Posted on 05/21/2006 1:33:27 PM PDT by FairOpinion
CAIRO, May 21, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The patriarch of US conservatives urged his followers on Sunday, May 21, to learn their lesson and stop their financial and logistic support of the Republican Party whose leaders throughout the years have "betrayed" conservative voters by failing to honor their election promises.
"Conservatives should dedicate their money and volunteer efforts toward conservative groups and conservative candidates," Richard Viguerie wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post.
"They should redirect their anger into building a third force -- not a third party, but a movement independent of any party. They should lay the groundwork for a rebirth of the conservative movement and for the 2008 campaign, when, perhaps, a new generation of conservative leaders will step forward," he added.
Viguerie took aim at President George W. Bush's tenure, saying that he has "never seen conservatives so downright fed up as they are today."
"The main cause of conservatives' anger with Bush is this: He talked like a conservative to win our votes but never governed like a conservative.
"Many conservatives have concluded that the benefits of unwavering support for the GOP [Republican Party] simply do not, and will not, outweigh the costs," opined Viguerie.
"Betrayal"
The veteran conservative said Bush has "betrayed" American conservatives by adopting a "Big Business" agenda not a conservative one as he promised before his election and re-election.
"Sixty-five months into Bush's presidency, conservatives feel betrayed. After the 'Bridge to Nowhere' transportation bill, the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination and the Dubai Ports World deal, the immigration crisis was the tipping point for us," he said.
Viguerie also cited approval of the Republican-controlled House of more taxpayers' money for an embryo-killing type of stem cell research and a "hate crimes" measure that could lead to the classification as "hate" of criticism of homosexual activity.
"In today's Washington, where are the serious efforts by Republicans to protect unborn children from abortion? Where is the campaign for a constitutional amendment to prevent liberal judges from allowing same-sex marriage?"
He went on: "We've been rewarded with an amnesty plan for illegal immigrants. We've been rewarded with a war in Iraq that drags on because of the failure to provide adequate resources at the beginning.
"Now we know what they do when they have control."
"Temporary Defeat"
Viguerie said the current relationship between the Republicans and the conservatives is similar to the one between a cheating husband and his forgiving wife.
This, he added, "makes me think of a cheating husband whose wife catches him, and forgives him, time and time again. Then one day he comes home to discover that she has packed her bags and called a cab -- and a divorce lawyer."
Viguerie advised American conservatives to stay home in the mid-term Congressional elections in November, saying that the expected win of Democrats could be for the long-term good of the conservatives.
"Sometimes it is better to stand on principle and suffer a temporary defeat," he put it wisely.
"If conservatives accept the idea that we must support Republicans no matter what they do, we give up our bargaining position and any chance at getting things done," he added.
Viguerie reminded the Republicans that it is largely the defection of conservatives that is driving the president's poll numbers to new lows.
"Unhappy conservatives should be taken seriously," he warned the Republican camp.
"When conservatives are unhappy, bad things happen to the Republican Party."
He cited the conservatives' key role in past Republican defeats during the eras of presidents Thomas E. Dewey, Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford.
"The current record of Washington Republicans is so bad that, without a drastic change in direction, millions of conservatives will again stay home this November."
)(*&^. This is dead wrong, about not voting, FO. Wished I'd a caught that earlier.
Finally, there is the political legacy. Mr Bush and his main political adviser, Karl Rove, hit on a political formula that succeeded in holding the right together while appealing to just enough moderates to win elections. Small-government conservatives resent his spending, but cutting middle-class entitlements (alas) guarantees electoral failure. Fiscal conservatives resent his deficits, but middle Americans love their tax cuts (the Democrats may condemn his tax cuts as being sops for the rich, but they have also voted to prolong some of his “temporary” cuts). Libertarians resent Mr Bush's social conservatism, but libertarianism is a philosophy for the salons, not suburban living rooms. Paleo-conservatives regard him as a wuss on immigration, but the Republicans would be insane to alienate Latinos. None of this is pretty, not much of it is principled, but it works.
The Bush formula will be picked apart over the next thousand days—especially if the White House stumbles on from disaster to disaster. But any Republican who wants to put together a ruling government coalition will find that they have no choice but to put the formula back together.
Democrats "divide", Republicans "unite". Is this not what seems to be the "argument" upon which so many of these "real conservative" threads are about? Suggesting that Republicans should "divide" into two camps GOP and "genuine conservatives"? Fascinating. The last line in the articled I snipped from is still true: "But any Republican who wants to put together a ruling government coalition will find that they have no choice but to put the formula back together"
Thank you for posting that info. Not many know of his contributions.
A fool can pass for a wise man if he keeps his mouth shut. Sorry, but it's too late for you.
It figures that you never heard of him.
Excuse me, but when your party is in a position of power -- like holding the WH and both houses of Congress -- it's not a compromise when the other party is advancing their agenda, it is more like retreat and surrender.
Reagan dealt with a predominantly Democrat Congress and was happy to settle for what he got. We shouldn't have to settle.
It's quite telling that it's mostly the bots who have never heard of him, yet claim to be conservatives.
I can understand not knowing all of his accomplishments because there are so many, but not even knowing the name tells me that they are not real or active conservatives.
Reading your own posts again, I see.
Sure, anyone in his right mind would support Zell over Lincoln Chaffee.
But come on--- that sort of choice only comes up in primaries. As current lemonade stand owner Dan Rather said, that dog won't hunt-- you can count on the fingers of a dog's paw the number of times a Democrat is to the right of his Republican opponent.
It's a PHONEY position of power as you well know in the Senate. The GOP does not have a true majority as long as there are a handfull of RINO's who will vote with the RATS on anything that really matters to us.
I have to admit, you are good at finding the silver lining in the storm cloud. I could have done without 8 years of Clinton. If I had to sacrifice the things you list, so be it. They would have come anyway. A little slower perhaps, but they would have come.
What do you mean by "New Conservative"? Is that an ideology?
You keep posting that, but it simply isn't true. Only some hack "journalist" from Islam Online said that Viguerie advised as such.
Since the only source noted for the Islam Online article is the WaPo column written by Viguerie himself, it is pretty easy to confirm that he said nothing of the kind and has been completely misrepresented. Where do you find such credible sources of propaganda? (But... carry on! Don't let facts get in the way of a good quote to smear conservatives!)
Your statement is repulsive and totally off-topic and nonresponsive to what was posted!
He went back to Goldwater, too. Here is an excerpt from a review of his book (America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power)
In 1964, after years of living on a near-starvation diet of names to mail to, Richard Viguerie accessed the file of Barry Goldwater's $50 donors at the clerk's office in the House of Representatives. Here, from his new book with David Franke, "America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power" (Bonus Books), is his account of what happened:"I decided to do more than look at the names and addresses. I copied them laboriously by longhand, one contributor after another. This soon turned out to be more time consuming than I could handle, so I hired a half-dozen or so women to do this for me. The clerk and his staff eyed us suspiciously because nothing like this had ever happened before. But there didn't seem to be any law saying we couldn't copy the names and addresses. Finally, the clerk decided he had better cover his rear flank and told me we couldn't copy names anymore - he just wasn't comfortable with it. If I had known then what I know now, I would have kept the operation going and said, 'Talk to my attorney.' But we packed up our yellow pads and complied with his order."Luckily, we got most of the Goldwater donor names before the clerk's nervousness shut us off. The total list was something like 15,000 names, and we had 12,500 of them. Since they had been reported on a quarterly basis, we had a nationwide list of the early responders - the most ardent Goldwater supporters in the nation. And that list was my treasure trove, as good as the gold bricks deposited at Fort Knox, as I started the Viguerie Co. and began raising money for conservative clients."
You have just disclosed your age -- and ignorance.
I think they call they call that branch of the GOP the "compassionate conservatives", they're the ones that want to borrow against our children's futures, place foreigners needs over Americas' and be nice to the illegal aliens, granting them amnesty ever 20 years or so...
Nice bunch of folks, but it looks like they've run their agenda into the ground ;-)
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