Posted on 10/22/2013 4:03:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
1) There is nothing ever worth fighting for except Democrat policies: If you're going to fight for something, make sure you're fighting your own base to help the Democrats achieve some policy goal that makes Tea Partiers want to stab themselves in their eyes. This makes you appear reasonable to the mainstream media and the howls of outrage from your base make it more likely that the New York Times will say nice things about you.
2) You must systematically destroy any person, place, or thing that excites conservatives: Nothing good ever comes from conservatives getting excited; so make sure to target anything and anyone that gets them fired up. If it's a person like Ted Cruz or Sarah Palin, trash him or her publicly or have your aides leak stories to the press if you're not brave enough to go that far. If it's a strategy, put it down and undercut it at every opportunity. If it's a group like the Senate Conservatives Fund or Freedomworks, scorn it and complain that it's bad for the Republican Party.
3) You're a winner just by virtue of being an establishment Republican: When Tea Partiers rally behind a candidate who loses, it's because those guys don't know what they're doing. When establishment Republicans rally behind a candidate who loses, then they obviously selected the best candidate, but no other candidate could have won. Establishment Republicans have a great formula: Win races, do nothing with that power that will make the media mad at you, which leads to more victories, which leads to doing nothing with that power that will make the media mad at you and so on and so on until the GOP totally dominates. Sure, that strategy may have lost the GOP the last two presidential elections and has produced only 45 senators so far, but it should start working any time now.
4) Trash conservatives, but hold your fire against Democrats: There's a reason that both John McCain and Mitt Romney fought harder against their Republican primary opponents than they did against Barack Obama. The media liberals applaud you for saying mean things about conservative Republicans, but they hate it when you go after Democrats. If it comes right down to it, it's better to go down to an honorable defeat than to win and have the media angry at you because you won a bruising race against a Democrat.
5) Communication skills are completely irrelevant: Think of yourself as a placeholder. Your job is to do just enough to keep conservatives from hating your guts so badly that you end up like poor Arlen Specter, while not making the media angry at you. Keep in mind that nothing makes the media angrier than a Republican who's effective at anything. If you seem too charismatic or clever, liberals will perceive you as a threat who needs to be destroyed. That's why you're much better off mumbling boilerplate that people will forget 5 minutes after they've heard it.
6 Don't freak people out by discussing how bad things are really getting: You don't want to start freaking people out by suggesting the country could be so bankrupt we can't even afford to borrow the money for our entitlement programs in a decade, do you? What do you think Paul Krugman would say to that? If you start telling the public that the Obama Administration got people killed with Fast and Furious and Benghazi, how do you think the Washington Post will react? Besides, if things really go south, important people like you will be living on an island somewhere; so what difference does it make what happens to the rest of the country?
7) Accept that conservatism can't win: Your job is not to win battles for conservatism, since that can't happen. Instead, your job is to stave off inevitable defeat long enough to enjoy the perks of being a career politician before you start making the real money as a lobbyist. The last thing you want to do is go out and actually start trying to move the country to the right. That's how you get MSNBC talking about you every day and Jesse Jackson calling you a racist.
8) Moderate is always better than conservative: Come on, how could any intelligent person back Pat Toomey over Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio, Rand Paul over Trey Grayson, and Ted Cruz over David Dewhurst? Granted, Rubio is coming around, but the rest of those guys have been rocking the boat since they got in the Senate. Why can't they be more like Charlie Crist, Lincoln Chaffee, and Arlen Specter? Sure, all of those guys left the GOP, but anyone who can make it in either party obviously appeals to a lot of voters.
9) It's fine to lie to your base: Just tell your supporters what they want to hear to get them to vote you into office and then keep your promises if it's convenient. Tell them you'll NEVER support amnesty and then lead the charge on it or say, "Read my lips: no new taxes," and then push through a massive tax increase. The media loves it when Republicans screw over their own supporters and besides, what are they going to do? Vote for the Democrat?
10) Don't make the mistake of talking about conservative principles when it matters: When you talk about conservative principles, mention them occasionally, quietly, as if they're something your base is forcing you to do. Don't ever make a big deal over it, even if your opponent is taking wildly unpopular liberal positions. Sure, the American public may ferociously oppose partial birth abortion and refusing to deport illegal aliens who've committed serious crimes, but if you make an issue of it, the media will think you're one of THOSE Republicans. You know, the ones that actually believe in things. Better to just mumble some platitudes about your commitment to life and the rule of law as you get back to your talking points about the corporate tax rate.
I was looking for something the author said to disagree with. But he nailed it.
He sure did.
Every day reveals a little bit more just why the GOP-e made a big mistake in derailing the defunding of Obamacare: by causing the rock they've been hiding under so long to get flipped over, we are seeing exactly how the sausage has been made. Leftists may be willing to eat sawdust and floor sweepings, but the rest of us have our limits.
Mr. niteowl77
He did especially in number 4. It is the demonrats that are the enemies
Very good. Thanks for posting. This should go to quite a few Pubbie Senators and Reps, though the ones that this fits the most (e.g., McLame, et al) may not actually ‘get’ it.
Please forward the above post to Scott Brown.
This is a must read.
Kind of like a Chicken Little in every pot, which BTW calls the kettle black.
LOL!
Not only does John Hawkins ‘get it’ but the rules for dems are the exact opposite...
Mr. niteowl77
Let’s all sing that song from “1776”!
Ready?? “We’re cool, cool, men!”
Song: Cool, Cool, Considerate Men
Dickinson:
Oh say do you see what I see?
Congress sitting here in sweet serenity
I could cheer; the reason’s clear
For the first time in a year Adams isn’t here
And look, the sun is in the sky
A breeze is blowing by, and there’s not a single fly
I sing hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna, hosanna
And it’s cool
Come ye cool cool conservative men
The likes of which may never be seen again
We have land, cash in hand
Self-command, future planned
Fortune flies, society survives
In neatly ordered lives with well-endowered wives
We sing hosanna, hosanna
To our breeding and our banner
We are cool
Come ye cool cool considerate set
We’ll dance together to the same minuet
To the right, ever to the right
Never to the left, forever to the right
May our creed be never to exceed
Regulated speed, no matter what the need
We sing hosanna, hosanna
Enblazoned on our banner
Is keep cool
What we do we do rationally
We never ever go off half-cocked, not we
Why begin till we know that we can win
And if we cannot win why bother to begin?
Rutledge:
We say this game’s not of our choosing
Why should we risk losing?
All:
We are cool
To the right, ever to the right
Never to the left, forever to the right
We have gold, a market that will hold
Tradition that is old, a reluctance to be bold.
Dickinson:
I sing hosanna, hosanna
In a sane and lucid manner
We are cool
All:
Come ye cool cool considerate men
The likes of which may never be seen again
With our land, cash in hand
Self-command, future planned
And we’ll hold to our gold
Tradition that is old, reluctant to be bold.
We say this game’s not of our choosing
Why should we risk losing?
We cool, cool, cool
Cool, cool, cool
Cool cool men.
This is why I’m through with Republicans. To hell with them.
and “moderate” is socialist these days
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