Replies

Most excellent point!

One would hope that this election will have the effect of finally! finally! forcing the "Country Club Republicans" and RINOS out of their leadership positions and to the back of the Republican bus.

It is time for some hard-nosed Conservatives to take over the party and prepare for the '08 battle!

I am very concerned about the Democrat takeover, but my guess is, that, in their exuberance and having no plan, they will self destruct over the next two years.

I agree with this. We were all hoping the Democrats had not succeeded in their deceptions but the truth is that many GOP who court the Democratic media and also responsible for this result as well as a Republican Congress with no cohesive message. The biggest mistake was committed by the White House who ceded the ground on WMDs, even though we found them, who ceded the ground on Saddam's involvement with terrorism, if though it is clear he was involved. They ceded ground after the Iraqi elections, they ceded ground everywhere on the War on Terror issue. The refused to provide a cohesive message on immigration, they dealt with the Foley issue badly and did attack the Democrats hard enough across the board. What we see here is that the Democrat tactic of attack attack attack worked especially when we have a weak White House which refused to respond when our soldiers were slandered over and over again. This I think is what cost us the vote. How can someone support a war when we are interrogating prisoners in lazy boys while our soldiers are being imprisoned without due process for alleged atrocities in Iraq. We can also thank contrarian talk shows for blurring the lines being Democrats and Republicans over single issues. All these things broke the dam for us this election and the whole party and conservatives had better wise up because the Democrats have learned something here and that is running candidates that are more conservative helps them win. Liebermann won even while supporting the War. It wasn't the war so much as the President who failed to continue to make the case for it.

Republicans only play defense never offense. Eventually you have to lose with that strategy. Yes, it is much harder for Republicans/conservative to go on offense because of media. I f Republican were to propose abolishing minimum wage or some social welfare program MSM would lead charge against them. Extremist, greedy, selfish, evil, corrupt, radical, etc., etc., etc. But choosing to be second-rate Democrats leads to the same outcome. Why would people want imitation when they could have the real thing.
If Democrats say lets raise minimum wage and Republicans oppose or counter with more modest raise, the impression is that Republicans support minimum wage but are a little cheap. Democrats say lets spend xbillion more on some welfare scheme and Republicans counter with 50% of what Democrats want. And on and on down the line. What is the one and only principle that you could possibly discern from this strategy. Cheapness. Stinginess. Meanness. SCROOGE. And unfortunately that is the image of the Republican party. People who are uncaring, selfish, greedy, etc. We have to stand on principle and work to change the envious, covetous hearts of the American people.

I agree that we have to play hardball. But we didn't lose because of the MSM - they were countered effectively in the past by the new media. So what happened this time?

Our platform was "stay the course" (good) and "don't vote for them - they'll get us killed" (way over the top). The last few weeks our side had become increasingly hysterical. I found myself rolling my eyes at some of our ads, especially Santorum's. I absolutely support the WOT - America is safer with us in charge - no question. But does anyone really believe that Bush has taken border security seriously since 9/11? It's been five years! Prescription drug benefits for seniors? Gag me. Spending like drunken sailors (with apologies to drunken sailors)? Ridiculous.

Start governing and stop trying to be liked. I'm upset that we lost, but on the bright side, we seem to be much more effective as the minority party.

"Leo Durocher - Nice Guys Finish LAST"

I remember the interview when Durocher made that statement.
He was manager of the Dodgers and Mel Ott was the Giants' manager. Ott was the nicest guy you could meet but he could not get the Giants above third place even though the Giants had a good team. MOF they set a home run team record for the time in 1947 by hitting 221 home runs.

Durocher was talking about the Giants and specifically Mel Ott.