Posted on 11/11/2006 2:42:16 PM PST by Reagan Man
As I write this column, three days after the midterm elections, the Democrats have taken over the House of Representatives and, with the concession of Sen. George Allen (R.-Va.), have captured the Senate as well.
Make no mistake about it—this is Republican loss and not a conservative loss.
Republicans lost because the Bush Administration and the Republican leadership too often cavalierly abandoned the populist conservative message and policies of President Ronald Reagan.
For far too long the American people have come to view the conservative movement and the Republican Party as one and the same. Indeed, they are not.
Conservatives need to re-establish their identity and independence from Republicanism. The Bush Administration has been hijacked by neo-conservatives who believe in “big government conservatism.” The very phase is an oxymoron—designed to give cover for big government intervention in both the domestic and foreign policy arenas.
The neo-conservatives support open borders, expansion of the education bureaucracy and promoting democracy in the Mideast through military intervention.
Republicans paid a heavy price at the ballot box for their failure over the last few years to live up to the ideals and standards which the American people believed they represented when they took the House of Representatives from the Democrats a decade ago and when Bush won the presidency in 2000.
This election turned out to be just what many conservatives had feared—a referendum on the performance of the Bush White House and the Republican Congress, rather than a contest between the two competing party’s visions for America.
Republicans lost touch with almost every element of their base.
Economic conservatives could not understand it when the Bush White House teamed up with Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) on “big government” legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the Medicare prescription drug bill. And they could not understand why “conservative” leaders such as former Rep. Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) carried the water for the President on behalf of this massive expansion of government.
Conservatives were perhaps most dismayed with the administration’s failure to secure our borders and to deal with illegal immigration. And many conservatives such as Bill Buckley, Brent Scowcroft and Pat Buchanan were skeptical early on about the war with Iraq which they viewed as unnecessary and not a part of the War on Terror.
To further complicate matters, Republicans—who were elected by promising the highest standards of integrity—were involved in one scandal after another involving members of Congress, Republicans lobbyists and some members of the Bush Administration.
Exit polls indicated that the American electorate had become more than skeptical regarding the war in Iraq, concerned about the war on terrorism and the scandals in Washington.
One final nail in the coffin of the GOP was the failure “at all levels of government” in responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (One note: In my opinion this emphatically excludes the leadership by Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi in efforts exhibited in rebuilding his state.)
In short—the mid term elections can be summed as crisis of confidence in the GOP controlled Congress and the Bush White House.
Sadly, it seems that the “Party of Reagan” has been hijacked by the neo-cons, the big government crowd and the pragmatists.
The debate for the heart and soul of the Republican Party and the conservative movement has begun. Let’s hope we are up to the job.
The question is this: Do we want do the stay the course or do we want to want to return to the “Party of Reagan?”
[***Mr. Rotterman is a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation and a GOP consultant.***]
Buzzards only flock to that which is dead stinks to high heaven. If Republicans carelessly put politicians in office who stink, watch out - because buzzards will fly in.
There are a couple of problems with applying this description to today's RINOs.
1) They don't get 75 or 80 percent of anything. They're lucky if they get anything at all.
2) Half the time, they don't even ask for anything. Eighty percent of zero is zero.
3) They never come back to fight for the rest. They grovel for the pittance they're given, then slink away and gobble down the Democrats' table scraps.
4) "Radical conservatives" are the only folks in the GOP these days that have any notion of principle. The rest are accommodationist cowards, opportunistic hacks, or Democrats who took a wrong turn during the credentialing process.
While lining their own pockets.
Oh yeah! call me a liberal! That's brilliant! Great comeback!
Btw, you're post was great.
"n.b. James Baker was heavily involved in the decision to withdraw from Beirut, as was SECDEF Weinberger et al."
Good point.
Also, I imagine he had a lot of input in the decision of GHWB to end the First Gulf War prematurely early.
My point is that prior to the election, Bush & Rove were like heroes to many on this site. The same thing when Mr. Newt gave up the speakership. Reagan also went through it with alot from his own side in 86 and after. These people were trying to do there best, but the media was successful in undermining our own support for them.
I still believe in a majority of the areas of the country (but not where I live for instance), Reagan conservatism will win.
My exact thought. LOL
But I will state areas in which I agree with the President and areas where I disagree just as I did before the 2006 election.
And if they go after the President or anyone in his administration as they will do, I will be as outspoken as anyone on this board against such outrageous and unfair tactics.
It's amazing how many of these advocates of moving left claim to be conservatives. Reminds me of a call-in radio show.
Some of those same people, while supportive of President Bush are not as happy with him as they were with Reagan.
I do think, many conservatives have been using Ronald Reagan to measure President Bush (I must admit I am one of them), and President Bush comes up short, in their eyes, which is a problem President Reagan didn't have. And for this reason there is a greater number of conservatives overall who are less satisfied with the performance of President Bush than they were with performance of President Reagan.
That's fair, I am the same way. I haven't been posting on here till after the election, but I also have disagreements with our leaders on issues, also. The only thing is, as a whole, we all need to stick together, somewhat, and go after our real enemies.
The above was actually my sentence, and somehow I mixed in with your words, that I quoted, Mojave. Sorry, about that.
Exactly, I listen to NPR each day and all I ever here is negative stories on the war and the Bush administration. But let them interview a democrat and it's nothing but a love fest. I also listen to Rush to keep my sanity!
I couldn't agree more and have said so many times.
Of course when we are on this board, we are disussing or debating at times major points and at other time finer points, that we are apt to discuss more amongst ourselves.
But when Democrats unfairly attack the President, and I have the ability and opportunity, I stand up for him, as I did for the President's father, and for Ronald Reagan.
Thankyou! : )
Sorry. Can't stand by and see the (IMHO, somewhat odious) adjective "populist" applied to Reagan.
Reagan's principled position on trade, his "supply side" economic philosophy, not to mention his views on immigration, where all markedly, even radically, opposed both to the tenets of classical political populism, and to any contemporary or recent incarnation thereof.
I love discussing politics and argueing about it, but I'm alot better doing it face to face then on a computer screen. I hope I didn't leave the impression I had any real disagreement with your take on things, It sounds like we are on the same page.
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