Posted on 05/03/2009 6:05:21 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Saturday that it's time for the Republican Party to give up its "nostalgia" for the heyday of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by Democrats in the 2008 election.
"You can't beat something with nothing, and the other side has something. I don't like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that," Mr. Bush said.
The former president's brother, often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2012, said President Obama's message of hope and change during the 2008 campaign clearly resonated with Americans.
"So our ideas need to be forward looking and relevant. I felt like there was a lot of nostalgia and the good old days in the [Republican] messaging. I mean, it's great, but it doesn't draw people toward your cause," Mr. Bush said.
"From the conservative side, it's time for us to listen first, to learn a little bit, to upgrade our message a little bit, to not be nostalgic about the past because, you know, things do ebb and flow."
The Florida governor joined former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor on Saturday at a small pizza parlor in Arlington for the inaugural event of the National Council for a New America (NCNA).
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Jeb Bush, serving everyone since 1998.
Go for it Jeb, but use truth in advertising:
Tart up with some 5-inch heels, a pencil skirt and stick a lamppost behind it.
Perhaps all of the Bush boys will try photo-op parachute jumping some day. Remember fellas, count backwards from 1000!
...and thus the problem with the republican party...
screw him!
Excellent, thanks for posting.
Jeb is no idiot but he does come from the virtual third world nation of miami florida.
in a world where developers and real estate agents dominate the local governments, county commissions, and city commissions. It is a blue zone despite the overwhelming conservative cuban voters (who wimpered a non response over opening up of cuba to american tourists)
It is so bad Miami is not even considered part of “the south”.
He is bringing a new england liberal country club republican world view, tempered in a blue zone, nutured by a MSM far to the left and viewed through arrogance of aristocracy eyeglasses.
These are the same dolts who don’t understand why 63% of FL voted for the consitutional marriage protection amendment.
And embrace what? The policies of his bone-headed brother? Reagan was the closest the GOP has had to having a true, complete Conservative in the office and if Jeb is really advocating dropping Reagan and his legacy then he's advocating making the Republican party more of a Democrat lite than it already is.
You have NO idea how sick of this kind of talk I am.
I can understand the need to rethink their strategy. However, they need to be careful that they don’t alienate the base.
I thought Judge Napolitano had a great idea on Glenn Beck’s TEA Party show yesterday. He said conservatives need to start at the local level, and work from the ground up, to elect people who are neither Democrat or Republican.
Both parties are for big government now.
I’m very disappointed that Haley Barbour and Bobby Jindal are associated with this group.
If we don’t get serious about taking back the schools and education system, we’re never going to have a population smart enough to understand politics other than “what’s in it for me?”
The liberal education starts pre-kindergarten. It ends post college, but continues by way of media.
We are looking at a generational problem of repairing the country.
This is absolute proof of the fascism running the country.
40 years out of power in the House wasn’t enough. Jeb must want decades more out of power in the Senate and White House too.
Who knows, if they “play nice” enough, maybe they can beg Arlen Specter to come back. //sarc.
We don’t need two liberal parties, but it looks like we have them.
The fact is the new GOP without Reagan wants to be like the Democrat party, whose base is composed of screwy, immoral people. It's easier to be corrupt and get away with poor governing when your base is scum, and that's what the new GOP wants.
As many have said with the passing of Jack Kemp, he should have been Reagan’s VP, which would have prevented or at least delayed the disaster that is the Bush family.
Jeb,you just crapped in your messkit.Conservatism is timeless.You sure as hell AINT.
Nothing is wrong with a nostalgia for Ronald Reagan - he was a great leader and President, and it was a bold time in American history. However something is wrong if we have to resort to nostalgia as a election tool; using it as a crutch because we are not speaking SOLUTIONS. Harkening back to Reagan is not going to produce a presidential win for the GOP. In fact, that was the exact opposite of Reagan who was optimistic, forward thinking, looking to the future, to the morning.
We are writing the media script for the next GOP convention: “A party lost in the wilderness, overshadowed by a dead President.” To an outsider, I doubt that sounds attractive.
sw
My thoughts exactly. It is too bad Kemp wasn’t at the top of the ticket when he ran. The more I read about the 70’s and 80’s the more I learn how important guys like Kemp were to the Reagan Revolution. Kemp was an ideological foe to the Bushies which makes him my kind of guy.
Mr. niteowl77
Sounds like the idiot is trying to say the word “progressive”, meaning Marxist or liberal, without giving away the dirty little secret.
1. Who wasn’t at the RINO circle jerk is as telling as who was.
2. One only need look at the disaster wrought by Katrina to understand how far from individual responsibility and self-determination the masses of the “Obama Demographic” are ready to accept.
3. There is a smear campaign going on against Governor Palin as we write. When do we start the Alaskan counter-offensive. I don’t care if it’s photoshopped pics of these scumbags in the backseat with choirboys.
4. You’re never going to get a Democrat to cast a honest ballot. The PUMAs showed us that.
5. Ridicule and mockery go a long way in defining your opponent. Pictures of Rahm Emanuel in a tutu slurping a cucumber is one suggestion.
6. Conservatism does not need to be taught. Humans are conservative by nature. Doubt me? Kids need to be taught not to be hit back.
7. Taxes are a non-starter when 40%+ don’t pay any.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.