Posted on 10/01/2014 4:53:44 PM PDT by Faith Presses On
ne month before the midterms, the general election debates are underway. Aiming at a broad electorate, candidates are looking for issues where the public agrees with them and dodging issues where they might lose votes. Democrats aren’t talking much about President Obama, and nobody’s gloating about the economy. But on social issues, the tide of cowardice is running the other way: Republicans are mumbling, cringing, and ducking. They don’t want the election to be about these issues, even in red states.
Let’s take a look at some recent encounters. Watch the Democrats attack and the Republicans squirm.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Consider the source.
Yes, I agree. I’m certainly doing that. Yet it’s something I’m noticing myself, living in Kentucky. All the ads for the Senate race seem to be about financial issues, except for one about gun ownership. There are still so many Americans who support Christians values, as polls show, yet the churches (publicly “led” in a sense by Rick Warren) and politicians aren’t interested in defending them. I can’t help but arrive at the conclusion, from having taken in years of comments from these people, that for many Christianity is a public act that they wouldn’t mind jettisoning.
Its what many FReepers have been telling them to do. (Don’t walk into that trap)
Yep. In a climate of no morals, it is indeed a trap.
Best for the Republican party to flush this G_D thing as fast as they can. Morals, faith, spirituality are all old out dated ideals and they need to go. Your father Satan waits for you on the other side, quick get in line.
They may wear the brand of Republican but are certainly not Conservative. The non-Conservative wing of the Republican party has existed for decades and has included Bob LaFollette and Teddy Roosevelt, both of whom I consider socialists. Later, it was Jacob Javits and Nelson Rockefeller whose goal was to stop Barry Goldwater since, at least at the time, AuH20 did hew to Conservative values. It can be argued that the first GOP President, Abraham Lincoln, was not Conservative -- but that's a whole Pandora's box right there, being all too familiar with the Civil War/WBTS/War of Yankee Aggression/The Recent Unpleasantness threads. :)
If they actually had principles, and understood the existential threat to the country and to liberty represented by abortion and homosexuality, they would destroy the Left.
But no, they are unprincipled, ignorant, cowards.
And therefore, part of the problem.
Appropriate Headline:
Slate tries valiantly to depress conservative turnout.
BTW, I happen to agree with Santorum, and have no problem with conversations about them in the grassroots, that is part of our purpose....it is a BAD idea for a presidential candidate to discuss them at length as Santorum did. Even Reagan was wise enough to avoid it and that was 34 years ago.....since Reagan WON two terms to the presidency, and Santorum hasn't even won the Republican nomination (and likely never will) it is far wiser for a Republican Presidential candidate to follow Reagan's example than Santorum's. BTW, Santorum spent little time on these issues either time, in the general elections for the PA Senate.
There is a minority of Republicans who would like to see social conservatives go away, you're absolutely right. However, all Republicans must understand, we're ALL a part of the Republican Party and must learn to respect the right of members of our party to hold varying opinions on these issues. That doesn't mean we can't still continue to try and win over people's hearts and minds both on our side and the left.
“Reagan was wise enough to avoid it ... (and) WON two terms”
But the culture kept getting worse despite and now we’re at persecution’s door.
When Republicans aren’t in power they say, we can’t talk about these issues if we want to get in power. When they’re in power they say, we can’t talk about these issues if we want to retain power.
Look at the primaries in Mississippi where the establishment used their influence over the courts and the party to ensure Cochran was the candidate. Kansas and Kentucky and other states where they defeated the Tea Party candidate by setting out to destroy their professional reputations. South Carolina and Tennessee and states where the establishment incumbent has mocked and belittled the Tea Party and their ideals. Look at all that and then let me ask you this; what lesson is the GOPe supposed to take away from this election? If they can pull every string and use every dirty trick in the book to hold on to thier seats, and still have people like you saying we still need to vote for them blindly and unquestioningly because two years of Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader is better than two years of Harry Reid then what hope to we have of ever changing anything? What chance is there of ever having a Republican Party where men like Ted Cruz are the norm with in the party and not the pariah? What reason is there for the Tea Party or any other Conservative movement within the party to exist? If at the end of the day the establishment can brush any dissent conpemptuously aside and not pay a price for it then what is the purpose of trying to change anything? Can you answer that for me please?
You may have an argument for Mississippi; the rest of the states you mentioned sound to me like hard fought politics as usual.
Expecting incumbent office holders to roll over for challengers is foolish. They won’t do it, and should not be expected to do so.
The Republican party leadership has, in many ways, lost its way. We can agree on that fact.
The same thing could be said for that entity in the 1970s...and Ronald Reagan didn’t walk away from the party. He worked to change it, and it wasn’t easy. But he didn’t just walk out. I suggest we who consider ourselves conservative follow his example.
By the way, it seems as though Reagan was the “pariah” with the establishment, even after he won the Presidency. He just kept going.
My point is that these intraparty political battles will never, EVAH end. Ever. The same thing was happening in the DemonRat party of the 1980s. The Star Wars bar scene that is the DemonRat constituency had massive battles over ideology and what was considered “best” for the advancement of the organization.
The point is there are TWO and only TWO electable national parties. DemonRat and Republican. The former is lost, if not forever, for at least a generation or two. The latter is still salvageable, in my opinion.
Tilt at windmills like Don Quixote if you like; I’d rather do what Reagan did and work within the party that is the electable, most conservative one of the two.
I’ve done my best to answer your question in the time I have.
Why only Mississippi? In Kentucky McConnell attacked his opponent's business practices implying he was a criminal. In Kansas, the establishment got the state medical ethics board to launch an investigation into Wolf that could damage or destroy his career. In both states, and in dozens of others, the establishment has treated the Tea Party with lip service at best, and total contempt for the most part. And now they expect the Conservatives to come back in lemming-like fashion to pull the leaver and send their worthless asses back to DC. And when folks like you march lock-step and do that then that reinforces their contempt and their tactics. So a couple of years from now the establihment will do the same things, ignore the Tea Party once again, and nothing will change.
The very sould of the Republican Party is as stake here. The establishment has made their contempt known and are bound and determined that the Tea Party and true conservatism will never take over the party. Fine. In the immortal words of John Parker, "If they mean to have a war, then let it start here." In Kansas. With Roberts.
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