Posted on 11/08/2006 11:54:25 AM PST by Ol' Sparky
'Liberated' Limbaugh flays GOP for lame campaign
Radio host: Conservative values not trumpeted by 'I'm-afraid-of-my-shadow Republican Party'
Posted: November 8, 2006
2:10 p.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh says Republicans are to blame for their own demise at the polls by failing to run a campaign trumpeting conservative values.
"You and I hunger for ideological leadership and we're not getting it from the top. Conservatism, conservative ideology was nowhere to be found in this campaign from the top," Limbaugh said today in his post-election analysis. "The Democrats beat something with nothing. They didn't have to take a stand on anything other than their usual anti-war position. They had no clear agenda and believe me, they didn't dare offer one. Liberalism will still lose every time it's offered."
Democrats took control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994, with the fate of the Senate still uncertain.
Limbaugh said Republicans allowed themselves to be defined by Democrats and the media, and says they instead should have gone on the offensive.
"It's silly to blame the media. It is silly to blame the Democrats. It is silly to go out and try to find all these excuses," he said. "We have proven we can beat them. We've proven we can beat Democrats. We've proven we can withstand whatever we get from the drive-by media. Conservatism does that. Conservatism properly applied – proudly, eagerly with vigor and honesty – will triumph that nine times out of 10 in this current political environment and social environment in this country. It just wasn't utilized in this campaign."
Limbaugh, a longtime proponent of conservative ideology, believes the primary reason Republicans didn't campaign on their beliefs is "fear of criticism from those in the so-called establishment; and nobody wants to be criticized and nobody wants to go through their life in fear."
He listed a number of benchmarks which should have been the basis for successful campaigns including no terrorist attacks on the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001, gasoline prices averaging $2.08 per gallon, increased take-home pay, a strong economy and an unemployment rate at a historically low level.
"We all know that there's very positive things happening out there, but it was not trumpeted by the people who should have been shouting it from the rooftops because they were proud of it," Limbaugh said. "They should have been shouting it from the rooftops, 'Look what we've done! Look how America can improve. Look how your future is brighter!' ... instead of allowing the template to be set by its critics. ... You have a defensive, Gee-I'm-afraid-of-my-shadow Republican Party."
In answering questions about how he feels about the election results, Limbaugh said, "I feel liberated. ... I no longer am gonna have to carry the water for people who I think don't deserve having their water carried. ... If those in our party who are going to carry the day in the future both in Congress and the administration are going to choose a different path than what most of us believe, then that's liberating. ...
"There have been a bunch of things going on in Congress. Some of this legislation coming out of there that I have just cringed at. And it has been difficult coming in here trying to make the case for it when the people who supposedly in favor of it can't even make the case themselves."
During the last mid-term congressional election in 2002, Limbaugh proclaimed the Democratic Party to be in total chaos, and advised it to drop failed strategies if members wish to see political gains in the future.
"They're a party in total disarray, total collapse, total chaos," he said at the time.
During the 2004 campaign, Limbaugh said the Democratic Party was completely without a leader in its hunt to regain the White House, and members were desperately trying to invent one.
"They are so absent leadership right now it's a joke," said Limbaugh, "and everybody knows this in the media, and the Democrats are out trying to manufacture one – they're trying to create one. And they've got this list of nine candidates for the Democratic nomination, and nobody can name one of them."
Bingo. Last night I feared the Dems would immediately "Murtha-ize" the military and pull us out . . . until I logically came to your conclusion. They want us in there, but helpless (and they'll see to that with their obstruction, investigations, and de-funding) so they can blame Bush and the Republicans, using the bodies of our soldiers as targets.
Here's a wild idea: candidates should earn votes instead of assuming they're entitled to them.
Yeh, living in Indy it made me sick to see Julia Carson win again. Apparently she couldn't fill out her ballot properly, and it had to be voided and someone had to help her do it again. And before her victory speech, she told an Indy Star columnist that she was glad to be reelected to the Indiana General Assembly. How does such a person get elected?
The Top is not conservative. The Bushes have proven to be LBJ Republicans. They can start wars and get through the initial campaigns brilliantly but the hearts-and-minds syndrome comes to dominate and they never actually seem to understand just what war is about. America has had two conservative presidents since 1900. I don't think we will have another any time soon.
1) A balanced budget.
We had one under Clinton and then you guys exploded the deficiet. Whats different now?
2) A line-item veto.
Been declared Unconstitutional. What will be different this time and how will it ultimately effect the usefulness of the line item veto?
3) Close the border with Mexico to illegal aliens with a fence.
Standard anti immigrant, bigot, racist, hater questions.
4) Break up the media oligopoly.
Do we want to open the doors to bringing back the Fairness Doctrine and instituting legislation that will allow the dismantling of Fox News and other outfits that may lean our way a little like Howard Dean said he would do?
5) End the death tax.
We all know what will be accused, and we have good answers on them. Little trouble here.
6) Partial privatization of Social Security.
Unfortunately, most Americans do not want the responsibility that comes with freedom. They are content to have 14% of their check confiscated if it means they don't have to lift a finger to prepare for their future.
7) Increase the manpower strength of the military.
Are you talking about a draft? If not, what policies will be put in place to increase volunteers?
Unfortunately our party structure is such that we can't actually purge anyone. A Republican is a Republican because he says he is a Republican and the Republican wins of the last 12 years brought into the party a lot of Democrats who said they were now Republicans. That will now flow the other way a bit as the rats run back to the now ascendant organization.
That'll sure help the GOP, chasing off its moderates.
My 77 year old father is the finest moral, Christian man you could ever meet. He's been a Christian and Southern Baptist church member for over 50 years, and has served as a deacon and a Sunday school teacher during the majority of those years.
You'd think he'd be a natural for the GOP, but he finds it hard to vote for GOP candidates. He supports the conservative positions of limited government, lower taxes, etc.
Ironically, what concerns him the most about the GOP are the social conservatives. It's not that he's "pro-sin", but rather he believes that Christians are barking up the wrong tree by seeking political power over others. He believes this damages the Christian message of love and redemption. It's his belief that sin has always been with us and always will be, and that sinners can't be forced onto the path of righteousness by employing the police powers of the state. When Christians seek to do this via the politcal process, they've surrendered the moral high ground. He's concerned that should Christian conservatives gain too much political power, they will overplay their hand, do damage to Christianity, and set its mission back for years and perhaps decades to come.
I'm sure you've heard this adage -- power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He believes that Christian conservatives are not immune from being corrupted by political power.
I'm telling you this because, FWIW, I think there are a lot of people like my Dad. There are many "RINOS" and independents that agree with conservative Christian morality, they just don't think it should be part of majoritarian politics.
Perhaps the GOP, escpecially its social conservatives, needs to do some soul-searching (pardon the pun), and re-think its social conservatism which drives voters like my dad and millions of others away from the GOP.
The point is, in an era of press partisanship and propaganda, you have to have a strategy for overcoming them. Reagan went on TV every so often and talked directly to the people. He gave great speeches that could not be ignored, as at conventions, at the Berlin Wall, and to students in Moscow. He went over their heads. Bush can't do that himself, so he needed a way to do that through others. He just ignored the press, counting on his 4 years of office, and then the war to win re-election, and then thinking this strategy would work forever. It didn't.
When everyone was so happy in 2004, I was here saying that Bush should have won 60-40, that Reagan would have, and it was a bad sign that in time of war, with a great economy, Bush only won by 80,000 votes in Ohio.
How do you prosecute a President for exercising an explicit Constitutional power?
they were hitting Kyl (who pulled out the win, but it was closer than it should have been) for a lot of the same stuff. In fact they had almost the same tag as #3. Which brings up an interesting question: how much of this loss was because of how little of their public agenda the GOP did anything about? There was supposed to be a lot of "doing things differently" when the GOP had the whole thing, but not a whole lot different actually occured. They never even got a bill presented on SocSec, never made the tax cuts permanent, never got the mythical overhaul of the tax codes into a bill. "Reformers" seeking re-election got nothing to hang their hats on, and wishy-washy moderation like DeWine's (you can take some moderate positions in a bold way) doesn't give anything either.
There was bribery involved.
I disagree completely. Presented properly this is a winning issue, particularly with young people. If we can guarantee that those who put into the system will get the money they're expecting, SS can be reformed.
The issue was Corruption ut the country voted FOR corruption. The Democrats coddle corrupt members and defend them to the max while Republicans flush it when it is brought to the surface. For the Crats Corruption is a right of power.
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