Posted on 05/04/2009 7:26:04 AM PDT by Hawk720
This year, for the first time in decades, Maryland is left with only a single Republican congressman in Washington. And with a national debate stirring about how to reinvigorate the party, there are few signs that Republicans in the state have developed a plan for turning things around.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top elected Republican in the country, said earlier this year that his party "seems to be slipping into a position of being more of a regional party than a national one."
Specter's switch and the recent failure to pick up a historically Republican House seat in a special election in upstate New York are the latest examples of a trend that has obliterated Republican representation in the mid-Atlantic and up the East Coast.
At a news conference announcing his decision to rejoin the Democratic Party, the veteran senator pointed to a pivotal Maryland contest last year when asked whether he felt that Republicans had pushed him out.
"Republicans didn't rally to Wayne Gilchrest in Maryland. He was beaten by the Club for Growth and the far right," Specter replied. "They lost the general election."
With the loss of Gilchrest's seat, the state's lone Republican at the national level is 82-year-old Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Frederick.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
well lol! wonder who they have to thank for that? I am an ex republican
no surprise there.
I always joke that Maryland's district 6 is the converse result of Democrat party gerrymandering. When you create majority flamingly districts, whatever is left is by definition conservative.
As for former Rep. Gilchrest, nothing was lost with his defeat. The eastern show just got a real Democrat instead of a pretend Democrat.
Harris would have won if it wasn’t for Michael Steele. Steele endorsed the rino in the primary while almost every other republican (including the former gov-Steeles old boss) endorsed Harris.
Pipkin? LOL We don’t forget what you did you slimeball.
America is turning communist, or at least socialist. No doubt about it.
Little tiny corners of our nation still believe in capitalism, liberty, and the First Amendment. The rest of our nation yearns for a Big Daddy government/Nanny state.
Extremely sad.
Why do we always hear that the Republicans are going to be a regional party, without support in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and west coast? Couldn’t we say the same about Democrats, that they are concentrated in the northeast, west coast, but have little support in much of the south and rocky mountain/great plains areas????????? Why are the Democrats the regional party of the liberal enclaves?
With the last Bush saying lets leave RR behind and little spin in the backbone of the Republicans, I have refused to take any phone calls or letter soliciting funds. The repubs = demos lite
the Constitution Party’s tenets sound good:
Seven Principles of the Constitution Party are:
1. Life: For all human beings, from conception to natural death;
2. Liberty: Freedom of conscience and actions for the self-governed individual;
3. Family: One husband and one wife with their children as divinely instituted;
4. Property: Each individual’s right to own and steward personal property without government burden;
5. Constitution: and Bill of Rights interpreted according to the actual intent of the Founding Fathers;
6. States’ Rights: Everything not specifically delegated by the Constitution to the federal government, nor prohibited by the Constitution to the states, is reserved to the states or to the people;
7. American Sovereignty: American government committed to the protection of the borders, trade, and common defense of Americans, and not entangled in foreign alliances.
If the repubs would do that as a minimum I MIGHT consider going back
How could Maryland be anything else? Much of it is a bedroom community for the federal government.
You need a candidate and you need organization and you need somehow to get around state laws that favor the two major parties.
Doesn't say much for your leadership - does it, Mitch? The stupid Republican leadership has put the party right where it is now - impotent!
Let’s not forget that most of the Republican leaning districts have been gerrymandered out of existence by the Democrat-controlled state legislature.
It is not as nearly as bad as you think. 47% of the voters voted against socialism, liberalism, and defeatism in 2008 and that is not tiny at all. In other words it takes 3% to switch to our side and we will win the next time around.
Living in the 6th District with Roscoe Bartlett as my Representative. He came out to talk to Tea Parties throughout the District and it feels good to live in this Western Maryland versus other parts of Maryland.
I have had Cardin as my Rep and that was sickening.
Conservatives and the GOP will be back...only a few years ago people said the Dems were dead lol.
I think our Founders set up our government with all of this in mind.
But my wife and I are sober as to the fate of the GOP in relation to an enemy media. I know a lot of conservatives who are not “haphazardly venting” but thinking seriously about leaving Maryland and heading to more conservative states such as Texas,Utah, Montana, Wyoming...
It’s that seventh point that kills the constitution party. Not because there is anything wrong with it but because ofthe modern distortions of its roots when George Washington uttered it in his farwell address..
George Washington formed and signed off on alliances and he dealt with foriegn affairs thoroughly and capably. There is nothing in the constitution nor the lessons of the founding fathers that suggests we should not defend American interests abroad.
“Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top elected Republican in the country, said earlier this year that his party “seems to be slipping into a position of being more of a regional party than a national one.”
Mitch, Mitch .....Mitch...
Weren’t you a Leader while this was going on. The GOP kept almost all of their leaders, whips etc in Congress...a huge mistake, we needed a housecleaning...
...and another poster said it well...”why is it that the GOP is consered a regional Party and not the the Dems considred only a Metro centric Party?”
Of course the people who are at the helm of BOTH Parties and the the morons that run the media all discount the South as backward ignorant hicks anyway.
Maryland is overflow country for DC wackos.
You want a medal?
Gilchrest was a Republican? Who knew? :-D
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
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