John McCain became the presumptive nominee of the party with just 31% of the primary vote. He is a self-described maverick. There are consequences when you nominate a maverick to be your standard bearer.
There is a pony in there somewhere. A McCain victory would have further marginalized the conservative influence in the GOP. We conservatives can now remake and take back the party and return to tried and true principles. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
The Dems will now be responsible for their policies and actions and we must hold them accountable. Issues like immigration and climate change will actually be easier to fight than if McCain were in office. We will need to change the political landscape to make us a viable, national party again. Every challenge represents an opportunity. We must seize it.
Immigration has been changing the demographics of this country rapidly. Non-Hispanic whites have declined from about 89% of the population in 1970 to 67% today. They have served as the Reps political power base. The GOP must develop a strategy to attract the so-called white Reagan democrats and asians. It is a waste of time going after the black and Hispanic vote except on those issues that appeal to blue collar workers. Curtailing the number of legal immigrants and secuing our borders will give us a fighting chance. Currently, 87% of the 1.2 million legal immigrants who enter this country annually are minorities and almost all of the 500,000 to 1 million who enter illegally are minorities. By 2042, half of the country will be minorities. Our immigration policies are leading the Republican Party [and our nation] down a path to suicide.
According to the latest BLS statistics, the black unemployment rate is 11.4% and Hispanic 7.8%. For whites it is 4.9% and for asians, 3.8%. We need to go after votes on Dem turf. They are vulnerable because their leadership has sold them down the river. How can black leaders and union bosses be for guest worker programs and amnesty, when these additional workers are hurting their constituencies? The same holds true for these cap and trade programs that will kill jobs and force businesses overseas.
I agree the Rep party needs a dose of reality. We can't continue to follow the same template. We need to take the gloves off and not be afraid to take chances even if it pisses off a certain portion of the population. Pandering doesn't work.
Neither does "taking the gloves off" work, if we haven't got a long-term strategy to go along with it. Over the past 20 years or so the Dems have had a great track record of thrashing us whenever we "take the gloves off."
The reason is not so much the reason for why we take them off; but rather, the way we take them off. To be honest, we often tend to lead with our chins. And even when we "win" in a short-term sense, we end up losing in the long term because we act like the victory "stays won." But Mr. Alinsky's tactics are in play on the other side; and one of his big ideas is that no battle stays won (or lost) unless both sides agree to let it remain so.