Ryan, Rubio Seek Party Rebranding

WSJ ^ | 04 Dec 2012 | Neil King Jr.

[Theoria]

Two of the Republican Party's most prominent voices, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, laid out their visions for broadening the GOP's economic message in dual speeches Tuesday, as conservatives seek new moorings in the aftermath of Mitt Romney's presidential defeat last month.

The speeches revealed Mr. Ryan and Mr. Rubio—respectively, the party's most recent vice-presidential nominee and a freshman senator seen as a rising star—moving briskly to rebrand both themselves and their party at a time of debate and introspection over how to steer the GOP in a new direction.

The men, both seen as potential 2016 presidential hopefuls, used a packed awards dinner hosted by the Jack Kemp Foundation to lay out their views on the role of government in strengthening the middle class and assisting the poor.

Mr. Ryan's speech was his first since his loss as part of the GOP presidential ticket a month ago. Some of their remarks came off as subtle jabs at Mr. Romney and his contention during the campaign that 47% of Americans were irredeemably reliant on government aid.

"Some say that…too manypeople want things from government," said Mr. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants. "But I am still convinced that the overwhelming majority of our people just want what my parents had: a chance."

Mr. Ryan noted that the late Mr. Kemp—his onetime mentor, a congressman and a predecessor as a GOP vice-presidential nominee—"hated the idea that any part of America could be written off."

Conservatives have criticized the Romney campaign for focusing so heavily on small-business owners and for not making a convincing case for how his ideas would benefit the poor and the working class.

[VideoDoctor]

We need a new party. The GOPe would rather lose than win the right way.

You're right as rain. There are MILLIONS of us who are ready for a THIRD PARTY and right NOW.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Do you have a plan to get where you want to go with a new party? I say it’s impossible but if you can lay out a logical strategy, I’m willing to listen.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Sarah Palin is the only person who could start one.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

So let me get this right, did you stay home and not vote for Romney? If you did and now we're saddled with this disaster and you're cursing where we are, I say, you helped build this and now you want to crab about it.

I do not like this mob mentality here on FR. You will never get where you want to go by everyone going off in their own direction. It won''t work so like it or not, stop and think.

[baddog 219]

New Party... Maybe call it the American Party.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Well first off, we need a contrast.

I say position #1 is jobs.

Not unions though. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

That is a very important start.

It gets more dicey when considering how that can be done. I would support tariffs but I know a lot of people will complain (big) about that.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

But you’re going to need the exact same people unless you think some new ones are going to drop down from heaven.

[RitaOK]

There you go, in a nut shell. The media demands are entrenched around their God, cash, just as you say. The pundits therein agree to assist in that endeavour. Very sad.

I’m done with it, short of a real resistance appearing on the horizon.
So far........crickets.

[grcuster]

I agree, we need to split. I had a call from the NRCC asking for money yesterday and I told them H*** NO, for all they provide is a bunch of mealy mouth RINOs who don't know how to fight or what to fight for (except to help the Dims). I'm finished with these pussies within the Republican circle. They are no different than the Dims, except for the Dims you know where they are going, the RINOs are using a circular route to get to the same destination which is their socialistic ideology.

[Graewoulf]

Clueless RINO File, DUH.

[danielmryan]

Just a word of caution about getting behind a third party. Conservatives in Canada, primarily from Western Canada, did precisely that from 1987 to 2000. Their vehicle was the Reform Party, and it was pretty successful in its heyday.

But, their very success split the Tories. The result was a veritable Liberal hegemony from 1993 to 2006, when Stephen Harper became Prime Minister. For his first two terms, he had to all but drop the socon planks because he only had a minority government [i.e., a plurality of seats in Parliament but not a majority.]

The third, conservative party idea might well be viable now because of disillusionment/disgust at Romney and the GOP Establishment. But, the above recounting - much more recent than your narrative about the decline of the Whigs - shows you what you'll likely be in for. If you think you can abide the risk - Dems enjoying a virtual hegemony in Congress and the Presidency for about a decade - then by all means go for it. Just keep in mind that you'll attract more than your share of doomsayers. They won't mind the idea of the Dems having a virtual hegemony because they like the idea of a collapse being blamed squarely on the Dems. They might well be your happy warriors in the third party.

But that means you'll have trouble grafting the old Reaganism onto the party. Reaganauts, being professional optimists, won't mix very well with the doomsayers.

Just to let you know: I'm posting this reply to inform, not to dissuade. I lived through something similar in Canada, and want any third partiers to get an idea of what they're in for if they succeed in representing those millions.

[hosepipe]

Ryan and Rubio have the republican party by the arms and are playing “Weekend at Bernies”..
NOT really very funny..

[Redcloak]

"New moorings"? How about one that's tried and true?

[chris37]

I voted for Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary and for Mitt Romney in the general, grandma.

I’m not going to get anywhere I want with the GOP either, and I am going to do my damn best to defeat them for their betrayal and cowardice.

Republican = enemy.

[Rome2000]

Rubio is a shyster lawyer and Miami hack who never held a real job in his life and teamed up with that fake orange suntan faggot Charlie Crist in the Florida legislature to pass primary seatmate enforcement.

He is MYTH SLICK WILLARD ROMNEY with a suntan, and is all about granting citizenship and the franchise to the degenerate illegal aliens.

NOT A CONSERVATIVE.

Paul Ryan, what a BRILLIANT choice by the Melchidezek Bishop Willard Romney, that Ryan, yeah, he really added GRAVITAS to the spaceship.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[itsahoot]

Duck, I hear incoming.

[SueRae]

Read a bit about this. bookmarking for later. THanks!!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The result was a veritable Liberal hegemony...

And how would that be different from what we've got?

[TADSLOS]

Typical GOPthink. “Let’s put our loser crap in a new box with unicorns and sparkly stuff on it- that’ll SELL!”