Posted on 11/13/2012 1:08:15 PM PST by Sir Napsalot
(snip) Many Republicans figured that the economic malaise and the lack of any vision of a second term from Obama would doom him with voters, but we ended up getting stuck in our own blind spot where Obama is concerned.
As I wrote after the election, we can’t allow ourselves to fall into the trap of being mainly an oppositional party — being defined by what we’re against rather than what we’re for. We have to have a clear, positive agenda aimed at communicating specific policies that will improve the lives of voters in demonstrable ways. Too often, we offer philosophical slogans about economic policies without offering nuts-and-bolts solutions to back them up. That requires going into hostile political ground — especially in urban areas, where we fare the worst in national elections — and offer specific free-market-based policies to solve real problems for people whom Democrats can take for granted now. That is the most direct route to defusing the claim that the GOP is nothing but the party of the rich.
.... We need candidates who can communicate better and make sure that campaigns remain focused on those core values and specific policy agendas that will improve the lives of all voters.
If the Republican Party is to have a renaissance, it will have to be led by Jindal and the other Republicans of his rank in the next few years. Hopefully, the message will resonate within the party.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Yes! While that’s not what we are, that’s how it came across, mostly thanks to foot-in-the-mouth, easily parodied, clueless Romney.
One of the problems is that we have a massively dumbed down electorate, so we can’t assume that saying things like “states’ rights,” 1st or 2nd Amendment protections, or individual liberty mean a darn thing to them. So we have to begin from the ground up to get out a good, powerful message and get people excited about it. And we can’t start the week before the elections. We need to start now.
Jindal gets it.
We need to sell the concept of capitalism and what that really means for freedom and the exercise therof.
“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”
Calling on the GOP to be “the party of ideas, details and intelligent solutions,” the Louisianan urged the party to “stop reducing everything to mindless slogans, tag lines, 30-second ads that all begin to sound the same. “
He added: “Simply being the anti-Obama party didn’t work. You can’t beat something with nothing. The reality is we have to be a party of solutions and not just bumper-sticker slogans but real detailed policy solutions.”
…
If he does consider a White House run, his analysis Monday suggests he’s aligning himself with an emerging school of thought on the right that the GOP’s consecutive White House defeats can’t merely be solved by passing an immigration reform bill and appealing more directly to nonwhites. Jindal, a Brown Graduate and Rhodes Scholar, is already a favorite of conservative intellectuals and his assessment that Republican difficulties owe as much to economics as demographics will be well-received by right-leaning thinkers. Since last week, a sort of backlash to the backlash has sprouted up, with some conservatives castigating what they see as too much knee-jerk pandering on immigration and not enough discussion of what they see as the party’s unimaginative, donor-driven fiscal policies.
Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, said the GOP “must reject identity politics” and “treat folks as individuals, as Americans, not as members of special interest groups.”
Raising Romney’s damaging comments about voters who don’t pay income taxes, Jindal urged the GOP to make clear they want the support of every American.
“The Republican Party is going to fight for every single vote,” he said. “That means the 47 percent and the 53 percent, that means any other combination of numbers going up to 100 percent.”
On cultural issues, he suggested the party not retreat from its stances opposing abortion rights and gay marriage but rather soften its tone on such matters.
Jindal was less forthcoming on immigration reform. He said the border needed to be secured but dodged repeated questions about whether he supports giving those in the country illegally a path to permanent residence or wants them deported.
After clicking on the link and reading it, I still don’t know what he is talking about...but I know I did not like to see the word “inclusive”...that reminds me of “ big tent” talk. We don’t need to worry about being inclusive. We need to worry about defining and articulating our conservative principles and then sticking to them.
And I don’t like Jindal maligning the rich. I like rich people. They create jobs. They hire people. We need more rich people. We need to be nice to rich people and give them elbow room.
For all you non-Louisianians, understand this. Jindal is the biggest RINO of the bunch. He’s got a gift for speaking but he’s a democrat in wolf’s clothing.
And, therein lies the rub. As long as the linguini-spined, limp-wristed cowards in the GOP-E allow the Dems to define us, we will ALWAYS be the party of the rich.
The GOP (if they survive and I, for one, could care less!) needs to re-educate America on what the GOP stands for and THEY need to start shining a very bright light on the crimes committed by the criminals on the left!! Let the GOP-E show some cajones and maybe . . . . . . . . . . . MAYBE . . . . . . . . . . . . they can get people back.
But, I don't see that happening - EVER!!! It's easier to hide in dark corners and run when the Dems point fingers at them. Besides, fighting the Dems in the gutter might mean that the elitest GOP might be late for Happy Hour at the club.
He’s not maligning the rich, he’s talking about a perception.
Inclusive isn’t a bad word either. What he’s saying is that the GOP needs to become an American-centered party that offers Conservative-minded solutions for all Americans.
Ed Morrissey (and Bobby Jindal) was saying in this election, GOP was basically an opposition party, everything against Obama, nothing positive.
That WAS NOT Romney campaign! Romney was not my guy in the primaries, but his national campaign clearly laid out his would be a substance presidency, a clear choice than Obama’s same old same old.
To smear the 2012 election like that (no clear vision etc etc) do us no good.
Not just politicians, but we ourselves need to have practiced responses and not get drawn into typical traps. For example, I was asked what I thought about Colorado voting for marijuana. The expectation was that I would set about being against it. Instead, I said that is how things are supposed to work, States decide and work as small experiments on such things. The response was,”well, yes, kind of, but it can get tricky knowing how to handle it when Federal laws conflict.” There it was, my opportunity to explain that it is not tricky, that it says it right there, that States get to decide. “They” hate it, but it brings them a step in this direction I think.
“dumbed-down” conservatism AKA “severe” conservatism
The problem with republicans is the message.
No, not our message, but the democrat’s message, which is:
“Vote for us, and get free stuff. Get your free condoms and your free phone, and your free housing, and your free food, and your free transportation, and your free college education, and your free... “
So, who does not want free stuff, especially when so many of those getting free stuff also don’t pay for that stuff when they don’t have to pay taxes.
How does anybody compete against big government that promises to take from the haves to give to the have-nots? How does anyone win the votes of those who believe that, businesses are evil and the wealthy are more evil?
The only thing that perhaps will bring the country back from the inevitable collapse of the economy, is to stop the spending which keeps those people wanting more “free” stuff. Once those people get a taste of what Greece and Spain are experiencing, perhaps then, they’ll be ready to start moving in a new direction. But, I don’t hold any hopes there either, since, from what is being witnessed in Greece, they still believe that, there is still more free stuff out there to be had.
I fear that, complete collapse is inevitable, and we don’t have the people in power to effective convey the message that, we are in a hopeless death spiral.
Becoming more “democrat-like” is not the answer, and would be absolutely the worst road to take.
Sounds like Jindal is joining the socialists in bashing free market capitalism.
In 2012, there was no way the GOP could lose, Carter II was doomed and the country approaching depression.
Mitt Romney, the failed governor of Massachusetts, who lost his chance for reelection and left office with 34% approval, and who has won a single election in 20 years of campaigning, was the problem, he was an artificial construct who had never been a part of republican or conservative politics, who was only focused on a personal drive to be president for no known reason or purpose.
We still don’t know what his politics are, or why he has been obsessed with being president for 20 years.
People here have different feelings on his election disaster, but everyone here can agree that they really don’t know anything about the man himself, or how the one term governor from Massachusetts ever came to be the leader of the conservative/republican agenda in America.
Mitt Romney, Karl Rove, and the anti-Reagan wing of the GOP are behind this mystery of the last 6 years in regards to William Weld’s protege, Mitt Romney.
Then you have poor reading comprehension.
that he does - refreshing to read
Fundamentally, Romney suffered from being a liberal who early on tried to masquerade as a severe conservative and then later as a moderate. He came across as inauthentic. Romney probably doesn't really believe in anything other than his own career.
In terms of substance, many people understood him to be saying that we should fix the debt problem by lowering tax rates and increasing spending (on defense). I understand that he said he intended to make up for lower tax rates by reducing tax deductions, but no one ever understood what deductions he had in mind because he thought that information wouldn't matter much to anyone. As a result, the substance of his plan seemed like a lot of baloney to a lot of people. He promised to get rid of Obamacare, but he threatened to replace it with his own plan (Romneycare). He promised to lower spending on Medicare, but not until ten years from now! His whole program seemed like something his crack campaign staff put together on the back of an envelope.
All in all, I think Romney presented himself as just another ambitious politician who wasn't looking for ideas to really turn this country around, but was instead just trying to figure out what 50.1% of likely voters might like to hear. Romney is no Reagan and people saw through him.
But I thought once he cinched the nomination, he ran much better than McCain. Esp. his debate performance, I thought he swayed quite a lot minds.
I absolutely agree with you, there is no way GOP could lose. From election day citizen journalists reporting, enthusiasm was high, I couldn't believe Romney had less voter counts (I still don't believe the voter counts, call me a conspiracy-whatever-ist) than 2008. I think Obama bought and stole the election outright.
Anyway, all these post-election finger pointing and self-recrimination were based on the assumption that more voted for Obama than Romney.
For all you non-Louisianians, understand this. Jindal is the biggest RINO of the bunch. He’s got a gift for speaking but he’s a democrat in wolf’s clothing.
This Louisianian agrees with you. Jindal’s first loyalty is to Jindal and I campaigned for him twice, the first time when he lost to MeeMaw Blank-O and the second time when he won in 07.
Sorry I have to say it but Jindal has been a disappointment.
He ran like a conservative but has governed like a RINO.
Yeah, tell that to all those newly minted illegal aliens already here and also the ones who are going to pour over the open border when amnesty happens.
Liberty to most of them will be free stuff.
That is an attack on free market capitalism!
Socialists (like you, obviously) scream in their best class warfare dialect - "Tax the rich!" despite the fact the "rich" pay far more of the "fair share" in the progressive tax rate structure.
Another GOP sissy on parade!
Today's conservatives have the right message but they cannot overcome the media handicap. Time for Adelson, the Kochs, Trump, etc. to get serious about funding new outlets, or buying old ones.
Will file these two tidbits away.
Mostly I want to have something to say against what Ed (Hot Air) said.
I didn’t see anything about “taxing the rich” in that, but okay.
I interpreted it more as a statement about reforming the party’s image so it’s not falsely perceived as the banker party.
.... We need candidates who can communicate better and make sure that campaigns remain focused on those core values and specific policy agendas that will improve the lives of all voters.
**
Dream on! Really? Why are so many of these pundits so blind to the fact that the paradigm has shifted entirely? They need to understand that the progressives/Marxists have completely taken over the system now. There will never again be a fair national election in my life time, as they are in total control of the process.
By 2016, as we are fully immersed in a third world milieu, the votes of conservatives, the voices of conservatives will be counted as nothing.
Crying as I type this, as I am mourning the death of our republic. I am a Boomer, so I do not mourn for my own sake but for my children and for my grandchildren. As one of my older sisters told me, we got to live in the best part of it. My dear grandsons will never know the true taste of liberty. We let it slip away not with a bang but with a whimper.
Mark Levin just made the same point I did re: Jindal.
Class Warfare by pseaudo-Conservatives!
Mark Levin just made the same point I did re: Jindal.
Class Warfare by pseudo-Conservatives!
Something tells me a Louisiana RINO is a far cry from a New York RINO, though ...
Oh, okay. Well clearly you are right and I am stupendously wrong. Congrats.
And now Jindal jumps on the “let us become more like the Dems” bandwagon too.
Why don’t all these spineless cowards just become Dems and get it over with?
You are correct. Two years ago I was in NOLA on a job and had to deal with several state agencies. Russian commie bureaucrats were more competent.
If, as governor, he can’t get his own tax collecting agencies to even ANSWER the damn phone, then he’s not doing his job. I know it’s the “big easy” but I got so frustrated I left a voice message saying, “okay, if you don’t want the taxes we owe you, come get them”.
Never got a return call.
Yes. Yes you are.
Funny I read somewhere, to get the fire back republicans have to be more Jack Kemp and go into the Democratic lions den and convert the voters.
I spent my entire adult life in the inner ghettos in Philly, mostly North Philly sometimes West Philly.
Those areas can not be saved. Where do you think flash mobs came from and the knockout game.
Black Panthers and other black militants will run you out, trust me I lived it there.
I wish I could properly explain but it is by far a different world.
Yep. The idea that all that matters is the elite’s place in the economy and the GOP should ditch social conservatives, the middle class’ economic interests and the culture war is stupid and lackluster.
I remember Jindal’s rebuttal speech to Obama’s State of the Union Speech.
Based on what I heard that night, Jindal is a non-starter. He may be good for Louisiana...but, he doesn’t cut it on the national level.
Unfortunately it seems obvious the way GOP’s heading.
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