Posted on 11/30/2008 8:20:08 PM PST by Publius804
Jeb Bush to GOP: Don't Become 'Democrat-Lite'
Sunday, November 30, 2008 4:20 PM
By: David A. Patten
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tells Newsmax that the GOP must broaden its appeal to avoid becoming “the old white-guy party,” and recommends that Republicans create a “shadow government” to engage Democrats on important issues as the incoming Obama administration seeks to enact its agenda.
In a wide-ranging interview with Newsmax, the popular former governor and younger brother of President George W. Bush said the 2008 election was neither “transformational” nor a landslide. For example, he noted that Barack Obama's significant fundraising advantage over John McCain played a key role in Democratic success this year.
Bush urged Republicans not to abandon their core conservative principles in favor of a "Democratic-lite" agenda. Still, he says the GOP does need to do some real soul-searching.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
You are 100% RIGHT
His big mistake was letting the LEFT define hem. He had the bully pulpit and didn't use it.
No I didn't agree with everything he did, but his reaction to 9/11 kept me on his team.
Hey Jeb, tell it to your damned brother Mr. “compassionate conservative”.
Sorry Jeb. I will never, ever vote for another Bush. If you run, I will do everything I can to make sure you lose. The Bush dynasty is done as far as I am concerned.
You’d best just go fishing up there in KennedyBunkMatePort with Poppy and Dubya.
*****I agree. The pot speaketh. Hopefully Oblahblah will hose it up bad enough , and quick enough for a reactionary , Republican , landslide at midterms.****
Sorry, Bush screwed Republicans for at least eight years, maybe more.
When Obama gets into office, he will discover (whether true or not), that the mess is worst than he thought.
He will ride that horse for both his terms, no matter how bad he screws up. His successors will ride that horse for years.
The media will back his claims that the Republicans were the total cause of the mess we as a nation will be in.
Republicans will reach across the isle, and accept the blame.
Thanks to Bush Republicans are history, for decades.
Why would you want to give the Dems even more numbers and power? If we’re going to rebuild the Republican party into a true political force again, we will need all the help we can get.
RE :”Well liked by conservatives. But his last name might as well be Hitler.”
GWB poisoned the waters for all republicans not just Jeb.
National Review Magazine had a great article on many of the reasons McCain lost. 1) GWB, 2) having to constantly reassure the base(could not be trusted) he was conservative,3) frequently changing messages,4) financial bailout tied GWB and bad economy to MxcCain, and 5) did not connect to voters, On 5) Obama consistently ran on middle class tax cuts at expense of very rich, and creating jobs. McCain never really explained how he would help middle class, not coherently or humanly. Obama looked like he cared and stayed on message, no serious flip-flopping, unlike McCain.
Now dont lecture me that Obama is a phony(instead lets keep Obama to all his promises) or the media was helping Obama(that is obvious) . They both were phonies, but Obama knew how to ‘look’ genuine, like Clinton in 1992.
Dear wholly deluded BUSHIE!
My jewish inlaws and all their Hollyweird hip friends in L.A. voted for Obama because they hate GWB so manifestly they would have voted for Peewee Herman if he’d been on the opposite ticket. They say they wanted to vote for McCain (”Romney would have been even better”) but GWB and the pubbies had screwed the pooch so horribly that they just couldn’t do it. You can be assured this holds true for once Reagan DimocRats across the nation.
GWB and HIS party have handed us Hussein Obama. No others.
And done a whizz poor job of it. The only reason we have not had another massive attack is because of our military and alphabet agencies. George W Bush has had little to do with it. I suppose we have to give him credit for going to Iraq ( as much of a cluster____ as he made of it) and thus drawing thousands of good Muslims (True Prophet Followers) into rifle range but that’s ALL I’ll give him credit for.
I’m sure he signed a bunch of executive orders that were good and all but because he is UNABLE to communicate with the American people nobody knows about them but freeper dweebs and the like.
Well, I'm not. I adored Bush but his stance on the amnesty bill (as well as his unharnessed spending) has soured me. He no longer represents me.
I'm the one living down here very close to the border. You know, the border where they just found 14 headless bodies. The drug running illegals have taken on terrorist tactics and I'd rather have Ramos and Compean backing me up than President Bush. Sorry, even the President has to keep on earning the people's respect.
No way RINO!
WE elected the wrong Bush!
We nominated the wrong Bush, certainly.The trouble is that "we" aren't able to unify around a conservative. At least, not until now. I fully expect Rush to read the Republican Party the riot act, telling them that there will be no support for conservatives for another RINO candidacy like McCain's. And if that means that the Democrat gets reelected, then so what - he was going to get reelected no matter what conservatives did. Because no one person controls the conservative movement and can deliver it to to polls to vote RINO. Rush tried that already.
The choice is up to the Republican Party - it can nominate a conservative and be competitive in 2012, or it can nominate a RINO and risk marking the hundredth anniversary of the Bull Moose Party by failing, as it did in 1912, not only to win but even to place. Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger. That risk will exist in 2012 no matter what I do, or do not do.
Calling the mod on me?
So apparently this isn't a conservative site. And apparently it isn't a Republican site.
You apparently think that this is a GWB site alone huh?
I liked GWB at one time. THen came the 3/4 trillion dollar Prescription drug plan. THen came unrestrained spending after 9/11. Then came Amnesty TWICE. Now we got trillion dollar bailouts in a never ending stream.
He's done more to grow government and spend money than anyone I can think of.
The Republican platform calls for limited govt and limited spending. President Bush has nothing to do with either one.
But what am I wasting my time telling you this for. Your mind isn't open enough to make an independent decision.
Hasta
Not just a conservative. That is not enough. GWB took many ‘conservative’ actions, some were not popular and he was incapable of explaining many of them. Take embryonic Stem cell research, an issue completely lost to public which needed to be sold. This got worse as his popularity went down.
We need someine who is conservative but also 1) can communicate and sell conservative ideals (Why are justices like Scalia good for america? Ever hear a good explaination from an elected republican?) and 2) can project empathy and understanding to average person, and 3) can successfully lead a counterattack on attacking democrats, looking compassionate without appearing dirty, ala Clinton/Obama. 4) Someone who cares about congressional Republican elections beyond his own. GWB won 2002 and 2004 but it was a two election plan, after that he destroyed the party.
She's already started on that path, just by being available to other GOP candidates, and being out there in public so others can see her.
bmwcyle to Jeb - tell your f’in brother that (It would have been nice 8 years ago).
That's what I said in my post. And yeah, I get suspicious when I see a Bash by someone whose registration is new.
So apparently this isn't a conservative site. And apparently it isn't a Republican site. You apparently think that this is a GWB site alone huh?
LOL. If you've been here for 10 years and haven't seen what I've thought, you must be blind. Because I've posted here on nearly a daily basis.
I liked GWB at one time. THen came the 3/4 trillion dollar Prescription drug plan. THen came unrestrained spending after 9/11. Then came Amnesty TWICE. Now we got trillion dollar bailouts in a never ending stream. He's done more to grow government and spend money than anyone I can think of.
Good points, except for the criticism of spending after 9/11. Ones I've also addressed in my many documented years on this forum. How about addressing the protection of the homeland for 7 years from Al Qaeda, the tax cuts that grew the economy, and the two splendid SCOTUS justices?
The Republican platform calls for limited govt and limited spending. President Bush has nothing to do with either one.
Shrinking gov't tax rates limits government. Appointing constructionists to the SCOTUS limits government. There are two examples, and big ones at that.
But what am I wasting my time telling you this for. Your mind isn't open enough to make an independent decision.
Really. How interesting you know all about me. But you've never, apparently, seen me on this forum and what I've said or thought about conservatism.
And to think, you've been here 10 years. :)
My suggestion to Jeb:
Grow a mustache and change your last name to Jones.
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