Posted on 05/03/2009 6:05:21 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Saturday that it's time for the Republican Party to give up its "nostalgia" for the heyday of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by Democrats in the 2008 election.
"You can't beat something with nothing, and the other side has something. I don't like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that," Mr. Bush said.
The former president's brother, often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2012, said President Obama's message of hope and change during the 2008 campaign clearly resonated with Americans.
"So our ideas need to be forward looking and relevant. I felt like there was a lot of nostalgia and the good old days in the [Republican] messaging. I mean, it's great, but it doesn't draw people toward your cause," Mr. Bush said.
"From the conservative side, it's time for us to listen first, to learn a little bit, to upgrade our message a little bit, to not be nostalgic about the past because, you know, things do ebb and flow."
The Florida governor joined former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor on Saturday at a small pizza parlor in Arlington for the inaugural event of the National Council for a New America (NCNA).
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Reaganism is what will repair the damage currently being inflicted on our country.
I suppose he ‘understands’ why Specter had to leave the GOP.
Thanks for posting those graphs. Fit very well with the figures in my post #12.
...and the Republicans will continue to lose. Abandon conservative principles and lose every time. Try to be more “moderate” (e.g. liberal-lite) and lose by alienating your base and winning no additional votes from the other side. Apparently the Republicans are not only cowards, but also idiots.
Isn’t it ironic how the Republicans are acting more liberal in the hopes of getting elected, while liberals campaign on conservative principals in many cases to get elected (and do) and then flip back to left-wing mode(see relevant portions of Obama’s campaign).
It’s bizarro world.
What does Jeb want us to do, join the communist party?
Memo to Jeb Bush:
It’s better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
- Protect and Defend unborn life
- Strong National Defense
- Limited, smaller government
- Lower Taxes
I think I’ll stick with Ronald Reagan.
It seems Jeb didn't mention that the Republican party had something that won landslide victories and eventually control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. It's that something his father and brother rode into the White House. It certainly wasn't their charisma or eloquence that got them elected.
He also failed to mentioned that it was his father and brother who weakened and trashed the coalition and party that Reagan built. It took them twelve years, but the two Bush presidents turned the near dominant Republican party into the lost in the wilderness weakling that we see today.
The Bushes aren't the solution. They and what they did to the Republican party are the problem.
When you "upgrade" them, when you make them more "relevant" for the "times", you change them...and are left with no foundation and only an appeal to emotion.
That's what the dems have and I do not want that for me, my kids or my grandkids...because down that path lies an increased loss of liberty, a shrinking, diminishing life style, and a controlled mass of people more akin to marxism...which is exactly where the dems have arrived at.
That's what they "have" Jeb and I want nothing to do with it.
What we need to do is educate those around us, and then stick to our foundational roots. The real reason we lost is because RINOs departed from those roots and broke trust with the people who elected them.
So, no thanks Jeb, I'm not buying what you're trying to sell. Sounds like political opportunism to me...and that do wont hunt. Not for long anyway.
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IN HIS OWN WORDS
NOW WE KNOW WHAT A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER DOES
OBAMA, THE STOCK MARKET, AND ENERGY
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING
This is what the Bush/Romney/McCain RINOs want you to “move away from”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEDIdPuUG70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsXVLRoFNcY
If the dems stoop to stealing elections and election fraud, so should we? What kind of election strategy is that? I would much rather lose every single election and still have my integrity than to win using fraud, deceit and lies. Let the other side do that. Once we lose our conservative principles, we might as well allow the country to commit mass suicide. It is precisely when our conservative principles are under attack that we must fight the hardest to protect them, not give in to pressure to surrender them.
If the dems stoop to stealing elections and election fraud, so should we? What kind of election strategy is that? I would much rather lose every single election and still have my integrity than to win using fraud, deceit and lies. Let the other side do that. Once we lose our conservative principles, we might as well allow the country to commit mass suicide. It is precisely when our conservative principles are under attack that we must fight the hardest to protect them, not give in to pressure to surrender them.
That is the first intelligent comment I have read on this thread.
“It is definitely time to leave the Bushes behind. No more Bushes!”
100% true. The two RINOS really weakened the party.
I do think though that the memory of Reagan may have lost its power as a motivator for younger voters. No American under 43 has had the privilege of voting for him and much of our electorate were children when he was in office.
This is exactly what’s wrong with most of the leadership of the Republican Party.
They just don’t get it.
Frankly, I’m glad McDumb lost...it is time for the party to figure out that when they leave conservative principles behind...we lose.
We have been learning this lesson for fifty years...and everybody we forget it...electoral oblivion beckons.
Time to give up valuing something that happened 25 years ago? I still revere Abraham Lincoln. And Jesus.
I'm amazed at how many are able to utter that phrase, or one like it, with a straight face. On the bright side, it serves as a useful litmus test for politicians and pundits, et al.
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