Posted on 11/16/2006 12:45:52 PM PST by Milltownmalbay
For a change it’s the Republicans who have some soul-searching to do after the elections.
There is no doubt that the Republicans failed to control spending, failed to control illegal immigration, and failed to reform social security. Nevertheless, the biggest failure of the Republican Party has been communication with the American people.
Ronald Reagan was the Great Communicator. George Bush can’t connect subject and predicate . Bill Frist looks like a doctor telling his patient that she has cancer and Denny Hastert just looks like he wants directions to the local pub.
In spite of the proverbial six year itch, Republicans should have been able to increase their margins in both the House and the Senate and set the stage for 2008.
The economy is stronger than ever and it’s clearly due to the Bush tax cuts. How many commercials did we see touting the economy during this election cycle?
Terrible blunders on the part of the Clinton Administration culminated in the worst attack on American soil in our history and Bush met the challenge head-on.
Bush successfully struck at the Taliban in Afghanistan and passed the Patriot Act, which repaired many of the flawed policies of previous administrations.
Republicans blamed individual Democrats for voting against the Patriot Act, but Republicans never explained the Patriot Act. Why didn’t the Republicans run a national ad campaign on national security? Why didn’t they explain the parts of the Patriot Act to the American people and show us specifically how the Patriot Act has kept us safe?
Ask a question in a poll about the Patriot Act and you may get a mixed result. Ask people if they favor giving captured terrorists the same rights as American citizens and the result would be quite different. The Republicans never made that case.
The United States has not been attacked since September 11. Was that just a coincidence, or did the new policies of the Bush Administration keep us safer? If they did, the Republicans never told us how.
By simply charging that the Democrats want to cut and run in Iraq, the Republicans allowed them to turn the election into a national referendum on Iraq at a time when the war is unpopular.
Now we get to spend at least two years in the Twilight Zone of Democratic leadership. If we do not find a standard bearer who can communicate for 2008, it might be even longer.
So would this California boy...my very first "jet airplane" flight was out of that massive Meridian airport, by the way. Headed back out here in the sixties from visiting relatives in Choctaw County, Alabanga.
McCain dumped his wife, and Rudy did the same with his wife. Why is it that they get a pass, but Newt doesn't?
Let's get real here.
Senator Harry Reid is a mormon. Does not seem to bother anyone.
Romney seems like a decent, moral guy, but his record is somewhat spotty.
Very true. I guess they're smart.
Bush, in the end, I think will have done a better job than Reagan in some aspects:
Real Supreme Court judges. No Affirmative Action O'connor picks.
The recovery to the Clinton recession was handled better than the recovery to the Carter recession. I don't see a recession starting in '07 like there was in '87 to end Bush's presidency.
They also have their SS/Medicare part D idiocy socialism policies.
In the end though, Bush lacked Reagan's intellect and communication skills.
It remains to be seen whether history will exonerate him the way it did for Truman.
Ronald Reagan was early-on a radio commentator - an excellent baseball sportscaster.
But Reagan, "as actor", essentially played himself. He was a genuine, decent human being who had great religious Faith and sheer humanity - for persons at all levels of the social scale..
It did not end there: he left the Hollywood realm and went into politics because he felt it his duty to actively make a difference in the world.
He was not just a commentator like Rush L. - but Rush L. admirably fills a niche for our time, even if he declines to simply put on a pair of jeans and go chop some firewood (something he should be able to do if he ever aspired to public office, which he never will.)
How in the world could Lynn Cheney be considered? She has never held office. I love her don't get me wrong, but what experience does she have to qualify her to run for Vice President?
His wife waited faithfully for him when he was a POW. She was the mother of his real children. He returned, she had had an accident and was hurt and disabled and had gained weight. He DUMPED her, and hard, for the rich daddy's young blonde.
There isn't a conservative woman who won't hate his nasty guts when the story gets out. And the MSM may pretend to love him, but they'll make sure the whole sorrowful story gets out there. The same liberal MSM who pretends to cherish him for his "maverick" ways.
He's old. He's crazy. He's sick, and I despise him. I think most conservative women will despise him, no matter how the jocksniffing neocons adore him.
Nominate him at your leisure, and I'll vote against him for my pleasure.
After the next balloon goes up no one is going to care about Newt's ex-wife or wives. The survival of the nation is at stake and the radioactive ruins of a city or two will help the jerkwaters of this nation clarify their priorities.
Gawdamighty. Will you people please grow up?
There is no better communicator, speaker and debater than Rudy.
The guy has never gotten over 40% in any general election.
Republicans never pay enough attention to the selling of their ideas and never seem to have the guts to deliver strong messages.
Whenever you see a brilliant ad campaign, only half the credit can really go to the creator (and Jimmy Siegel featured in the link above is very good) The other half goes to the client who is smart enough, and has the cojones to buy it, run it, and stick with it.
The reason there is no Republican Jimmy Siegel is that, IMHO, Republicans really like to come across as stuffy, platitudinous old farts. My God, to hear him talk and see his ads, you would have thought that Tom Kean,Jr., running against that outrageous crook in New Jersey, slimeball Menendez, was an eighty year old lady! Except that an actual 80-year-old New Jersey lady, Millicent Fenwick had always shown bigger cojones, in her successful campaigns, than this hapless milquetoast.
The main point in most Republican ads I saw this yearseems to be that you should "Vote for me ... well, because.... I am a Republican and those other fellows are not." Republicans are seeking approval at the Country Club, not fighting with the yobs for votes at Wal-Mart.
Steele had some great advertisement in Maryland, but although it showed him to be a really cool guy, they had absolutely no substance ... no toughness. So, he lost to an absolute dweeb, because he and his handlers were afraid to slap the idiot around.
Steele never mentioned that we are in a world-wide war against (OK, Radical) Islam ... and neither did anyone else, except Santorum, who made one speech, then backed off. And did they mention that if we cut and run, it would only mean more trouble down the road? That Iran has sworn to take out Israel ... that Al-QAIDA is threatening to wipe out the White House? Did one Republican happen to mention that Murtha is a crook ... on film?
Bright spot: Corker successfully demonstrated that not only is Ford an idiot, he is also the crooked son of a crooked dynasty. Corker won.
I did not even hear one (1) Republican talk about how great the economy is under GW. They got Jimmy Siegel, we got Rove. Jimmy is a winner. Karl has a unique talent for turning potential landslides into Republican routs ... at phenomenal cost.
Sure we need a great communicator, but he has to get the direction of people who know what the hell they are doing in this business.
It is political analysis like this that keeps one coming back to FR. I agree. If nuclear explosions lay waste two American cities, it would probably garner attention from Security Moms, and move up the WOT a notch or two on the 2008 issue importance scale.
That's what I figured, and when they tried to vote it in, it got overturned, right? So now we have to work on the "cleanest Congress ever" to pass a Amendment. /s
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