Posted on 02/25/2007 7:01:11 AM PST by kellynla
"Don't be afraid to see what you see," Ronald Reagan once said.
Today, many of his disciples are choosing not to see the obvious. Republicans in Congress cannot regain their majority merely by relying on a coalition of traditional conservatives and evangelicals. They must reach out to what I call "the fed-ups" -- a large and growing constituency of independent voters who have held the balance of power in every election since 1992, and will hold it again in 2008.
It was only 14 years ago that nearly 20 million voters rejected both Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush in favor of H. Ross Perot, a little man with big ears and a big idea. Perot's principal claim on their allegiance in the presidential election of 1992 was his insistence that government should be competent, sensible and honest about its finances. His supporters were mad as hell and weren't going to take it anymore. Those voters -- 19 percent of the electorate -- demonstrated that there was a potent political movement of fed-up Americans.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
...where is that "Captian Obvious" graphic... ????
Had they stuck to the '94 promises they'd have been all right. But then, maybe they would not have made as much money, nor satisfied their constitutients' whims.
The Contract With America promised to change the system, abolish the executive washroom; instead they just changed the lock on the door.
"...where is that "Captian Obvious" graphic... ????"
have at it...I just post the articles. LOL
Luntz hits the nail on the head.
I disagree.
The reason the Democrats won in 06 was due almost entirely to the dissatisfaction with the progress being made in the Iraq war. The other reasons that have been bantered around ie. corruption, straying from conservative principals etc. are hogwash. Americans like winning , preferably quickly and when they don't see enough progress to that end, they react.
This article was the subject of the call-in question - Do we need a third party? - for the first half hour on C-SPAN's WJ this morning. Just about every caller, Republican and democrat, was in favor of a unnamed third party candidate.
Let see winning a war, no terrorist attacks. Best sustained Economic performance ever. Safe and prosperous. Yep, The American people have become TOTAL Morons. Maybe they should try THINKING for themselves instead of letting Hollweird and the US Junk Media do their thinking for them. What a bunch of complete losers the current Generation of Americans are. Need to write a book about these self absorbed whinny losers. Call it "The Worst Generation".
Duncan Hunter will lead the resurgence. Hunter '08!
Utter nonsense. NO polling data back this up. Democrats did NOT run against the war. They very carefully danced all around the issue of Iraq. What killed the Republicans was the "Culture of Corruption" and the out right propagandizing for the Democrats from both the "Conservative" media and the Establishment Media. Foley, and the "sit on our butts and do NOTHING" mindset of the clowns that use to run the Republican Congress killed the Majority. They simply gave their Base NOTHING to vote FOR. All the polling data shows this to be the case. Iraq is ONLY claimed as the reason because those Dinocons who are simply are too arrogant to learn even ONE fact about Iraq refuse to consider the reality that "that idiot" GW Bush has been right about Iraq since 2002 and they have been TOTALLY worng all along.
I disagree.
The reason the RATS won last year is because the GOP wouldn't get serious about illegal immigration and out of control spending.
for now Bump
So these callers all fantasies about some Utopian fantasy party and then go into hysterics because they do NOT get ONLY what they want the second they want it out of the real world. Political Reality keeps smashing the Worst Generation in the face but they are too childishly certain of their own infallibility to ever learn from their mistakes.
I think we lost the elections for three reasons:
1) In a midterm election, especially the second midterm, the party in power always loses. Very few exceptions.
2) The MSM finally wore down the voters. In doing so, they have virtually destroyed themselves. But they persuaded most voters that the Iraq war is a failure. Long wars are always dispiriting, which is why "The Art of War" says that all wars should be fought quickly. They are doubly dispiriting when all the news is bad. I believe Bush erred in not having better rules of engagement. He thought he could placate the media by fighting the war with one hand tied behind our backs. Same mistake as Vietnam. It just gives the traitor media a better shot at calling it a defeat. Also, Bush needed to widen the war, take on Syria, and deal with Iran. He missed the window of opportunity. But we still need to stick with Iraq.
3) Bush disappointed his base, especially in the past two years. Congress spending like drunks. Borders wide open and Bush trying to open them wider. The fight for judicial appointments only serious conducted for a few months out of six years. Loss of control over events due to excessive politeness to his enemies.
Bush still did a lot of things right, and he broke the usual rules by winning the first midterm election. But the past two years were seen as basically do-nothing. The dam of political disappointment finally broke.
This has little or nothing to do with reaching out to those "independent" voters. If Bush had forged ahead and done things better, they would have come along with the base. As it was, they both defected--but mainly, note, to Democrat candidates who pretended to be social conservatives themselves.
And since when have we here at FR put such an unquestioning faith in the polls?
If Iraq would have been going as planned, a perception of overall success pervaded the electorate and we were at the point where we could begin withdrawing troops, Bush's approval would have been at 60%+ and we would have probably picked up seats.
I must say, I find Luntz's proposals uninspired, though. I do get really annoyed that Bush's inability to imediately fix problems the Dem's created and allowed to grow for 30 years is treated as even realistic. Who else has even tackled borders, entitlement reform, and Islamic terrorism? Nobody.
I disagree with you in part. Americans also want American values. They want illegals stopped, return to the rule of law, a US whose culture and language is American* and not being attacked by ingrates, including (US Sen if you can call him that) Martinez (R) Fl. (also McCain, Kennedy, Specter) et al who are for amnesty, which laws are to be followed and which not?
In my opinion, the final vote will be by Americans attacking the Tax System because they do not wish to support a government which no longer represents them.
Many of us who voted for Bush now believe we elected the best moderate Democrat since Kennedy and JFK was more conservative than GWB IMHO!
* Time to have an American History Month.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.