Posted on 06/09/2009 5:13:16 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
The struggle to settle on a speaker for Monday's big congressional Republican fundraising dinner underscores the tough time the party is having finding national leaders to help them form a message and go head-to-head with President Obama.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ended up headlining this year's Senate-House Republican dinner, capping an awkward back-and-forth in which Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's advisers in Washington initially agreed for her to deliver the keynote speech only to have her Alaska office later argue that she never committed. The party's former vice-presidential nominee was then reinvited to attend but told she could not speak out of fear she might upstage Mr. Gingrich.
Despite the back-and-forth, the event's sponsors -- the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) -- said the dinner had raised $14.45 million to aid Republican congressional candidates in the upcoming election cycle. (snip)
But the behind-the-scenes intrigue did little to help promote Republican Party unity. In addition to Mr. Gingrich, a possible 2012 presidential contender, former 2008 presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee -- both of whom appear interested in reviving their campaigns for the White House -- have been active on the public circuit, appearing on television and campaigning for Republican candidates across the country. (snip)
As part of that effort, Mr. Gingrich said, Republicans should not be afraid of interparty debates between moderates and more conservative members of the party.
"I am happy that [former Vice President] Dick Cheney is a Republican. I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican," he said. "A majority Republican party will have lots of debates within the Republican party -- that is the nature of a majority."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
..when they should be looking for a good listener
I love on this is the accepted version of the truth. It is always stated as fact that Palin accepted, then Palin's version is always the one that is framed as alleged. Palin right now is the only politician articulating conservatism who has any credibility. Newt can, but he goes off the reservation too often.
Not giving a ‘keynote’ address to two groups who are stuck in “no drive” sounded like good advice to me.
The Republican messenger will be nominated sometime between 30 and 36 months from now. Until then there will be various Republican messengers.
The GOP has more than one great messenger. Ruch Limbaugh, as a non-politician, is a great messenger. Sarah Palin, as a politician, is both a great messenger and a great leader, IMO.
The GOP is not scrambling for a messenger - they are scrambling away from a leader (which by definition cannot be a moderate).
JOM, of course.
I don’t believe a thing the GOP says anymore.
Take their Sarah Palin invite to the big shin dig last night. They invited her because they needed conservatives to believe they care what we think.
Before settling on a “messenger”, the elephants have to come up with a MESSAGE.
We already got one in Sarah Palin, but the Prison-sissy wing of the GOP keeps us from winning elections.
I say let Alaska secede and allow Sarah to be the President of Alaska.
Washington is dead, its been invaded and overthrown by the enemy, its currently under occupation and the Resistance is unwilling to come out and take action.
The Democrat Party was always a liberal big unionist party. But it WAS once upon a time a patriotic party which served its blue-collar real American worker constituency well.
But then the leftists and communists, finding they were going nowhere fast, realized that by usurping a genuine political party they could sneak their agenda in through the back door. And more recently, under George Soros and ACORN, that party was taken much farther left than even the Communists of the 1960s ever dreamed.
We need to emulate them. We need an activist, rank and file political group like ACORN, but representing the conservative patriotic Ameicans who vote for GOP again and again but get short-changed every time by the pandering ambivalent leadership of the Republican Party. WE need to take our party back from these buffoons if we ever expect to defeat what ACORN and Obama represent.
I don’t think the 2010 elections will go well — the GOP is no longer able to operate as a party of principles. They offer nothing to anyone. While it is true that the Democrats cannot deliver, they at least know how to offer something.
Did you happen to catch Rush in the first hour yesterday? He said all that needs to be said in regard to where this country needs to be headed and how we'll get there. It was a true classic from Rush and should be required listening for all. The Republicans had damn well better be listening.....
All the more reason to FLUSH CONGRESS in 2010!
Diapers and politicians should be changed often and for the same reason.....
Well, conservatism isn't dead because it cannot be dead. Conservatism is not manmade. Conservatism is a philosophy. It's not a scheme. It's not a plan to figure out what the American people need and want, and then give it to them. That's populism! Conservatism is a philosophy based on God-given natural rights. The Declaration of Independence, is that dead? Of course not! What's dead is leadership on the Republican side, and because there is a lack of leadership of someone who has the substantive understanding of liberty and the political skills to advance it, we get all this cockamamie nonsense about the death of our principles. Our principles are not dead! Our principles cannot die. I'll tell you, in a lot of ways this reminds me of Jimmy Carter and his malaise speech. He blamed the American people for his miserable failures as president. Now we have conservatives and conservative wannabes, many of whom have held high office or hold high office or speak and write from formerly conservative outposts, who blame conservatives for their own miserable failures. What is lacking is not ideas and principles. What's lacking is the right people to speak those ideas and principles, folks. Admit it.
So would I. Go Cudda!
They can’t pick Palin since Katy Colin doesn’t like her. The DC chablis Republicans are all about trying to be liked.
Pray for America
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.