When there is no clear alternative, how can you expect people to turn to it?

So part of the problem is articulating a platform that speaks to real concerns.

Another thing conservatives have to do is look in the mirror. For all this talk about elites and grassroots, the base LOVED George Bush. I mean, without rabid base support, Bush wouldn’t have gotten reelected. If the base actually did have a platform that attempted to address 21st century issues though, then I think the base wouldn’t have been so infatuated with Bush. Because in all honesty, it was Easy for Bush to live up to conservative standards. Be pro free trade, pro tax cuts, pro conservative judges, pro conservative populist issues (pro life, anti gay marriage) and he met every single criteria that conservatives cared about. Throw in some generic boilerplate scraps for moderates (healthcare- medicare expansion, education- no child left behind) and he had all he needed. Even though none of these things addressed the problems we are facing. Reagan had already proved that the base could love you without you having to be a fiscal hawk.

But all in all, I agree with the gist of the message. Don’t be a rubberstamp for party elites. My only advice is to keep that in mind WHILE they are in power.

If you go back to each of Obama’s goals, we would agree with the goal but disagree with his method to achieve it. We all want health care to provide more value, but increased regulation and his governmental approach will provide less heath care at a higher cost. More doctors and nurses, more competition, and less government mandates will lower the cost. All you need to do is compare lasik eye surgery which is not covered by insurance to procedures that are covered. Lasik surgery’s cost has fallen, while covered services have increased in cost.

Our problem is one of communication. The republican party needs to look at Obama’s campaign tactics and use similar approaches. A section on e

I am organizing a debate/discussion group for my Republican Women’s org and my initial theme is “Why can’t our leaders act like .. us?” I didn’t realize there is so much discussion going on about this. So far I have 2 grassroots speakers (local L.A. club leaders), 1 from the Calif. Rep. Party and looking for a 4th. Your conversations have clarified for me what kind of person I should be looking for.

No to Libertarian Party. No to Conservative Party. Lincoln is my man. We just have to take the GOP back or at least remake it.

Really? Denis Leary wants someone “smarter than he is” to tell him how to live his life?”

What Mr. Leary wants is someone intelligent enough to defend this country w/o getting it involved in wars that are good for oil companies & defense contractors, & not for anyone else, not someone to tell him how to live.

Funny that that’s what all you freedom-loving, hard-working conservatives think of the minute that a competent gov’t. is mentioned. You’re all projecting your own fears about your authoritarian personalities. Think about how all of you are in love w/ Reagan before you start claiming the left is looking for a Hitler.

And please, all you elitist snobs stop looking down your noses at us “common folk.”

Once you understand this, you understand the animosity aimed at Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin. Neither of them was smart in school (I presume with Joe, and have read such with regards to Palin) and neither comes off as particularly sophisticated. Believe it or not, I heard Denis Leary, of all people, saying he wants his President to be someone smarter than he. You wonder why he thinks his ancestors left Ireland: there were people smarter than them there, who could tell them how to live, when to plant potatoes, and where to bury those who couldn’t live on what they could grow or earn. Instead he’s stranded here in America, looking for a ruling class to tell him how to live his life. Truly strange.

So there you have it. What the Republican party needs, according to these critics, is a leader. Someone who went to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, one of those places. Certainly not a state university, and definitely not a community college. He should wear a suit well, speak clearly, and have good hair and a sincere (fake) smile. If anyone thinks this bears any resemblance to someone in the Republican party, well…of course Mitt Romney comes to mind immediately, doesn’t he? Denis Leary would be happy, because Romney’s smarter than he. Of course, the problem is Romney would lose, because nobody in the country is going to get excited about a middle-aged white Mormon when we have a brilliant black savior in the White House. Unless the party wakes up to this, we’re screwed, for a good long while. The last truly populous president we had was Reagan, and we all know what a failure he was. The Democrats are determined that we don’t repeat our failure with Palin or Jindal, or someone else who doesn’t come from the right family.

Everyone else is welcome. Atheists, Fundamentalists….its a Conservative Party, and you bring what you have.

Now, Marc Malone makes a large, good point. We bring people to our point of view, we don’t go to theirs. This is excellent and needs to be trumpeted from the hills.

But he makes two errors as well.

1)Palin ‘less density’, and we should have biz leaders instead. Nothing wrong with a biz leader, but they should be at least equal to Palin before we replace her, eh?

Gov. of major state=Fortune 500 CEO
Real Conservative=Unfortunately many CEO’s lack values conservatism without which they cannot win.

Plus many CEO’s are Pro-Business, not Pro-Free Enterprise. This latter lack is not entirely their fault. Bill Gates ignored the liberal philanthropy gig, and the lobbying in DC until his company nearly got broken by the Dept. of Justice. Now he gives away a lot of money, and he has a massive lobbying group in DC. And he has no problems with the DOJ. Coin-k-dink?

The problem with this is that this process is corrupting. Is such a CEO going to do the Free Enterprise thing or is he going to do more of what he’s been trained to do which is Corruption?

But lets say we can find a genuine Free Marketeer among our Business Elite.

Now he also has to have the ability to connect with the crowds like Palin does.

And only now is he equal to Palin. And yes, the Dems and the MSM will do a ‘politics of personal destruction’ attack on him just like they did with Palin.

The other, deeper problem with Malone’s theory is a need to broaden the perspective. The carrot is well and good, but sometimes the stick is needed to keep everyone honest.

GWB gave some decent speeches. He was not as bad as a lot of people said. In the run-up to the War he made his case, and anti-war people said “Oh, I’m listening, and if only he made his case, I’d agree.”

Garbage.

Lucy jerking the football out in front of Charlie Brown.

“Just try again, with a little more feeling, and you might convince me.” If Bush had spoken so that angels wept, it would have done little good without fear. Fear keeps the various sides honest.

If we had Malone’s supersmart ultra cool Biz Leader nominee, he would not be able to get everyone on board without some fear in the background, the steel inside the velvet glove.

It was pretty clear from logic that Sen. McCain was a terrible choice. Experience also proves that case. But you would have looked long and hard to find a RINO who would admit that before the election (unless they were David Brooks and decided McCain wasn’t Democratic enough.)

Or NRO’s Derbyshire from last week. The elitists need to go where they belong, the ash heap of history.

The GoP is no longer Conservatism, just progressivism lite. And has not been for years.

How about the Constitution Party? Get back to the real basics of the Republic before we lose it or the Lightworker takes it from us forcibly.

Its time for conservatives to get rid of the people who feel that being more like Democrats is the way to go.

I never understand people who feel not including hommosexual or suicide bombers is intolerant but attacking the religious or people who agree with Limbaugh is being progressive.