Posted on 11/16/2012 6:47:24 AM PST by Kaslin
One sentence synopsis: In order to win elections, conservatives must become liberals.
I think you can be a compassionate conservative without the hokum of calling yourself one, and without massive deficit spending and more entitlement giveaways. A true compassionate conservative would have reined in the housing bubble and cheap money. Reagan was the compassionate conservative. Just like being a parent, punishing your kid because they’re doing something that will cause them harm is compassion.
What Jonah misses is that Bush’s Compassionate conservatism and Romney’s mushy whatever it was are NOT the only two choices.
Clearly articulating why conservatism itself WORKS, and therefore IS compassionate, would be something not tried in a long time.
Won’t work.
The conservatives won’t vote for you, contribute to you, or work for you.
In a competition between a “real Liberal” and a “sorta-Liberal” the real Liberal will win almost every time. After all, there is no limit to the amount of other people’s money he is willing to spend.
In order to win elections, conservatives must stop voter fraud.
Zackly.
What was so damned "compassionate" about turning over the education of our children to Ted Kennedy?
Those chickens will be coming home to roost (and thereby answering Jeremiah Wright's prayer for America) for years, decades, to come.
Thanks, George.
Of course he was a better President than Obama.
My toilet bowl would make a better President than Obama. At least it does the job it was created to do.
:: My toilet bowl would make a better President than Obama. At least it does the job it was created to do. ::
Yet, just like the election showed, we need to flush twice to get rid of an “obama”.
What I miss about “W” was that when 9/11 happened, I knew he would do his very best to protect the country and keep us safe. I KNEW it down to the depths of my soul and and I TRUSTED him. Without getting into all the Iraq war crap, he DID keep us safe.
With the current clown in office, I have no such feeling of safety. Frankly, I think the b@stard is selling us down the river to his Islamist buddies. I don’t think it gets much plainer than 4 dead Americans, left to die with no security or assistance .... and people in the military who let him get away with it.
Do I miss President Bush? More and more every day. God bless the man and I hope he is thoroughly enjoying his retirement.
“One sentence synopsis: In order to win elections, conservatives must become liberals”
I concur. I have never found Jonah difficult to read. This is a chaotic, illogial jumble of words painful to read as was watching Bush fumble around with the Constitution.
Ugh!
Here’s a thought: how about leading with one’s ideas, and attempt to win over hearts & minds (or just minds), rather than following?
Yes and no. I think we've seen that an all-too-large segment of the voting population is immune to facts and logic. That does not mean that we need to abandon our principles to reach them, but we do need to "package" the message at a more visceral level, in a manner that evokes an emotional response as much as a logical one.
The article is nonsense. It’s tantamount to Christians saying “You know, we could get more membership in our church if we just compromised on the homosexual marriage thing.” Insane.
Rush said it best. Conservative-ism is already compassionate.
I think that, in order to win, conservatives must not allow liberals to paint them as heartless. I thought Bush was on to something when he referred to “the soft bigotry of low expectations”, showing how government hand-holding of the poor is patronizing them and limiting their futures. I thought “compassionate conservatism” was an effective pushback.
Conservatives have to quit being made out to be like social darwinists. Americans don’t want to be that. Americans want to see themselves as givers and (voluntary) sharers. To capture that spirit, conservatives have to demonstrate that private charity, when freely and wisely used, can benefit the giver, the recipient, the community, and can leave government entirely out of it. I have to say, as a newly minted conservative, one of my sticking points was that I really didn’t believe that people would give willingly often enough to really be of significant help. It took statistics about the generosity of conservatives relative to liberals, and participation in community activites run by volunteers to help me see how often conservatives give what is needed, where needed.
I wish him no ill will. But as for enjoying his retirement, I couldn't care less whether he's enjoying it or not. At least he was able to retire. Unlike the vast majority of the non-government-employee population.
Yes, he protected the country from further terrorist attacks, but he also helped lay the foundation for the situation we now face by buying into and selling this "religion of peace" mumbo-jumbo.
I disagree.. G.W. Bush owes conservatives an apology for paving the way to totalitarianism...
I agree we owe Bush credit for winning two terms and creating a message that got the votes needed.
We also need to recognize that true Reaganesque ideas can be successful electorally and can be inclusive so moderates and independents can feel like they will benefit from the policies...and the same with Hispanic voters, women, etc. Bush had a populist tone and understanding language that did win Hispanic support. I saw it in a big way here in Florida in 2004. There some of the strongest support in the days ahead of that campaign came from Latinos. We don’t need to change policies but we have to battle the left’s constant focus on driving a wedge between Republicans and different groups. Bush did a great job of that. Although I didn’t see it during the campaign, Romney and the RNC did not.
It’s save-yourself time.
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