Posted on 05/16/2008 12:44:36 AM PDT by Irish Rose
Pity Party
Big picture, May 2008:
The Democrats aren't the ones falling apart, the Republicans are. The Democrats can see daylight ahead. For all their fractious fighting, they're finally resolving their central drama. Hillary Clinton will leave, and Barack Obama will deliver a stirring acceptance speech. Then hand-to-hand in the general, where they see their guy triumphing. You see it when you talk to them: They're busy being born.
The Republicans? Busy dying. The brightest of them see no immediate light. They're frozen, not like a deer in the headlights but a deer in the darkness, his ears stiff at the sound. Crunch. Twig. Hunting party. ...
"This was a real wakeup call for us," someone named Robert M. Duncan, who is chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the New York Times. This was after Mississippi. "We can't let the Democrats take our issues." And those issues would be? "We can't let them pretend to be conservatives," he continued. Why not? Republicans pretend to be conservative every day.
The Bush White House, faced with the series of losses from 2005 through '08, has long claimed the problem is Republicans on the Hill and running for office. They have scandals, bad personalities, don't stand for anything. That's why Republicans are losing: because they're losers.
All true enough!
But this week a House Republican said publicly what many say privately, that there is another truth. "Members and pundits . . . fail to understand the deep seated antipathy toward the president, the war, gas prices, the economy, foreclosures," said Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia in a 20-page memo to House GOP leaders.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
1) No matter what Clarke Reed may think, Dick Cheney was NOT a mistake. Heaven help us if we've come to the point of keeping skilled, intelligent conservatives out of government because the public doesn't adore them and the media dislikes them.
2) George Bush is less a part of the problem than a lot of Republicans will admit. Noonan says the Republicans should have broken with the president on spending - does anyone remember how, when President Bush vetoed that water spending bill, Congress overrode his veto? The Republican Party doesn't merely not go in that direction; when President Bush goes, they don't follow.
I think it's time the Republicans stop blaming President Bush for their electoral troubles and take a good, long look at themselves. If for no other reason than George Bush is leaving and the party (one hopes) is staying, they should.
3) I think Peggy Noonan has contracted BDS. I don't buy for a minute that she wanted to be one of the president's speechwriters; that is nothing more than an Internet rumor. But in the past three years she's gone sour as a lemon on him. It's gone beyond harsh criticism to snarky asides that have nothing to do with the matter at hand.
4) I think that most pundits and members of Congress understand the antipathy towards the war and the president. I really do.
If I were the Democrats I would be careful of the cornered Republican it may fight back with nothing to lose....
Ah, the latest from Arianna Noonan.
Next week, Peggy will begin speaking in a Zsa Zsa Gabor accent and announcing a faux marriage to a gay millionaire.
If McCain had any money, he would run T.V. ads all day long with Obama telling us about his foreign policy, which would make any American lose sleep at night, but he can't because he pissed all over the conservative base and Mr. McCain - Feingold POS
Hung on his own noose
I get so sick of the above attitude that the enemy skates on ice and has no worries in the world while everything we do is ruinous.
The MSM does the exact same thing for the terrorists... All that we do creates more Terrorists and strengthens them while everything for us only looks bad.
Rose, the hardest thing we have to do this year, is sell the idea that we are materially different than the Democrats on issue after issue.
Because we are (or at least have a background) in the Republican party, we often think we are much different. The populace isn’t as stupid as we take them for though.
Bush passed a great society program. He solidifed the one-theater level of military readiness. He allowed illegals to pour across the border for most of his presidency. He failed to order his agencies to crack down. This is the model Bush followed for eight years.
Despite what folks think, Bush cannot articulate. He has a following of folks who think he can. But he does not attract folks to his cause. He cannot make a sale. He fails over and over to even plead his case effectively.
Public opinion began to turn around at one point when he made the case for the war, but that was only temporary.
When you state that Bush isn’t the problem, I have to say that I think you’re missing some serious issues.
He has soured many of us. Those he has are not going to blindly support the next guy who isn’t close to a Conservative. His policies have been far too lefist in nature, and that hasn’t garnered him any respect from the left. Now we have another guy in that mold, and he thinks he can sell ice-cubes to Eskimos. No he can’t.
You can’t sell leftist policy as a Republican. Leftists want to vote for the real thing, and they will.
You attract people to your cause by sticking to principle, explaining why that policy is solid, and winning folks over to your view. McCain isn’t doing that. He is trying to appeal to the left, and they already have a candidate.
Reagan attracted folks with sound fiscal, military and global policy. He din’t win by adopting the Democrats principles.
McCain thinks he can. And he’s been convinced of that in part because Bush got away with so much leftist policy.
We very much are dealing with what Bush has done IMO.
A Republican might, but the party now conists of spineless RINO's.
If they had fought back, Democrats wouldn't be running over them.
Conservatism is what wins elections and fights when needed, not spineless moderate RINO's.
McC is simply a manifestation of the hollow shell that the Republican party has become. I think Noonan’s ‘deer in the darkness’ analogy is particularly relevant - anybody who’s been watching for any time at all knows that when the going gets tough, the Dems circle the wagons and fight like hell, and the Repubs head for the tall grass. The mystifying thing is, they don’t seem to know enough to get off the tracks before they get splatted by the approaching train. The Repubs need a real leader to grab them by the scruffs of their necks. Either that, or go the way of the Whigs.
Aaaagh! It’s wretchedly, abjectly pitiful.
Aaaagh! It’s wretchedly, abjectly pitiful.
Excellent post.
Well said, DoughtyOne, but then you always do have a way of hitting the nail on the head. Every now and then I like to reread your Profile page, it always gives me encouragement to believe there has to be many Americans out there who still care about this great nation of ours and understand what it is that made us great and what we will have to do if we want to continue to be be a great nation.
The war? Gas prices? Foreclosures? What about the huge price increase of lattes at Starbucks? Stupid article.
I see that the self inflicted intentional demoralization of the Republican base continues apace. With friends like Peggy, who needs McCain?
I sure hope our purist finger pointing conservative psuedo-intelligentsia are right about an intentional tank job this year leading to a conservative resurgence in 2010. Depress the vote! Show “those people” in Washington what’s what, as if they(and we) have no responsibility whatsoever for the silly decisions our party “leaders” have made.
Well said..enough blame to go around for the entire DC bunch. The RNC/GOP has lost it all and have no one to blame other than themselves.
For years the conservative base has been angry..they have called/emailed and voiced their concerns upon deaf ears. The prevailing attitude among the Republicans was that you little people in fly over country will settle down and do what they are told. Well guess what...IT DIDNT WORK!
Donations are off, folks are quiting the Republican party, vols are walking out of the RNC. Republican house/senate staffers have been brought to tears by phone calls from an angry base.
The house/senate has zero leadership...other than a handful of memebers who do take a stand but they have no voice or power.
In the 06 elections its been estimated at least 16% of conservative base voters stayed home...while others voted for other candidates. I dont blame them one bit...Why vote for someone you know will not take a stand?
There is no doubt conservatives will face difficult years ahead but perhaps a re-grouping will occur. I certainly hope so but dont see it with the election of McCain or the re-election of the majority of Republican members of congress. That surely is slow death.
So, sadly, Noonan has got it about right. It is certainly not a new insight, we Freepers for one very public example have been so posting since before the '06 election. In fact, I can quote myself and use up a lot of bandwidth doing so to demonstrate that we knew long before the last election that we were sleepwalking toward calamity.
My quarrel is not with that which only echoes what we have already said for years, my quarrel is with this conclusion which Noonan comes to just before the quoted observation above:
What happens to the Republicans in 2008 will likely be dictated by what didn't happen in 2005, and '06, and '07. The moment when the party could have broken, on principle, with the administration - over the thinking behind and the carrying out of the war, over immigration, spending and the size of government - has passed. What two years ago would have been honorable and wise will now look craven. They're stuck. (emphasis supplied)
No it is not too late. The problem is not really a matter of time even though we have squandered every precious minute especially since McCain became the putative nominee. The problem is not time. Clinton could pivot like a ballerina and shamelessly reverse his field and the election results proved that the public would accept it. Our problem is not primarily time but an absence of will which really means an absence of a leader who has the will to step forward and break with the double crosses of the past few years.
McCain clearly is not our leader anymore than Bush has been. There is no one in Congress with national prominence who has the capacity to step forward and declare independence from the Bush /McCain immigration policy, to demand a chokehold on spending, to pin the blame for soaring gasoline prices where it belongs, on Democrats who to pander to environmental whack jobs. McCain is against us on immigration, and therefore against the majority of the country, against us on energy, and therefore doomed to carry that cross. He cannot possibly be the man.
If we sit on our hands praying for a second coming our defeat in this election will be historic. That means that the party ought to turn every Congressman loose to run his own campaign and to form alliances with fellow conservatives of like mind where they can. Out of the carnage of the next election somewhere a leader will emerge. He must be free of taint from either Bush or McCain or the failed Republican leadership in the House and Senate.
These leaders, few as they no doubt will be, will have emerged with credibility because they will have been endorsed by the electorate.
I really think she did want to write for the president, not because she believes, only because its her craft.
Noonan sees herself as some kind of oratory wizard, when in fact shes simply become flowery and wordy.
She is enamored with her own craft!
Thats the reason she falls all over B. Hussein, shes more concerned by the delivery and mechanics of the speech than policies and message it delivers. Self involved and pathetic, come to mind.
Personally I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to Obama speak but I listen because he's frankly the enemy within and I hear his policies, a shame Noonan can't do the same.
Peggy Noonan has contracted the speechifying disease of the Blue State Elite. She is the perfect example of the current woe is me and Doomer club...just say no to her little prissy writings!
I have been reading your thoughtful post as of late, and I think you need a microphone on the national stage, you are that insightful.
You said:
Out of the carnage of the next election somewhere a leader will emerge. He must be free of taint from either Bush or McCain or the failed Republican leadership in the House and Senate.
Yes, another rebel or series thereof must emerge a-la Gingrich. The fact that Hastert and Frist became nothing more than the server with tongs handing out the bacon in the food line goes completely unnoticed. They could have stood for the Kasich type fiscal responsibility at a bare minimum, to give them a linage to Gingrich and Reagan and they didn't even do that. Sadly, liek nto drilling in ANWR, it was another lost opportunity for this nation.
I gathered he was talking about "bringing him in to campaign" in the MS race. But he almost certainly was a mistake in that there was never any expectation that he'd be groomed to make a presidential run himself after 4-8 years. Don't forget, he was the one appointed to "find" the VP candidate in '00 and came up with himself. Were the Republicans so bereft of leadership at the time that they couldn't have found anyone else? Furthermore, even playing a favorite son for a swing state would have been a better idea with the electoral vote margin in that election. It's not all hind-sight either, these things were known 8 years ago and discussed.
How did you manage to type that with your knees jerking so badly?
McCain offers nothing that is inspiring or makes one enthusiastic to support him. He is just another politician making empty campaign promises and hoping voters don't look too closely at his 25-year record in Washington.
Like it or not, Obama is inspiring his followers and bringing enthusiasm to his campaign. He is also bringing in many new young voters. Obama's message (lofty words that have little substance, but they sound good) is resonating: He is something different, he represents a signficant change, he is not old-Washington-establishment-status-quo-same-ole.
Obama's trend in the primaries was to bring in new voters. If he continues that, he could bring in more than enough new voters to overcome the disaffected Hillary loyalists.
McCain depends on the old voters, and he has to reach across the aisle for disgruntled Dems and Independents for much of his support. It may not be enough, especially if the Conservatives write in Donald Duck or vote for a 3rd party or go fishing.
Fox&Friends
Geraldo declares that McCain is the savior of the Republican Party, because of McCain’s stand on immigration [that is amnesty for illegals, which Geraldo also supports].
Noonan is a spurned and scorned WH speechwriter who consistently takes jabs at Bush. There is no love lost between them, but she is on the money with that paragraph.
Typical shoot the messenger response.
Peggy has been spot on this entire election cycle. Point out one thing wrong in this column. The GOP just plain SUCKS!!!!
Go ahead and drink the coolaid with the rest of the party.
What a shame we did not listen to this wise woman years ago. Not sure that this debacle could have been avoided but we could have been better prepared for it and maybe could have arranged to have some life jackets on board as GWB ship of state begins its plunge into the oceans depths.
You are SOOO right! Lauding our elected "leaders" for doing such a bang-up job at gutting conservatism right out of the R party would be so much more effective at bringing conservatism back.
Agree. I’m very tired of posters who don’t read the article and just bash the author.
Go outside, visit your neighbors and find out how they feel. Work at the polls on election Day. Those sitting at their computers in some imaginary world can not experience the views of the average American voter. Our citizenry have completely turned off the Republican Party and they tune out anything that comes out of the mouth of George Bush. It is sad because a lot of what he says (after disregarding his flawed delivery) makes sense but they will no longer listen.
Peggy is spot on, and Republicans better look hard in the mirror and take stock. I support a strong and effective counter terrorism strategy. While I think Petraeus is doing the best he can, I support nothing else this administration has done. The neocons who led this mess have not one day of military experience between them. NOT ONE. Chertoff is the public face of Homeland security, and it is not a pretty one. He needs to be gone - and like yesterday. HS is a fraud anyway. It is the DOD, CIA NSA and FBI who will save us from terrorists, not a bunch of highschool dropouts with rubber gloves scaring little girls in airports.
Running hyperinflation and then denying it exists in order to bail out the banks, and the national debt for an ill-planned war, is Jimmy Caterism. The lesson when you don't know how much things cost the average voter is that you lose the next election (Bush Sr, Carter).
The Republican party needs to take a hard look at why Ron Paul has done as well as he has (beaten many "serious candidates" in the polls, best selling book, still getting lots of money). Where there is smoke....
Government service is a vastly different enterprise for liberals and conservatives, and one in which conservatives, absent force of will and unshakable principle, are always going to be at a disadvantage. Liberals believe in government, actively pursue its expansion, and participate in it as a vocation. Conservatives see government as a necessary evil, seeks its reduction, and participate in it as a matter of public service.
When the GOP began to gravitate toward and ultimately embraced Big Government, it abdicated not only principle but motivating spirit. They ceded public arguments to Democrats who are always happy to seize on any opportunity to accuse Republicans of being unprincipled, if they cannot otherwise charge them with being evil.
Hence, Ms. Noonan is correct in her charge against RNC chairman Robert Duncan, who doesn't want to let Democrats "pretend to be conservatives," while failing to grasp that Republicans "pretend to be conservative every day".
I wish I could remember exactly what it was that Noonan wrote that ticked people off. It would be funny (in retrospect) to see if she was merely pointing out the obvious.
And we will. We will not “appease” the Democrats; we will crush them. (I never get tired of saying that.)
A minor correction. Lavish is not the right word. While Congressmen receive salaries that put them in the top 5%, DC is a very high cost of living area, and it provides what is not much more than a standard middle class living. I would rather say that they are seduced by power, connections and the Washington DC influence machine which sits on their doorstep, home and at work, in DC and in their districts and advocates this or that special interest.
Bush gave a great speech during reelection about helping small business - i.e. sole proprietors - who are the engines of employment - through a number of measures including legal system relief and regulatory reform. Problems have gotten worse, not better.
He cannot articulate policy, because at this point he has no policy. In the ME he is endless playing the Game, but there is no end game.
The complete bottom of the hollow GWB presidency fell out on March 31, 2005, the day Terri Schiavo was murdered.
What in the world is the party doing? Are they all drunk?
Americans continue to live in a state of luxury and individual selfishness that the rest of the world can hardly imagine. $4 gas? 4% of mortgages in foreclosure? Airlines that do not serve you a nice, hot meal? Not enough convenient parking spots at the mall? A 25% federal tax bite? Those mean US Marines in their local recruiting office? Having to pay for after school activities out of your own pocket? These are “hardships” that make the rest of the world laugh. The hard, cold fact is that it will take more devastating attacks upon the U.S. by insane Muslims before the population wakes from its comfy slumber and realizes it has to get tough or die. Only then will the country toss aside Liberalism and get serious.
McPain seems perfectly contented, as I see it, to lose big to Oprah’s Obama. He will be in the Senate to “advise” the new president.
The Democrats aren't the ones falling apart, the Republicans are.
Spot ON.
The Democrats can see daylight ahead.
For all their fractious fighting, they're finally resolving their central drama. Hillary Clinton will leave, and Barack Obama will deliver a stirring acceptance speech.
Then hand-to-hand in the general, where they see their guy triumphing.
You see it when you talk to them: They're busy being born.
Exactly.
>The Republicans? Busy dying.
The brightest of them see no immediate light. They're frozen, not like a deer in the headlights but a deer in the darkness, his ears stiff at the sound.
Crunch. Twig. Hunting party. ...
Exactly
"This was a real wakeup call for us," someone named Robert M. Duncan, who is chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the New York Times.
This was after Mississippi. "We can't let the Democrats take our issues." And those issues would be?
"We can't let them pretend to be conservatives," he continued.
Why not? Republicans pretend to be conservative every day.
So exact and spot on, it's frightening!
You were almost on to something in your last line: The American people are serious — serious about adopting liberalism from the Justice of the Peace to the White House. All they understand is that GWB and the Republicans have failed. Nothing else matters to them.
I agree with you.
At this point, there is a brilliant opportunity for a conservative leader, one of core values and of character to rise. I don’t see anyone on the horizon, but maybe someone is out there.
This is impossible because the MSM and a third of the people on FR tell us that Juan McNuts is such a fine conservative candidate!
You are 100% correct and Noonan has hit this one out of the park. I still think McCain will win, and that still doesn’t make me happy one bit. How depressing is that? I put on Rush yesterday because when I’m feeling down, he usually says something to give me hope, I wound up turning him off it was so bad. I feel numb...
Yup. There's a word for political parties which -- when increasingly confronted by anger and rejection on the part of the electorate -- routinely blame said voters for "not getting it," rather than re-examiming their own product for warts and flaws.
That word is "losers."
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.