Advice to Republicans: Don't go back and check on a dead skunk

The Wall Street Journal | November 9, 2006 | Dick Armey

[Zakeet]

If there was still any doubt, the Republican Revolution of 1994 officially ended Tuesday night with the loss of at least 28 seats and majority control of the House of Representatives. As I write this, the race in Virginia that will determine if the Republicans also lose control of the Senate is too close to call, but leaning Democrat.

It was a rout.

How did we get here? The war in Iraq and historical voting patterns that favor the opposition party in off-year elections are factors suggested by many post-election pundits. Certainly, the mounting problems in Iraq were on voters' minds, but responsibility for the conduct of the war lies with the executive branch, and President Bush was not on the ballot.

That said, this was a national election, driven by national issues. One big issue in exit polls suggests widespread voter backlash against the "culture of corruption." There is something to this, I think. Over time, too many Republicans in the governing majority forgot or abandoned their national vision, letting parochial interests dominate the decision-making process.

[engrpat]

I think what the Democrats have learned in this election is "end the war in Iraq as soon as possible, don't get involved in another war anywhere if they want to stay in power."

I think that we have now lost our position as a supper power. Oh yes we are strong with a great military, the best in the world, but a country that will not use that power to protect itself is no longer a supper power. I can't see another president of either party using the military again unless there is a Pearl Harbor type attack. When China goes after Taiwan, No. Korea goes after the South and Iran, et al go after Israel we will do nothing but talk. Sorry we are now just any other country cowering in the corner. And when we are hit by terrorist again who will we strike back at? We may be able to prove they came from, say, Iran but will not strike back. Our days of greatness are over.

[jwparkerjr]

Words cannot express how much I hate having to say this, but I agree with you 100%. The conservative movement has been "Bush-whacked" again.

I say again because this is the second time a Bush has been put into the presidency by people who had a right to expect him to perform as a conservative, only to be sorely disappointed. I honestly thought Bush the Elder would be the best president the country had ever had, period. His CIA experience, his exemplary military service in "The Big War" and his tenure under the direct tutelage of Ronald Reagan. But alas it was just not to be. Time and again he declined to join the battle to carry the conservative battle to the MSM and the Left. I kept waiting for him to come to life in the race against Bill Clinton, but I came to feel he just simply didn't want to win reelection and we went from the height of the Reagan wave to the trough of the Clinton disaster.

Then, midway through the Clinton years here comes Newt and the revolution of 1994. It looked good for a while, but then it started to falter and Bush 43 came into office amid high hopes that he would reclaim the conservative mantle for us. Alas, it was not to be. I think he is a great President, especially considering the times we are in and his handling of the WOT. But widespread conservative support for dealing with Saddam and Iraq was based on the belief that we would get in there, get the job done and get out. But it soon became apparent that we were once again going to try to appease the MSM/Lefties by agreeing to fight a PC war. The rest is history. When you have a President and both houses of Congress from the same party the President is the head of the party but from the outset President Bush has seemed to defer to the minority party, apparently in hopes of returning some semblance of comity to Congress.

It was like we were never in the majority. Every time you turned around we were letting the Dems beat our brains out. It started when the Bush administration made the decision early on to let the past be the past and to forgive and forget all the shenanigans of the previous administration. Eight years of constant misbehavior by the Clinton administration, things like hundreds of FBI files, sharing high tech missile plans and gross campaign contribution irregularities were simply allowed to be forgotten and no one was ever called to account for those years.

In politics perception is everything and the perception has been that nothing is getting done. It's the same news day after day, week after week, month after month from Iraq. The formula is simple, lead with how many American fighting men and women have been killed that day, extrapolate the figure for the month, compare it to other deadly months in Iraq, report how many civilians have been killed in the latest suicide attack on a mosque or other 'holy' site, get Pelosi or someone to rant for a minute or two about the quagmire, then get ready to do the same thing tomorrow.

It's not that we can't win a victory in ANY fight we decide to get into, it's that we won't win a victory. It's a conscious decision by the powers that be that it's better to have Americans dying from IED's than have Iraqis dying because they are too near the fighting.

[buck61]

All are evangelicals:
If you claim to be a Christian you are excepting Jesus Christ
as your personal savior. You are excepting His teachings as written in The New Testament and, you want to follow these teachings to the best of your ability as you become his servant.

No-one seems to want to be any ones servant in this age we now find our selves in. Man has became boastful and proud and doesn't really need Christ in their lives. Their money and positions are what they seem to think protects them and, here on the earth such a belief may be true.

If we claim to be Christians we must do what Christ has taught us to do. Some call it the great commission and, that commission is to lead others to Christ that they may enjoy the joy of salvation. Many may not know what this joy is and, all I can do is tell them what it means to myself.

I am 63 year old this week, many mornings I awaken and wonder how I got this old this fast. It's as if my life just went too fast and, where was I while my children were growing up and, many other factors past me by. Believe me when I say life is short, many my age know exactly what I'm saying. At any rate, being a Christian allows me to lie down at night and feel assuredly if I were to leave this world by death during the night I haven't any fear of where my soul will end up. I have no dread of life, my three children are christian, my wife and many of my friends are Christian. I have an inward peace I wish all people could possess, and they could if they submitted themselves to Christ and his teachings.

Now from my writing this, am I considered an evangelical?

[jwparkerjr]

re: with the dems in charge TERROR in this country is going to be on the rise

I'm not so sure. With the Dems in charge they will be free to wreak as much havoc as they can around the world without having to worry about the US interfering. I don't think they want to prod the sleeping giant until it's absolutely necessary. Why run the risk of getting us all riled up again? They can realize two-thirds of their goals simply by knowing the Dems don't have the intestinal fortitude to take them on. Truth is the Lefties/MSM don't care how many people die 'over there' as long as we are not being attacked here at home.

[Wolfie]

The Republicans figured that as long as they staked out the right side of the God, Guns, and Gays debate, they could be just as big-spending and government growing as the Democrats. They were wrong.

[Darnright]

>I have a hard time beleiving that Reps lost because of "culture of corruption".<

They lost because most people, the majority of whom do not follow politics, get their news via sound bite. The people living in Arizona may have heard about Foley, but never heard of a modern day Jefferson, who used his freezer as a bank.

The Republican party is fighting an uphill battle, because we are fighting not only the Democrat party itself, but because we're fighting its staunch ally, the mainstream media.

[Coldwater Creek]

The Dems real agenda is hate Bush, hate conservative, hate Evangelicals, hate the military. Whatever they do is going to be jaded and thought about with the intelligence and behavior of a two year old.

[Edit35]

have we thinking conservatives inadvertently isolated ourselves in an ivory tower echo chamber (of talk radio and Fox News) where we have less and less influence...

Very astute analysis! You are probably right, to a great degree.

It is my (our) delemma. Do I simply ignore (as I have) the local slanted newspaper and CNN,PMS-DNC, ABC, etc. or do I hold my nose and communicate/ participate with those organizations.

As a former media person myself, I can attest to the massive slant a single reporter and compliant editor can have on a particular candidate or party.

On the other hand, the power behind a media organization lies mostly in the upper echelon of editors and thus would it would take a wholesale change of personnel to really make a difference.

Roger Ailes has the correct formula. Unfortunately, it takes massive wealth to buy a newspaper or network.

[Raycpa]

Do a little research on it.

The article links and quotes Catholic's themselves. You may not like it but Catholics are truly evangelicals by their vows, by their doctrine and by the Gospel. Evangelical used by protestant's is simply the protestant's version of the Catholic's baptismal vow. Both groups are required by Christ Himself to the great commission. Protestant's do not have the market cornered in evangelicalism.

[jwparkerjr]

And they have the MSM on their side too. Until we find some way to neutralize the MSM we are going to be fighting an uphill battle. I thought we might have gotten the MSM under control this time by way of the blogs, talk radio, etc. but I guess not looking at the returns!

[Edit35]

I don't think that's what Armey is saying at all.

Dick Armey has been all over the media the past two weeks proclaiming that the leaders of the Republican Party must "stop kowtowing" to faith based organizations, etc.

During one interview I heard, he went so far as to say the GOP should in effect disassociate itself with the religious right.

I was stunned. Do faithful citizens not have the right to participate in politics?

[iopscusa]

"In politics perception is everything and the perception has been that nothing is getting done"...great point.
IMO, part of what we have here is we have been bushwhacked by an absolute failure to communicate either to counter negative perceptions/mistruthes or to enforce positive ideas and positions...I am starting to wonder if this has been due to ineptness or for an uber-agenda...maybe my disdain for GHBush fortifies a certain amount paranoia!
We must find a RReagan-like leader soon....anyone in mind?

[Raycpa]

Now from my writing this, am I considered an evangelical?

Sure sounds like it to me but apparently one poster would take exception if you happened to worship at a Catholic church.

[Arrowhead1952]

I think what the Democrats have learned in this election is "end the war in Iraq as soon as possible, don't get involved in another war anywhere if they want to stay in power."

There is one thing that really concerns me about the dem win. I'm afraid that the precursor to the next 09/11/01 started on 11/07/06. The next time we are attacked here at home, we won't have the military force to respond.

They will gut the defense budget and use the money to fund every social program, plus giving illegals amnesty. More free health care is on the horizon. The first item on their agenda is higher minimum wages. Just what are they thinking? That means every product will cost more.

[LadyNavyVet]

It was the war. FOX and talk radio couldn't overcome that, especially since FOX didn't really try. I think Bush is gonna give the Dems just about everything they want; they already got Rumsfeld's head on a platter.

So, Pelosi and Co. "bought" the war issue and now they own it. They will have to perform. And that's going to be interesting, because you and I both know they DON'T HAVE A CLUE how to successfully extricate us from this war.

[Edit35]

They (the GOP) didn't ... promote a serious energy policy to ween America off dependence of foreign oil.

Any suggestions to accomplish that task?

(tax breaks for fuel efficiency companies and vehicles and homes were already proposed and passed by the Bush Admin.)

[jwparkerjr]

re: intelligence and behavior of a two year old

How true, how true! I learned a long time ago that the moment you start trying to 'reason' with a kid, three or thirteen, you've lost the battle. The biggest change I see in the way parents try to handle their kids these days is that they want to give them choices. In my childhood the only choice I had was to do what mom and/or dad said or suffer the consequences. My parents were just old fashioned enough to believe that a three-year-old doesn't have what it takes to decide what they want for lunch. They cooked or ordered, the food was put in front of us and we were free to eat or wait until the next mean in hopes that we would get something more to our liking. Now that I think about it, that's the same routine they had for the dog, too. Hmmmm...

Rule number one for dealing with kids is never let them draw you into a discussion! They can almost certainly outlast you.

[Coldwater Creek]

Good parental advice all the way around!!!

[Caipirabob]

Any suggestions to accomplish that task? (tax breaks for fuel efficiency companies and vehicles and homes were already proposed and passed by the Bush Admin.)

Permit drilling in the gulf and off both coasts, regardless of the environmentalists. Heck, even the Chinese and Cubans drill oil off our shores and particularly in the gulf. I think Jeff Head has posted maps marking their rigs.

[jwparkerjr]

It has been my observation over the years that more certain someone is of their course of action the less inclinded they are to explain it. It makes perfect sense to them and it never dawns on them that it might not be a clear-cut to someone else. George Bush knows what he wants to get done, knows how he intends to do it and has no doubt as to the outcome, so he figures time will prove him correct and any effort he spends trying to convince his detractors is time and effort that would be put to better use working on the problem.

I am pretty much convinced that leaders like Ronald Reagan come along only when God sends them to us. Look at the people who just happened to all turn up at the same time and place in history to found our great country! I am certain these people were hand-picked and sent by God in answer to their prayers for guidance and support.

Despite the Left's attempt to convince us otherwise the Founding Fathers were men of faith. They asked for, and expected, Divine intervention in their efforts to found America.