Replies

This is a very important thread. It pretty much summarizes what's going on in this country right now -- a battle between good and evil.

Right after 9/11, GWB had the right idea, by calling it that. His failure is that he hasn't pounded away at that theme, having been distracted by those who caution him about appearing to be insensitive or racist. He was not being insensitive or racist. He was telling the truth, and leading. And he needs to do a lot more of that, and quickly.

Gunshy, I agree with your statement that no republican in Congress can save this country. But I do believe GWB could, if he would cast off all the concerns of his administration and do what is in his heart.

If he would LEAD, if he would make calculated decisions, if he would explain WHY things are happening, or WHY things aren't being explained, he'd been doing better than he is.

It's his job to convince the administration to come to an agreement over Iraq, not the other way around. Or at least it should seem that way to us.

We can keep pounding away on our computers, pasting our opinions on FR month after month and pull a straight party GOP lever in November and it isn't going to make a damn bit of difference.

That's because Bill Clinton was too successful in his PR war against the republicans and conservatives -- and because the GOP isn't doing enough to combat the false image he and his cronies were able to project.

No matter how much you (we, anyone)hates Democrats and the Clinton way of thinking -- it is way too prevalent to be easily or immediately "overthrown."

You have to fight fire with fire. And that means throwing back all the Democratic crap they've spewed at us for so many years back in their faces. And not giving them any more ammnuniton.

To that end, the GOP has a big PR job to do:

1) OPEN GOVERNMENT should be THE MAJOR theme, after eight years of Clinton.All week long at the intelligence committee hearings, the senators have been clamoring about how Americans deserve to know what happened prior to 9/11. TELL THEM. TELL THEM ALL OF IT, AND LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES.

2) Forget the ridiculous notion that criminal suspects in the U.S.(American and otherwise) should be denied access to an attorney, or that their conversations with their attorneys should be monitored. If we don't believe in our system of justice or the Constitution, then they should be altered. But the alterations should be done by the Congress, not the executive branch.

If those labeled "enemy combatants" are truly enemy soldiers, then they should be subject to the rules of the Geneva convention. If they are so dangerous that their very existence threatens the United States, they should be executed.

3). Forget "negative campaigning." When there's a crime, call it a crime, and cast blame where it belongs, and indict people who need to be indicted. Including former presidents.

4) Find women who are reflective of America and put them on TV (and in office), women who will champion the republican platform --including the fact that abortion is a crime and a sin. This means republican men have to start trusting women to this type of position, and listening to and respecting women who might not look as perfect as Ann Coulter or Phllis Schafly or Elizabeth Dole, or any of the few other(true) GOP women out there in the public eye.

It also means that republican women have to trust themselves. Stand up for your beliefs,ladies, and don't be afraid to give interviews, and write letters to newspapers and publications, and call talkshows. And start by doing it in your own little social group. It's not as difficult as you think it will be at first, and you'll sure find out who your real friends are quickly.

It is important for Jim to remember that many of us are represented by republicans we don't believe to be real republicans. For example, Jim, would YOU vote for Arlen Specter? Would you vote for someone who supports abortion, who voted against the impeachment of Clinton (and essentially misled the electorate about that, just prior to being re-elected in 1998?) Not to mention his past history on the Warren Commission?

WE have allowed the democratic party (and to a lesser degree, the GOP) to hijack us. Gunshy is absolutely right about this. And unless WE TAKE ACTION, nothing is going to change. And action does change things. You'd be surprised how much one letter to a congressional office, or to a newspaper or TV station, can achieve. It doesn't happen all the time. But your letter or call can be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

This is supposed to be an activist site. Voting for Republicans is fine. And Jim is right, the democratic platform is evil, and there was much evil accomplished under Clinton, probably much more than we even know.

But that evil continues. There are a lot of people without jobs in this country. Very shortly, the unemployment compensation for people laid off in the wake of 9/11 is going to run out. What is going to happen then? The GOP has had little or nothing to say about it.

It's all well and good for republicans to talk about cutting taxes and reforming social security. But when people have used up their (dried up) savings and maxed out their credit cards and can't find a job, and are still 20 years away from retirement age and have kids to feed,and are suddenly on the brink of becoming homeless, who do you think they're going to listen to, as it stands now? The democrats, or the republicans?

We can blame it on Bill Clinton and the democrats, but we better start looking at ourselves, imho. And calling the republicans to account, and quickly.

You either don't listen well, or have a faulty memory. President Bush said, after 9/11/01, that this is a different kind of war and that none of us should expect to hear very much about it. That's what's been going on and any PR work ( biting his lip, crying, letting cats out of bags, weekly, on T.V> and radio ... is NOT this presidents style, unwise and wouldn't do any good at all !) should be handled quite differently than what you want.

The hearings are just POSTURINGS for cameras. Both House get briefed . Are you THIS much of a political naif ?

The more people, who get off their duffs and work to get out the vote, this November, to help get GOP majorities in both Houses, the better. Like them or not, trust them or not, RINOS or NOT , once we have more than a slip of a majority, in both Houses, the RINOS can be made to toe the line. Just what part of this , is so incomprehensible and difficult for you to understand ?

Look, you may imagine that you are interested in politivs ; however, the problem with that, is you don't know anything , at all, abouut it, nor how it works. George Bush can do whatever he wants to , just as long as he has the guts to do it ? IN WHAT UNIVERSE ?

I generally agree with you glorygirl; Especially the part about 'negative' campaigning. The republicans are idiots to avoid negative campaigning. Negative campaigning in 1980 was awesomely effective at ejecting liberal democrats from the US Senate. I personally advocate negative campaigning against both democrat and republican incumbents.

But the problem with the Republican party is that they really do dislike conservatives, they do stand for the rich generally and they don't care about america. We ridicule some of them as RINO's, but the problem is that these people are real republicans. The Republican voters may be a lot more tilted to the right than the republican leaders, but that doesn't matter.

Republicans today are growing the government at 13.9% and most of the growth is not for either defense or homeland security. Sadly, I've already decided that the republicans are just as much an enemy of mine as the democrats are and I used to be a very loyal republican.

In my state, Arizona, a liberal group of republicans took over about 6-7 years ago after a conservative group of republicans was pushed aside. The liberal group has performed just as terribly as could be. They are a disaster. The more I think about it, people who tell me I have to vote for these dogs are offending me. I vote against the republicans because of the things that republicans in my state and at the national level as well have actually done.

And let me say also that these republicans are liars. They campaign one way and rule another. There are exceptions, but normally republicans are liars. Did George Bush say in the campaign that he was going to grow government faster than anyone since LBJ? I place a high value on integrity. Republicans come up short.

I also have a long memory. I remember the day when Alan Keyes was debating Bush and at the end the various republican candidates were all shaking each others' hands. George Bush on that day refused to shake Alan Keyes' hand. This is not an aberration. Bush' father spoke very negatively of reagan in the 1980 campaign. National Review said that in private moments the senior Bush had tremendous venom for conservatives. I remember when Jim Rhodes, leader of house repubs for about 10 years, retired. He said conservatives were no good at that time. I remember when Jerry Ford said in 1980 after Reagan had already won all the primaries that Ronald reagan was unfit to be the republican nominee.

After a whole bunch of slaps in the face, don't you get the message? I do.