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The liberal edge
N\.Y. Post ^ | July 27, 2007 | John Podhoretz

Posted on 07/28/2007 3:45:31 AM PDT by bilhosty

THE turn in the polls against the Republican Party appears to be stunning in its ferocity

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: podhoretz; politicspolls
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To: Darkwolf377
"...but if one party has to collapse, I'd rather it be theirs."

You said a mouthful there, Wolf. As disillusioned as I am with W and the Republicans in Washington--anything, especially Republicans, would be better than electing Democrats!

Whatever sins the Republicans may have committed, it'll be time to forgive when the 2008 elections roll around.

In fact, the #1 reason for Middle America's fury over illegal immigration amnesty is the fear that these immigrants will vote Democrat. I've said before that if I knew they would vote the Democrats out of office, I would personally place a Welcome Mat on the Rio Grande.

And there are Republicans who deserve the support, confidence, and gratitude of the American people (I can't think of any Democrats who do):

Jack Kingston, for example, and he is close to becoming Speaker of the House if the Republicans regain a Congressional Majority.

And Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson did respond to their constituents and repent.

The RINOs--including McCain and Lindsey Graham--should be voted out of office forthwith, of course.

21 posted on 07/28/2007 4:53:06 AM PDT by Savage Beast ("History is not just cruel. It is witty." ~Charles Krauthammer)
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To: EBH

Yes our schools teach that insane nihilistic marxism like banning the lego..

One thing that I find interesting is we have many Republican governors. At one point we had a strong majority of states with republican governors. And we have had the presidency the majority of the time.

Yet those insane leftist schemes in the schools are being taught! I know if I was in charge I would deal with it. Yet our leaders either aren’t capable of implementing change in a large organization or secretly support the agenda. Even Reagan didn’t seem to stop the spread of leftist indoctrination in the schools.


22 posted on 07/28/2007 4:59:04 AM PDT by ran20
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To: bilhosty
<100,000,000 voters in 2000, >120,000,000 voters in 2004. The drunk driver story in 2000 suppressed the Bush vote, as well as probably the early network call of FL for Gore. If the Republicans are in trouble today for 2008, it isn't because the factlets in this analysis.
23 posted on 07/28/2007 4:59:23 AM PDT by gusopol3
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To: bilhosty

In referendums across the country, voters reject gay marriage and vote to restore property rights taken away by Kelo. Majorities also favor free speech and gun rights.

The liberal fascist party is 180 degrees out of sych with these positions.

People will support conservative themes when the issue is clearly explained to them.

Too much doom and gloom in this thread. Get out and volunteer in your local governments for spots on the county planning board, health department and zoning commissions. Make your conservative presence known.


24 posted on 07/28/2007 5:05:43 AM PDT by sergeantdave
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To: ran20
Yet those insane leftist schemes in the schools are being taught!

So, how did they get such a foot hold in our schools? Is it our gov.'s fault or our own? That agenda has been going on for several generations now, and the 2008 election we're going to see its fruition.

25 posted on 07/28/2007 5:05:55 AM PDT by EBH
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To: Vision
"...by and large they're just waiting for something good to come on tv."

Y'got that right, Vis. This is a big problem in California and to a less extent throughout America. The livin's so easy that the people cannot imagine a fall, even when, with such an enormous economy, they can't afford to fix the pockmarks in the roads.

In the Midwest, where the climate is harsher, people tend less to be distracted by luxury, though even there enormous wealth has provided ample luxury and distraction.

In the South, despite wealth, luxury, and a climate of abundance equal to any, there's more cynicism and insistence on facing unpleasant realities. The South knows what a fall is like--and that the greatest wealth and easiest livin' cannot assure against it--and that, in fact, to be distracted from reality by wealth, luxury, and easy livin' provides a clear pathway to a fall.

26 posted on 07/28/2007 5:09:28 AM PDT by Savage Beast ("History is not just cruel. It is witty." ~Charles Krauthammer)
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To: bilhosty

You are a “traitor” to Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment. “Thou shall not speak ill of any Republican” Republicans like you have been around since President Lincoln. Reagan means: vote Republican or you get Communist Dictatorship.


27 posted on 07/28/2007 5:11:49 AM PDT by Blake#1
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To: bilhosty

I’m not sure I agree with the premise, that America is moving left. But I do agree the GOP has squandered the key issues of taxes, terrorism, moral values and illegal immigration beyond repair. The party no longer has credibility on any of these. For just that reason, I would not be surprised to see Fred Thompson go Independent in 2008. He has maintained a lot of distance from the GOP, and he’s strong enough to split the vote enough to gain a win without a true majority. Thompson v. Romney v. Hillary, and I think Thompson wins that.


28 posted on 07/28/2007 5:15:47 AM PDT by gotribe ("Truly, America is my favorite slave." - King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz, Jeddeh 1993)
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To: Savage Beast
California suffers from a horrible case of idolatry.

One of the problems is this touchy feely attitude in our culture. The idea that life is not supposed to contain any pain. Basically a generation of 40 and 50 year old children.

29 posted on 07/28/2007 5:18:45 AM PDT by Vision ("Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him." Jeremiah 17:7)
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To: ran20
But where I live some of the positions are guarunteed to mean candidates get slaughtered.

Where do you live?

30 posted on 07/28/2007 5:21:47 AM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")
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To: ran20
I think a big problem--maybe the fundamental problem here--is that the Information Age has shrunk the world to the exent that Third World opinions are felt everywhere and that U.S. politicians, intelligentsia, and Americans in general are influenced by these opinions.

Unfortunately, many people are not wise or circumspect enough to realize that, though some of these opinions may deserve consideration, many of them are destructive, dangerous, and downright crazy.

Of course the psychotic, xenophilic Left will embrace the bizarre, and, in its dementia, abhors the healthy and the familiar, including liberty, justice, and the United States itself.

31 posted on 07/28/2007 5:21:47 AM PDT by Savage Beast ("History is not just cruel. It is witty." ~Charles Krauthammer)
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To: Darkwolf377

I belive that your assessment is correct.

The majority of the American people no longer want to live free,own property, be in control of their lives, or care about freedom. They want to be taken care of by the Governmentand use all the drugs that want. What they care about now is which celebrity is screwing which celebrity.

Pride in work,the right or duty [your choice of word] to defend one’s self and family, individualism, and manhood have fallen by the wayside.

The people surrendered their rights o the politicans. The men surrendered their manhood to the politicans. The politicans gave it [manhood] to the feminists. The feminists have emasculated the men.

Compared to the America that was when I was growing up, the America of 20 years from now will be a sad place. I [and probly a lot more people]am thankful that I won’t be around then.


32 posted on 07/28/2007 5:24:44 AM PDT by sport
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To: Vision
"California...Basically a generation of 40 and 50 year old children."

Yes. Little Pigs, comfortably ensconced in houses of straw and sticks, just waiting for something good to come on tv and blasé about the wolf prowling just outside.

The worldly South knows what it's like when he huffs and puffs and blows the house down!

33 posted on 07/28/2007 5:33:58 AM PDT by Savage Beast ("History is not just cruel. It is witty." ~Charles Krauthammer)
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To: bilhosty
There are several factors at work and the pubbies have done some things wrong, but the most disturbing thing, IMHO, is that the dems are succeeding with a non-agenda of pure negativism and scapegoating. This is more effective than it should be because the MSM doesn't call them on it, but that's the game we're in.

Social Security has to be fixed. President Bush opened a constructive debate and got kicked in the teeth. The fact remains, however, that if the dems are opposed to personal investment accounts, they must necessarily favor benefit cuts and tax increases, but they haven't been called out on it.

Health insurance needs to be reformed. The dems have scapegoated Evil Insurance Companies and Evil Big Pharma. They've sold much of the country on the idea that health care nirvana is around the corner if we just slap down some bad guys. Their solution is single payer, which means rationing and a long-term decline in standards of care, but they've not been called on it.

Energy policy is hot due to gasoline prices and our import dependency. The dems' solution, of course, is to scapegoat Big Oil and the automakers and pretend that all we need is conservation. Pure nonsense, but they don't get called on it.

Culture of corruption? Well, the earmarks haven't gone away -- they've increased -- but the dems will no longer have the CBO report on them. They're not going to get called on that either.

The war in Iraq? The dems want to cut and run, but won't be pressed beyond their talking point of "responsible redeployment."

Obviously it's the responsibility of the Republicans to carry the rhetorical battle to the dems, and we've been seriously deficient in this area. This is where the MSM is a killer -- any Republican who takes on these issues finds himself endlessly swimming upstream. But it still has to be done.

Unfortunately, however, the correction is likely to come after the nation elects a democrat government. That will expose the dems' policy bankruptcy in a hurry, but we will all pay a high price in the meantime.

P.S. One of the best things Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey did when they led the Republicans in the pre '94 minority era was to force the caucus to develop a Republican substitute on all major legislation, starting with the budget. The minority Republicans of that era actually thought through all the tough issues and developed a coherent response. The dems did nothing similar -- they spent their minority years in relentless negativism and papered over their own incoherence, in large part, by lying about the Republican agenda, Social Security and health care being leading examples. Now they're in the majority and the cupboard is bare. The minority Republicans need to restore the old discipline asap and start figuring out what they're FOR, not merely what they're AGAINST.

34 posted on 07/28/2007 5:51:00 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: sport
The Democrat party is an atheistic, humanistic party at its core.

While they may have many very ignorant Christians in their bag, the foundational principles and goals of the left are all based upon the erosion and removal of biblical Christianity from its place of great influence in our culture.

35 posted on 07/28/2007 5:54:37 AM PDT by Old Landmarks (No fear of man, none!)
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To: bilhosty
Three things -

1) I don’t trust any poll conducted by any organization that is part of the MSM or affiliated with the Leftists in the MSM. Polls are simply their way of doing both push-polling and sampling how well their campaigns of disinformation and indoctrination are going.

2) The only person who is in a position to cut through the filters of the MSM is the president, and Bush is the most inept communicator I have ever seen in that office. At least half of the power of that office is being able to communicate a vision and a message, and Bush is hands-down the worst communicator I have ever seen in my lifetime. This isn’t just an inconvenience, it is dangerous.

3) The Republicans miserable showing (despite the fact that I don’t trust the results of any MSM poll) is somewhat accurate and the reasons are immigration, perceived self-serving corruption and the inability of any conservative in elected office to effectively articulate a conservative message. The elected check-pants Republicans are mostly preening, self-important empty suits.

36 posted on 07/28/2007 6:02:57 AM PDT by Carbonado ("Islame-ic radical" is a redundant term, just like "Leftist journalist")
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To: sergeantdave

“Get out and volunteer in your local governments for spots on the county planning board, health department and zoning commissions. Make your conservative presence known......”

BINGO!BINGO!BINGO! This has been the Democrat formula for control of LOCAL politics since the 1930’s. You control things locally, you control them nationally. Rahm Emmanual and George Soros understand this completely. Unfortunately the GOP is two years behind the curve in our neighborhoods.Only a tremendous, local individual Republican presence can change the course.


37 posted on 07/28/2007 6:03:42 AM PDT by mo
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To: ontap

“Republicans are losing elections because they have lost their base. Their ineptness during the Bill Frist years was criminal. Four years of Democratic ranting and raving and these clowns did nothing but sit on their hands.And to top it off they crawled into bed with the swimmer with that stupid amnesty bill. What we have to do is rid ourselves of these sheep and elect conservatives that have a spine. We need people in the mold of Newt Gingrich before he blew it and Tom Delay. Some lazy ass senators need to have their heads handed to them. John McCain and Lindsey Graham would be a good start.”

I don’t know if you are right or not about the general trend, but your post certainly resonates with me and why I don’t give money anymore when the RP folks call me up.

Amnesty was only the final straw after years of out of control spending.
I became apathetic when Bush signed on with the prescription for seniors. I’ve seen how some of these “poor” seniors live and it irks me that my kids will be paying for their medicine when they’re perfectly capable of buying their own meds.

I’m disappointed republicans did not run a better campaign for privatizing social security. This shouldn’t have been a partisan issue. It is the only way to help the system without having to drastically mess with the benefits or age of payout.

The Bush administration has flunked miserably with out of control spending.
He gets an A- on pro-life issues.
He gets a B on tax cuts (should have cut them even more)
F on Amnesy
F on prescriptions for seniors.
F on presenting conservative ideas to the public in an appealing/persuasive manner.

I don’t know why republicans like Newt.
If we are going to try and appeal to families and stable values we are going to have to find that rare political creature - a politician who actually lives the values he promotes.


38 posted on 07/28/2007 6:06:06 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: Scotswife

I don’t support Newt , I said some one like Newt before he screwed up you can’t deny that he was responsible for the Republican take over. I think the best Newt can hope for is maybe a cabinet appointment, but getting him cinfirmed will be problematic.


39 posted on 07/28/2007 6:11:14 AM PDT by ontap (Just another backstabbing conservative)
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To: ontap

I’m not denying Newt was successful with his “Contract” campaign.
But looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I am left with these thoughts....that the “Contract” appealed to middle America with great success because it promoted ideas and values that really matter to people.

But in the end it was exposed for what it was - a political stunt.
In the end there was no real “Contract” - just politics as usual.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice.....


40 posted on 07/28/2007 6:17:29 AM PDT by Scotswife
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