Posted on 05/29/2009 6:23:55 AM PDT by fiodora
... But the more important lesson, at least for conservatives and Republicans, is that arguments matter. If personalities and politics alone drove the issues, then of course flannel Cheney would lose against silky Obama. But it turns out that substance is a good counterpunch to style.
... Conventional wisdom also tells us that the GOP needs to become more inclusive. On this score the conventional wisdom is right, if by inclusive you mean getting more people to join the party and vote Republican. But many people mean something else by inclusive. They think the GOP needs to become the Pepsi to the Democrats Coca-Cola, indistinguishable save for small matters of taste and marketing.
The conventional wisdom holds that conservatism is in trouble because the GOP is in trouble. But the two are not one and the same. Indeed, the GOPs conservative principles arent necessarily the main reason for its unpopularity. Arguably, Republicans failure to adhere to their principles when in power hurt them more. The most recent Pew Research Center report on Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes finds that 37 percent of Americans describe themselves as conservative, while only 19 percent describe themselves as liberal. And conservative principles are still competitive, even after eight years of Bush, a staggering recession, and the most popular Democratic president in nearly a half-century. A majority of respondents say the federal government controls too much of our daily lives and that government regulation of business usually does more harm than good.
Obviously, the GOP is not in an enviable position. But conservatives have been in worse shape countless times before. What they have done each and every time is argue their way forward. Goldwater, Reagan, and Gingrich each mounted conservative victories by making arguments for their cause.
The cliché is that politics is about addition, and the GOP needs to add more Hispanics, or gays, or women to its coalition, as if such descriptors define people more than their individual aspirations. Republicans will never win that fight, nor should they try to out-bean-count the Democrats. Persuasion should trump the pandering of addition. Conservatives must argue why they are right, not endlessly apologize for their alleged wrongs.
And the surest way to lose that argument is by failing to even try to make it. If anything, conservatives owe Dick Cheney gratitude for demonstrating that.
Nailed It!
This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.)
I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention.
You are welcome to browse the list of truly exceptional articles I pinged to lately. Updated on April 1, 2009. on my page.
You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about).
Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.
Wonderful caption!
Thank God for Dick Cheney for standing up to the tyranny of uh-bama's communism.
That 20% of the electorate thinks of itself to the left of Kennedy, Obama and the NYTimes, which are self-described as "moderate" is troubling indeed...
“But abandoning the info-war to hostile media is patently suicidal.”
Yep, and the suicide was successful. :(
Bush was absolutely the worst communicator I have ever see in a president.
... If looks could kill
bttt
That he was a bad communicator is only half of the problem. I don’t expect all *doers* to be perfect *talkers* as well. (In a perfect world people should take a humble doer over a shallow but shiny orator any time of the day - alas, we don’t live in a perfect world). But he did not even recognize this shortcoming enough to compensate for it with a team effort or designated really good communicator. Ari Fleisher and Tony Snow were OK, and a treacherous bastard was a joke, but anyway a press secretary is not a high level cabinet post. And he could not count, of course, on the media to do the work for him, only the opposite, and with gusto.
The cliché is that politics is about addition, and the GOP needs to add more Hispanics, or gays, or women to its coalition, as if such descriptors define people more than their individual aspirations. Republicans will never win that fight, nor should they try to out-bean-count the Democrats. Persuasion should trump the pandering of addition. Conservatives must argue why they are right, not endlessly apologize for their alleged wrongs.
And the surest way to lose that argument is by failing to even try to make it. If anything, conservatives owe Dick Cheney gratitude for demonstrating that.
Jonah uses the terms "republican" and "conservative" as interchangeable nouns. They are not and that is the fatal flaw in laying the foundation of his argument.
He says exactly that. Try reading the thing.
I read it. You read it again. I agree with his premise and I agree that Cheney is showing the way, but his interchanging of terms makes it read as though conservatives won’t fight. Liberal republicans won’t fight their liberal democrat friends. That’s the problem. Grassroots conservatives want to see republican “conservatives” fight for principle. They won’t.
Conservatives outside the party are impotent, malcontents who accomplish nothing. There are plenty of "grassroots" conservatives in the GOP who fight everyday. Get out of your basement.
You mean as opposed to signing on to Bailout legislation, No Child Left Behind, Shamnesty, Compassionate Conservatism, Straight Talk, Homo and Hip Hop outreach while enjoying a slide into the abyss of irrelevance? LOL!
Yeah, party hacking is serving you so well these days isn't it? How does it feel to be part of a compliant, losing opposition party to hard core liberals? Enjoy your denial fantasy.
You Flying Monkeys spend your days examining what you pick out of your butts.
Go take a Midol and post some GW photos. You’ll feel better.
Geez, that was weak. Close your robe...you’re drawing flies.
At least I’m drawing something, as opposed to the feckless GOP.
Goldberg's right on this ... Is there a Johah ping list? If there is - I want ON.
“This is one of Jonahs best in my opinion.”
Ditto.
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.