Posted on 04/25/2005 12:07:45 PM PDT by Choose Ye This Day
ANGER ON THE RIGHT
There is an undeniable fury building among Republican voters coast to coast. It has now been almost six months since that euphoric day last year -- November 2nd -- when Republicans stunned Democrats across the board. Not only did President Bush handily beat John Kerry, but the GOP did what few predicted -- it managed to pick up four seats in the Senate. John Thune's victory over Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota was extra sweet.
That seems like six years ago, not six months ago. Talk to your average Republican voter today and you will find a mood that ranges from anxious/concerned to enraged/frustrated. Yes, the Iraqi elections were amazing. Yes, the President's commitment to the spread of liberty is stalwart. Yes, his European "Unplugged" tour was a necessary step. The focus here is not President Bush (although in an ideal world he would be stronger on the stump on issues beyond social security reform). After the mid-term elections, President Bush will be on his way out, a "short-timer." The future of the Republican Party depends more on what happens now in Congress.
So what has our Republican majority in both houses of Congress gotten us lately? Well, the Terri Schiavo bill-regardless of what you think about its merits -- was at least bold. Then there was the bankruptcy bill. Good stuff, though hardly the legislation that will get voters running to the polls next election.
Of course being in the majority sometimes requires deal-making. Sometimes it requires delaying victory on one issue in order to win support on another more important issue. But sometimes being in the majority just requires that you act like you are in the majority.
This year, with a Republican majority in Congress, we have watched as 20 percent of the President's appellate court nominees are left twisting in the wind. With a Republican majority presiding, we have watched as John Bolton, the President's nominee for U.N. ambassador, has been personally and professionally maligned. With a Republican majority, we have seen spending skyrocket to obscene levels. With a Republican majority, we have seen the Democrats out-maneuver Republicans in the public-relations game with lame lines and gross misrepresentations.
Okay, the Senate did pass tort reform.
But a bill here or a bill there is simply not going to be enough to stem the tide of Republican voters' righteous anger about what many are calling "Creeping Wimpiness." Did thousands of volunteers work tirelessly to give the GOP this majority only to allow the minority to roll them on judges, policy, and other nominations? Did millions of generously open their wallets to the RNC only to see John McCain, Chuck Hagel, Lincoln Chafee, and George Voinovich help the Democrats when we needed them most?
Now is not the time for Republican Senators to cling to niceties. It is not the time to call for more discussions or negotiations. Now is the time for action. Allowing the Bolton nomination to be delayed was unforgivable. (Chairman Richard Lugar was caught totally off-guard by Voinovich's joining the Dems push to delay the Bolton vote.) Allowing Chuck Schumer and Barbara Boxer to brand nominees such as Janice Rogers Brown (an African American California Supreme Court justice) "extreme", was a colossal mistake. Most of the country still does not know that never before in the history of this country has the filibuster been used to block a vote of an appeals court nominee!
The frustration felt by many GOP voters has created a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for conservative politicians. For the first time in decades, we have no clear front-runner for the next GOP nomination. For the first time since George W. started his presidential campaign in the late 1990s, there is no clear standard-bearer for conservatives to rally round.
If a senator or governor can seize this moment, and create the type of bond with conservatives that Bush created during his nomination battle with McCain, that person could be on his way to the White House. If no one steps forward, and conservative voters increasingly watch their party kowtow to the McCains, Hagels, and Chafees of the mushy middle, then those voters will disengage from this party, meaning that the mainstream press will enjoy covering the elections of 2006 and 2008 a lot more than they enjoyed the election 2004.
Ya hires the money, ya pays it's rent.
As I have learned the hard way.
Hallelujah! PJ has good radio now!
I can't remember the fiance's name. Jim Ray or something? Two short names, if I remember correctly, which I probably don't. I believe they've been dating on the down-low for a while, and he finally came to his senses. There's a photo floating around of her at the White House Christmas party, standing with W and Laura (the First Laura), and some other guy. I believe the other guy is her betrothed.
Amen to that! In their defence though, what kind of citizen would run for political office in these times? certainly not the kind we need. Remember James L. Webb? appointed Sec/Navy, lasted what, a year? gave up in disgust. I'm afraid things are looking a tad bleak for all of us.
Jimmy Luckysunuvagun
Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. We can make some things that are legal more difficult, if we think it's bad for society for those things to become too widespread, too rampant.
Caveat emptor, sure. And yes, my first inclination would be a grassroots, public campaign of shame, rather than resorting to legislation or regulation. But when credit card companies offer $5000 limits to college kids with no real job, no income other than what mom & day send them or what they earn for beer money...something is wrong.
I don't know if he believes it was unconstitutional; I can't read his mind. I think it was a bad law, in any case.
It seems to me you don't want to pinpoint where you are on issues which leads me to believe you are a liberal who likes to stir things up. Fine
Watching Jeb Bush and George Bush stand aside and concede to the State of Florida the right to murder Terri Schiavo has demoralized many Republicans.
Both men repudiated the Fourteenth Amendment, violating their oath of office, when both of them took the position that a state has the authority to murder a non-criminal person.
Good article. Please add me to the Laura Ingraham list.
On Please
Hardstarboard
Why not vote third party instead? It will make a bigger statement than not voting at all.
Don't wait! I wrote Frist, Mehlman (RNC) and the National Rep. Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and said that I was with-holding any donations to the party until I saw action on Borders, Bolton and Judges.
I had particular venom for Frist's lack of leadership and cajones.
I also just wrote Voinovich's office - 5 staffers - and blasted his turn-coat performance.
Don't wait for them to come to you - swing the sword!
Now, do you want to say we are alone ping??
Ask them to spell p e r s o n a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y.
Then ask them what it means. If they say that the government or corporations should pay for anything they don't feel like paying for, punch them in the teeth, and tell them to get the government to pay for the dental reconstruction job.
In a word, No.
And a price will be paid if the Republicans do not start acting as the Majority we were promised they would be.
End the Filibuster.
In a word, No.
And a price will be paid if the Republicans do not start acting as the Majority we were promised they would be.
End the Filibuster.
Folks you got a mole on this thread. This is over at the DUmp:
"Freeper needs help *waaaaaa*
hilarious, actually trying to defend the bankruptcy bill.
To: kms61
Can someone tell me how do defend the bankruptcy bill against liberal attacks, Im having trouble.
23 posted on 04/25/2005 12:22:30 PM PDT by Liberal_Lies
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies >
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1390776/posts "
Someone needs to wake up the Viking Kitties.
As for the President, you don't know what he was thinking? Excuse me. He had every evangelical on the phone and in person and on the nightly news blasting CFR. As a man of deep faith, he had to know. You know he knew. Unless all those evangelicals and you are wrong and he's the smartest man on earth.
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