[rockinqsranch]

“The Republican party needs to rebuild itself from the bottom up, said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour...”

“You’re in the White House for eight or 12 years, you become a top-down party, I don’t care if these are Republicans or Democrats.”

“When you get out, you’re liberated to rebuild your party from the bottom up,”

So basically he’s saying that when one or the other Party is in, it isn’t in their interests to maintain control of themselves, so they lose it? Does that pretty much sum up what he is saying?

I always liked Haley Barbour, but those statements are asinine IMO.

[Darren McCarty]

Not really. It is a bit of inside baseball terminology. The problem is that when Bush was in charge, it was a top down party based on Bush. The GOP was supposed to follow Bush....and his big government programs.

The hypocracy cost us in 2006 and also in 2008 when leadership failed to heed its 2006 lessons.

[9YearLurker]

I do believe W rode into the White House on big donations from big donors, which was right after the Democrats had had two terms in office.