Posted on 11/04/2008 10:20:52 PM PST by paudio
I know this view is not popular here, but we need to have an honest discussion after what happened last night. There has been many calls to throw 'RINOs' out of the party. Yesterday's results, however, show that we cannot do that. Like it or not, conservatism is a word with many meanings: social, economic, libertarian, 'patriotic' conservatism, etc. Recently, it's obvious that whatever coalition that Reagan put together has fallen apart. Dubya, ran as a conservative,managed to bring all factions together, but as a president, he gave privilege to one or two factions, and left the others cold.
Sarah Palin may be the darling of social conservatives, but not necessarily of the other conservatives. When we said 'she rallies the base', it seems now that we only meant 'she rallies the social conservatives'. It should be clear now that there are just not enough social conservative voters to win a national election. With her on McCain ticket, we cannot argue that 'the base' stayed home tonight.
The way I see it, in order to rebuild the party, we need to start from one of two assumptions: (1) there exists a conservative idea that encompass all factions of 'conservatism', or (2) Such idea doesn't exist, but we only had good communicator that managed to bring different people together. I used to think it was number one, but recently I started to doubt about it. It seems to me that the second one is much more important. Reagan, Newt, and candidate Bush (not the president) did a good job in their time.
So, in my opinion, in order to be able to compete with the Dims again, we need to find a person that can unite the whole factions back. Perhaps, we also need an issue to do so.
The other problem we have now is the tarnished brand of conservatism and Republican party that was caused by Dubya's inability or unwillingness to counter the media's narratives. At this moment, more than ever, we need to win the independents and moderates. Hoping them to vote for conservative candidates while throwing the 'moderates' in the party is really a misplaced hope.
I thinkw e need to drop any and all outreach to blacks—and yes I am certified black enough to say that—and start reaching out to legal hispanic voters.
Your big party guy just lost. I think Reagan had the correct plan.
“OK. What do you think.”
I think I’m feeling homicidal and should resist replying to your post out of respect for the older and younger FReepers present.
paudio is correct. This “big-tent” theory is what helps us lose elections. We need SOLID, STRONG conservatism. We need REAL Reagan conservatism. People respect authenticity and strength and principle, not political posturing.
I disagree. We need to throw the RINO’s out. Now is not the time to quit. Now we need to fight harder. I’d rather die on my feet fighting then give up and piss away my values.
We need a party of ideas, not a party of men...
I think your list will grow again, rab. Thanks for persevering.
If I told you what I think I would be banned from FR.
Go away.
DEATH TO THE RINOS!
Outside of McCain and that idiot from Maine, how many are left?
the big tent WAS this election. The big tent does not win. Articulating conservatism is what wins moderates over. We have to be inclusive, yes. Being Dem lite (McCain) does not win. Reagan or the Gingrich revolution was about bringing people to our side, not capitulating to the other parties views.
NO! With the big tent come compromised conservatism.
I think Reagan’s appeal was that he was a Republican that espoused Libertarian and Nationalistic feelings in people.
He espoused Freedom and Individual as well as Economic Liberty. At the same time, God, Country and National Defense were important.
But you can win with a message of Freedom.
No Conservatives talk like that. They get muddled up talking about the minutiae of acceptable Tax Rates, Capital Gains, etc...
The American People need to be presented The Big Picture. That’s not something we’ve seen much of.
Log Cabin Republicans know all about pitching a big tent.
The black radicals will feel empowered by Obama’s victory and will seek to exploit it with Hispanics getting rubbed the wrong way.
In my home town four radical black school board members labeled an Hispanic school board president a “racist” for not supporting their budget priorities.
She retorted that maybe they “are the real racists” because the black radicals only support programs for black students.
“I firmly believe that conservatism — genuinely articulated, passionately articulated — wins in national elections most every time it’s tried.”
-Rush Limbaugh
Um, yeah, try selecting an even more liberal main nominee next time and see where that gets you. McCain was the most moderate of the choices for pete’s sake!
You do realize that if McCain hadn’t selected Palin as a running mate that he would have lost by even greater numbers. Palin drew thousands.
Obama won because we’re in an unpopular war and experiencing weak economic conditions. And yes, people tied McCain to Bush.
Oh, and the people who defected were elitist republicans who care more about what the world think of us than what is right with America. Douglas Kmiec, Chris Buckley, and the rest can kiss my ass.
The Republican Party doesn’t need “A Big Tent”, that’s a media created fallacy, derived by number crunchers.
What we NEED is a Republican Party based on SOLID CONSERVATIVE IDEAS, with LEADERSHIP that is able to COMMUNICATE those ideas across a braos swath.
It’s a PROPOGANDA WAR, folks. And we have lost EVERY round but a few since the election of 2000
When we said 'she rallies the base', it seems now that we only meant 'she rallies the social conservatives'.
Yea, because the Republicans used to be the conservative party before all those stinking abortion loving rinos big tent believing thugs come in.
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