Posted on 06/28/2009 6:28:53 AM PDT by skimbell
A Gallup poll last week showed that far more Americans describe themselves as "conservatives" than as "liberals." Yet Republicans have been clobbered by the Democrats in both the 2008 elections and the 2006 elections.
In a country with more conservatives than liberals, it is puzzling-- in fact, amazing-- that we have the furthest left President of the United States in history, as well as the furthest left Speaker of the House of Representatives...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Seems to suggest rampant election fraud...
It’s not a bit amazing. It’s exactly what would be expected when a “conservative” administration is in office and the worst economic conditions in a couple of generations pop up.
You said — Seems to suggest rampant election fraud...
—
Well, not really...
You see..., the article said — A Gallup poll last week showed that far more Americans describe themselves as “conservatives” than as “liberals.”
Now, note this. In a poll, the person *self-identifies* as a conservative. That means that they are a conservative by their own definition. And *also* the meaning of “conservative” has obviously changed to the left over the last few decades.
All in all, that means that if many of these people who answered the poll, as “conservatives” — started posting here on Free Republic as a “conservative” — those same people would be told to “take a hike to the DU”... LOL...
I think most Americans (even if they describe themselves as conservative) get all of their information from the TV. They sit there and are passively brainwashed. Literally. Liberally (pun intended).
The Dems have taken advantage of this, to great effect. Ultimately this strategy of state sponsored media will backfire on them, as even regular folks are learning to distrust the MSM.
It takes more effort today to educate oneself and uncover the truth. You simply cannot flip on the boob tube or pick up the daily local paper. Most folks simply do not have the time, or do not care enough to do so.
Of course, anyone reading this does not fall into that group!
A weak article compared to Sowell’s usual. I can hear Gomer Pyle in the background going “S’prise, s’prise!” What he fails to mention is that, whether you like Bush or not (I do), he left things in a helluva mess, with no apparent successor to carry on his positions. Every one of the R candidates ran against Bush as much as against the Dems. S’prise, s’prise, RNC.
The shame of it is that there even *IS* a liberal element of the Republican party, given what he says in the last part of the article about Reagan and Conservatism. We got Obama because we lost our way and forgot our history.
And a good indication of how far out of touch the candidates in both parties are with the country.
What we have is a majority of folks who call themselves conservatives, with no one to represent them.
Agreed. I’ve spoken with many Democrats and “Independents” (usually a label used by someone who votes Democrat but is afraid to admit it), and they claim to be “conservative”.
However, later in the conversation, they are:
Pro-abortion (”those poor mothers...can’t have back-alley abortions...”)
Anti-gun (”there’s so much crime...”)
Anti-”war” (”What did Iraq do to us in the first place?”)
Pro-immigration (”Those poor people deserve a chance...”)
On and on and on...
You said — What we have is a majority of folks who call themselves conservatives, with no one to represent them.
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And when you “sort out” all those who “call themselves conservative” with those who *are* conservatives, that’s where you end up with less than the majority....
And that’s just the plain truth of the matter and why liberals win a lot...
THIS is what liberal dominance of the media does: people swallow left-wing ideas and don't realize that they are supporting radical ideas and putting themselves in opposition to the ideas that made this country great.
I’ve got to learn to type faster — you beat me by 4 minutes!
Yes, I suspect you are right. Folks like to call themselves “conservative” because the alternative (liberal) sounds less respectable. Otherwise, they’re happy to live and think (if you can call it that) like a liberal.
If Bush would have been more conservative, and followed the principles of conservativism, Obama would not have seen the light of day.
The party is in disarray because we have so many republicans want to just get along.
It is partially semantics.
First, people don’t like to be considered liberals - that’s why the democrat party is trying to sell themselves as Progressives. There are plenty of people who support abortion but do not consider themselves liberal.
Secondly, to paraphrase Bill Clinton:
“It depends on what the meaning of conservative is.”
Thanks to their friends in the media, democrats have been able to shift the entire political spectrum to the left, including the definitions of words used to define one’s political leanings.
In his day, JFK was definately considered a liberal. Today people with his exact same poltical views are labelled right wing fanatics.
To FREEPERS, George W. Bush is a nice man and a patriot but he is certainly no conservative on most issues. Yet for eight years the democrats and the media (REDUNDANCY ALERT!) pounded home the idea that he is a radical right winger and eventually they successfully defined him as such in the eyes of the public.
A true conservative would not support or vote for Barack Obama yet he got the majority of the vote. Since a majority of the people consider themselve conservatives, many of them must have voted for Obama. These are people who can’t face the fact that they are really liberals and that they voted for a man who is destroying the country their parents and grandparents helped build. So they kindly judge themselves less harshly than we would.
Agreed:The indoctrinated drones(some of whom I am related to or are “friends”) like the word Conservative but many of them don’t have a clue what it means.
And dontcha love the ones that say, “I’m for the troops but against the war” or “I’m an Independent. I vote for the person and not the party”. Ask them how many Republicans they have voted for in the last four elections...”Um, let me think about that”, ie they didn’t vote at all.
I am afraid that unless there is a drastic intervention of some kind before the next election, we are going to lose to the Libs again due to:
1.Ignorance of the masses,due to brainwashing by the liberal media and/or dishonest Democratic operatives like Acorn.
2.Election fraud. See: Acorn.
3.A clueless,linguine spined Republican party
Thank goodness for Beck, Hannity, Rush,Ingraham and Levin. May they stay safe and continue to carry on their very important missions to support, educate and motivate us Conservatives.
Without sites like FR and their shows to listen to, there would be much more despair amongst those of us who are on the “right” side.
Of course, they were abetted more than a little by a compliant, pro-Democrat press. The loss of an independent fourth estate is killing our country.
Especially when half the nation doesn't even know that the opposition controlled congress for the last two years.
The economy had improved dramatically...right up to 2006.
You seem confused. Politicians are not in the business for the well-being of the nation, or to preserve the rights of the American people. Today’s crop of elected thugs are interested in power and wealth. That means they will cheerfully sell out anything and anyone if the rewards are great enough. So a “conservative” public is irrelevant. As are parties, platforms, core values...you get the idea.
It amazes me how many others miss the obvious.
The Republican party today has neither leadership nor core values. The nomination of John McCain, who could be characterized as Democrat light ...less socialism but the same big government..was the party’s nadir. What is needed is another contract with America...not some rambling tract that tries to please everybody, but a set of core values. Number one of these core valued should be to immediately end cap and trade and use available American energy resources for the building of America.
To me it suggests the words “conservative” and “liberal” have become almost meaningless. One might be conservative on one topic (ex: guns), and liberal on another (ex:healthcare).
I also think polls - and the way people actually vote - are apt to be two different things.
Obambi is pres because IMHO instead of electoral votes being given based on who won that congressional district, States with large amounts of electoral votes like NY, CA,IL give all their electoral votes to who won the state. Considering places like LA,SF, NYC etc have large blocks of liberals living in large cities, they essentially negate the rest of the state. (i.e Il has 19 congressional districts, approximately 13 of which are in the Chicagoland area. Since Chicago went for Obambi, the rest of the state had to give their electoral votes to the One also. Regardless of how their district voted.)
The only way to end this Big City takes all is to give the electoral votes based on who won the congressional district.
The repubics are letting Obama get away with claiming that capitalism has failed and bush’s last few actions with the bailouts sure gave him the ammo. They could be blaming socialism, for one thing: trying to give everyone a free house. Republicans have lost their ability to articulate what Adam Smith said and mow over the demagoges.
“it is puzzling— in fact, amazing— that we have the furthest left President of the United States in history,”
Not really. He outspent his opponent 3 to 1 (?), had a completely complicit mass media, and he is very skillful both at lying and being ambiguous.
It’s no wonder that the less bright among us thought they were voting for a “centrist” candidate. What a joke. On us.
When RINO’S run for office people stay home. McCRap anyone?
So they’re “compassionate conservative”. Heartwarming.
Not hard to believe at all, but not for the reasons I’m reading.
There are people who hold conservative views along the economic, social, foreign policy and domestic lines. The problem is they do not associate those views with the Republican Party, because they have been led to believe in a perception of the GOP that is erroneous, but there is no one to stand up and articulate the message effectively.
Here’s an example: A “moderate” or “independent” holds the view that they think Obama has been weak on dealing with Iranian election protests/death and seeks out information about it. So this independent comes across, say, Ann Coulter’s article “Let them eat Ice Cream”. There’s so many ad-hominem attacks in that article that this individual misses the fact the her point of view agrees with his own, but he comes away thinking of her as a total 5 letter B word.
So then, that person turns on the Rush Limbaugh show and hears some monologues and Paul Shanklin parodies that this person cannot put in the proper context because they are not routine listeners. So this “moderate” says screw it, these guys are nothing but a bunch of “@#$” and moves on.
Now grant it, this independent’s views are still the same, that may be pro-life, belief in small government, and strong foreign policy, but they’ll never associate these views with the GOP because of the sources they’ve gone to.
Another analogy, I know a lot of Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Orioles fans that absolutely cannot stand the owners of those teams. Sure, they have the same goals in mind, winning championships, but other things the owner’s have done have soured relationships with potential fans.
The solution is to go back to the Reagan model of communicating and go from there. Ask “What would Reagan do or say”?
The nomination of a real conservative like Duncan Hunter would ensure a Republican victory. Why is this so hard to understand?
Of course, the loony left would scream bloody murder, which might offend the RINO’s sensibilities, but I say sc**w ‘em.
Easy to explain - real conservatives won't vote for a leftist rat, and that is what the RNC has been putting up for the last four years.
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