After the Thumping

Opinion Journal ^ | 31 Jan 07 | Charles R. Kesler

[rellimpank]

Conservatives blame Republicans for losing Congress. Are they right?

Conservatives are offering a curious explanation for the drubbing they took at the polls: they blame the Republicans. The 2006 elections were not a conservative defeat, you see; they were a Republican one, a rejection of a party that had strayed too far from the conservative path. John McCain put the point nicely: "Americans had elected us to change government, and they rejected us because they believed government had changed us."

The corollary is that McCain--along with many other, more reliable conservative spokesmen--believes that most Americans remain quietly conservative. But this latent center-right majority, he argues, needs reassuring that in 2008 the GOP will once again hew to true-blue (pardon the term) conservative principles.

In their hearts, he knows they're Right.

[Peach]

LOL.

[LexBaird]

Politics, at the most basic level, is about making friends. If someone insulted and mocked you or something you cared about, why would you consider that person a friend?

Gee, I don't know. Why?

[tje]

nice pic

[jonascord]

You've got the head of the REPUBLICAN party FOR a minimum wage increase, an assault weapons ban, illegal amnesty, invisible borders, no enforcement of existing immigration laws, trying to convince everyone, despite overwhelming evidence, that TROP is no real threat...

Somehow I doubt that Conservatives and Republicans are the same anymore.

[LexBaird]

When you ask questions like that, you're part of the problem.

No, it's defining the problem. The question is, has the Big Tent grown so large that it includes both sides of everything, or has it been re pitched farther Left, leaving the conservatives in the cold? Has the GOP, in its desire to capture the lukewarm, uninterested middleground neglected the needs and wants of its own Right, to the point that they feel the Party has left them?

What does the brand name "Republican" mean? What are you getting when you buy it? How can you tell what's in the package, at a minimum, before you open it? Without a great deal more consistency in agenda and message from the GOP, you can't.

[Rummyfan]

One, McCain is not a conservative!

Two, I believe two central issues hurt Republicans with the Conservative base: they blew it with judicial nominations, allowing the Gang of Fourteen to reach a compromise that let the Dems off the hook for their obstructionism; they did not take any definitive action to close the borders or even deal with illegals.

[Txsleuth]

BTW..I am glad to see you back.

Did you get a new computer?

[Mo1]

that about sums it up

[Howlin]

What does the brand name "Republican" mean?

What is means is that it's one of the TWO choices on the ballot.

[Howlin]

Who is the nominee for the Conservative Party?

[Mo1]

http://conservativepresident2008.blogspot.com/2006/10/rev-chuck-baldwin-on-republican-party.html

[Howlin]

OMG, do NOT link me to that idiot. Geez.........LOL.

[Mo1]

LOL

Maybe he should clone himself to get a candidate that could run

But something tells me he'd vote against his clone for not being perfect

[onyx]

ROTFLOL

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

What does the brand name "Republican" mean? What are you getting when you buy it? How can you tell what's in the package, at a minimum, before you open it? Without a great deal more consistency in agenda and message from the GOP, you can't.

What does the name Gramsci mean to this? (FR Keyword: GRAMSCI) It can mean a trojan horse who CALLS themself a Republican. "Test the spirits."

Without absolute values, the destruction of which is among the Communist Goals (FR Keyword: COMMUNISTGOALS), we will not have a more consistent agenda or message--and will continue to lose big.

Words mean things. Laws and policies impact people. We need change from the heart, by person-to-person grassroots relationships and prayer for our Liberal neighbors. Before our neighbors will change in their ways, we must change ours .

[LexBaird]

What is means is that it's one of the TWO choices on the ballot.

"Vote for me because I'm not the other guy" is a losing strategy, especially when you are the "in" party with a razor thin margin. It is the prevent-defense, and it failed miserably in 2006. The GOP lost many very close races in 2006, largely because many voters saw no choices or nearly identical choices on the ballot, and either stayed home, or the precious middle muddle pulled the lever for the other guy who promised them more this time. When you have major candidates who are for and against every issue that Republican voters care about, the label designation means nothing.

As a Party, are we for or against:
Abortion
Gun control laws
Border control
Nationalized health care
Tax reform
Increasing Borrowing
Increasing Spending
Amnesty/Immigration law reform
Aggressive WOT
Cutting troop levels
Adding troop levels
Going after terrorist supporting States
Negotiating with terrorist supporting States
Ignoring terrorist supporting States
Federalized education control
Social Security reform
Property rights protection
Fed funded scientific agendas, such as stem cells and climate
Judicial activism
Separation of powers
Protection of public display of religion
Free Trade
Reciprocal and/or protectionist tariffs
"War on drugs"
Homosexual marriage/unions
Affirmative action set-asides and quotas
Nuclear power
Coal power
Any other power that gets Fed $

The Republican Party and its office holders are all over the map on these and a host of other issues. WHAT DO THEY STAND FOR AND AGAINST UNEQUIVOCABLY? What defines the word "Republican"?

[LexBaird]

Who is the nominee for the Conservative Party?

If the GOP doesn't get its crap together, it just might be facing one. Remember Perot? He stole the "issue" voters from both sides, enough to give Bubba the plurality he needed in two elections. I don't want to see that happen again, but it will if the GOP doesn't reintegrate itself with its core values. The middle is too fickle to depend on at the cost of the base.

Imagine, if you will, a McCain just aced out of the nomination, and going Indie, with a Leiberman wingmate. Think he could carve out Perot size numbers enough to scuttle a rudderless GOP? I do.

[Howlin]

Maybe the GOP is tired of being blackmailed by people they pander to and who without fail sit it out for some imagined offending "value."

The middle is too fickle to depend on at the cost of the base.

The base ALWAYS votes GOP; it's the far right wing that does the blackmailing.

I think maybe the GOP has finally realized that they can't depend on the far right and now, instead of getting more from the GOP, you're gonna get LESS.

[roses of sharon]

M.Steele said on Laura Ingraham's show today that 20% of Conservatives did not show up to vote for him on the 7th.