Posted on 09/04/2009 8:06:05 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
Look at the definition of the word!
Even Republican and Democrap websites refer to the animals as a mascot!
What is your problem?
The Republican party is not on the verge of being replaced by some nonexistent party that only exists in your personal fantasy.
Any organization whose leadership isolates itself from its customers can die. The name of the person whose patience is exhausted by betrayals by the Republican Party is "legion, for we are many." Your #57 says,“You can’t just pretend that a top republican is your candidate, respect Governor Palin and President Reagan enough to recognize them as GOP leaders and icons of the party that they have fought for and devoted their lives to.”
I noted that Reagan was hardly a lifelong Republican. Now let's talk about Gov. Palin. I don't know that she has ever been a Democrat, but Todd is an independent and she herself is a maverick Republican. In a quite different way, thank God, than John McCain. McCain's "maverickism" lies in his propensity for going along and getting along with AP journalism and thus with the Democratic Party which itself does little-to-nothing else but go along and get along with AP journalism. Palin's "maverickism" lies in her propensity for fighting and beating the old-boy network in the Republican Party whenever it runs at cross purposes to her perception of the public interest. She does it her own way, twice resigning when nobody thought that that was a career-enhancing move until after she had done it.The people who held their noses and voted for McCain last time, hoping against hope that Obama could be defeated, now have one more confirmation of the fact that Republicans can't please AP journalism - and those who try to, don't please anybody. Possibly even, less than a third of the voters. People tend to not bother going to the polls to swim against that kind of tide.
Rush has cautioned against third party, and rightly so. He sees the possibility that Palin could split the party if it doesn't nominate her. Third parties are by definition foolishness. What matters is to be the first party - and the country club Republican is comfortable taking a second party attitude (John McCain, Exhibit "A"). When the rich Democrat and the "poor" Democrat (whose life style compares favorably with that of the middle class only two generations ago) gang up with the monopoly Associated Press to attack the middle class, "second party" is not good enough for the quintessential middle class nation.
Sorry. I think we reached a tipping point where a majority of Americans will vote for “free stuff” over “obey the Constitution, cut taxes, reduce government control of lives of Americans, and support term limits.”
Face it. Nearly half the voting population pays no income taxes whatsoever. Worse, their numbers are going through government subsidies for illegitimacy. Are they going to vote to cut themselves off from the public trough? Somehow, I don’t think so. Even if they see that it is emptying, they will fight for the last scraps rather than pull back and let it refill.
Some Republicans talk of “rebranding the Party.” Such efforts will fail. Just because the cat has kittens in the oven, doesn’t make them biscuits.
Quite true, and an awful lot of people do not see this. 'Pod.
I will gladly throw the Republicans under the bus, even one heading for the cliff ....
This is the critical point which is NECESSARY for the success of a new party -- it MUST have members who have been prominent in OTHER parties (not an unknown one or two term Congressman who has been out of office for a decade or more, but politicians that people have actually heard of).
I've long maintained that part of the reason that the Republican party was successful in the 80s and 90s was because we purged the wackos (the Klan, the neo-Nazis, et al) from the party in the 70s and early 80s. The Democrats embraced their wackos (the communists, the hard greens, etc) and now it shows. Most of the country disagrees, violently, with what the hard left wing of the Democrat party believes. If they fail to purge their extremists, a good chunk of the middle will move to the Republican party, not because the middle suddenly became conservative, but because the Republican party would offer the only voice of sanity.
I can see three de facto parties emerging thusly: A hard left seriously wacko party (10-20%), a moderate party (40-50%) and a conservative party (30-40%). They may still be under the names "Democrat" and "Republican," but it'll be three parties nonetheless. We're already seeing the seeds of that, with the Blue Dog Democrats and the Tea Party movements.
This has probably been addressed, but -
why aren’t we concentrating on kicking out and marginalizing the elitists in the GOP?
Hmmm, how about a Kodiak Bear? :)
I think that is a good idea except for the reality that it is really difficult to kick people out of the party and there are a whole lot more than people realize and they are pretty firmly entrenched.
I'd go a step further - a national Primary day. I lived in Georgia during the last election. By the time Georgia had its primaries, my effective choices were down to McCain, Romney, or Huckabee, none of whom I thought were worth anything. I voted for Fred Thompson, even though he'd already pulled out of the race. My first choice was Duncan Hunter, but he'd been out of contention for so long that he wasn't even on the ballot anymore.
John / Billybob
John / Billybob
I’ve read a whole lot about the demise of the Whigs and the simultaneous rise of the GOP and I know it’s possible. I knew that a new party’s success hinges on having “big names” as members and I really like the way you described it. This has been the reason that third parties like the Libertarians and Constitutionalists have never made it, NOBODY (aside from hard-core political junkies) knows who their candidates are.
Evidently you are willing to repeat your fairy tale a lot, Palin is GOP, Reagan is GOP and no party is going to rise up suddenly and replace the GOP or the Democrat party.
You noted that Reagan switched from the Democrats to the GOP, big deal millions do that and always have, that isn’t a “third party”, Sarah Palin has always been a Republican.
I’m not much interested in her husband’s registration but since the family went national he has registered Republican, which is something that I have never done, I am a lifelong independent.
You want to beat an imaginary dead horse, and you want me to continue to waste time on your imaginary 2012 election where a non existing party, with powerful and charismatic, non existing candidates, running on an exciting vote winning non existing party platform is swept into office by it’s non existing members and voters.
Your personal fantasies are not worth wasting this much time and effort for.
I haven’t given much thought to a national primary day, but on the surface, it makes sense to me. I hate the fact that states like Iowa and New Hampshire crown the leaders early on.
I liked Fred Thompson too, despite his lousy campaign and after he left, I was hard pressed to find a conservative in the race.
We’ve got a young man, a genuine Reaganite, in the Indiana 9th CongDist to take the seat away from that idiot Baron Hill. Travis Hankins.
If Mike Sodrel decides to run, he’ll most likely take it.
But if Sodrel doesn’t run, I’m afraid the Republican establishment in the district and state will back a party “Yes” man, and I just don’t trust the TOP of the Republican Party anymore.
I’ve been looking at Todd Young, but my feeling is that he’ll just bend and bow for political gain and not operate on true principle.
I’m pulling for Travis Hankins.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.