Posted on 03/28/2007 5:37:45 AM PDT by shortstop
The way it stands now, we Republicans are on track to get the thumping of a lifetime. We are about to get spanked, and spanked hard.
I realized that the other day when I saw this bumper sticker: “Is it 2008 yet?”
The point was clear. Democrats are eager for 2008 to come; Republicans are living in fear of its arrival.
Because our party is on the rocks.
George W. Bush and several years of a GOP congressional majority have just about killed it.
And the horizon looks dark and foreboding.
Let’s look at the two parties’ presidential prospects. The Democrats have two excellent candidates. We Republicans have two relatively weak candidates.
Though I disagree with them both, Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton are both electric candidates. They excite people, especially Democrat people. They both would be superstars on the international scene.
And they both are liberals.
Though they are each trying to conceal that little fact at this stage of the campaign, the two leading Democrat candidates are dyed-in-the-wool liberals. That’s probably a good thing for a Democrat candidate to be. It certainly would be seen as a good trait by the party’s philosophical core – which is itself liberal.
So the Democrats have two head-turning candidates who believe in things that represent the party’s traditions and which jibe with the beliefs of the party’s most active and vocal members.
If you’re a Democrat, that’s a good thing.
We Republicans, on the other hand, face a different prospect.
Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, while each is a man of significant accomplishment, don’t have the marquee appeal of the Democrats. They are probably Grade B politicians. Senator McCain is clearly a brave patriot, but he was shot down more than 40 years ago and those who remember the significance of his service are few. Mayor Giuliani owes his national reputation as much to “Saturday Night Live” as to anything else.
And they both are liberals.
On the great issues of our day and our Republic, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani have spent their careers closer to the Democrat position than the Republican position. And that’s not so fun for conservatives, who are the party’s base. They face the likely prospect of having a candidate whose philosophy they disagree with.
That’s not good.
Compound that with the fact that the mismanagement of the war has turned the country not only against it, but in large part against the notion of national self-defense. The true Republican position on the war would be to fight it ruthlessly to completion. After this experience, it is far more likely the country will have no stomach for any fight whatsoever. That’s why Iran is posing 10 times the threat Iraq posed and getting one-tenth the flak from the United States.
Responsibility for that can only be attributed to President Bush. He roused the nation’s spirits after September 11, and led us into war, but somehow has not been successful at maintaining our interest and commitment. In all likelihood, the Iraq war will be a defining issue in 2008 and it won’t break in the Republicans’ favor.
Another area where we suffer is, unlike the Democrats, we have no galvanizing issue or cause. Winning the Congress for the GOP is no longer a draw. We did that already and got nothing out of it. Winning the White House in order to control Supreme Court nominations died the day George W. Bush uttered the name, “Harriet Myers.”
There is no real reason, other than fear of Hillary, that even comes close to uniting Republicans.
Democrats, on the other hand, are so seething with hatred for George W. Bush and conservatives – though George W. Bush is not a conservative – that they are highly motivated for the election. They are on fire with zeal in anticipation of 2008.
You add it all up and the Democrats are holding most of the cards. We Republicans can’t even seem to get excited or frightened by the contest.
Which is a good way to lose.
As it stands now, 2008 will be a Democrat romp. Only an unexpected and monumental collapse by the Democrats, or an unexpected and monumental surge by the Republicans, stands any chance of shaking things up.
Which is pretty gloomy.
And it means that while the Democrats are looking forward to 2008, the next best chance for Republicans is 2010 or 2012.
And that’s an awful long time.
So long, in fact, you wonder what form the Republican Party will take as it suffers all those years locked out of power.
I have to agree with you on that, PITW.
Also, I take heart in knowing that the Dims will continue their irreversible slide into the huge gaping maw of leftist failure and,between that and Thompson running, we should be fine.....juuuuuuust fine.
In short, I don't see a Dim president in 08. I have faith.
Duncan Hunter = nice guy, great credentials, but DOA as a candidate.
The GOP followers of all stripes better vote for a winner not a loser. The Bushies and the wussy GOP have undermined our own strengths by acting like Dems and not defending their agendas. A real leader, Rudy or Fred, I don't care who, as long as he can win. The loss of Nov. '06 should have taught the purists in the GOP that unless at least you win, you have no impact. None. Stop the whining and go out and vote for the nominee and get Congress back. Then perhaps we will not have a defeatist Congress, more pork than ever, higher taxes and a loss to the Islamofascists. And , yes, there is a difference between the GOP and the Defeatist Dems. If you put in the right leadership.
We're on the same page, see post #90.
Um... no thanks, if it works for you, great. Doesn't for me
I would love to see Michael Steele as a VP candidate.
Does ANYONE, even in this cocoon known as FR, believe that Hunter has even the slightest chance of carrying California? Never, no way, no how.
LOL, rightwing trash making the rounds, sniveling unproductive bores. Where are our men? I count very few on FR these days.
Count me in: I am definitely a FredHead.
The biggest problem the GOP faces right now is the White House. George Bush is tired and ready to retire to Crawford. There is clearly no fight left in the President as evidenced by his willingness to let the Democrats fabricate a "scandal" and then bend over and grab his ankles instead of telling them to go play in the street, nobody is testifying, your subpoenas are in the trash can, and by the way I just fired five more US Attorneys because it's Wednesday.
Nobody wants to jump in a foxhole with somebody who is afraid of his own shadow.
The Party must be UNFIED AND ENERGIZED next year, and JulieAnnie would do just the opposite.
Fred Thompson WILL UNIFY AND ENERGIZE the traditional conservative base. Without the 'base'--the Party will just will not have the enthusiasm for the necessary turnout.
"We" meaning the voting population in general.........that's it in a nutshell. You are correct.
RINOs in the GOP and Socialists (S) in the DNC have seen to it that we already have a one party system. The political football was moved left long ago.
As the Socialists gain power, they are limiting political speech (not just in campaigns but in workplaces). Political correctness is despotism.
>Of course you guys will pick a-part some of his statements, however the general concept is correct. My take is: two words-Fred Thompson<
Well, to begin with, I've watched with pain the GOP drift further left each year for the past 20, and witnessed the far left plunge of the Democrat party. So we wake up today to find there is the Communist Party and the Social Democrat party with the complete disappearence of the Republican party in America today. The Globalists (New name for the Communists) have finally arrrived on the threshhold of the New World Order that GHW Bush spoke of so glowingly. Sadly, his issue did not fall far from the tree, as he's brought us to the North American Union - regional government in full bloom at last. As all this was emerging, Americans have become dependent on television and computer games, entertainment at any cost, as a result of the public schools which indoctrinated them with Situational Ethics and Values Clarification. Thinking and using their innate gifts of vision and powers of deduction have apparently been severely damaged. Going along with the crowd was simple and far less strenuous than standing up for higher standards in their party. No, the Republican Party died a long time ago, and it's ghost just doesn't know it yet.
Your "take" falls right in with the above: Laura Ingraham waxed utterly sappy over Fred Thompson on her morning show today, as she played clips of his Paul Harvey broadcasts, where he drolly drawled his sound bite observations of no real import. She extolled his wife's encouragement to audition for the role of roles, as the new "Social Democrats" sign petitions to draft him. Timing is crucial in acting, so Fred is sitting back as the mindless momentum builds to a crescendo.
The one true Conservative candidate, still quick, continues his battle to preserve the country he loves with little or no fanfare-two words: Duncan Hunter. Now, that's my take.
That was probably a Republican.
And he has more name recognition than Hunter how?
I can understand your reasoning, I think, but how does Michael Steele have more name recognition than Duncan Hunter?
How does Michael Steele help us carry the states with the most electoral votes?
I'm not razzing you, I'm asking an honest question.
LOL!!! I love it. We need a CONSERVATIVE with 'nads' like that! FRED WOULD BE PERFECT.
The dems are not making any big mistakes in Congress. Their margins will increase in both the House and the Senate, barring a dramatic change in the political landscape.
I don't think a strong conservative can win The white House - for whatever reason, the electorate just doesn't have the confidence in conservative values, either legit or irrational.
Conservatives need to check the way the winds are blowing, and evaluate what parts of their agenda have significant popular support, and push those aspects.
Frankly, I see the conventional wisdom on FR is to push aspects of the conservative agenda that are waning. The electorate is hostile to the president and the GOP - they kicked them in the raisins in 2006 and unless some conservative minds open, the electorate will be hot to kick them in the raisins again in 2008.
Hunter won't even win the California GOP primary, let alone win the state in the general election.
I think the problem on FR is too many people whose calendars are stuck on 1956.
That's a very good point, emphasizing that too many in the conservative bubble are just deeply in denial. The purists in the real world just appeal to fewer and fewer people, a detail that is just lost to their fertile minds.
If you want to accelerate the movement of the Party to the left and someday FINALLY achieve the liberal DREAM of two parties to the left-of-center,,,,
RUDY IS JUST THE MAN FOR THE JOB!!
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