Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN): “I believe that Republicans did not just lose our majority on Election Day 2006 – we lost our way. We are in the wilderness because we walked away from the limited-government principles that minted the Republican Congress.
After 1994 (under the leadership of Speaker Gingrich) , Republicans committed to a balanced budget, entitlement reform and the principles of a limited federal government. We delivered on all of these and responded to a national emergency with common-sense defense spending, homeland security and tax cuts that put our economy back on its feet. However, in recent years, to the chagrin of millions of Republicans, our majority also voted to expand the federal government’s role in education by nearly 100 percent and created the largest new entitlement in 40 years. We also pursued domestic spending policies that created record deficits, national debt and earmark spending that has embarrassed us and caused many Americans to question our commitment to fiscal responsibility.
This was not in the 29th Century Contract with America, written by Gingrich. Democrats will say that the American people rejected our Republican vision. I say the American people did not quit on the Contract with America, our caucus did. In so doing, we severed the bonds of trust between our party and millions of our most ardent supporters.”
Former Rep. Dick Armey: "The Republican takeover in 1994 was the culmination of years of agitation by a relatively small group of political entrepreneurs in the House. Before we could beat the Democrats and their “culture of corruption,” we had to beat the old bulls of our own party. They too were driven by a parochial vision, and had grown complacent with the crumbs offered them by the majority. It is often said that Newt Gingrich and I “nationalized” the election in 1994, but what the Contract with America really did was establish a national (as opposed to a parochial) vision for the Republican Party. When we took control, that positive Reagan vision of limited government and individual responsibility provided a great deal of discipline and allowed us to govern accordingly. Our primary question in those early years was: How do we reform government and return money and power back to the American people?
Eventually, the policy innovators and the “Spirit of ’94 were largely replaced by political bureaucrats driven by a narrow vision. Their question became: How do we hold onto political power? The aberrant behavior and scandals that ended up defining the Republican majority in 2006 were a direct consequence of this shift in choice criteria from policy to political power."
Frank Luntz: “The future must be better than the past. The 1994 Contract With America wasn’t a political gimmick. It was a clearly articulated agenda that addressed the day-to-day problems and concerns of average Americans. It was tough on spending, tough on taxes, tough on welfare, tough on crime–tough on all the things Americans wanted less of so that they could have more of what they really wanted: freedom and security. Several dozen members begged their leadership to offer a new Republican contract in 2006 because they sensed, correctly, that the party had lost its focus on the future and was interested only in defending the present. The response? Silence. The next leadership team needs to remember that no vision means no votes.”
Cal Thomas: “In the end, the Republican ”revolution” ran out of gas and out of vision. Too many congressional Republicans appeared to care more about maintaining power than using power to implement an agenda, which they also abandoned.
The problem for Republicans is their loss of revolutionary zeal. When Newt Gingrich was forced out as speaker, Republicans lost the best idea man they’d had in years.”
***When Newt Gingrich was forced out as speaker, Republicans lost the best idea man they’d had in years.”***
That was the GOPes’ motive - get rid of the only articulate, principled, hard-working conservative.
I had always believed that GOPes were gentlemen and DOPes were nasty. I was wrong. GOPes are lazy and DOPes are power hungry socialists.
what is really so patently dishonest about this is, you hear conservative republicans saying all the time, republicans lost their way, bought into DC big money ways, yada yada, that’s why they lost. And then they come along and excuse Santorum - Rush and Levin and many others - well, he had to support his President, he had to protect his President, yada yada. In other words, it’s only a mistake or lapse when someone they don’t like does it, otherwise it’s perfectly excusable and understandable. I am starting to believe there is a conservative media just as compromised and unprincipled as the liberal media, only of course they try to look holy..