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Joe Scarborough: How the Republicans Can Come Back
time.com ^ | May. 07, 2009 | Joe Scarborough

Posted on 05/10/2009 2:25:52 PM PDT by kellynla

You could forgive Republican leaders for rolling their eyes this past week as they read obituaries declaring the death of the GOP. After all, many Washington pundits had already declared the Republican Party dead following its defeats in 1964, 1974 and 1992. The Democratic Party was also written off after taking a beating in 2004, with Republicans and Democrats alike debating whether George W. Bush's re-election would usher in a permanent Republican majority.

If it did, the Era of Republican Supremacy lasted a total of two years.

With that as our historic backdrop, I suggest that political commentators sit back, take a deep breath and relax. The Republican Party will not be leaving the political arena anytime soon. Take a quick look at Senate races in three of the bluest of blue states: polls show that in Connecticut, New York and Illinois, Republican challengers are handily ahead of Democratic incumbents, despite the fact that President Barack Obama won those states last year by an average of 25%. If history is any guide, Republicans will also pick up House seats in 2010. (Read "GOP Senator Specter's Party Switch Gives Obama a 100-Day Gift.")

But those gains could be fleeting. There's no question that Republican leaders must rebuild their party's brand after a decade of disastrous rule. To do so they should follow the advice of their first President, Abraham Lincoln, who told a beleaguered Congress during the darkest days of the Civil War that it was time to think anew.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2010comeback; gop; rebuilding; republicans; scarborough
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If Republicans once again embrace first principles, they can revive what Russell Kirk called "the forgotten genius of conservatism."
1 posted on 05/10/2009 2:25:52 PM PDT by kellynla
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To: kellynla

Thanks Joe ScarboRINO.


2 posted on 05/10/2009 2:28:44 PM PDT by adm5 (YOU CANNOT FIX CAPITALISM WITH SOCIALISM! -Glenn Beck)
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To: kellynla
With out even reading this article I'm wondering who in the world but Dems and Liberal RINO'S would give a damn about anything this idiot would have to say.
3 posted on 05/10/2009 2:37:01 PM PDT by fish hawk (The trouble with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money.)
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To: fish hawk

“With out even reading this article?”

Ignorance is bliss...isn’t it... LOL


4 posted on 05/10/2009 2:46:34 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: adm5

Try reading the article...

shezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...


5 posted on 05/10/2009 2:48:37 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: kellynla

I don’t even have to read the article to know that it is filled with lies, untruths, and rumors.


6 posted on 05/10/2009 2:50:38 PM PDT by Lazamataz ("We beat the Soviet Union, then we became them." -- Lazamataz, 2005)
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To: kellynla

As if this RINO would know. ptui on him.


7 posted on 05/10/2009 2:51:32 PM PDT by Fudd Fan (Pres--dent 0zer0 is a train wreck. DON'T LOOK, ETHEL!)
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To: Lazamataz

“I don’t even have to read the article to know that it is filled with lies, untruths, and rumors.”

Well, then you’re dumber than a fence post!


8 posted on 05/10/2009 2:54:27 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: kellynla
I lost count after 837 of ways to fix the GOP.

Thank You, Joe. We'll give you a call.

9 posted on 05/10/2009 2:59:28 PM PDT by BallyBill (Serial Hit-N-Run poster)
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To: kellynla
but Republicans must be determined to never again adopt a laissez-faire approach to Wall Street.

Another Republican that has bought into the liberal propaganda of conflating 'laissez-faire' with failed gov't oversight - it's not the same Joe and frankly, you should know better.

It wasn't the 'de-regulation' of Wall Street that got us into this mess. It was regulation of the Community Reinvestment Act - forcing banks to make loans they never would have in a free market, and the failed oversite of Freddie and Fannie. Without those failures of gov't, Wall Street would be in good shape today. They wouldn't be playing 'hot potato' with toxic loans that gov't regulations and failed gov't oversite created.

If the GOP is to move toward victory, it must again find the middle of American political life and stop being seen the way liberals were viewed for a generation: as tone-deaf ideologues mixed with self-consumed radicals.

Those tone deaf ideologues and self-consumed radicals now have the Presidency and both majorities in Congress. They 'stuck' to their principles and won. Yet you advise just the opposite for the Republicans. Yet that isn't what got you and the rest of the '94 Class into Congress? To borrow a line from Lennon - 'The sound you make is Musak to my ears... You must have learned _something_ in all those years'. How do sleep, Joe?

Don't get me wrong. I do not believe that conservative leaders should seek out a mushy middle ground.

Yeah, but everything you point to leads straight to that. We expect the Left to say one thing and then do the opposite, but not those people who proclaim to 'be on our side'. If this is what your new book is about, I think I'll pass.

10 posted on 05/10/2009 2:59:39 PM PDT by Kent C
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To: kellynla
In some cases, yes. This is one of those cases. I know Joe and had respect for him once a long time ago when he was sane. Not any more. His is a male “Huffington” now.
11 posted on 05/10/2009 3:02:32 PM PDT by fish hawk (The trouble with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples money.)
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To: kellynla

First Joe, you could become a real republican.

Second, start slapping some sense into those idiots you work with and get them back to fair journalism and stop campaigning for Odumbo.

If you could do that Joe, I’d consider your part a job well done.


12 posted on 05/10/2009 3:05:53 PM PDT by diverteach (http://www.slapobama.com/)
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To: kellynla
Poor old Joe. His first point was " The GOP took a $155 billion surplus and turned it into a $1.5 trillion debt. ".

That just jumped right over the Clintonista Depression and Dot Com bust (which reduced tax revenues below targeted levels), as well as the need to spend more money to fight a war against people Bill Clinton could have handled at much less cost years before i he'd had the guts to do so.

Did Joe have unsuccessful brain surgery like Joe Biden or what?

13 posted on 05/10/2009 3:08:22 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: adm5; fish hawk; Lazamataz; Fudd Fan; BallyBill

Was this a lie?

“After all, many Washington pundits had already declared the Republican Party dead following its defeats in 1964, 1974 and 1992?”

Or is this a lie?

“The Republican Party will not be leaving the political arena anytime soon. Take a quick look at Senate races in three of the bluest of blue states: polls show that in Connecticut, New York and Illinois, Republican challengers are handily ahead of Democratic incumbents, despite the fact that President Barack Obama won those states last year by an average of 25%?”

Or is this a lie?

“There’s no question that Republican leaders must rebuild their party’s brand after a decade of disastrous rule?”

Or is this a lie?

“The first thing Republicans must do is move past the current definition of conservative. Let’s face it. American conservatism is now associated with wasteful spending, military adventurism and ideological conformity. The GOP took a $155 billion surplus and turned it into a $1.5 trillion debt. George W. Bush and the Republican Congress also allowed federal spending to grow at its fastest clip since the Great Society, while adding a $7 trillion burden to a Medicare program already headed toward bankruptcy?”

Or is this a lie?

“As William F. Buckley said more than two years before his death, “Conservatism implies a certain submission to reality.” But the approach championed by Burke and Buckley is a far cry from the mind-set embraced by today’s Republican Party?”

Or is this a lie?

“Instead of building empires abroad, Republicans should aim to balance their books at home. We should not only fight to conserve tax dollars but also work as aggressively to defend the environment. As Reagan once said, conservatives are supposed to conserve?”

You clowns should try READING the articles before you “break wing!” LOL


14 posted on 05/10/2009 3:09:50 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: Kent C
"Don't get me wrong. I do not believe that conservative leaders should seek out a mushy middle ground."

“Yeah, but everything you point to leads straight to that?

Oh really?

“The first thing Republicans must do is move past the current definition of conservative. Let’s face it. American conservatism is now associated with wasteful spending, military adventurism and ideological conformity. The GOP took a $155 billion surplus and turned it into a $1.5 trillion debt. George W. Bush and the Republican Congress also allowed federal spending to grow at its fastest clip since the Great Society, while adding a $7 trillion burden to a Medicare program already headed toward bankruptcy.”

Or how about this?

“Instead of building empires abroad, Republicans should aim to balance their books at home.”

I'm no big fan of Scarborough either but the guy makes some good points...

IMO, the Gelding Old Party just needs to get a testicle & spine implant before next year so they can begin to retake the Majority of the House and/or Senate and then maybe, just maybe they can regain the Majority and hopefully do a better job of Leadership than they did the last time.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

15 posted on 05/10/2009 3:16:32 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: kellynla

This article is stupid. I am definately more dumber for reading it. I like how Joe repeats the claim of a surplus that never existed. He is a fricking idiot and a fool.


16 posted on 05/10/2009 3:18:57 PM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: muawiyah

Are you denying that GWB along with a Rat congress ran up one HUGE deficit AFTER the economy recovered from a recession !


17 posted on 05/10/2009 3:22:28 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: KC_Conspirator

“This article is stupid. I am definately more dumber for reading it. I like how Joe repeats the claim of a surplus that never existed?”

Then you need someone to explain it to you BECAUSE GWB & the ‘Rat congress ran up a HUGE deficit AFTER the economy RECOVERED from a recession...

shezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...


18 posted on 05/10/2009 3:24:54 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: kellynla
Did I say that?

War costs money. "W" and company decided to operate by borrowing money rather than raising taxes.

That's not a novel concept. In fact, the Republic of Venice ran up a huge debt called the Monte Veccio. Read about it.

Remember, nations can repudiate their debts and the next day start selling bonds again to willing buyers.

19 posted on 05/10/2009 3:24:57 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: kellynla; KC_Conspirator
Concerning the supposed "surplus", it was miniscule compared to the total debt at the time.

Turns out it wasn't really a "surplus" just a reduction in the ongoing deficit spending program we've been on for DECADES.

20 posted on 05/10/2009 3:27:09 PM PDT by muawiyah
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