Posted on 11/08/2012 6:33:38 AM PST by brother_humility
For the last two days I've been hearing conservatives decry "the death of the conservative movement" or "the end of the Republican Party," as well as a lot of other hyperbolic nonsense. Believe me: this happens every time a Democrat gets elected. And it happens every time a Republican gets elected on the other side. Passion is a great thing, but don't buy into all the crap. You lost an election; it happens and it's part of politics.
What you should be thinking about is *how* you lost the election and how to win the next one. To figure that out, I suggest looking at all of the successful campaigns by Republicans.
People on the left love to demonize Bush, just like they did Reagan. It's understandable; conservatives do the same thing to Obama and Clinton. That doesn't mean you should buy into the idea that Bush was a bad Republican. On the contrary, he won two terms for the Republican party!
How did Bush win two terms? In my opinion, he won them with the two most important qualities that Romney lacks: empathy and humility.
Empathy! There's that word again. Ever since Obama said it, the Republicans have been jumping on it. And while I agree that empathy is not a necessary quality of a judge, it is certainly vital to a president. Every successful president of my lifetime (Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama) had it. Clinton said, "I feel your pain." Bush made a point of being a "compassionate conservative." And Obama never makes a speech without saying, "I know how hard it is."
Same goes for humility. Bush made a point that he wanted America to be a "humble nation" with a "humble foreign policy." He applied this to all aspects of his life. You would never in a million years hear Bush, a man of *considerable* faith, say a word against Islam-- let alone go around "Muslim-baiting" his opponent. He knew that if he were arrogant, and saw himself as better than a Muslim, it would turn people away from a message that, honestly, speaks for itself in the way one acts, not what one says.
That's why white, Christian Republicans need to take another look at the political drawing board. Don't be so god damn cynical. You don't need to change your policies to appeal to blacks and Latinos. You just need to change your POLITICS.
If you want what you believe to be the ideals of America to endure, you've got to be okay with them enduring in a minority white country. And if you don't think they could, then while I do not name-call, you are, by definition, a racist person. Black people today have a considerable deal more in common with the Republican Party today than they have in a long time. They're moving out of the cities and into affluent, traditionally-white suburban communities. The proof of the American Dream lives in black America. Not only that, but they are Christians who tend to be much more socially conservative than the Democratic base.
So why can't the GOP reach them? Because there are a lot of extremists in your party and you haven't done a good enough job of distancing them. There are still too many Republicans who believe black people are "addicted to entitlements" and have no problem saying that. Bush was very good at distancing himself from those people, while Romney's people have fueled that kind of discourse.
So how does the GOP win in 2016? With compassion, humility and respect-- values that are universal and do not conflict with GOP policies, only GOP politics. I know they might be tough pills to swallow right now, but they'll sure be easier than that humble pie.
No?
Guess you didn't realize I was packing.
My coffee falls under ‘elsewhere’.
Thanks, got it!
The humility to never name our Islamist enemy? The humility to think that he could make Jeffersonian Democracies in the Middle East—and via the sword, at that?
The ‘empathy’ shown by massively increasing entitlements (and the federal debt) at the expense of the average taxpayer?
Bush somehow won black voters by respecting their bits of social conservatism and ignoring their massively redistributionist wishes for big government?
A song for your actions ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oot0GtjQuxQ
I am blinded by your awesomeness!!
Tally ...
null and void - 2
everyone else - 1
Dang, a prayer this doesn't cost me. Am out on a limb. Mod ... Mod ... what you doing there with that saw?
“I woke up this morning wondering how what happened, happened. Then, having recently renewed my Carbonite subscription”
that’s the same carbonite that had pulled the ads from RUSH and still advertising on NPR? maybe you can save some money and invest in a different backup solution.
If what I’ve read is correct, we generally have SEIU union members ‘calibrating’ the machines. And if I understand the technology correctly, calibrating them for one candidate to pick up a percentage of votes intended for his opponent isn’t hard at all.
Also, there was the massive and clearly coordinated illegal expulsion of GOP poll watchers early in the day in both PA and FL. IMO that was likely a planned time for loading votes into the machines. It is also common for Democrat operatives to load votes into the machines before the polls open as well, so that could have been done in other swing states.
That’s good to go.
That’s good to go.
Only thing left to do would be to hijack his thread.
Bt it would need to move to ‘chat’ or ‘smokey backroom’ first.
love that category, “smokey backroom”. it’s picturesque.
:)
Where was the original thread posted, Darksheare?
( congregation reply)
“HEEEEEE Would SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TAP THAAAAAAAAT.....”
Where it still sits, in “Gop” category.
If it becomes this months Undead Thread, it would have to move.
Yes, but he's a Mormon.
Better to elect a man who has voted four times to deny any medical care to a baby that survives an abortion than a Mormon.
The guy they lurve over Mitt went out of his way to vote to kill babies, rather than his usual vote of "Present", he deliberately took a stand FOR INFANTICIDE yet he's still preferable to a Mormon.
We got the party that voted three times to ban the mere mention of God from their party platform, and there are <heavy sarcasm quotes>"Christians"</heavy sarcasm quotes> are pleased as punch that they kept a Mormon out.
Thank you, but the awesomeness totally belongs to FrankenMonkey, he is the originator and deserves all the kudos.
I am merely the weatherman, I don't make the weather, I just report it.
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