Posted on 12/14/2013 4:15:11 AM PST by Kaslin
If things are going badly, we're told the GOP should compromise on what it believes in to start winning elections again. If things are going well, we're told we must turn a blind eye to the GOP abandoning its beliefs so as not to ruin the great year we're going to have. The establishment Republicans who are always arguing in favor of trading off dearly held principles in return for magic beans always claim they're doing it to win elections, but it's hard to miss the fact that they don't actually seem to be any better at winning elections than the grassroots conservatives they seem to write off as amateurs. Setting that aside, winning elections isn't an end unto itself. You win elections in order to implement your agenda, which win or lose, the GOP never seems to be all that interested in. If you disagree with that, point out all the great domestic victories we achieved when the GOP controlled all three branches of government during the Bush years. When Democrats pulled that same trick off, they attempted to fundamentally transform America while Republicans passed tax cuts and then moved on to big government wish list items like Medicare Part D, raising spending on the Arts and the now universally hated No Child Left Behind.
The sad fact of the matter is that while liberals have a very good idea of where their representatives stand on almost everything, there's NOT A SINGLE ISSUE where conservatives can just trust Republicans to live up to their campaign promises. We have to raise holy hell just to get the Republicans to do what they promised when they were campaigning. If the Republicans could simply be counted on to do what they said they were going to do and showed a modicum of respect for the people who put them in office, there would be very little intraparty fighting. Instead, politicians in D.C. incessantly do things to aggravate their own supporters and then ask the people who put them in office to set aside their disappointment in the name of party loyalty. That seems a little backwards given that the politicians and the Party don't elect the base; the base elects the Republican Party. The politicians who make promises to get elected are the ones who owe people, not the grassroots conservatives who put them in office and are now dismayed at their behavior.
If the Republican Party wants to end all these primary challenges, stop the intraparty fighting and get everyone to sing Kumbayah, it's really not that hard to do. Do what you say you're going to do, treat the opinions of your base with respect, and stop picking fights with the people who put you in power by saying things like....
1) "Read my lips: no new taxes." -- George H. W. Bush's famous pledge not to raise taxes, which he broke.
2) "The Budget Control Act (Sequestration) represents a victory for those committed to controlling government spending and growing our economy. I applaud Speaker Boehner’s leadership in stopping tax increases on job creators, rejecting President Obama’s demands for a blank check to keep borrowing, and advancing real spending cuts and controls. The agreement – while far from perfect – underscores the extent to which the new House majority has successfully changed Washington’s culture of spending. No longer can Washington endlessly spend money it does not have." -- Paul Ryan, who just worked with Democrat to gut the sequester cuts he called a "victory" and "real spending cuts and controls."
3) "I am strongly against amnesty. The most important thing we need to do is enforce our existing laws. We have existing immigration laws that are not being adequately enforced. Nothing will make it harder to enforce the existing laws, if you reward people who broke them. It demoralizes people who are going through the legal process, it’s a very clear signal of why go through the legal process, if you can accomplish the same thing if you go through the illegal process. And number two, it demoralizes the people enforcing the laws. I am not, and I will never support any effort to grant blanket legalization/amnesty to folks who have entered, stayed in this country illegally." -- Marco Rubio
4) “They were elected, nobody believes that there was a corrupt election, anything else,” McCain said. “But I also think that when, you know, it’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone." Asked to clarify, McCain said he was referencing ”Rand Paul, Cruz, Amash, whoever.” -- Former GOP Presidential nominee John McCain on the most popular conservative politicians with the conservative grassroots.
5) "Frankly, I just think (conservative groups have) lost all credibility." -- House Minority Leader, John Boehner on conservative groups who, unlike him, actually believe in all the things he campaigns on when he runs for election.
6) "And then, he says, the next president, whoever he is, 'would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,' until the economic issues are resolved." -- Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels suggested we blow tens of millions of social conservatives who make up part of the core of the GOP base.
7) “I’ll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I’m getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina.” — Former Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott complains about the Porkbusters group that demanded he cut spending and kill earmarks.
8) "With his record of reform in Florida, I know that Governor Crist will bring a fresh perspective to Washington in our efforts to fight for lower taxes, less government, and new job creation for all Americans." -- Senator John Cornyn, the Senate's Minority Whip, endorsing Charlie Crist, who ended up switching parties and speaking at the Democrat Convention.
9) "The problem with the Tea Party, I think it's just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country. It will die out." -- Lindsey Graham
10) "I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." -- George W. Bush explaining his support for the corporate bailouts in TARP.
Incidentally, the solution to all of this is not to leave the Republican Party. To the contrary, it's to treat the Republican Party like a puppy that's having difficulty with house training. When Republicans do the right thing, praise them, support them and do what you can to help them out. When they do the wrong thing, rub their noses in it. Attack Republicans who betray their principles relentlessly, primary them at every opportunity and take over the Republican Party so we can shove the politicians who won't listen to us to the side. While we will never be able to build an entire party full of men like Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Rand Paul, we can make it miserable enough for bad actors that the go-along-to-get-along Republicans will conclude it's better to work with us than face primaries and incessant attacks from their own side in the new media. Most people don't realize it, but we have already started moving the Republican Party to the Right and the time will come when Republicans are just as afraid of their base as Democrats are of Planned Parenthood and the unions. It's not going to happen overnight, but if we keep going after Republicans who sell us out, even the ones that are as hostile as John McCain, Peter King and Lindsey Graham will eventually have to get on board if they want to keep their jobs.
Reagan and Palin, aside from those two.
Now we have Cruz, I’ll fight for him.
The Republican Party is in its self-inflicted death throes. It does not even make a pretense of governing. It deserves to be avoided at all costs. There is a new political force, The TEA Party, if only we have the courage to let the GOP die.
BTW, I would 11. “We only control one-sixth the government so we can’t do much.” - John Boehner, upon his selection as House Speaker.
Republicans will face intense pressure over unemployment benefits
BY GREG SARGENT
December 11 at 12:24 pm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/12/11/republicans-will-face-intense-pressure-over-unemployment-benefits/
[snip] The imminent expiration of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program for 1.3 million Americans is mostly being treated as a fait accompli in Washington... (Dems have created an interactive map showing how many people in each state stand to lose benefits.)... This strategy includes placing Op ed pieces by Democrats in papers that serve the districts of top Republicans, such as this one by Rep. Sander Levin in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the largest paper in John Boehner’s home state. The game plan is granular: One Democrat points out to me that stats are available on how many would lose benefits on the county level, and that Dems are trying to push these numbers into the coverage, because it is tangible for people in local communities. [/snip]
12. Trent Lott, the former Senate leader and top-dog lobbyist referring to newly elected Congressmen and Senators: “We don’t need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples. As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them”
Republicans believe in winning elections; all hinges on winning.
We can't fight for principles when we're in the minority until we win the majority; we can't fight for principles until we win both houses; we can't fight for principles until we hold all the levers of power, including the White House; we can't fight for principles when we control the entire government (ala Bush43) lest we lose power.
Republicans don't really mind conservatism that much. They're quite flexible and are happy to go either way; whatever gets them to win elections and keep hold on power is the right way to go.
I always yell “I’m not masturbating!” when someone knocks on my office door so they know that I’m not masturbating. – Rob Delaney
For some reason, I always think of this guy's quote every time the GOP bigwigs have another high level, closed door strategy session.
When he first came to D.C. as a rep. in 1973, Lott was a real conservative. Within a decade, he had turly “grown” in office, but even liberals wouldn’t admit that he had “grown”.
The same for Scott Brown, only faster. Now he wants to run in New Hampshire!
there should be set terms of only 2 for Congress - this crap of staying in office for a lifetime has got to end...they should go there to MAINTAIN - not change - try to improve - bring in new ideas - try to run health care, auto industry, and real estate...and OUR LIVES...
pathetic politician - Trix’s are for Kids!
The Republican Party is a 160 year-old bitch that's gone deaf and blind. The solution is not a rolled-up newspaper, the solution is euthanasia.
SOME SMART SOMEBODY ONCE SAID.
LEAD
FOLLOW ......... R
GIT OUT OF THE WAYYY !
By god that was ME.........~
I fear it is too late to permit only the GOP to die.
We may need to allow the republic to die to be later reformed in a new image which, hopefully, will adopt the founding vision of freedom for "We the People."
Probably not but I can dream.
~PRESCIENT~
ZK
~PRRESCIENT~
Not with all the career bureaucrats and judges we have - they will become the real, not just the shadow, government.
Yeah, you’re right, we need an activist Congress.
“Term limits!”
These are absolutely required to avoid tyranny, in any government. Presidents should have one 5 or 6 year term, with no chance at reelection. Same with governors, same with Senators. House members should have a maximum of 2 - four year terms. One should only be allowed to hold office in two different branches of government - in a lifetime. You could be Governor and President, or Governor and Senator/Congressman, but nothing else. You would earn a year of pension for each year in office. No more than that.
And Gowdy. Don’t forget him.
I don’t trust members of the Establishment who are in control, for the time being, of the Republican Party.
The problem with term limits is that it increases the power of the entrenched liberals in the bureaucracy. If we limit the terms of the elected branches of government, we must also limit the terms of top bureaucrats, and we must find a way to limit the terms of federal judges who run amok.
Missouri has a “knock-out vote” so that every judge must face a vote by the people to be retained in office. This allows voters to eject a bad judge. We very much need this for the federal Supreme Court justices. The election cycle on this vote should be in the off-year (mid-term) elections so any public debate about a given justice doesn’t get drowned out by the presidential considerations.
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