Posted on 05/22/2006 10:21:56 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Whats really stunning is this absolute certainty of angry conservatives that A) Republicans will learn the right lessons from the defeat, and not, say, respond in a panic by embracing their inner RINO and flailing around for MSM approval and B) that the Republicans can easily win back Congress in 2008, just by stiffening their spines and pledging to return to their conservative roots.
I have my doubts on both counts. For starters, why would Republicans get the message that we need to be more conservative in a year that conservatives were knocked out?
In the Senate, a bad year for the Republicans would mean the loss of Rick Santorum (who has lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 88 out of a possible 100, and a 92 in 2005) in Pennsylvania, Jim Talent (93 rating lifetime, and a 96 in 2005) in Missouri, Conrad Burns (91, and a perfect 100 in 2005) in Montana and Mike DeWine (80 lifetime, only 56 in 2005) in Ohio. Of course, Ohio voters who sit this one out will replace DeWine with Sherrod Brown, who has a lifetime rating of 8 and 4 for 2005.
If the GOP base doesnt show in Maryland, you get Ben Cardin (lifetime rating of 6, 2005 rating of 0!) or Kweise Mfume (lifetime ACU rating of 4) instead of Michael Steele.
Nice job, guys. Your effort to re-conservativize the Republican Party in Washington by staying home this year will have the effect of massacring the actual conservatives and empowering the moderates who you disdain. Perhaps we can call this counterproductive maneuver RINO-plasty.
Once the Democrats regain control of Congress, a GOP takeover is going to be exponentially harder than it was in 1994. Youre never going to catch the Democrats as flatfooted again.
(Excerpt) Read more at tks.nationalreview.com ...
You're not breaking anything to me I haven't heard before. There have been many here forecasting gloom and doom. I for one am not going for it.
You tell me how giving up one or both Houses to the Dems is going to improve the problems that our country faces. It won't improve anything, it will only make bad things happen faster
I'm for giving President Bush the time as well as a Repub controlled Congress to do what he proposed in his speech on immigration. Just letting the Dems control one will spell complete gridlock, IMO.
You say you don't see how the Dems controlling one House can hurt much. If they do, they will control every committee and that is a big deal. And if you think we're not getting what we want now, having Dems control one house will really give the "real" Conservatives something to scream about.
Just my opinion.
I only trust people who's testosterone levels are high enough to NEVER accept losing.
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Nope.
With control goes pork and influence, which is worth a lot for the purpose of keeping control, much as we may wish it isn't so. If the GOP loses control of Congress in particular, expect them to stay out for at least 8-10 years.
Fruitbat wrote: "I also fail to see how losing only one house will change things that much, especially if it's the Senate which is practically lib controlled now with the GOP [w]ussies in there."
Let me offer a reason then. If we lose the Senate, forget about ever getting another conservative judge appointed, and if we lose the House, don't expect conservative legislation to ever reach the president's desk. You think it's bad now? Just give the libs and moderates some more power and see what kind of insanity you can get (government funded abortion on demand, assault weapon and other gun bans, Kyoto, World Court, open borders, etc).
Bush has said that he is unable and unwilling to enforce the borders ("It just can't be done. We can't deport 11 million."
This is abject cynicsim. We didn't ask him to do that--we asked him to focus on border security. He wants to legalize illegality first. We've heard this kind of thing before, and its name was Clintonism.
Joe is going to be disgusted, and feel betrayed. You can't talk him out of it, but I believe action could keep it from turning into an electoral disaster. This is unescapable at the present path, and Bush still could turn away from it. Bush is giving every appearance of being obsessed with the interests of Mexico. Why?
Why? Who elected him president of Mexico?
Ditto. Patience is the word, and conservatives should be good at that. Fluttering around in outrage at every new slight and scare is the liberal way.
I used to think about that, and then I realized how little Clinton got done while in office. Believe me, you want to unite the base, make a Clinton win. Name one excuse for us not having the judges we want in? There is no excuse. Why isnt there tax reform? Abortion ban? marriage amendment?
We had a president with like 90% approval rating.
A majority in congress
A majority in senate
If we can't get it done in those conditions, we should drop back to a defensive posture and save our money and time.
They have made fools of us. We said... Just wait... Just wait... when we get into power....
Guess what, the opposite has happened.
Don't throw around the horror stories that we will elect the dems, the dems will not have won. The republicans will have lost.
They lost by ignoring their base and it will be off to " follow their dreams to teach college" OR " Spend more time with their families"
We conservatives can not fall for this again. We will either leave politics or start a seperate party that will require both dem and rep. to work with us to get anything done.
Blame us all you want, but we wont be fooled again.
He is an honest and believing Christian, and I think he is genuinely concerned about the Mexicans. We seem have a problem here between genuine compassion and hard-headed necessity. It is an honorable point of view, even if it is wrong.
Cut the man some slack, I can respect his point even if I don't agree with him.
Are you married to Joesixpack? Is that why you are so worried about him?
What are you doing besides egging idiots on and trying to get the conservatives and Republicans to lose in 06?
Here's what I've done:
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 19:38:37 -0700
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All we have to do is vote for conservatives. If these conservatives wear the Republican, Democrat, or Constitutionalist party label, so be it.
Just vote conservative. Don't waste your vote on a RINO. If no conservatives run in that election, don't vote. Otherwise, you're just encouraging the RINO.
"We're the deciders."
"I realized how little Clinton got done while in office"
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Clinton almost destroyed the military, cut troops strength and ships, airplanes in HALF. Another Dem after him would have completed the full unilateral disarming of the US military. He also didn't take Bin Laden, when it was offered to him on a silver platter, AFTER Bin Laden declared war on the US, and AFTER the 1993 WTC bombings.
Carter is directly responsible for the rise of militarist Islam, by not supporting the Shah and allowing the Ayatollas to take over. To name just a few important things, the result of which are still impacting us seriously and negatively.
buwaya wrote: "Ditto. Patience is the word, and conservatives should be good at that. Fluttering around in outrage at every new slight and scare is the liberal way."
Well said! What happens when the libs don't get their way? Try civil disobedience, protest marches, and people literally crying and screaming in the streets. That is not the conservative way. There's nothing wrong with getting mad, but what's a better use of the anger? Falling prostrate in the streets or working to change the system from within.
The silver lining in a 'few' GOP losses in '06 will be Speaker Pelosi. And its not enough silver to kill a vampire like her. If we are going to lose anybody, lets lose them because they lost to a better candidate or a better campaign and not just because we were pissed off and wanted to send a message by sending another democrat to Washington. A democrat here and a democrat there and we lose the tax cuts and the war in Iraq.
Conservatives not acting like CONSERVATVES hurts the GOP
Do you remember what garbage we went through when Jeffords jumped? Hilliary got him a phoney book deal big payoff and the Dems took control of the Senate. And we had to add a lot of crap to the education bill and water it way down for Sen. Kennedy to okay its passage.
We need voting control or we won't get another conservative judge on the bench. PERIOD.
Imminent domaine will be reversed if we get one more judge. But that name will never get out of committee if the Dems have control of the judiciary committee.
The judiciary committee and all the other committees will be too busy rolling back the tax cuts, impeaching the president, and pulling us out of Iraq and losing our hard won footholds in the war on terror.
To aid and abet this by voting for someone with no chance of winning is whimpy, sister.
Idealists see what they wish the world to be. Fools see what they wish the world to be, but do not expect to deal with the world as it is in oder to get it.
Why haven't you got what you want ? The real answer is that the US public isn't persuaded that these are the things it wants. Change that first. Our problem isn't politics, its culture. Forcing political outcomes on a culture that isn't willing to take them isn't going to work. Using politics to change culture isn't going to work very well either.
Republican is not the same as conservative, the US does not have a conservative majority in the same sense that you and I are. Republicans holding the house and senate are not the same as conservatives doing so, and we will not do so for a considerable time.
To a degree it is a defensive fight - but its much easier to fight defense if you have some power than otherwise, and being in a ruling coalition (such as the Republican party) does count.
Third parties in the US are futile, and only serve to hand power to your enemies. There is no wooing of third parties in the US, they just become irrelevant.
So are you gonna work as hard to help all the Main street Partnership Moderates thru their primaries as you are smearing other conservatives who aren't in your
New Majority clique?
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