Posted on 05/18/2006 3:59:06 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
As conservatives wake up to the fact that George Bush is not a conservative and as conservatives become more and more disgusted with the Republican party governing like Democrats, the party is cranking up its spin machine to scare conservatives enough to keep them voting the party line in November.
Across the internet and in some elite media outlets, pundits, and operatives are spewing the party’s rhetoric. It’s the same old scare tactics the party elites have used to hold conservatives within the fold and Democrats use to hold blacks and poor whites in their party. It is the “We may be bad and you may not like what we are doing, but the other side is worse.
The reason this works is because too many Americans don’t understand politics and how a republic works. Even many people on the political blogs, who consider themselves politically astute and well informed don’t seem to have any idea how politics in our republic works.
The ruling political class wants it that way. It keeps them in power and makes it easier for them to offer little or no choice in most political races.
The truth is, there is about 30% of the voting public in each camp who vote for the party no matter what. The Republicans have so-called conservatives who would vote for Arlen Specter rather than Thomas Jefferson, because Specter is a Republican and Jefferson was a Democrat. On the Democrat side, they have a group who would vote for Zell Miller rather than Lincoln Chafee, because Miller is a Democrat and Chafee is a Republican.
Neither of these groups have any political clout. They are irrelevant to the political debate.
Neither party, nor any politician, has to work to get their vote. Consequently, their issues are of no concern to either party.
The battle in every election is to get out the vote of people who lean toward a party or candidate, and get the vote of issue voters. The 40% or so voters who either vote for either party, or who withhold their vote when dissatisfied, are the ones politicians have to court and motivate.
Neither the Bushiban nor the Clintonistas are of any real interest to the respective parties. Those votes are there and counted before the polls ever open. The parties and individual politicians fight for and court the other 40% of the voters.
Rove knows this and spoke about it after the 2000 election. In 2000 Evangelicals didn’t turn out in their customary numbers and almost cost Bush the election. Rove was determined to change that. In 2004, Rove made it a point to go after the Evangelical vote, including an unprecedented Republican push in the nation’s black churches.
Evangelicals and other Christians responded by getting out and voting for Bush. This included a record 16% of the black vote in Ohio, just about all of which came from the black churches because of issues like abortion, gay marriage, etc.
That 16% of the black vote was not only almost double the percentage of black votes the Republican historically got in presidential elections, it was more than double the black vote Bush got in 2000. It was also more than Bush’s margin of victory in Ohio. It was not as much as his total margin of popular vote victory, but it gave him the election. Without the black vote Bush would have lost Ohio and its 20 Electoral votes. Take those twenty votes from Bush and give them to Kerry and you have President Kerry.
In fact, remove the increase in the evangelical turnout and it is doubtful that Bush would have won a second term. Rove worked on pushing those issues that motivate evangelicals and it gave Bush a second term.
To be sure, he also hammered on the war and on the terror issue and got a larger percentage of soccer moms scared by the thought of another attack. He also downplayed Bush spending like a crack whore and increasing the size of government. But all that just further illustrates the point that he went after the issue voters who didn’t turn out in 2000 or who could vote either way.
There is nothing wrong with what Rove did. It is the way our republic is designed and supposed to operate. What is wrong is when some of the 30% don’t understand why their party or candidate doesn’t govern the way they want, and why their agenda is ignored.
They fail to understand that the way to advance their issues is to vote issues rather than party. If neither party is right on your issue, don’t vote or vote third party. Now you become one of the voters the parties and candidates are trying to win. You become important to the process and to how the nation is run.
The politicians ignore the 30% who is going to turn out and vote for them no matter what the politician does. Why shouldn’t they?
If you don’t want to be irrelevant in the political scheme of things, don’t be part of the 30%. Let the politicians know that while you may not vote Democrat, you will vote third party or stay at home if they don’t act and vote right. Then follow through. Don’t let them scare you with that lesser of two evils crap. Make them earn your vote and you become relevant.
Over half of the Republican Party could be termed so-called conservatives.
90% of Democrats are true socialists.
Where can one turn?
I have a strong suspicion that Kennedy and Pelosi would be aghast if Thomas Jefferson showed up and ran as a Democrat.
First off, he's not their kind of Democrat/Socialist.
That's a two-way street, Mr. Bender. You're saying how the GOP will attempt to "scare" conservatives into voting for the GOP. The other lane has the propensity of yelling how "true conservatives" (whatever those are) will either sit home or vote 3rd party.
So for both sides, we've all heard these exact same things before.
FOX & friends had on a little while one of its fair and balanced segments with a Dem and Pubbie talking head. The Pubbie spokesperson, a Ms. Jacobus, sounded like a freaking Dem. And she seemed to be quite put out with conservatives who are ticked off about the attempt to keep 43 and the RINOs in the Senate from getting what they want. We need to back off our anger, don'cha know. Like whatever could we possibly have to be angry about?
With Pubbies like these, who needs Dems?
Where can one turn?
If the powers that be in the GOP, whom Ms Jacobus was representing, have bailed on conservatism, we need a third party.
To candidates that actually hold the 'silly' notion that limited government and market based reforms are principles to adhere to. You do this by turning out in the primaries, by the way.
BINGO!!!The primaries is where your party's character will come from.
As conservatives wake up to the fact that George Bush is not a conservative
That's very true.
But you have to be offered a conservative to vote for.
And if Ms. Jacobus is any indication, I'm not too sure the GOP's party bosses are going to lay out the welocme mat for conservative candidates.
The foot-stomping and I'll just take my ball and go home attitude of the gop and its cheerleaders is wearing pretty thin.
Those coservatives "put-out" with the current status quo have been treated like red headed step children. Asking for physical responsibility and execution of constitutional duty, not to mention preservation of the culture, seems to be too much to ask.
It's a strange time in this country.
If you don’t want to be irrelevant in the political scheme of things, don’t be part of the 30%. Let the politicians know that while you may not vote Democrat, you will vote third party or stay at home if they don’t act and vote right. Then follow through. Don’t let them scare you with that lesser of two evils crap. Make them earn your vote and you become relevant.
Indeed.
Polls suggest this had dropped to more like 10% on the Republican side.
On that note your right, I had my reservations in 2000, but Dubya vs gore was a no brainer.
Then 9/11 hit and I hadn't been prouder of a president in my life. It as the fact that he was so very good after 9/11 that I deluded myself into thinking he'd change his views on the border and close them as part of the WoT.
I was obviously wrong there, but again the choice I had even if 9/11 hadn't happened would have resulted in my pulling the lever for Dubya.....I mean after all Dubya vs kerry, no contest.
I have yet to see one Pubbie party representative interviewed who does NOT toe the RINO line. Conservatives are being left out in the cold, and our concerns are being treated with contempt. Not just by some of the pols, but by the party apparatchiks as well.
so, John bender is witty by saying Bushiban.
This included a record 16% of the black vote in Ohio, just about all of which came from the black churches because of issues like abortion, gay marriage, etc.
Throw in the illegal card and the Black vote might swing wildly.
"...I'm not too sure the GOP's party bosses are going to lay out the welocme mat for conservative candidates."
Too true!
During the campaign leading up to our last primary here in Ohio. The state GOP was completely unwilling to back Ken Blackwell. They were in favor of Jim Petro who was certainly no good. You should have seen the campaign he was running. It was maddening! But Blackwell won that primary. So no matter how discouraged I am about the overall situation, I can point to that one little victory as proof that there is at least a little hope. (And it seems that Lynn Swann will have the nomination in PA, which I hear is a good thing.)
"Asking for physical responsibility and execution of constitutional duty, not to mention preservation of the culture, seems to be too much to ask".
Should read: Asking for "fiscal" responsibility and execution of constitutional duties, not to mention preservation of the culture, seems to be too much to ask.
Should never type before the coffee kicks in:)
The problem with the article is that if you vote in a conservative Democrat, you are also casting a 'vote' for Pelosi to be Majority Leader. The conservative Democrat won't further the conservative agenda; just by being in the 'D' column gives more power to the liberal leaders.
Same is true with liberal Republicans; although Olympia Snowe and Arlen Sphincter do not further our agenda, they do count towards the totals needed to keep people like Bill Frist as the leaders who set the agenda. When the Repubs are in charge of setting the agenda, we can then work on securing the votes of the more conservative Dems to balance out the liberal RINOs.
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