Posted on 05/14/2008 9:31:24 PM PDT by The_Republican
Tuesday's election results highlighted challenges for both Democrats and Republicans.
Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis (for whom I campaigned and who was a well-qualified candidate) narrowly lost a special congressional election in a district President George W. Bush carried four years ago with 62% of the vote. Democrats pulled off the win by smartly nominating a conservative, Travis Childers, from a rural swing part of the district who disavowed Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit Mr. Davis from the right.
This blow to the GOP came after two other special congressional election losses in recent months. Republicans lost former House Speaker Denny Hastert's Illinois seat and Rep. Richard Baker's Louisiana seat.
Both of those losses can be attributed to bad candidates. But that only shows the GOP can't take "safe" seats for granted when Democrats run conservatives who distance themselves from their national party leaders. The string of defeats should cure Republicans of the habit of simply shouting "liberal! liberal! liberal!" in hopes of winning an election. They need to press a reform agenda full of sharp contrasts with the Democrats.
Why is it tough sledding for Republicans? Public revulsion at GOP scandals was a large factor in the party's 2006 congressional defeat. Some brand damage remains, as does the downward pull of the president's approval ratings. But the principal elements are the Iraq war and a struggling economy.
Gallup's 2007 report found that fewer voters identify themselves as Republicans now than at any point in the past 20 years – despite the fact that less than a fifth of Americans agree with Mr. Obama's call to rapidly withdraw from Iraq. And while many Americans are concerned about the economy, most are satisfied with their own finances.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Nothing is wrong with those things. But some people are social conservatives of they type who don't want less government, they want a different government, but not necessarily smaller.
Many of those people, as well-meaning as they are, have been in charge lately.
Until those people are no longer in decision making positions within the GOP, it is hard to make a case that the GOP is for smaller government when it is not.
If you go to the voters with the argument that "We know best, let us give you conservative versions of everything", you really have nothing to say against a Democrat that says "We know best, let us give you liberal versions of everything".
Whereas, "We don't know better than you, let us remove ourselves from your lives to the largest degree possible" is a powerful statement that transforms people.
I think Rove is a lot like God ...Im sure he is listening to you...
bump 4 later
What happened to my paragraphs?? What is wrong tonight with FR?
The man who just spent eight years knocking down the foundations, now whining because the house is falling down.
I fully believe if we gave the Republicans a full majority they'd go right back to throwing money to their buddies and telling us to screw off. I DO NOT TRUST THEM! I DON'T CARE WHAT JOHN MCCAIN OR ANY OTHER REPUBLICAN SAYS. I DO NOT TRUST THEM ANYMORE. That's after 25 years of voting Republican and nearly ten years of being a representative to the county and state conventions, and yes, donating hundreds of dollars.
When Bill Clinton was President, the country showed a budget surplus. Although some of the surplus came from gutting the military, and much of the rest came from Congress blocking Clinton's agenda, Bill Clinton still gets credit for balancing the budget. When the Republicans got the Presidency and both houses, they spent more money faster than any other entity in the history of the world.
No matter what had happened in previous years, the Republicans ALWAYS could play the "Democrats spend too much money" card. They wiped with that card and flushed it down the toilet.
Few people remember that in 2003, Bush had approval ratings in the mid-60s. I remember the day he made his announcement that he was going to push for amnesty for illegal aliens. His popularity plummeted after that. It was totally puzzling that he would make that push at that time. He was in the middle of pushing the Patriot Act, citizens were grudgingly allowing the stupidest searches on planes (I still won't fly, not because of fear, but because of the stupid searches) and Bush goes totally against everything he's been pushing since 9/11 by advocating and allowing a totally open southern border. His popularity spiked again when Saddam was caught, but he was seldom above 50% after that speech.
Rush Limbaugh pushed the Dubai ports deal, and it was the first time Bush threatened a veto. Many Freepers defended the Dubai deal, but IMHO, it was the point of no return for the approval ratings of the Bush Administration. It was spectacularly unpopular, and Chuck Schumer jumped all over it.
After that, they started court-martialing soldiers for no good reason, and began fighting a "kinder, gentler" war.
The apex of Republican stupidity was after congressman William Jefferson was caught with $50,000 worth of bribes in his freezer, and that damnable Denny Hastert turned a completely Democrat scandal into a bipartisan scandal by attacking the FBI.
I've posted here before about Rick Perry, the Texas governor, who was a Democrat until 1989, telling the county conventions in Texas in 2004 that the Republican party was a big tent, and if we were so tied to our narrow agendas that we couldn't accept it to get out, that the Republicans didn't need or want us.
The problem for the Republicans now is that former party members dislike the Democrats, but we HATE the Republicans. I don't trust them. Why should I? I donated, worked the party floors, and spent HOURS AND HOURS trying to get people to understand that the Republicans COULD NOT WIN without fiscal conservatives, social conservatives and libertarians. We HAD to balance the interests of all three groups. We found out, after they got all three branches of government, that all they wanted to do was dole out pork to their buddies and SCREW THE MORONS WHO SENT MONEY AND WORKED THEIR BUTTS OFF FOR THEM.
RICK PERRY DOESN'T CARE IF REPUBLICANS ARE THE MINORITY PARTY FOREVER. He's pushed through the Trans-Texas corridor, sold a huge chunk of TEXAS to a foreign country, and lined his pockets with money. They've got theirs and screw us.
Your post should be in a history book.
McCain: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
eh..no juan..we dont...
A good and just man will shoot a lame horse...
Our horse has gone lame.
Can’t disagree with what you said. They totally screwed us with the spending, amnesty, outsourcing, coddling crooks and prosecuting the border agents, etc. etc.
Are you going to vote for Barr?
Check the mirror, Karl.
Considering how truly awful, far-left, and corrupt the Demagogues are, the GOP should be crushing them in elections just about everywhere outside the large metro areas (which are permanent socialist cesspools). “Stand for something”??????? It takes a pricey political consultant to figure out that the GOP needs to “stand for something”??????
yeah I am afraid the only thing that will change the situation is if Obama gets in and screws things up so back that a leader rises. However the problem still remains that the republicans that are incumbents do not know how to rule while in power. We gave them the presidency, the Senate and the house..... Tell me what did conservatives get out of it?
Hall of fame post!
I don’t trust anything that’s spouted during campaign season, and the Rs are not going to convince many people in the next few months that they have suddenly become reformed, serious conservatives when we see the long track record of pathetic, disappointing performance.
As for Karl Rove, buddy, Karl.... you had years and years to make things happen. You helped to eviscerate the best parts of the R. party in favor of bloated budget socialist spending with open borders insanity. It’s a bit late to discover that “The GOP Must Stand for Something”
The problem ain't the agenda they've been pushing Karl, it's the actions that speak louder than words once they are in office.
This-from the architect of “the new tone”.
Never have I seen such incompetence rewarded so highly.
That Juan McAmnesty has become the standard bearer of the GOP is proof that the GOP stands for nothing. The whole second Bush term, purchased for the GOP at great cost, has been the biggest political disappointment of my lifetime.
Never in the course of American politics have so many squandered so much in so little time. Some political capital,eh?
Wait til November—the GOP won’t even be standing at all if they don’t change the horse in this race.
And I cannot shake the feeling that people like Rove are hoping for that exact outcome. “Change we deserve”—idiots!
Rove talking about ‘standing for something’, there’s a laugh!
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