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GOP leaders warn of election disaster
Politico ^ | 5/6/08 | JOHN BRESNAHAN

Posted on 05/07/2008 3:50:49 AM PDT by Dawnsblood

Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present Tuesday: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money.

The double shot of bad news had one veteran Republican House member worrying aloud that the party’s electoral woes — brought into sharp focus by Woody Jenkins’ loss to Don Cazayoux in Louisiana on Saturday — have the House Republican Conference splitting apart in “everybody for himself” mode.

“There is an attitude that, ‘I better watch out for myself, because nobody else is going to do it,’” the member said. “There are all these different factions out there, everyone is sniping at each other, and we have no real plan. We have a lot of people fighting to be the captain of the lifeboat instead of everybody pulling together.”

In a piece published in Human Events, the Republicans’ onetime captain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warned his old colleagues that they face “real disaster” on Election Day unless they move immediately to “chart a bold course of real reform” for the country.

And in a closed-door session at the Capitol, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told members that the NRCC doesn’t have enough cash to “save them” in November if they don’t raise enough money or run strong campaigns themselves.

Although a top House Republican brushed aside Gingrich’s broadside as “hype from a has-been who desperately wants to be a player but can’t anymore,” the harsh words from Cole were harder to ignore.

“It was a pretty stern line that he took with us,” said one House Republican.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: democrats; election; republicans
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To: doodad
Term limits would go a long way in my book.

Either that, or bring back tar and feathering or the stocks on the steps of the Capital building for public humiliation of all those who dare to pad their own nest in favor of doing the business of the people......

101 posted on 05/07/2008 5:30:36 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (Silence is not always a Sign of Wisdom, but Babbling is ever a Mark of Folly. - B. Franklin)
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To: Crazieman

Gottoo agree. When the electorate’s choices are reduced to a democrat and a wanna-be democrat, they will choose the real deal. And the Supreme Court card is a lame excuse to vote for McLame. The dems will have more than 60 senators after the election and no conservative McLame might nominate will pass muster. His only defense would be to leave the liberal slot unfilled shifting the balance through attrition. McLame is a big-government guy and would never play hard ball with the dems...patty-cake is so much more rewarding.


102 posted on 05/07/2008 5:30:44 AM PDT by Sgt_Schultze
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To: TomGuy

Personally, I prefer the Mexico analogy. They had a one party political system for more than 100 years. See what it got them?

You could say that the movement toward a one party system in the US is really just part of the Mexicanization of America.

Of course, they had one party systems in a lot of other notable places too, like Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Maoist China.


103 posted on 05/07/2008 5:31:15 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: indylindy

You could be right, but I have heard on the morning news for a local talkradio show host, some of the people who had voted for Hilary said they will vote for McCain. There is so many divisions as seen among the Dems, which has been going through a civil war as of sorts thanks to OPERATION CHAOS for the last few months. This has left the Dems bloodied. Do not count McCain out. Just a thought.


104 posted on 05/07/2008 5:31:28 AM PDT by Biggirl (A biggirl with a big heart for God's animal creation, with 4 cats in my life as proof. =^..^=)
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To: Luke21
I'm guessing, even without clicking on your name, that you're from Arizona. Am I right?

Which District are you in?

Full Disclosure: I moved from Phoenix back to Minneapolis last summer. Couldn't stand the heat.

Cheers!

105 posted on 05/07/2008 5:31:34 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Dawnsblood

Gosh, I wonder if the pubbies hadn’t ABANDONED THEIR CONSERVATIVE BASE, the base wouldn’t be screaming “A POX on BOTH your houses!”


106 posted on 05/07/2008 5:32:29 AM PDT by Dick Bachert (INCENT)
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To: Thermalseeker
That is modern politics in a nutshell. Did I miss anything?

Yes. Interns and airport restrooms.

Cheers!

107 posted on 05/07/2008 5:33:04 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Biggirl

No way. Obama beats McLame easily. McCain can only beat HILLARY! because she will have driven black away from the party through theft of the nomination. Obama sewed it up last night. We’re in for a brown-shirted goose-step to the far left come January 2009.


108 posted on 05/07/2008 5:35:14 AM PDT by Sgt_Schultze
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To: kms61
I can easily see McCain faced with an overwhelming opposition Democrat majority in both houses, though.

Same here.

109 posted on 05/07/2008 5:37:05 AM PDT by jwalsh07 (El Nino is climate, La Nina is weather.)
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To: Dawnsblood
What message?

Your party’s message isn’t good enough

110 posted on 05/07/2008 5:37:50 AM PDT by DManA
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To: Sgt_Schultze

Are you sure, the USA to be very blunt, is not ready for a black President.


111 posted on 05/07/2008 5:38:44 AM PDT by Biggirl (A biggirl with a big heart for God's animal creation, with 4 cats in my life as proof. =^..^=)
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To: Biggirl

(?).


112 posted on 05/07/2008 5:39:22 AM PDT by Biggirl (A biggirl with a big heart for God's animal creation, with 4 cats in my life as proof. =^..^=)
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To: Dawnsblood
Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money.

It's not the "message." It's the record and the policies.

113 posted on 05/07/2008 5:40:12 AM PDT by jammer
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To: Sprite518
Gingrich is far right compared to Bush or McNut

When things in Washington got tough for Newt, he quit. I guess maybe he is far right compared to Bush and McCain, since so many so-called conservatives are also quiting now that it's really getting tough.

114 posted on 05/07/2008 5:41:34 AM PDT by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: Crazieman
For some reason, there’s a lot of people on FR that think McCain is practically God on Earth because he has an R next to his name.

Do they? Or is this some other version of Operation Chaos?

115 posted on 05/07/2008 5:41:48 AM PDT by jammer
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To: from occupied ga
Only one thing, when your policies fail to achieve their stated goal, say it's a (fill in the blank) crisis, and claim that "we just didn't go far enough." And now we need to do more (of the same thing that screwed stuff up in the first place)

Covered that in the first sentence......

116 posted on 05/07/2008 5:44:27 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (Silence is not always a Sign of Wisdom, but Babbling is ever a Mark of Folly. - B. Franklin)
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To: Bushwacker777
Here at FreeRepublic it seems that McCain and Mormons are bad words. Hope people here like Black Liberation Theology, Kwanza and Al Sharpton picking supreme court justices.

Wow! talk about getting the message bass ackwards.

The Republicans are in trouble because of center-left politicians like McCain, not because people on Free Republic call him on his politics.

The real fact is the Republican party has spent the last several years treating its base shabbily and will continue to treat us badly until November when the "chickens are coming home to roost." in the words of Mr. Obama's minister.

117 posted on 05/07/2008 5:45:15 AM PDT by CharacterCounts (When you discover rats in your house, you only have two options - fumigate or tolerate.)
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To: Dawnsblood

The RNC, members of congress and political hacks have brought this all on to themselves. The conservative base has been in a bad mood for yrs now and has repeatly voiced their concerns but the elites didnt listen. In 06 Ive read where about 16% of the normally R voting base stayed home.
Maybe we will be in better shape in 2010 to fight back but we need leadership with a spine.


118 posted on 05/07/2008 5:45:46 AM PDT by rrrod
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To: samtheman

Exactly! Cong Cole has laid out the plan and did it very well at our GOP Convention. I like the fact that he is telling every candidate that the ball is in their court to run good campaigns. These candidates have been wasting money on TV ads that irritate viewers. Their consultants need to get off their high horses and run lean campaigns that connect with voters.

Let the fat cats that have been there for years get back in touch with their constituents and walk the doors like Oklahoma’s Cong Mary Fallen did in 2006 to get elected by a wide margin.


119 posted on 05/07/2008 5:53:02 AM PDT by PhiKapMom ( Broken Glass Republican -- http://democratsforsale.blogspot.com/ -- JUST SAY NO to OBAMA)
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To: Conservativegreatgrandma
We have Freepers who believe that because Republicans aren't conservative enough, we should elect Democrats. That will fix it.

More accurately, we have Freepers who believe that we don't have a horse in the race.

120 posted on 05/07/2008 5:53:25 AM PDT by CharacterCounts (When you discover rats in your house, you only have two options - fumigate or tolerate.)
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