally DOES go broke, like England did just before Margaret Thatcher came to power and the United States did under Jimmy Carter, which ushered in the Reagan administration. Seems that people go conservative only when they are broke and out of options. And George W. Bush doesn’t count because he was a “compassionate conservative,” which basically meant he spent just as much money as a liberal, only not as quickly.
So lay off this “crappy” candidates nonsense. The Democrats field real intellectual “giants” like Joe Biden and Al Franken. I don’t see anybody saying THEY have crappy candidates. The only difference is, crappy Democratic candidates have an easier sell to make because all they have to do is promise to spend more on everything. Easy to get elected when all you have to do is say that.
I agree, almost totally. The 2 parties are Marxist and Marxist Lite. The Demo candidates are actually worse than the Repubs but it doesn’t make any difference to the voters.
I am outraged that the Dems are actually confirming anti-American Kerry, anti-American Hagel, anti- American Brennan and then will probably run Hillary for Pres in 2016. This bunch is the most dishonest, lying corrupt, shameless group of self promoting power hungry politicians ever but it makes no difference because 2/3 of the electorate does not know and does not care. As long as they get their freebies, tax deductions and subsidies they’ll continue to vote for those that continue to guarantee them.
Go Galt and let it crash and burn.
Who’s a crappier candidate than Obama? Can we help it if naive rubes look at a racist who spent 20 years in a racist cult, asked us to read writing by racist Derrick Bell and delivered racist hate speeches is looked on as a righteous guy by moronic liberals? If Obama’s our benchmark for success and principles the GOP is screwed and so is America.
The only difference between a moron like Obama and Donald Trump is political success, not principles. At least a clown like Trump doesn’t tell me to call balls and strikes depending on whether the pitcher is a man, a woman, gay, or black and probably secretly believe the exact opposite.
Add to that the Ministry of Propaganda and Lies that is the MSM, and you have a real difficult task on your hands.
Yeh we agree that Akin et al is a disaster with foot squarely in mouth. However if “personnel is policy” lets take a look at our competition and see if we can find these rock stars that have such wonderful appeal to asians, blacks, and hispanics. Okay here we go and get a mental image with each one. Pelosi, Reid, Feinstein, Shummer, Menendez, Levin, Boxer, Biden, Blabbermouth schultz, Tricky dicky Durbin, and lets not forget mr wonderful Obama. No wonder with an inspiring cast like this that their personnel is soooo superior to ours.
Yes we have some hard work to do. We had bad turn out that cost us the election. Yes we could use a bit more techno stuff. Perhaps we need to start lying cheating and stealing too. Not really.
We are definitely not a well organized opposition. Tell me the Benghazi hearings with the hildabeast were not pathetic over after all those promises of justice and grilling. I do not know exactly what to do but I have a strong belief that becoming like the above people ie a “freak show” is not a winner either. No pandering, no hypocricy, no lying. We need to have our arguments and policies and principles figured out and each player needs some training on how to articulate the platform so we do not blow ourselves up and then peform ciruclar firing squads on each other when we face a set back.
Lots to do
You forgot Leaky Leahy.
Question: How much training is necessary for someone who actually beleives the principles before they run for office?
Ever the optimist, I hope and pray that the battling forces within the GOP will continue to vent their displeasure with one another here on this forum – as well as others – so that we can all eventually settle down and realize that only compromise, facing reality, mutual respect and a unified voice will be able to stop the steady march of national destruction.
The GOP needs new messaging. The Dems get away with the ‘angry old white guy’ label and there seems to be no one fighting back against it. The GOP needs to launch a campaign that’s capable of re-branding and offering FREEDOM to the masses, which is more appealing than STUFF (or should be, anyway). And it needs to be clever and funny or it will not get anyone’s attention. Sorry, but it’s the truth.
And, the GOP needs to clean their side of the street and be welcoming and inclusive. I am embarrassed by all the bigots (religious and otherwise) in the GOP and am now a registered independent.
The republicans are at a moment of make or break. If they fold on guns IN ANY WAY, they are done. done forever. Their base will walk away. They already folded on taxes, economy, etc, this is their last chance. Fold on simple basic rights and it’s over.
Stephen, if you haven’t read, “The Blueprint, How Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care)” it is well worth the quick read, this plan has spread across the country and applied to local, state and national elections. CO was the incubator…
The current crop of possible Republican presidential candidates is youngish while the current crop of Dem presidential candidates is oldish. In the long run, that’s got to be a plus, especially as the US government seems determined to keep borrowing — instead of raising through taxes — about 40 cents of every dollar it spends.
There’s a very simple thing all Republican office holders can do: Respond To Constituent Communications – On Topic, In a timely Manner, Clearly and Directly. 99% of the time, they simply don’t respond. When they do respond, it’s horribly written wishy-washy gobbly-gook – and very off putting. It’s like they don’t want to talk to people or are keeping secrets or politics is not my business.
Communications from Democrats representing me are timely, on topic and well written. I dislike Democrat policies, but I like my Democrat reps as people much more than the Republicans.
The voting population knows that the GOP hates blacks, Latinos, Asians, gays, women, and pretty much everyone other than Old White Men.
Good luck with the pandering “outreach.”
It isn’t that low-information voters are ignorant — it’s that they know so much that isn’t so.
No, it’s A) – they really are that stupid.
You’re not making a very good impression yourself.
I’ve sent my last dime to the National Republican Party and will not support them again. They no longer represent my views and convictions. They are Marxist Lite.
When we actually have a Conservative candidate again I will vote for that candidate. In the meantime I will vote Locally first and Nationally last.
Democrats are the party of the enemy;
Republicans are the party of traitors.
Reality is Racist.
Bingo.
Here’s what many don’t seem to understand. You are PASSED the event horizon. It may still look like it is recoverable, but it isn’t, not until we pass through the black hole. Conservative candidates can’t be honest for the following reasons. The media would tear them apart and people accept that the media is unbiased. In addition, the amount of takers exceeds the amount of makers. The next election there will be another batch of High School students who have been carefully groomed to believe the leftist lies.
Maybe a small percentage of the classes of 2013, 14, and 15 might not escape the dogma, but not enough of them, not enough by far. We can wax philosophical all day long about ditching the so-cons, but you (universal) have to accept that a policy of fiscal conservatism equals reduced spending, which equals some segment of the welfare state losing out on their portion of the federal pie.
As John McCain showed us, you can be the biggest Maverick in the world when you are going against a republican president, but the second you think that you won’t be stung carrying the media scorpion on your back, you’ll find out how quickly the old Aesop is true. To make a long story short, you cannot win an election when you advocate taking people’s entitlements. So, there is no such thing as a conservative candidate, if th GOP ever wins again, it is only because they mirror the Democrats.
Either you turn your back on Americans and pander only to select groups or continue not winning elections. No one cares about being an American anymore. The Democrats made sure of that. Now we are all either black, white, straight, gay, man, woman etc. The Democrats have successfully taken over the low information voter by promising free stuff. We can’t catch up. Let it burn.
First, a lot of bad candidates have been fielded, and a lot of crappy campaigns have been run. And no, I don’t just mean that candidate whose name immediately popped into your head there
Bad candidates? Romney, though not really conservative, would have made the best President in a long time; meanwhile, best conservative candidate, Michelle Bachmann, was rudely rejected by Republican primary voters after absurdly being characterized by the media as an airhead. The history of Bachmann’s candidacy shows that the vast majority of voters are sadly incapable of judging the intellectual and moral qualities of the candidates on their own.
Fifth, the party seems to have forgotten that it’s supposed to stand for something—by which I mean actual principles of some sort, and not just, say, the general bumper sticker concept that “OBAMA = BAD.”
So what principles have the Democrats?
My problem with the primary selection is that by the time it gets to my state the nominee has already been selected. We literally have no say in the matter and it disenfranchises a HUGE swath of the population.
The party needs to do a much better job of differentiating between immigration and illegal immigration. One is good for the country, the other saps resources.
This problem isnt with conservatives or the GOP, but rather the MSM. And they sure as hell arent going to make this point and will in fact do everything in their power to bury it and label anybody making it a nativist racist xenophobe, or just omit reporting it.
The Liz Mair column points out a lot of good operational aspects of how to run a better campaign. However, when it comes to candidates that Republicans field she too falls back on the same argument as Rove, no? In her only italicized phrase in the article she notes “…identify and run better more mainstream or moderate candidates in the first place.”
Where is message these candidates are to deliver? All the money wisely spent, good staff selections, etc are in support of what?
It seems that so long as taxpayers can afford to fund Democrat pandering give away programs a conservative message will fall on deaf ears (youth, immigrants, minorities generally speaking). The conservative aspiration of upward economic opportunity is a long game compared to the liberal promise of short term security to lower income voters. The liberal call for economic equality is easier to grasp and simplistic in its appeal to human envy than is the allure of longer term gains in wealth for all that comes from conservative principles.
The system is so entrenched that it will likely take the tangible effects of a bankrupt nation to eliminate the redistributionist option and force an agonizing reappraisal.
Yep. Let the good times roll!
The GOP has their idiots, the Dem Party has their own too. Just because the Dems are winning elections doesn’t mean a thing, unless you believe in lying and pandering and joining a suicide cult dedicated to turning America over to classic paradigms of failure.
The GOP lost a close election, and the SF Forty-Niners a close game. Neither are “broken.” If anything’s broken it’s America itself. Stick to your guns, win on your own terms or join the other side.
The other growing portion of the electorate the GOP is neglecting is atheists/agnostics. I’m an atheist and a Republican, but that’s an extreme minority position. Most of my fellow 16%ers view the Republican Party as fundamentally anti-science. Saying fewer stupid things about the age of the earth, the origin of man, and the rights of women would help my case a lot as I try to explain to my atheist friends that spending beyond our means, rewarding laziness, and appeasing Islamic terrorists aren’t good ideas.
The problem is that even if no Republican ever utters the word “creationism” again, the media will keep repeating it ad naseum and keep insinuating (if not outright saying) that that’s what all conservatives believe in. And we know that they will go as far as to make up quotes, and that said made-up quotes will be widely believed even when proven false. Until people can be convinced to look into what the candidates actually say and do (and I’m not holding my breath), there is no chance there.
P.S.: You need a better group of friends.
Yes the Republicans can’t possibly stand up to the scientific expertise of the Democrat party which has given us the Alar scare, the banning of DDT with the associated deaths from malaria for millions in third world countries, the scares due to “global warming”, and the unrealistic promise of meeting the country’s energy needs with renewable energy. They are getting ready now to stop fracking on private lands in places like North Dakota, stopping the economic growth there. That will be followed by the mandated higher CAFE standards for automobiles, resulting in lighter deathwagons for all.
I dont think pandering to Anti-Christian bigots like you is the way to go.
European Christians and Christendom developed science to it’s highest rigorous peaks, from nothing but the dark ages of the shattered Roman Empire to this very day.
You and your friends should be ashamed of your ignorance and bigotry, but no doubt think yourselves intellectually and morally superior to those backwards Anti-Science luddites known as Christians.
Mark-That’s one of the oddest reasons I have ever heard for not supporting a Republican. I would have voted for an atheist who convinced me that he/she would protect the Constitution; with the clear understanding that the Constitution protects me, and my religious freedom; over Obama, or any other de-gressive, power sick, self-absorbed, liberal. But you say your atheist friends cannot sully their hands on a GOPer who is a loyal Constitutionalist, if that person believes in God? What kind of reasoning is that? What do they think will happen? Do they think he’ll round up all the copies of the Origin of Species and have a barbecue? Put a nativity scene on the White House lawn? Make them go to Sunday school? The president traditionally doesn’t act as a free agent. At least before 2008 US presidents had limits on their power. This one does whatever he wants. I hope HIS belief system is in sync with your buddies because there is no restraining him. We all know how he feels about the Constitution. You and your buddies do realize that Obama, when convenient, also professes to be a Christian. You must know that THEY are primarily the people, Christians that is, in this country any way, who believe in Creation. If he really is a Christian, he also believes that the world was created. It’s the first sentence in the book. I am not certain that Obama IS a Christian. I am more convinced by the “Allah is the One True god” ring he wears on his finger, that he actually believes that he is God and he’s just trying to cover all his bases. If so, guess what… again…Creationist. Why is it cool if democrat candidate, professes to believe in God, or actually believes that he IS God but ooooohhh scary if there is an R by the name? There must be another reason that they dislike Republicans. It’s the sensible shoes, isn’t it?
“Part of the reason is self-inflicted. There is a small-but-vocal anti-immigrant wing of the party. Immigrants — unexpectedly! — are turned off. Hispanics especially so, since the worrisome border is the one we share with our Spanish-speaking neighbors in Mexico.”
*sigh* How can we win when people supposedly on “our side” accept the narrative of the Left? “If you oopose ILLEGAL immigration you’re a racist!”
You’re damn right I oppose illegal immigration. Just like I oppose theft, murder, and rape; it’s against the law! Not only that but illegals often are a drain on the resources of the community they inhabit. If they are paying taxes they have committed fraud and identity theft on top of being here illegally. What about hit and runs by unlicensed and uninsured illegals?
As for those that have been here since they were little? Still illegal, deport them. Yes we’d like to be “fair” and not be mean to these children who were brought here by their parents by deporting them. However, by allowing them to remain you are rewarding the parent’s decision to enter the country ilegally. There should be no rewards for breaking the law. Ever.
If you come here legally and you’re a decent person I’d be glad to have you in my community, don’t care where you come from or what your skin color is. Hell, I’ll help you study to pass your citizenship test or work on your English if you like.
There is nothing racist about opposing illegal immigration. Law breaking is law breaking whether the illegal comes from Mexico or Ireland. No one should be rewarded for breaking the law. Further, we are a nation of immigrants-millions who went to great lengths, expense and sacrifice to come and remain in this country legally. It is an insult to them to give lawbreakers the same privledges as those who have played by the rules. For the life of me I don’t know why we have allowed this to become such a big deal.
ABANDON THEIR NARRATIVE
Quit using Democrat words and phrases. It gives their narrative an automatic win. If they say “the 2% not paying their fair share,” reply “’Eat the Rich,’ a sacred Socialist goal.”
Use accurate terms even though they are not familiar, as there will be Googling.
If Bachmann had retaliated to airhead charges by:
–Blasting about the Democrats turning themselves into Dr. Frankensteins trying to bring Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed back to life to stalk the earth to convert all to government benefits, while wearing a Santa suit.
–Mention that the primary economic problem is getting the Rate of Taxable Events back up, and not shrivel it more with increased taxes.
–Comment that the Holistic Liberal views preserve their ignorance by cementing them into Deductive reasoning, the opiate of the Thinking Classes, which have built-in procedures and methods of separating the thinker from new information and from considering anything not already put into words in the “narrative.”
–Observe that Evangelical Christians have a personal separation of Church and State, with Deductive reasoning in its natural place in spiritual matters in church and with the family, and automatically shifting to Inductive reasoning in daily life and the World of Work.
ABANDON THEIR NARRATIVE
This!
And yet we have people in this thread (Republicans and putative Conservatives) warmly embracing Cultural Marxist narratives and imploring the GOP to embrace that worldview and adopt policies based on that narrative. See the Social Leftwingers and Atheist Anti Christian bigots.
It’s a perpetual debating point of the Republicans that the Democrats are promoting “dependency and division,” so when the Republicans try to get a political advantage by copying what they think are the methods of the enemy, they design their programs cynically. When Bush put through the drug benefit for Medicare, for example, it was a transparent attempt to buy votes. Which is why the whole program was so absurdly clumsy and expensive and reinforced the image of the party as a bunch of unprincipled power seekers. They weren’t trying to figure out a sensible way to deal with a real problem; they were simply buying votes because they figured that’s how the Democrats do it. They not only passed an expensive program without figuring out how to pay for it, but they made the program a huge bonanza for their friends. The Democratic approach to such things may or may not be a better way to deal with such problems, but Democrats aren’t so obviously cynical because they in fact believe that government has a legitimate role in helping people deal with existential problems like drug costs. Republicans may think that Democrats are promoting “dependency and division” for political advantage but Democrats don’t think that’s what they’re doing.
There’s a cost involved in believing your own propaganda.
Right now, they’re turned off by the moral scolding they see from the GOP on sex related issues. These Silicon Valley technies will come into the GOP and start advocating for legalization of marijuana or same-sex marriage. We should be pleased that they want to work within the party, not kick them out because others in the party don’t agree with them on those particular issues.
You haven’t disagreed with a true believer yet on the gay marriage issue, have you? I can assure you that the “scolding” is not coming from the Conservative end of this argument.
Long time, liberal, techie friends who found out that I supported Prop 8 in California turned on me instantly…the words included hater, small mind in a small town, how dare I judge, I am a terrible human being, etc. All this in front of my youngest daughter who was 8 at the time.
I had been at their wedding, I had been there for the birth of their son, they had trusted me with their child and their home when out of town, I had helped them in times of trial both personal and financial. They didn’t even offer me the courtesy of listening to my reply.
This is not the only time I’ve had this experience. Most recent one was just this last Saturday when after hearing a companion make the comment that Chick Fil A hates gay people, I said politely that they are known to treat all their employees well, but they disagree on gay marriage. Again, an instant spring into name calling, tears, emotionalism, no rational discussion.
I will continue to speak up, but the day I get a reasonable response from a gay marriage supporter will be the day I die of shock.
There are some principles that cannot and should not be compromised. For me, marriage is one of them. I will not alter that conviction for the sake of a vote or for political power.
Look at the original compromise on slavery, in direct repudiation of “all men are created equal”, and of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Two hundred plus years later, we are still dealing with the negative consequences of that compromise.
Sometimes you just have to make a stand and let the chips fall where they may.
The only downside to watching them twitch after I point out that they’re “intolerant of my alternative lifestyle”, is that Confession is only on Saturday afternoons. I’m pretty sure schadenfreude isn’t a mortal sin but sometimes I skip Communion anyway…
God knows I love you conservative gals! Beth, carol, and Jeanette! What a prize!
“I had been at their wedding, I had been there for the birth of their son, they had trusted me with their child and their home when out of town, I had helped them in times of trial both personal and financial. They didn’t even offer me the courtesy of listening to my reply. ”
That’s an effect of the fact that leftism is not based on any reason, logic, or moral principles. As we have seen in dictatorships throughout history, totalitarianism is a constantly shifting sand; what’s politically correct today may be verboten tomorrow, for no apparent reason. In order to remain a member in good standing of the leftist tribe, one must contantly be on one’s toes regarding what is the tribe’s policiy today, and be ready to reaffirm it at a moment’s notice. If you have to stop and think about it, you won’t be quick enough, and someone might notice that you hesitated, and then your loyalty will be called into question. And because leftists are utterly dependent on the tribe, they must kowtow at all times. To not do so means ostracism and oblivion.
The Republican slogan seems to be, “Vote for us. You’ll still end up going to Hell in a hand basket but we’ll get you there much slower.” Principles? We don’t need no stinking principles! Principles are “mean” and we want to be loved by all even if it means we bankrupt the country. Sheesh.
What the Republican Party needs is to grow a set. Stop acting like “conservative” is a dirty word. Stop being mushy and stop apologizing. This is still the greatest country in the world and it became that because of grit, determination and self-sufficiency-hardly qualities to be ashamed of.
Take compassion and shove it where the Sun don’t shine. There is nothing compassionate about creating a permanent underclass. There is nothing compassionate about rewarding illegality. And there certainly nothing compassionate about confiscating people’s hard earned money only to “redistribute” it to members of the permanent underclass that, by the way, wouldn’t be part of the permanent underclass if the oh so compassionate government had created the situation to begin with.
Can we stand for something? Please?
No, because as Professor Reynolds repeatedly points out there is no opportunity for graft.
The main thing that is wrong with BOTH the Republican and Democratic parties is ELECTION FRAUD that both used to get candidates the people did NOT want as a candidate for anything let alone as POTUS.
Obama: The 2008 Democratic Nominating Committee (DNC) document did not include language stating that Obama was qualified to be a candidate. The 2008 Republican Nominating Committee (RNC) document did, as is normal. This shows that the DNC knew that Obama was not qualified, or why change the form? More election fraud followed.
Romeny – Election fraud was in every single state that voted for a presidential candidate.
What this tells us, the people, is that both parties represent an outside force, and NOT American interests. Basically that they are corrupt, treasonous scum and we do NOT want either party to exist anymore.
We do NOT want, and have been fighting for the removal of machines that are EASILY (proved) manipulated, or foreign nations counting OUR US votes, or UN illegally “monitoring US elections as if they have a right to OUR nation.
It has little to do with the things listed in the article. It has a huge amount to do with we do not trust them, for obvious reasons – they cannot be trusted, the candidates they produce cannot be trusted; they lie, cheat, decide beforehand what to “debate”, etc – and NOT for the good of our country.
WE do not want either of those parties anymore. WE will not vote for any candidate they produce anymore unless THEY prove to us they are pro USA. At this time they cannot do that. Clean up the corrupt anti Americans running the parties, or like the whigs, etc, die out.
Have you not figured out that Americans are tired of corruption, lies, election fruad, treason, unconstitutional behavior by those who should know better? That we will replace all of them if necesary? They, like the Obama admistration, and like the Clinton’s, and like the Bush’s all have broken our laws for the last time. We were patient and tried to let them clean-up the parties, corrupt individuals themselves. They didn’t. That says it all.
I love Vodkapundit. So, imagine my surprise when he recommended an incredibly lame and self-serving piece by Ms. Mair. Heck, look at her bio: having been educated in Europe, and having lived most of her adult life there, she now deigns to lecture us peasants on how we need to hire her to run the GOP. She sure knows les Etats-Unis, as evinced by her professed love of Arsenal FC!
Please replenish the vodka and vermouth supply at the Green residence, so that this never, ever happens again.
When you get these young whipper snappers hired to run the party, have them give me a call, please. They should ask me why the Republicans couldn’t get this middle aged, educated, white male gun nut small business owner to vote for Mitt. Of course, such a call would require Republican introspection, which has been in critically short supply since the election.
And please call Art Chance, too! For the love of God!
So, my choices are Romney or the effin’ communist. I don’t have a problem making that decision.
Do you shoot yourself in the foot on a regular basis?
While I wasn’t thrilled about Mittens myself I can at least do some math, 2/3 is more than 1/3. Having the House and the Presidency is better than having just the House. This election wasn’t the one to go all “principled” on us. McShame in 2008? Sure, but we really needed ObamaCare over turned and 0 out of office if only that he wouldn’t get to appoint anymore Justices to the Supreme Court. Sometimes you need to think long term and not just immediate “screw them” to make yourself feel good. That’s just cuttin’ off your own nose to spite your face.
The core of the problem is simply this: the GOP Party, the candidates, the elected and appointed officials, all the way up and down from Federal to city and county offices, have no principles which they are willing to state out loud and often. Most of them, fortunately, are rather like Bush 43: when he was saying something he believed in, he spoke forcefully, with confidence and some measure of passion and rhetorical skill – when he was lying, he stuttered almost as badly as George VI. All of the folks who ‘are’ the GOP are just like the Democrats, except they didn’t get along in college or those fancy private schools – with armed guards, I might point out – that they all went to. They are the same, just a different faction of the “We’re the Elite and Destined to Rule” crowd. You know them. They’re the ones who say that armed guards or teachers won’t protect school children, while their kids are attending private schools with – guess? – armed guards and they themselves are usually accompanied by official or private security guards who are likewise armed – with loaded guns, not platitudes. That’s the problem, in a nutshell: we have an hereditary ruling class whose members are in the process of closing the doors to anyone not in their clique … maybe that’s too optimistic … the doors are closed and they’re trying to lock, bolt and bar them against outsiders who actually work for a living, but who – sadly – picked the wrong grandparents and thus “aren’t one of us”. In plainer words, not you and me, just the Quayles, the McCains, the Murkowskis, the Gores.
‘And that’s why Republicans are so cringe-worthy when they try to act like Democrats.’
Actually, the real reason is that deep down they ARE Democrats.
Let the party die. Who gives a rat’s a**? They pooped in their own bed. They can sleep in it.
Our leadership despises us. We outnumber them. Can’t we make THEM leave?
Jones for a shot of Vodka Pundit What gives?
I don’t buy much of this, except the part about the plethora of idiots in the consulting class.
The minority vote and poor-nation-immigrant vote has been pretty consistent over recent decades. And the evidence is clear that embracing programs like amnesty have had little effect on voting outcomes. The actual reason why these people tend strongly to vote Democrat is because they want, and feel that they need, federal social(istic) programs. They vote Democrat because they think Democrat, not because Republicans are not being nice enough. So I suppose all we have to do is embrace Big Government and Open Borders and everything will be swell on the ethnic front.
Most importantly of all, however, which this article does not address, is that the GOP establishment treats its conservative base like crap. They don’t listen to us, or respect us. And the feeling is pretty much mutual. Most conservatives cannot stand the bed-wetting weenies that run the GOP show out of Washington/NYC.
I’d like to suggest we form a New Liberty party to counter what the democrats have become- intolerant progressives (communists) whose heavy hand of government is only beginning to squeeze the life out of liberty in America. (They’ve morphed into The Man that they used to despise so much)
Also, we should begin recruiting those the left hates the most: Tea Partiers. If the New Left Progressives hate your guts, then you’re on the team! After Obama injects more government into everyone’s lives, liberty and freedom will be an attractive sell- to include minorities. The more people who understand that Obama intends to keep his boot on their neck, the better.
Create several more choices! The establishment two party cartel is in its final days! The duopoly is done, and has ruined freedom for now! We will take our country back! This is America, and we will not be relegated to be European Serfs!
Unapologetic conservatism will win. Not a word about that in this cringe-worthy article from RINOland.
I’ve got an idea for anyone who’s a part of the Tea Party Movement–whenever the propaganda arm of the Obama regime like the New York Times comes up with an article about Rove vs the Tea Party-’shut up.’ no response-don’t bite -they want us to bite. Say Nothing. Don’t write anything about it-in every article from redstate, breitbart, townhall, etc the overpaid ‘young, hungry’ hacks are chomping at the end of the line so fast they’re giving the Marxists more fodder for the battle.
Right now we go underground. No more giving away our position. The other side never gives anything away-they just spout lies, slogans and platitudes, did you ever notice that?
But our side goes on and on as if rational, logical arguments have made a dent in shutting down this Marxist bunch. While we’re all debating issues they want us to debate the Alinskyites are gathering all the intelligence they need to shut us down.
Read The Grand Inquisitor by Dostoevsky from his masterpiece. GI tries to bait the Christ figure and Christ never utters one word-not one word. That’s how we should be. We know now that the Lie has become the Pillar of the Obama State–only practicing external silence while continuing to struggle at the grass roots level with vigilance, honor and absolute principles without compromise will defeat this.
What do you do with a broken party?
What do you do with a broken party?
What do you do with a broken party
Early in the cycle?