Posted on 11/07/2014 7:14:59 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Memo to the GOP. You had a great night on Tuesday. But remember: You didn’t win it; the Democrats lost it.
This is not to say that you didn’t show discipline in making the election a referendum on six years of Barack Obama. You exercised adult supervision over the choice of candidates. You didn’t allow yourselves to go down the byways of gender and other identity politics.
It showed: A gain of probably nine Senate seats, the largest Republican House majority in more than 80 years, and astonishing gubernatorial victories, including Massachusetts, Maryland, and Illinois, the bluest of the blue, giving the lie to the Democrats’ excuse that they lost because the game was played on Republican turf.
The defeat — “a massacre,” The Economist called it — marks the final collapse of Obamaism, a species of left-liberalism so intrusive, so incompetently executed, and ultimately so unpopular that it will be seen as a parenthesis in American political history. Notwithstanding Obama’s awkward denials at his next-day news conference, he himself defined the election when he insisted just last month that “these [i.e. his] policies are on the ballot — every single one of them.”
They were, and America spoke. But it was a negative judgment, not an endorsement of the GOP. The prize for winning is nothing but the opportunity for Republicans to show that they can govern — the opportunity to seize the national agenda.
Five weeks ago, I suggested a series of initiatives that would be like the 1994 “Contract with America,” but this time post facto. It’s not rocket science. Mitch McConnell, the incoming Senate majority leader, and House speaker John Boehner are already at work producing such an agenda.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
First go back through the 300 plus bills passed by the house but tabled by Harry Reid, and bring those that are still timely to the Senate floor.
I just don’t see McConnell and Boehner suddenly changing their spots. They just can’t stand up to obama and furthermore, they don’t want the kind of change Charles has described.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Yes, but make sure Obama doesn’t try to claim credit for any of the Republican successes! (Like Clinton claimed success for the Reagan economy)
Agree, I don’t see it either. They both need to be replaced. That would signify real change within the party.
This is really sound advice. If the voters see reasonable legislation rejected by a radical then the wave will continue to roll.
it would be a real start.
Do not need any more ‘good’ laws. Need to get rid of most of the old bad laws and let the private sector do its job.
The government is a disaster and can do nothing except spend money and shaft the American people.
There’s a big split in the Dem Party between the pragmatists (Hillary) and true believers (Obama). Driving a crowbar into that split should be the goal of the GOP, and Krauthammer nails how to do it.
Piss off the true believers enough, goad them into a visceral reaction against the turncoat pramatists and you end up with Warren or O’Malley as the nominee (easier to beat) or a very severely damaged Hillary who has to struggle to turnout the insulted true believers.
Why aren’t the smartest people like Dr. K. in office? At least two reasons: Because some of the dumbest people make up the voting majority, and the smartest people don’t want to be dragged through the muck of a campaign.
Wish they would at least take on people Like Dr. Krauthammer as advisors.
They will have to be re-passed by the House. All bills of the current Congress that have not had final action before the end of the term go into the dumpster.
I just don’t see McConnell and Boehner suddenly changing their spots. They just can’t stand up to obama and furthermore, they don’t want the kind of change Charles has described.
++++
I’m no fan of the current GOP leadership either. But I think it is time for a bit of a breather from the GOPe Is Death rants. Personally I find them quite tiresome. We have had a historic election victory. There were many Tea Party victories. Not as many as we would have liked but many nevertheless.
And is there any doubt that it was the Tea Party and not the GOPe wing of the Republican Party that gave us this victory? It is time to savor it while we focus on keeping the GOP feet to the fire.
Enough is enough with the GOPe ranting.
seriously, do you think they are the right men for those leadership roles?
It’s nice to make happy talk for a few days, but we must hold the leaderships feet to the fire.
Send a one item bill to Obama’s desk:
No one is exempt from Obamacare.
seriously, do you think they are the right men for those leadership roles?
++++
I’d take Trey Gowdy and Ted Cruz in a heartbeat.
But neither represent the average GOP member of Congress. Would we be happy with Mark Kirk leading the Senate? I don’t think so. The current leaders are at the Center of Mass for the GOP. Our job is to move that center further and further to the right.
We Freepers are, without a doubt, far right. Me too. It’s the right place to be, the honest place to be. But it is not the average. I seriously doubt that we will ever be happy with the leadership. Newt was as close as we ever got. And he quit on us.
That guy says it well and doesn’t hold back. Nothing like a reformed liberal to get the point across.
The wave vote on Tuesday was not about “center of mass” my FRiend, it was about turning the ship around. McConnell and Boehner are not strong enough leaders for that kind of work. I’ll take Cruz and Gowdy too!
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