Posted on 11/05/2008 1:37:18 PM PST by RobinMasters
Some postmortem thoughts on what went wrong for Republicans... (other than the mid-September meltdown and the celebrity charisma that surrounded our first serious African-American candidate that together made all else secondary.)
1. Spending. When Republicans spend at rates higher than Democrats they suffer the wage of hypocrisy, and discredit tax cuts, since the public blames lower taxes for mounting deficits even when they have been demonstrably proven to have brought in greater revenue. In the future, conservatives need to forget all the gobbly-gook about deficits being tolerable as this or that percentage of GDP— and just balance the budget, since the public deals in psychology and symbolism as much as abstract economic data.
2. People. Conservatism means an allegiance to past values and behavior. When the Republican Congress not only spent lavishly, but was marked by a series of scandals—Foley, Cunningham, Stevens, et al.— then Republicans lost that high ground as well. Conservative reconstruction must focus on being above the ethical norm, not indistinguishable from corrupt career politicians. By the same token, highly-visible appointments of incompetent sycophants like Press Secretary Scott McClellan or "Brownie" at FEMA remind voters that conservatives have standards no different from the alternative when they claim otherwise.
3. Populism. Joe the Plumber caught on because (finally) the case was made that confiscatory tax rates (40% on top income, 15.3% FICA/Medicare, once caps removed, 5-10% state income tax) mean that none of us can hope to have the financial success guaranteed to others by birth.
Down-to-earth, Fargo-talking Palin was a missed opportunity because almost immediately for some reason she was served up to the DC press in gottcha interviews and caricatured as a hockey-mom bimbo by NY-DC grandees of her own party. Eisenhower and Reagan worked because they were able to show the people that they came from, and were one with, them, and convince the people that they did better even when the rich were better off as well. The critical argument that the liberal party is now anti-populist and mostly one of the largely affluent who want government to enact a boutique, utopian social agenda, and the poor who want redistribution and guaranteed government 24/7 attention, was never seriously made.
PS. I think out-of-power conservatives have a real opportunity to show that they will express differences in a professional, constructive fashion that puts the country first and politics second, and that was not always true of the last eight years when we got everything from the Knopf novel Checkpoint to the Gabriel Range film to the (failed) effort to rename a sewer plant after the President.
“Down-to-earth, Fargo-talking Palin was a missed opportunity because almost immediately for some reason she was served up to the DC press in gottcha interviews and caricatured as a hockey-mom bimbo by NY-DC grandees of her own party.”
You betcha. If I’m not mistaken, NRO themselves took part in that shameful display.
And the RNC itself, who coordinate national strategies and focus on messages, behaved like they were running grade-school car wash. When House Minority Leader John Boehner was asked about another "Contract with America", he replied "There will be no effort to try to nationalize the elections." Great call there, Mr Brilliant. The Democrats held a National Campaign, and you decide it's 'every man for himself'. That's timidity, atop stupidity. He should be pulled from his office, suit stripped from him, and tossed into the gutter without even a look back to pity him. Certainly he should never be in such a position again.... but the same louts who voted him Leader before will do so again, comfy in their minority status.
Agreed. The GOP needs to give its governors an opportunity to be the face of the party (ie Govs. Palin, Jindal, and Sanford). I think the GOP also needs to squash the ‘next in line’ presidential nonsense. That last worked in 1988. The GOP has taken back the presidency from the Democrats over the last 40 years when it’s run governors as its presidential nominee (ie Bush, Reagan, and Nixon). Who was the last Republican senator to win the White House? Bueller, Bueller...
Harding, for those of you scoring at home. Before that, Benjamin Harrison.
The next Republican presidential nominee has to come from outside of DC. The Democrats are in control of the executive and legislative branch until 2010, for certain. This should give them plenty of rope. The GOP candidate will have to be able to critique them from afar. I do think that Gov. Palin should assume a prominent role as the face of the party. At the end of the day, she attracts plenty of attention. I don’t think she should automatically be the shoo-in as the nominee in 2012, though I certainly would not mind it. Jindal would be a great pick, one who could run on a record of solid, effective conservative leadership. And Sanford would be another clear conservative.
About the only senator I would consider would be someone like DeMint of South Carolina. If anything, he should get a more prominent role in the Senate GOP leadership.
How about the GOP is identified as the party of the rich, and here you have Wall Street screwing up everything and and a history of incompassion, to boot.
parsy, who wishes the GOP would conduct their auto-autopsy correctly.
mark
You can build that kind of reputation over the course of a primary campaign. Vice Presidential candidates rarely have the opportunity to do so. They get put on the spot all of a sudden and don't have much time to win voters over.
Once she blew those initial interviews, the undecideds moved away from our ticket and went Obama
Sarah did better later, but the damage was done.
Anybody with an IQ higher than an eggplant would know that the press was gunning for her - if she couldn't handle Katie Couric, she couldn't handle the Presidency.
Jindal graduated from Brown Univ., as well as Oxford.
McCain, like GW Bush, saw a move to the center as a way to grab minority votes and the “undecided” voters. This is a classic mistake in business, in war and as it happens, in politics.
Success comes from figuring out what you do well and then doing that thing better than the other guys do their thing. The Republicans needed to get the ball rolling with a real and honest conservative agenda including Border Security, Family Values, Smaller Government, and the Sanctity of Life.
When the Presidential Candidate goes to Washington and buys, wholesale, into bailouts for people that made bad decisions THEN blames Wall St. instead of the Democrats two bad things happen. First, true Conservatives lose confidence in his ability to represent their interests and, second, the Democrats become convinced that we're trying to squeeze in on their territory and pull out the “hypocrite” card. The issue with border security works just the same way.
The ONLY areas that McCain took a true conservative stance were on family values and abortion and he CRUSHED Obama on these issues.
Remember, if you don't define your position other people will define it for you and you may not like the results.
Perhaps I’m still in near depression mode from Black Tuesday, but I see little hope of conservatives ever again being a creditable political force. Why? We live in a crude, immoral country. With the unchecked media leading the charge, Christianity is mocked everywhere. Our values are regarded as an old fashioned relic of the past. Look at the “work ethic”; laziness and a hedonistic lifestyles are celebrated. Wealth spreading politicians are easily elected and re-elected. Personal and financial responsibility dismissed as virtues of the past. Bad personal financial decisions are someone else’s fault. When the dems are done with their complete power grap, the U.S. will soon be unrecognizable, a shell of its former greatness. May God have mercy on us, but sadly, I don’t think he’s listening anymore.
To prove your point....every show that has a deranged serial killer, the media makes sure he has a cross around his neck or a mother touting a Bible.
In a brief scene in the “Changeling”, which I saw last night,we see the desk of the monstrous killer and on it is a rosary and an opened Bible.Subtle ,but seen over and over, it leaves a mark.And it is deliberate.
I am going to research this to see if it is possible that this was a true depiction of this killer but I doubt it.
To prove your point....every show that has a deranged serial killer, the media makes sure he has a cross around his neck or a mother touting a Bible.
In a brief scene in the “Changeling”, which I saw last night,we see the desk of the monstrous killer and on it is a rosary and an opened Bible.Subtle ,but seen over and over, it leaves a mark.And it is deliberate.
I am going to research this to see if it is possible that this was a true depiction of this killer but I doubt it.
Your God reigns and nothing happens without His approval. Obama is under His thumb. Whether God blesses this country or damns it, He is on His throne taking care of everything including you my brother...
Dead on.
The bottom line is you have to nominate candidates that actually believe in something. McCain is the classic example of a guy with no true ideological underpinnings. When the nominee or people associated with the campaign seriously consider Joe Lieberman a potential VP on the Republican ticket it demonstrates they value nothing beyond garnering votes.
Thanks for your comments. I know God is in control of this world, chooses its leaders and humbles the proud. I’m just frustrated that the world is so evil.
The best part of those interviews, especially the one with the Chipmunk from Hell, ended up on the cutting room floor. It was heavily edited to remove lucid responses. It was a hit job.
Yup. And may we never forget the "I would seek Al Gore's guidance on the global warming crisis" and "Andrew Cuomo would make a great SEC chairman" moments.
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