Pajamas Media

102 Comments

1. Gary Ogletree:

My dad just got a fund raising letter from GOP Senator John Cornyn. Trouble is the Sarge has been in the Fort Sill Cemetery since 1975. “…this is how our party builds its victories,…” Like the esteemed Senator voting to confirm the clueless tax cheat for Treasury. And going AWOL for the pork package vote. Here’s hoping for some change that might be worth some change.

Feb 17, 2009 - 1:30 am 2. MG:

Great points. Who is going to run this rehab junket? If all of these points are taken care of early it might rally a base in time for the next elections. Please don’t let noonan, brooks or will be involved, as they love this republican spin dry cycle.

Feb 17, 2009 - 2:19 am 3. Bilgeman:

Mr. Hawkins:

“The GOP needs to do a better job of reaching out to Hispanics, blacks, Jews, Muslims, women, and young voters.”

With a media that is hostile to everything Republican?

Tall order, bub.

You’re falling into the Democratic trap by pigeonholing different groups of voters and then trying to pander to each group’s desires that are often diametrically opposed to the others.

Look, the GOP shouldn’t be crafting an appeal to Americans as they are, but rather to what people can become. Not “hyphenated=Americans”, but “plain ole ‘Murricans”.

Leave the “affirmation and celebration” of gay African-American unionionized left-handed atheists to the OTHER guys…such policies can only reinforce a perpetual state of disunion…a house divided against itself.
And I think that most Americans are mighty tired of that shit.

If the GOP cannot field candidates who uphold a few basic principles that encapsulate what Americans should WANT to be, and then further policies that help folks to attain and hew to those principles, then it shouldn’t be a party of governance because it will by default become a party of Democrat-Lites.

As Napoleon might have put it, it is the duty of the GOP to hoist an attractive enough banner to muster an army, not to attract the army and then decide what banner it will fly.

Feb 17, 2009 - 3:31 am 4. quasar:

Hawk, It’s true we need to reach out to other groups of voters, primarily dead voters, multiple voters and otherwise ineligible voters. It’ official! We are now a Banana Republic. This needs to change – and fast – or we’re done.

Feb 17, 2009 - 3:46 am 5. Bob:

There are two bright lights of hope for our party: (1) Michael Steele, an articulate conservative spokesman, is now captain of the team, and (2) House Republican Leader John Boehner was able to keep his members focused and solidly 100% against the Porkulus Bill. These facts should hep to start energizing the base, but we’ve definitely got a long way to go.

Feb 17, 2009 - 3:46 am 6. grampa guy:

There’s just one problem with all the talk about what’s going to happen to the Democrats in 2010:

We have to GET THERE FIRST.

I submit, if you ask Geert Wilders, the headless wife of the moderate Muslim in Buffalo, the families of the Cole victims or any hapless American called before the Truth Commissions, they will tell you that the corral has been locked AFTER the horses therein have been hobbled. Alexis de Tocqueville, call your office please!

Feb 17, 2009 - 4:00 am 7. lonetown:

Any plan that does not include spending cuts and more efficient government is a non-starter. A great awakening will come after this recent debacle. Add to that the rampant corruption.

The next winner will have to attack the real problem.

Feb 17, 2009 - 4:07 am 8. vivo:

“Keys to Turning Around the Republican Party”

Get rid of the far right.

Tell the truth.

Support separation of church and government.

Be respectful of others.

Embrace the World.

Peace, not war.

Have a sense of humor.

Feb 17, 2009 - 4:09 am 9. bill:

your kidding???????? the Republican Party party lost its base when it forgot who we are thus they forgot who they where get us back, they win.

Feb 17, 2009 - 4:50 am 10. Revoltocon:

First, get rid of the name! It’s damaged and what it’s become is now tattooed into its forehead! I’m a Conservative, not a Republican and I’m not a part of the GOP (what does that mean now?)! Let’s be true to ourselves and carry a name whose meaning won’t change with the wind, because our fundamental beliefs, tenets and causes remain true (any ideas?). Just look at what the term “Democrat” has stood for in the last 50 or 60 years! Dear God, look what it stands for now!

Feb 17, 2009 - 4:57 am 11. Craig:

“The GOP needs to do a better job of reaching out to Hispanics, blacks, Jews, Muslims, women, and young voters. That doesn’t mean we need to compromise our principles, but it does mean that we do need to stop writing off these groups and giving up before we get started.”

For the life of me, I can’t understand this constant declaration. If anyone, of color or creed or WTFever, would pick up a book and READ, they would understand the outreach is within THEMSELVES.

Three books gets you there:
1. Friedrich A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom
2. Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind
3. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations

If it still hasn’t powered up the lightbulb in your cranium, try de Toqueville, Rand, and Burke.

JEEEEEEEEZ! Wake up for God’s sake.

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:17 am 12. Broomer:

For starters, there should be no room for the likes of Pat Buchanan and white supremacists.

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:36 am 13. Tolik:

How McCain got nomination against wishes of the conservative base? Because he won crossover votes in open primaries with support of independents. Solution: the party primaries should be just that: the party primaries, closed for others.

And, of course, an absence of a good candidate as an alternative to McCain. Fred Thompson was great on that occasions when he had energy. Otherwise he looked un-interested – and that was a problem of course. Dunkin Hunter lacked charisma and remained un-known quality. All popular radio hosts ignored him up to the point when they said it was bad he lost. On his own he did not break through like Huckabee did. A very solid candidate – Romney – who is the best manager /CEO type out of all candidates suffered from some past liberalism (like McCain had none?) and possibly (I don’t know if any studies were done?) bias against his Mormonism.

Plus, to allow more states to have a meaningful vote (unlike the last time when it was all over before most of people got chance to vote), the Primary lineup should go from smaller states to larger states in lets say 4 or 5 voting dates with 3 weeks in-between.

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:39 am 14. RKV:

Keys to turnaround?

Ignore half of what vivo said.

Anyone who says “dump the right” doesn’t have our best interests at heart. Period. Gut the party’s base and try to be Democrat-lites? Suicidal advice at best.

“Embrace the world?” Kumbaya BS. Extremists will use that woolyheadedness to take us places we don’t want to go. And then the “let’s all hold hands” types will be surprised. E.g. the islamonutjob who beheaded his wife in NY when she wanted a divorce. We are Americans, and all this multi-cultural [expletive] is bunk.

“Peace, not war?” There really are bad guys out there who want us to be hurt. Deal with it. Plato said “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” He was right.

Separation of church and government? We have that already. That may change as the Gaia worshipers attempt to get us to gut our economy for their false god. Considering that Thomas Jefferson (and several other early Presidents) attended Christian church services in the Capitol building, it does give you a slant on that whole “separation of church and state thing.” Huh?

The rest sounds OK, but seems a bit short. Let’s try a) Constitutional government – the whole thing all the time b) fiscal responsibility – yes FICA is technically insolvent on an actuarial basis – fix it c) American businesses need a break from insane legislation and tort laws (though in a Federal system the later is a State level fix) – cut corporate tax rates and repeal Sarbannes-Oxley for starters d) pork barrel spending = political corruption – stop it.

I could go on, but there’s for starters.

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:48 am 15. Northern Light:

Hawkins raises a good point. I don’t know about the Republicans appealing to Youth, Blacks, and Women, but I do know that there are a lot of Muslims and Hispanics that are very socially conservative yet they do not support the GOP.

I will leave it to GOP thinkers to try to figure out what they have done to alienate Muslims and Hispanics. I think it has something to do with appealing to the base.

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:53 am 16. chris in Toronto:

The following was in response to the post by Rick Moran “Rubin: ‘You guys are freaking us out’” on AmericanThinker and may be an appropriate lightning rod issue to energize the base at a grassroots level.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/rubin_you_guys_are_freaking_us.html

Can anyone explain how “recalls” work? The reason I ask is that it appears that none of your representatives in Congress have read the legislation onto which they’ve signed their names. Isn’t this an abrogation of their fiduciary responsibility? Wikipedia has an interesting read on fiduciary duty, here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiduciary]. Surely, the government with its massive usurpation of power falls under the definition of a “fiduciary” in several places as cited in the wiki reference. Even more so with the power grabs central to the horror that is this “stimulus” package. That the members have not read the bill means they have not done their “due diligence” and are certainly acting as fiduciaries with conflicts of interest.

Maybe a class action suit by Americans against their government can be attempted? Maybe it’s time to put the legion of lawyers who have crippled American healthcare to work to protect the nation. Maybe they have that lauded “instinct for self preservation”. I don’t know. I’m asking. But the one thing I do know is that the time for saying “they’re commies or they’re socialists or b’bye America” is past and something must be done.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:04 am 17. Craig:

“Keys to turnaround?

Ignore half of what vivo said.”

1/2? You’re way too generous.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:22 am 18. fear Obama:

When Joe Lieberman gave his speech at the Republican convention he said:

Contrast that to John McCain’s record, or the record of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups and worked with Republicans to get important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements,
and a balanced budget.
Gov. Palin, like John McCain, is a reformer who has taken on the special interests and reached across party lines. She is a leader we can count on to help John shake up Washington.

I knew we were going to loose.

I thought- All Obama has to do is mention his opposition to NAFTA and the WTA and he will win this election.

McCain and Lieberman should not have brought up free trade- it makes me think of tens of millions of lost jobs and Hispanics flooding the borders.

Now you know what happened-

Obama mentioned NAFTA- even though he probably will do nothing,
That was all he needed to get states like Michigan, Ohio and Penn. on his Democrat band wagon.
Now we have another 4-8 years of a socialists styled government that will give away trillions of dollars and free trade agreements will be the least of our worries.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:23 am 19. mikkins:

I always love these list. They usually have the right idea though miss the three things that need to change first.

1) Dump the “Good’Ol Boy” network of the GOP.

2) Start using time spent on Sunday morning talk shows attacking, rather then on defense all the time. I am sick of hearing “I have to disagree with my esteemed colleague from across the isle” We need to hear more “Thats a lie Chris, one in which you perpetuate by the way that I wanna address right now!” And thats being said to the interviewer, save the salty stuff for the democrat.

3) Strong arm, shame,shun, threaten, whatever you must do, the moderate Republicans who constantly abet the democrats to play for the home team or sit on the bench. If they threaten to cross the isle, let them. We have lost nothing. Its time some realise this.

Folks, we need leaders who will fight back. Screw the friendly game mentality. Its not a game and should not be treated as such. My family and my way of life depend on winning.

Oh and there is one more thing, the most important thing………………

We, the people, need to get out of our chairs, turn the computer off, and start fighting for those that fight for us.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:27 am 20. blogengeezer:

8 vivo’s #1, ‘The Final Solution’, “Get Rid of the Far Right” Finally a lefty that says what is really in their heart.
Like ROBERT MUGABE’s ‘Change and Hope’, with the world media’s approval, “Got Rid Of” the Dutch farmers that sucessfully managed the land in RHODESIA. Land that was highly productive and at one time, exported their produce to feed the other nations on the continent. Do I see a desire to repeat the left’s idea of ‘equality’? ZIMBABWE

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:42 am 21. saleboter:

1. Stand for REAL energy independence, not the energy deprivance now being pushed.

2. Stand for a strong respected America abroad not the sniveling apologest.

3. Stand for people keeping their own money while helping those who can’t help themselves.

4. Respect the private sector as the true wealth creators.

5. Stand for absolutely NO corruption in the party even if it means getting rid of some old timers.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:46 am 22. Mike T:

If the Republicans want credibility, they need to destroy some bureaucracy. I would suggest that the Republicans rekindle the spirit of hardened conservatism and rediscover the Sons of Liberty by passing a bill that nukes the DEA and BATFE, as the loss of those two federal law enforcement agencies would instantly rebuild credibility with small government conservatives, libertarians and even a number of civil liberties-oriented liberals.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:48 am 23. Mike T:

Your plan is all well and good, but the fact is that the Republicans just don’t have credibility with small government voters anymore. No one in their right mind trusts mainstream Republicans in the Congress to have any principled opposition to big, intrusive government. The last 8 years should have disabused everyone of that.

As I said, if the Republicans want to show that they have changed, they need to shock the country by seriously, and I mean very seriously, working toward actually abolishing some agencies and bureaucracies. When the congressional Republican leaders are taking to the bully pulpit in defense of legislation that would abolish several modest-sized federal agencies with multi-billion dollar budgets, they’ll once again command the respect of small government voters.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:54 am 24. MarkD:

Freedom and limited government win every time. The people who run for office are not interested in your freedom or limited government, they are in it for the power.

You can’t vote for what you want.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:56 am 25. savage24:

The only reaching out we need to do is to Americans! If you belong to a hyphonated group you are not an American.The other thing we need is some honest politicians.
If you want to know why the Republican Party lost, look no farther then US Senate.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:12 am 26. Lindy:

I’m with Mikkins. I, too, am tired of being on the defensive constantly. I think this comes from an honorable place (where, somehow, many cons/Rep. think it’s “ungentlemanly” to be on the offensive, or that offense is the same thing as “attack.”)

And I think that we need to run on the freedom platform. No pandering to this group or that. The truth appeals to everyone. We just need to get it out there. The way I see it, liberals are hell-bent on creating the nanny-state, and most sane people, when clued in, will resist this. We need to make the Republican party the party of freedom, liberty, and self-determination.

And for God’s sake, quit shunning conservatism and social issues. It’s quite possible to be both an intellectual and someone who shuns abortion. Really.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:17 am 27. JED:

The social democratic party now in charge of the legislative and executive branch are doing a wonderful job of clearly defining themselves from their former shadow world of the opposition party and sniper positions. Obviously it has become much harder to lead than to criticize without respect to consequence. The platform which the social democrats are attempting to erect in the face of a falling market and consumer confidence is exactly what aspiring Republicans can use to measure their own party interests. The tax payer bill for this spending spree will be coming due, and those IOU refunds are as much reality as ballots.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:33 am 28. Jimmy's Attack Rabbit:

A Republican pledge for Congressional and Senatorial candidates to vote for a Constitutional Amendment limiting the terms of Congressmen and Senators to X number of terms is my suggestion for an issue that many U.S. citizens might rally behind.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:38 am 29. Jarhead91:

Tolik’s right – close the primaries to independents and change the order. By the time it got to my state, only McCain and Romney were on the ballet and it was obvious McCain was going to win. It certainly waasn’t the conservative base that nominated him (or Bob Dole).

Michael Steele needs to grow a pair and target the 3 traitor senators in their primaries. Picking off Spector should be easy if he even runs in 2010. Collins and Snowe (both up in 2012) would be tougher Rinos to slay.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:45 am 30. William:

I returned my solicitation letter from the RNC to Michael Steele with the following note: Show me some strong leadership and some strong candidates and I will show you some money.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:51 am 31. William:

Regarding my previous comment, I also told MS that if I heard on one cent going to the three traitors, count me out.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:53 am 32. fred:

So far, many of the responses want the Republican Party to be either like the Democrats (or even European Social Democrats)or they want the Republican Party to be more like Left or Right wing Libertarians. In other words, a mirror image of … themselves.

The author of the article wants it to be able to go with the flow. He thinks that by 2005 and 2006 it should have repudiated the war and then been out in front of where things went in 2008 regarding the economy. He says that by being on the “wrong” side of the issues in 2005-2008 the Republican Party got its ass handed to it.

Has anyone noticed that it was the opposition’s ownership of media and education that shaped the political battlefield, so to speak? Thus, the only way for Republicans to have won in that environment would have been to follow popular sentiment and pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan, scrapping the entire war idea and going back to pre-9/11: cops and robbers, and terrorism as the cost of doing business. Then, on the economy, promised massive wealth transfer and a return to the way things were in the 1970’s. The Republicans should have been more like Bill Clinton, and mastered the art of triangulation. They should have totally repudiated President Bush, bowed and scraped before the mainstream media and the attitudes of the kiddies who have been well indoctrinated by our education system, who have been well prepared to receive the O.

And what exactly does it mean to appeal to minorities? What exactly is it they want? After all, we have to be whatever it is that they want.

Yep, that’s what the Republican Party should be: be whatever it is that the masses want it to be. The very definition of a narcissist. Narcissists are people who have no sense of self, and are very good at being whatever it is that other people want them to be – in order to get what one wants.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:53 am 33. Pope Linus:

Do you want to turn things around for our party? How about each one of us here at Pajamas Media get involved? We vote, we give money, we blog and support candidates. It’s our party, so it’s our job–not simply the job of elected officials and party employees.

Get out there and start making some converts. I went to seminary and I know the absolute need for evangelism to take place in order to spread the faith. How about some political evangelism on our part? We’re the preachers, and we have a pretty good message.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:01 am 34. one of your own:

#8 – vivo . . . great list!

There’s really only one thing the Repulicks need to do . . . listen to Rush.

Watch de watch . . . watch de watch . . . sleepy, sleepy . . . your eyelids are getting heavy . . . tick tock . . . very relaxed . . . that’s it . . . deeper and deeper to sleep . . . a-a-a-a-nd down . . . That’s it . . . from now on, whenever you hear the “ditto” you will use your maid as a drug mule to help you doctor shop until you gather 8,000 Oxycontin pills, you will grab someone else’s Viagra, and then you will head down to the Dominican Republic to track down and rehabilitate young male prostitutes. Upon your return you will put forth the righteous and principled cause of conservatism.

Hail, RushBo, full of grace . . . blessed art thou among pundits, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb – Hannity.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:03 am 35. Meryl:

Random airheads (like 34) who post their opposition to free speech in the person of Rush Limbaugh always, always tell us far more about themselves than they do about Rush Limbaugh.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:28 am 36. Yvonne:

CHANGE: for starters put down the TV remote.
NEXT: term limits.
Pick up a pamphlet(contacting elected officials) at your local Library.
Email and share contact information with your family friends,etc.to identify your local,state and federal elected officials and call,email or write them,come on Americans make them accountable.
Together we can do it right NOW!

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:32 am 37. geoffgo:

getting back to the promised land? Folks, we are fighting for survival here. The allure of the “promised land” is fruits and honey aplenty. Wrong symbology.

We’re being raped and pillaged! Here, I thought this type of behavior by the Democrats was unConstitutional. How silly of me.

“Reaching-across-the-aisle”? Bipartisanship? Doesn’t that depict a scenario where both parties think a law is a good law? I like to see less of it. How have conservative principals ever been advanced by compromise with the Left? It’s always just “death by 1,000 cuts>,” couched in DC-speak.

How about instantiating some party planks that both cater to and serve conservative interests? It’s not like these principals are detrimental to our nation; ie, they actually do benefit the citizenry, no matter how the MSM characterizes them.

- eliminate earmarks…death-penalty?
- end lobbying..call it the “swindle” it is
- 100% attendence of Congress persons is requuired to pass any law…no more cover
- every Congressional will be shown to have read and be familiar with every bill being proposed, before it can be made law (yup, to slow the federal machinery to a crawl, and besides that’s their job description)
- stop discretionary spending, revisit this ban only on the anniversary of the Census
- every member of Congress will voluntarily submit to a high-level annual IRS audit, all outside income will be compared to past “earmarks” and votes on lawmaking will be compared to campaign contributions, with the results made public on April 15th each year by an independent GAO (analysis of who won – who lost for every bill, policy, edict, finding, ruling, restriction et al)
- funding for Congressional staff will be reduced by 50% over the next 4 years
- put Congress on exactly the same footing as Joe the Plumber, vis a vis benefits and pension
- close the borders immdiately to all illegal immigrants (if it means using the military as backup, let’s get on with it)
- begin deporting illegal aliens…1-day “hearings” then immediate transport to the border (start w/ the 1 MILLION gang-bangers now defiling our cities, and if it means using COIN, so be it) If we deport 50,000/month, it will still require decades
- make prison life a far less pleasant existance
- institute loser-pays in civil lawsuits

Of course, I could go on; but these few would be a fair reset, no? I’m not a pol, but I would have no problem defending my position on any of the issues listed. Why should many/most Republican representatives find it impossible, given their probable near-term extinction by an evermore well-oiled Democrat machine? If the Party doesn’t regain the base in a hurry, they are doomed to be picked off one by one.

So, that the Republican Party has a problem with any of the above (especially the audit), or that they want to “compromise” on any of these issues means they are moving ever-farther away from the conservative voter. And, it demonstrates to honest folks that they aren’t in it for the good of the country, just for the power, perks and the vig. What’s to vote for?

How else can one explain the way the Party currently represents us? Clean their own house? Snow, Collins and Specter are listed as moderate Republicans. Shameful and disgusting. Moderate means they’ll vote with either side, depending on the payoff.

Our soon-to-be-masters are DEMOCRATs. Theirs is the party of democrats, the DEMOCRAT Party, not the DEMOCRATIC Party. Let’s not keep granting them the cover of having any of the virtues necessary to run a democratic republic.

In a democacy, majority rules. In a democratic republic, majority rules, but not at the expense of the minority. It’s an important distinction; otherwise might makes right, and we’re paying for their firepower.

Welcome all us taxpayers to a minority status, where that vital distinction has now been consciously eliminated.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:40 am 38. Chemman:

Two comments. If Bush had used his bully pulpit the way Reagan did it is unlikely his support who have tanked. So Hawkins is correct about the poor communications. Second Health Care costs will only truly follow market forces when all government agencies are taken out of the picture. Allowing the purchase of insurance policies across state lines is a start but what we need is an “a la Carte” system where we pick and choose what we need instead of the state mandated minimums now required.
To the small government libertarians if you want the social cons to stay out of your bedroom then you need to be willing to stay out of their businesses/places of worship/pocket books. When they see so called libertarians using government to penalize them because they don’t out and out support your lifestyle then of course they will attempt to use government to protect themselves.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:46 am 39. Mongoose:

Vivo: I see you have crawled out of mommy’s basement for yet another beating:

Get rid of the far right.

There is no such thing in American politics. This is a construct of the the Left.
But there is a far left BTW, and they are sitting in the WH right now, as a matter of fact.)

You have no idea at all what the spectrum of political thought is outside your left wing bubble. You do not even appear to know the spectrum of thought inside that bubble. As usual, you are just regurgitating talking points here.

Tell the truth.

Another lefty talking point. It is the left that constantly lies, not conservatives or the GOP. The whole history of socialism is one big lie and that most certainly includes the Democrats. Most particularly, they have been screeching lies nonstop the last eight years. This is beyond debate.

You are so full of their lies that you cannot even recognize that they are lying.
You would know know the truth if it asked you out on a date, but, then again, you would not know what a date was either. Note: it is something adults do.

Another note: when you willingly and knowingly repeat their lies, you are lying too. When you do it unwittingly are a being used as a “useful idiot”.

Support separation of church and government.

Why should we do that? There is nothing in the Constitution or any other founding document of the USA that ever claims that the separation of church and state is a founding principle of the country. This is another left wing lie. The phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in any the founding documents of this country. The only declaration of the relationship between religion and the state that is mentioned in the founding documents is found in the First Amendment.

Here is what it says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Note that is says nothing about “separation of church and state” at all.
This amendment is there to keep government out of religion, not keep religion out of government. Thus, freedom of religion does not equate to freedom from religion. It is there primarily to 1) Keep the government from establishing a particular formal religious (christian) sect as a formal religion of the federal state, and 2) To prevent state persecution of any particular religion or sect.

It is because of point #1 above that it is known as “The Establishment Clause”. It has nothing to at all to do with any notion of separation of church and state other than the proscription a a formal state religion such as the relationship between the Anglican church and the Crown of the UK.

This amendment is a manifestation of the hard learned lessons of the sectarian violence of the counter-reformation and the persecution of the Jews in Europe.

It was never indented as a shield for atheists or Marxists to attack people of faith, or as an attempt to limit religious issues, or moral claims informed by religious issues, in public discussions or debate in the halls of government. It was also never intended to be used as a club by Marxists bend on destroying Western Civilization.

For most of our history religion was an accepted and valid voice in the public square, and had, in fact, an honored place. Go look at you dollar bill. Listen to the inauguration oath. The American accomplishment is an embodiment of a culmination of the Judeo-Christian heritage. It is our essence, and we would be wise to cleave to it. It is the degradation of religious life in both private and public life that is one of the sources of our current problems, and if it is not reversed we will be headed to permanent decline and decadence.

Once again, you demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge or understanding of American history, not to mention faith or people of faith. You also have a very unamerican contempt for God. I hope he forgives you.

Be respectful of others.

This is pure slander, and from a troll at that. You very presence here is an act of disrespect to others. Nonetheless, it is the left that is disrespectful of others. It is they who shred our constitution. It is they lash at their opponents nonstop with smears, innuendo and lies at every chance they get. It is they who support the murder of the innocent. It is they that support almost any dictator on the world, so long as thet dictator is against America.

The Democrat leadership hates America itself.

You yourself are one of the most foul-mannered, insensitive and infantile trolls on this blog. You have no notion at all of the notion if the concept “Respecting others”.

What you really mean is that you what us to indulge you in you own inflated notion of yourself. This is not respect.

Embrace the World.

We have been over and over you silly notions of the world, and I would think that it would finally get through to you that you have not the fainted notion of what you are talking about.

Here are two short refresher points:

1)The “world” is not made up of the International socialist and tranzi elites that the Democrat Party gets it marching orders from. They are the one with this “embrace the world” nonsense. What they really mean with this is 1) Give up your national sovereignty, b) Stop being a bastion of liberty and freedom so that we might continue looting and enslaving “the world”, c) Hand over some more of your money so that we do not have to work for a living, and d) Do what you are told. (and perhaps one other one: Stop trying to stop us from killing the Jews).

This is not a “world” that we should “embrace”, it is one that we should shun. This is why our forefather came over here in the first place, to get away from this sort of vision of “the world”.

2) No country in history has had more international responsibility and delivered on them so admirably as the USA. The real world, not your little and fake left wing pseudo-world, has been held in a firm and loving embrace by the USA at least 1943 and has continued until this day. Heaven help the world should she cease to do this, but Obama is certainly on his way to doing this. This is because he is in the pockets of our enemies in “the world”.

You yet again demonstrate hardly any knowledge or understating about “the world”, American history and her place in “the world”.

“Embrace the world” indeed. What left wing piffle.

Peace, not war.

I have got news for you, there has been a war going on against America for decades.

This one is too silly to even think about.

Have a sense of humor.

This one too. (as if you had the slightest bit of wit at all. The fact that you are tolerated here at all speaks of wells of good humor).

Are you ever right about anything?

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:47 am 40. SMITH:

Any rebirth of the Republican Party and of the Republic, must begin on the local level….the grass roots.

Our Party leaders have failed us for the last time!
In Connecticut, Dump Dodd 2010, was launched in November.
Dump Harry is up and running in Nevada. Look at our web sites and use them as a template to take the next step up from just talking. http://www.dumpchrisdodd.com/index.html

We can live out our lives complaining….or we can get involved and LIVE !!

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:01 am 41. G Alston:

#20 blogengeezer — “8 vivo’s #1, ‘The Final Solution’, “Get Rid of the Far Right” Finally a lefty that says what is really in their heart.”

I’m no lefty. Yet I agree with vivo there, although “getting rid of the far right” probably doesn’t mean what you think. The national party shouldn’t include social conservative agenda as the platform.

Example:

Fiscal responsibility? Check. Strong defense? Check. Illegal Immigration? Check. Disallow Gay Marriage? WTF? You’re losing me. Campaign Against Abortion? OK, now you’re really losing me.

This is like a “which one of these things is not like the others?” exercise for school children.

Arguing that abortion (e.g.) is or ought to be held at the same level of importance as the defense of the free world? Are you nuts? But this is what social conservatism does to the party.

If you can’t see the effect, it’s because you don’t want to.

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:11 am 42. Tex Taylor:

I have some very simple suggestions that I know apply to me, but I bet would apply to millions of conservatives who have begin to tune out:

(1) Give me a fresh set of candidates to vote for – and I know they are out there. As a conservative, I am not entirely sold on Jindal or Palin and don’t think we should assume this is the best we have because it is not.

(2) FOR THE MALE POLITICIANS: Cut the politically correct crap of appeasement and start acting like men. The women of the party have more guts than the prissy male politicians do. We want John Wayne – not Phil Donuhue. Act like you have a set and quit worrying about being called any of the following: racist, fanatic, religious zealot, homophobe. Those labels have been rendered meaningless and should be treated as such. You’re not going to melt when called one.

(3) Don’t appease minorities. State your message of what you stand for and then carry thru with it. The party’s ideas are superior to what the Democrat party offers – let them stand on their own merit. Your approach is patronizing and appears phony. Nobody of sane mind wants to be treated like they are being pandered to – your act is pretentious at best.

(4) Learn to communicate effectively. Cute cliches at the Speaker’s stand don’t cut it and adds nothing to the discourse. It makes you look like Democrat lite and another fool. Get up and give your message forcibly without the show boating – leave that to Reid and the Democrats. And don’t be afraid to call the enemy by name – start pointing fingers when required.

(5) Understand when we the voting public tell you we demand smaller government, we meant it. Don’t take our votes for granted again or we will burn you again.

(6) Learn to communicate your message. To this day, I believe George Bush the patriot, honest, and a good man. But he was, without doubt, the worst person in the world in explaining why his actions necessary. If you can’t get a fair shake from the MSM, screw them. And for God’s sake stay off The View, Oprah, or the farce called MSNBC. Treat them like the plague and mock them loudly. Go to Fox, Talk Radio, and learn to utilize the internet to facilitate your message. Cast off the Washington elite media and be done with them. They do you no favors.

(7) Abandon the RINOs and do everything you can to push them to the Democratic party. They are worse than ultra left and hurt the party more than help. Don’t assume having an ‘R’ behind your name makes you good. It doesn’t.

(8) Return to the Reagan roots and you will win. Continue to push for the strongest military on earth. Don’t expect a turnaround overnight. Break the stereotypical mold of the Washington elect. Do something like voluntarily taking a cut in pay or volunteering to adopt the same insurance and social security plan the rest of us live with. Advertise it without acting the saint. Little things mean a lot and they are noticed.

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:40 am 43. MPCpiano:

Three important things:

1) Get rid of open voting in primaries, where voters are able to vote for candidates in either party. Primaries should be for elections within each party only.

2) Republicans must become as proficient and savvy as possible on the use of the internet and technology to connect with every possible voter.

3) Republicans must adhere to core conservative values, articulate them clearly, and let the people decide.

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:49 am 44. geoffgo:

G Alston

Promoting and supporting abortion is inarguably social suicide. More than 50 million future US citizens have been eliminated, so far. I don’t want my tax dollars helping to kill the unborn, as someday the world may recognize it for what it is, infanticide.

I used to go along with a woman’s right to choose…I was single. When I got to the being a father stage, I began to ask myself what my standing was in the discussion and the moral equation; eg, don’t I get an equal voice in the decision since I’ll be paying?

Now, I see the results since the pill was introduced in 1963, and unbridled abortion, and how Americanism is being diluted out of existance, I know it’s bad policy.

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:58 am 45. Northern Light:

#42 Tex Taylor.

Your point #7 “Abandon the RINOs and doeverything you can to push them to the Democratic Party”.

I have heard this suggestion many times since November. It sounds a bit absurd to suggest the solution to a shrinking party is to get rid of supporters.

I think there was a party that insisted on complete agreement by all members. It was the Communist Party of The Soviet Union.

I don’t think it worked too well.

Feb 17, 2009 - 10:10 am 46. Tennwriter:

John,
I notice what’s not there.

I have a very bright friend who I think would tend to vote Democrat much of the time, but refuses to do so because of abortion.

The problem with abortion is not that its on the list. The problem is that it keeps getting used to pull in support from the main part of the party, and yet, nothing gets done. Its time and past time to see some delivery on promises.

Your list is good, but not good enough. We need Full-bore Conservatism, and not some wimpy version. Look, the Left and the MSM are going to hate us no matter what we do, so we might as well do the Right thing. Our only hope of victory is slam the peddle to the floor and gun the engine. I thought you were that guy, don’t fade on me now, please.

Moderation is doom.

And G. Alston, we already tried the ‘kick the socons’ in the teeth, the last two elections. I’d think embarrassment at this failure might stop the mouths of the supporters of Kathleen Parker, but evidently not.

Feb 17, 2009 - 10:21 am 47. Shirly:

Getting rid of these nutjobs might help.

Bristol Criticizes Sarah: “Her views on no-sex before marriage are unrealistic”
Her conservative mother has advocated that schools teach teenagers to abstain from sex before marriage but Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol says that’s unrealistic.

The 18-year-old, who got pregnant at 17 and had a baby in December, said in a televised interview that the abstinence her mother preaches is ‘not realistic at all’.
And in the interview with Fox News last night, she denied that her mother’s anti-abortion views were the reason she went ahead with the pregnancy.

Feb 17, 2009 - 10:38 am 48. jb:

Get people to take a second look at the party with a catchy like “It’s time for a new brand of Republicans”.

Then focus like a laser on one word – LIBERTY — and define the word in and on every interview, commercial, town-hall, printed material, debate as the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by government.

Feb 17, 2009 - 11:22 am 49. Tex Taylor:

Northern Light,

I have heard this suggestion many times since November. It sounds a bit absurd to suggest the solution to a shrinking party is to get rid of supporters.

Oh, that would be very true if I thought all voters accounted for and remaining static at the polling booth – but history says that untrue as the Reagan Revolution attested. To win without principle gains one nothing. And I’ve been voting for the lesser of two evils for 20 years now following your grand plan.

I think there was a party that insisted on complete agreement by all members. It was the Communist Party of The Soviet Union.

Well if Arlen Specter has been of benefit to the Republican party for many years now, why is that I invariably find myself in disagreement with him; and how would that differ from my belief of say Harry Reid?

Or is that what makes one a communist now? Surely you can come up with a better analogy than that.

Feb 17, 2009 - 12:05 pm 50. joe buzz:

What is the Republican equivalent of ACORN, which will now be allocated a butt load of taxpayer funding in 2009 and 2011 in order to “organize” prior to the 2010 and 2012 elections?

Feb 17, 2009 - 12:17 pm 51. Marc Malone:

The Pubs should ask certain members of Congress to not run again. Find others to run in their places. Campaign against them. That will convince people that they’re serious about changing.

#41 G Alston – I don’t understand. Why would you ever support gay marriage or abortion? It’s because you are not informed enough on those issues.

The call for gay marriage comes from av small, militant, vocal minority of the gays. They’re not seeking gay marriage. They are seeking approval of their lifestyle. They want more than tolerance. They want full accceptance from society.

As for abortion, go ask your mother if she ever considered aborting you. What if she says yes? “Whew, that was a close one!” See, it’s okay if it is done to others, just not to you.

Feb 17, 2009 - 12:33 pm 52. G Alston:

#44 geoffgo — “Promoting and supporting abortion is inarguably social suicide.”

It’s also something you can’t win on. Ever. Work yourself to death and finally outlaw it, and it won’t matter: it’s 1-2 days pay for most middle class citizens to pay for a flight out of the country. Pills are cheap, and procedures aren’t expensive. Even if you “win” you still lose. You stop nothing. The best you can attain here is alienating much of the populace.

Do you get this? Your personal belief has absolutely no bearing on reality. None. I don’t care what you think, or how you got there. Neither do doctors in Panama and a variety of other easily accessed places.

Now, please tell me why I should be saddled with your poorly considered social belief system if I’m trying to cast a vote for decent fiscal policy and geopolitical approach. That was my point, which you simply refuse to understand: the voting public should not be forced to also accept **your_personal_beliefs** in order to cast a vote for the leadership and safety of the free world.

I used to ask why on earth would people like you waste good political capital and taint a party and candidate with an issue you cannot possibly win, no matter how you slice it. The answer is clear: you’re so wrapped up in your ideology that you can’t even begin to understand at what level it ought to apply. Truth is that you didn’t realize how simple it was to defeat anti-abortion stuff; you didn’t think about it. And because of your ideological blinders, it wouldn’t occur to you in a million years.

Even then, I expect that you and others of your variety will sputter on about how I have no values, accuse me of lefty atheism, and so on. (Note that what *I* believe about abortion hasn’t been mentioned, although I expect that the more dimwitted naysayers will automatically assume that I do abortions as a side job and blather accordingly.) And none of you can counter the brutally simple fact that plane flights are dirt cheap. And that’s the only argument that has any bearing.

Abortion? You lost. Deal with it.

Accuse away.

Feb 17, 2009 - 12:54 pm 53. AST:

I’m really tired and annoyed with all these “How to Rebuild the Republican Party” pieces everywhere. They had majorities in both houses and were able to force Clinton to accept welfare reform. Then the honorable members who ran in ‘94 on a promise to self-limit their terms retired, and the ones left made themselves vulnerable by focusing more on pork than policy, refusing to stand with the President, and cowering before the media.

How about this for a formula: Find better candidates and promote them! The rest is just navel gazing.

Maybe the American people just are more interested in the blandishments of the welfare state. If so, I don’t want to be part of the competition to offer them more. That seems to be the Road to Serfdom, to quote Hayek. I’d rather publish subversive pamphlets than belong to a party that has given up the cause.

Feb 17, 2009 - 1:17 pm 54. Rob:

I wanted a Republican President who respect and honor the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and abide by it, not consider them as contemptible, outdated and pretend to care about it, and stop pandering to the religious right and special interest groups. McCain was the wrong kind of a Republican candidate for President: pure RINO he is.

I wanted the Republican Party to give the same respect to the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, right down to the frigging letter. It’s time we clean off the Bush-McCain Republicanism for good. No more RINOs!

Feb 17, 2009 - 1:21 pm 55. Rob:

To John Hawkins on key no. 2: you should add the disabled and the veterans. I have met several permanently disabled and military-veteran Republicans, including the disabled vets, who felt alienated and ignored by the GOP for years but still voted Republican. There are deaf and hard-of-hearing Republicans (and conservatives) out there. It’s time the Republican Party start heeding and including them as well. It’s a big mistake to ignore that big voting bases.

Feb 17, 2009 - 1:28 pm 56. The Decider:

Step 1: Reverse the so called “Reagan Revolution”.

If the last election taught us anything it’s that independents and centrists are increasingly disgusted with the antics of neoconservatives. You can say you hate spending, then give us a train of Republican presidents that accrue massive debt cause “military spending doesn’t count”. You can say your foreign policy keeps this country safe and then, with a straight face, tell people our support during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was an amazing patriotic act where America defeated communism… filtering hundreds of millions of dollars to our good friends the Islamic Holy Warriors. You can pretend the “invisible hand” will always do what’s best for the market, even if that concept was disproved over 100 years ago.

Or you can give us a Republican we can respect. It’s sad that Huckabee was one of my favorite candidates despite seriously disagreeing with him on a lot of topics. Aside from crazy Ron Paul, Huckabee was the only candidate who seemed to have genuine values and wasn’t some slimy neocon pet. I suspect that “independent image” was why McCain had so much support in the primaries, before he spinelessly attempted to pander to a base that didn’t support him to begin with. Unfortunately all the money and support comes from companies and individual donors who want Neocons in power so they can be pandered to. In that respect this post is correct, the changes have to begin at a grassroots level. The poster makes some ridiculous statements about how Republicans are a better fit for minority voters (cause statistics show most women are pro-life right and most hispanics want tougher immigration laws right?!?!), but he’s certainly correct in reminding people that everyone is different and that within every demographic in this country there are a significant number of Republican votes to be had.

PS. This RINO stuff is incredibly stupid. If you think you can make a hard line conservative governor of California or Senator from Spectre’s district in Pennsylvania than reality has truly left the building. You get centrist republicans because these are CENTRIST AREAS who, like most districts in this great country, have their own preferences when it comes to policy and values. What you can do is lay off on the conservative social values crap and return those issues to where they belong, the state level. It will be a lot easier to get fiscally conservative, state rights supporting, small government republicans into these areas if you stop trying to ram conservative social values down people’s throats.

Feb 17, 2009 - 1:29 pm 57. JED:

Death to pork and earmarks. I want another contract with America. Bush sold out when he signed those pork pies without a fight. Appeasement is not peace. Charles Schumer lights up the political fault line when he said that the American public doesn’t mind a little pork. The chief executive officer should be the top cop who enforces the law against the Wall Street and investment bankers, and politicians, and union bosses, and the American public who use public funds to line their own pockets. Transparency is not enough when compared to legal scrutiny. I want Return On Investment as a part of government spending. Until then, all of the above are liars and thieves.

Feb 17, 2009 - 1:31 pm 58. Bialystock:

Rid us of the FED.

Firstly the FED is a misnomer as there is nothing FEDERAL about it except an appointed titular head spokesdummy. The FED, my friends, are made up of the Rich Bankers.
The FED is a scam that should be done away with at once.

Secondly, the SEC. Lordy, lordy what was Obama thinking appointing Mary Shapiro to head the SEC. Been there done that hey Mary. Abolish the tainted(very weak) SEC and establish an agency with TEETH that do their jobs.

Thirdly Registered Lobbyists. Gone. Do you realise that there are 80 reg. lobbyists for each and every member of the House (435). Just what do these lobbyists do? How many words is there in the English language for CORRUPT. Obama again why appoint a former RTN lobbyist? Trouble trouble Trouble.

I’ll continue through 10 at a later date.

Feb 17, 2009 - 2:15 pm 59. geoffgo:

Many speak to refreshing the Tree of Liberty here, to formulating a plan and a call to action. When I envision what I call the unwinding; ie, how this Gordian Knot might be undone without bloodshed, I see huge resistance coming from the courts across the US.

Sanctuary cities! What? If enough of the denizens of Dearborn vote for it, can they give Al Qaeda succor and asylum? Will it be okay to behead one’s wife in the name of some insane belief?

Looks like in many states we’ll be precluded from peaceful recourse, because of rulings imposed by liberal judges (9th Circuit comes to mind first). IOW, the fix is in with that branch too, most everywhere. The Supremes won’t allow us to institute term limits on our elected officials? How’s that again?
Code Pink?

Can judges be recalled? There must be some legal way to get them off the bench, up to and including constant ridicule. I should think massive targeted recall campaigns in multiple states, financed by conservatives would cause adequate coverage to get our message out to energize the population, and should at least prepare us for that fight. We’ll need every conservative lawyer on our side. Maybe it’s the SecState in each capital?

We must permit then no more time to be liberal, make them answer to the public for every ruling they make every day, every hour.

Unfortunately, without the courts on our side, any/every action we might take to reverse their rulings will be declared unlawful.

Let’s see. In return for their fair & balanced coverage (just reporting the unbias truth) of this type of peaceful mass-protest (if they’re still permitted) we’ll commit to buying those products/services advertised on FoxNews and their local affiliates, whenever possible.

Now, that’s something we can begin right now, by each of us taking a little time to inform all the major broadcasters and publishers in our areas (email works with a standard proclamation format) that while we may like the product, we will no longer support any of their advertizers, because of that media’s fellow-traveling behavior, and that all of our purchasing will now be focused solely on America-supporting suppliers.

I can assure you that if as many as 100,000 people here in the Denver metro (30%) formally announced such intentions, then things would begin to change, and do so as rapidly as any other tactic(s) we might employ. Let the “shunning” begin.

Just in: California has managed to sell $200M in State bonds to the city of San Francisco, while not reducing spending?

Feb 17, 2009 - 2:18 pm 60. deguello:

Mr. Hawkins: We only need ! key: A Third party with a militant wing willing to engage in massive civil disobedience.

Feb 17, 2009 - 2:21 pm 61. geoffgo:

Alston,

I needn’t say anything about you that you haven’t already admitted in your posts.

I merely said that infanticide is inarguably social suicide; far worse policy than eating one’s seed corn.

You chose not to address that point; instead you proceeded directly into a hissy fit of ad hominem attacks. I didn’t say that women could not flock to other countries to have abortions, or that they cannot have them performed here. They are at liberty to do so; just not on my dime.

Let’s sum up. For you it’s okay that the gov’t tax its citizens to fund killing the unborn, and for me that’s immoral.

At the other end of this philosphical spectrum, will you be in favor of the gov’t eliminating funding for eldercare, because they’re old and not worth saving, as has been proposed by Tom Daschle, Obama’s Health Guru – Death Czar? Will you want an exception to this form of genocide called euthenasia, when your time comes?

If so, then you obviously believe the government has moral imperative to decide who lives and dies.

Feb 17, 2009 - 2:56 pm 62. cedarford:

To me, I think globalism has just reached a big pause point. When Western nations are losing jobs and industries at a staggering pace to cheaper Asian labor, it makes little sense to me to stimulate the US economy by tax cuts to encourage more ChinaMart shopping so jobless consumers in shutdown manufacturing towns can get “cheap stuff” for the house they are defaulting on.

It makes far more sense for me as a taxpayer to see us become more protectionist, and spend our stimulus here on the American economy rather than keeping Chinese workers happy. I think people are waking up to how we were methodically lied to and duped about free trade creating “good, high tech jobs here” so that the “jobs Americans didn’t want to do – now evidently defined as high skill manufacturing, engineering, IT jobs, medical and white collar staffing” could be outsourced.

I am afraid the Republicans will miss the boat on this. The winds are shifting fast in this country to a nationalistic, populist, “Defend the Average American Against the Forces Now Wrecking Their Lives And We Don’t Mean Muslim Terrorism!!!!” movement. But Republicans are still locked into a Freedom-Loving! = Absolute Free Trade, mindset. They still blame Democrats for actions taken when Republicans were in the majority and had the Presidency, not their “magnificent genius CEOs, Financiers, Bankers, uber-lawyers”. To them, like a broken record, the only solution is more tax cuts for the Rich and “Trickledown” to stimulate buying more ChinaMart stuff. Which is somehow supposed to make our economy boom again, even as past iterations destroyed high value jobs and replaced them with low paying service sector jobs and gov’t meddling jobs after Bush grew the Fed Gov’t 40% (greater than LBJ).

I’m even reading Pat Buchanan religiously again. I had thought him a crank on his vast Davos/Corporatist Conspiracy stuff, but now I’m thinking he has been dead right on Trade and other matters now giving the American Middle Class and bust-ass worker the Death Of A 1,000 Cuts.

I don’t buy the argument that free traders and supply siders take as articles of faith, that spending on foreign stuff vs American stuff is great for US jobs. That the horrid evil Smoot-Hawley was somehow an abomination, but the previous 180 years of having high tariffs to help America grow high skill jobs and industries vs. being backwater agrarian and raw materials depot for advanced European nations, 1780-1930, was great wise policy by Founders and successors.

China, Japan, Brazil and others did not build their economy by free trade. The 1st thing they said was we like your widgets and your skills – teach us how to build widgets in our country and how to build the science and business skills to make it work.

I have no problem with Japan building cars here after Reagan threatened them with quotas and tariffs on certain non-American components we knew we could make as well and as cheaply as the “loyal Japanese suppliers” Honda, Toyota, Nissan insisted on before Reagan dashed “Free Traders” hopes. Now we drive great Hondas made in the USA by American workers and most the profits and economic multipliers that make the Japanese auto plant hometowns in Ohio, Tennessee, Alabam boom..

The time for Free Trade Absolutism and encouraging of offshoring is over. The days of screaming Smoot-Hawley!! at the unwashed masses from Wall Street penthouses is over.

Time to take back the jobs George Bush said Americans didn’t want to do (cheaply enough to suit his Corporatist Masters, that is…)

Time to tell Infosys that we love their IT services, and we wish them well in their efforts to train tens of thousands of Americans since we are cutting back on H-1B visas and outsourcing and Indian millionaires can no longer buy job-destroying Congressmen to push H-1Bs and outsourcing to India anymore.

I will vote and support only those who take pro-American positions. If things get bad enough, I’ll take up a gun and join others who say they are organizing for now peaceful resistance to those that outsource or operate the Ports most of our goods arrive at, instead of from once-great American cities or the small towns and farms of the Heartland.

Maybe it is also time for clueless fools like Nancy Pelosi, who rushed a badly flawed stimulus bill through, to take time to get it right..rather than blissfully fly off on her higher-priority Italy junket as the market tanks further seeing the steaming pile she left for Obama to sign.

Things sure don’t look good. Republicans are pretending it’s 1980, and none of their 30-year old “surefire” economic ideas and beloved Wall Street cronies are not implicated in any way in the Castastrophe. And Democrats want us to embrace a Green Nanny State that will kill Recovery and destroy the private sector – give it to China and India, so America can better focus on “nurturing caregivers” for OCTOMOM.

Feb 17, 2009 - 3:03 pm 63. lucy:

Reach out to muslims???

How about reach back to the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, George Washington? How about we become the party who remember American values and applies them? How about we find conservative leaders with a passion for this country and who people want to join with in the fight to regain what we’re in the process of losing? Energize people by reminding them what the foundations of this country are.

Don’t gladhand groups and buy them off with promises. Any who can be bought by you can be bought be me or anyone else. Anyone who doesn’t understand or appreciate the blessings of this country as they originally were should be with the other side.

Feb 17, 2009 - 3:44 pm 64. Darvin Dowdy:

Good over all plan “BUT”, Mr. Hawkins forgets that there is viscous opposition to any thing of this sort “within the GOP”!! Our opposition is not just the democrats! Its a naivety that I see throughout the conservative blogs. Until this negative, transnationalist element is forced into the open and dealt with, the GOP is going no where! DD

Feb 17, 2009 - 3:50 pm 65. G Alston:

#61 geoffgo — “Let’s sum up. For you it’s okay that the gov’t tax its citizens to fund killing the unborn, and for me that’s immoral.”

I’ve made no such claim. I said merely that whatever you think about abortion (e.g. whether or not it’s infanticide in your case) is irrelevant to the fact that abortion will occur even if it becomes outlawed. I was even so good as to illustrate how simple it can be to subvert the law. (You’re welcome.)

Outlawing it does no good, therefore it’s utterly pointless for a political party to continue to engage a battle on the national stage it can’t possibly win.

As predicted you managed to impute endorsement on my behalf, and in a pique of upsmanship managed to assert poor motive on behalf of the elderly.

Frankly, I’ve watered things that can argue better than that. Have a smurfy day.

Feb 17, 2009 - 4:33 pm 66. RedFred:

The Republican Party will never regain the high ground so long as we continue to allow the issue of abortion to be an issue. The line to be drawn needs to be drawn at funding them, not prohibiting them; the first supports small govt and personal liberty, the second rails impotently against the tide.

Feb 17, 2009 - 4:39 pm 67. Northern Light:

Tex Taylor,

I’m sorry if you didn’t like the Soviet Union crack. I was trying to think of a party that held power while insisting that all members believe the party line with no deviations. Perhaps there are other examples, the other examples I could think of were even more insulting.

Would you kick out someone who was fiscally conservative yet was pro-choice?

What about a social conservative who believed that government spending could ease poverty?

What about a libertarian type who believed in the Second Amendment as well as legalizing marijuana?

What about a social conservative who was also fiscally conservative but believed in censorship.

In Canada, the most successful party in our history has been the Liberal Party (don’t worry, they really aren’t too liberal). The Liberal Party stands for absolutely nothing which has allowed them to appeal to a broad coalition which kept them in power for 70 out of the last 100 years.

You want an example of American political success? How about the tricky job the Democrats did in the middle of the 20th Century when they could attract racists in the South while keeping liberals in the North-East happy.

The Republican Party has a social conservative platform that could attract a lot of Hispanic supporters. Not to mention Blacks. What? you didn’t know that millions of Black Americans are church going Christians? How is it that this group, which is against same-sex marriage and in favour of traditional family values, doesn’t vote Republican?

You know who I thought would be the first Black President of the United States? I always thought Colin Powell would win in a landslide. Generals usually do well in presidential elections and Colin Powell could draw more than the traditional 5-10% support the GOP draws with Afro-Americans.

But I guess Powell is a RINO. We wouldn’t want that now would we.

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:01 pm 68. Cybergeezer:

What other choice was there? McPain would have screwed up just like the “Campaigner in Chief”.
We need a new party; Something like the “Peoples Conventional Party”.
The Current Republicans have been drinking too much, apparently.

Feb 17, 2009 - 5:13 pm 69. geoffgo:

Redfred,

Exactly. I never suggested abortions be outlawed, even as Alton continues to maintain. He still doesn’t agree that abortion is infanticide, even though that’s the definition. Hmmm. I simply state that I don’t want to be guilty by association by sanctioning abortions being performed with my tax dollars. I think it’s immoral and despicable for our gov’t to be a party, and millions of Americans agree with me, so I can’t be all that out-of-line.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:04 pm 70. Pghmom:

I think you are wrong. Restricting abortion is very important to a lot of voters. The real problem I thought in the last election is that creationism has now become linked to Republicans. Palin and Jindal are both tainted. I know this is a big reason for several relatives (all in health care related careers where you actually study biology) not to vote for McCain/Palin.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:18 pm 71. George:

How about this as the new Republican Platform:

We believe in America governed by a limited government as envisioned by our founders and described in our Constitution.

1-Government whose first responsibility is to assure maximum freedom (least interference) for all citizens.

2-Government which will adapt laws and policies that support the values which made America the beacon and a the magnet for all who value freedom above all:
a.) Deep belief in sanctity of human life and equality of all individuals
b.) Independence and self reliance
c.) Fairness in all interpersonal actions
d.) Responsibility for our decisions and actions.
e.) Right of all to associate and cooperate for individual and common good.
f.) Charity for those in need

3-Government which will apply laws qually thus assure justice for all.

Feb 17, 2009 - 6:45 pm 72. chicago machine:

No one – NO ONE can beat the chicago machine. no one is dirtier and manipulates more media. there’s no way the GOP can survive other than in name only. and i’m a republican. The big boys sat fat and happy and watched this get stolen from them the good old fashioned chicago way! dummies. deep beliefs and hispanic voters are child’s play for the political animals in the chicago zoo. without the media on our side, it’s OVER.. get used to it you all.

Feb 17, 2009 - 7:41 pm 73. Annie B:

We need a new media

Fortuately the old media is all but dead.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:04 pm 74. Marzipan:

I have many friends who were “Reagan Democrats”, who crossed over party lines and voted for him because of what he stood for. This last election cycle I saw it going the other way, but I wouldn’t call my friends “Obama Republicans” because they did not vote FOR Obama but rather against what they saw as the many missteps of the Republican Party generally and of Bush specifically over the last eight years. I would offer a few very specific reasons why people have told me they switched sides. Four things that they have mentioned specifically are:

The Justification for War in Iraq – It is very clear that our intelligence justifying the invasion of Iraq was deeply flawed. Iraq did not any significant programs for developing weapons of mass destruction and the promised stock piles were never found. Nor were any significant links to al-quida established with Iraq. The government was then forced to plead incompetence as a defense, not a game winning strategy if you are trying to position yourself as the party who can best be trusted with national security.

The Mis-Management of Iraq Occupation – Donald Rumsfeld and his neocon cabal at defense was a disaster at managing the Iraq war, regardless of what you opinions regarding their ideology might be. The armed forces have traditionally been a strong part of the republican base, but the Iraq war has eroded part that support. Doesn’t mean our men and women in uniform have all become democrats by any stretch of the imagination, but I know of service people who do feel that their trust betrayed by the Republican Party

Hurricane Katrina – Yes, I know that this was a huge disaster and that the nation would have been hard pressed to cope regardless of who was in charge. But the response was poorly coordinated and poorly lead. Please imagine what Ronald Reagan would have done if confronted with the same scenario…do you think he would have reacted the same way as FEMA’s fearless leader political appointee Mr Brown? Or Bush for that matter? I think most Americans like the idea of small government, but that doesn’t mean it can be ineffective in times of national crisis.

The Economy – People tend to vote democrat when times are hard economically. Maybe its because government assistance seems a lot less wasteful when you might be the one looking for the help. Both parties are responsible for a lot of the mess we are in now, but the Republicans will bear the brunt of it because they had control of the house, the senate and the presidency from 2002-2006. And as many have pointed out, they were the ones who ignored the very ideological foundation that allowed them to achieve that dominance.

I don’t think the Republican Party will recover in 2010 barring some very significant public relations gaffs on Obama’s part and/or the economy turns around. 2012 Would be the best case scenario, but more likely 2014 assuming the party pulls its act together. Pounding the drum on a few hot button issues that appeal to social conservatives will not be enough to turn things around – the key is to look at those ideas that appeal to all Americans. I would suggest

Transparency – No more closed door meetings with executives who get to write legislation in exchange for big donations, a la the national energy policy written at the start of Bushes term by men like Ken Lay.

Respect for the Rule of US Law – I don’t care for the government much either, and the over use of executive authority under Bush was worrying. While the government may have needed to take extraordinary steps in the wake of 9-11, they should have looked to have their actions legalized by the legislative branch as soon as possible rather than arguing over the power of the executive. just one example off the top of my head.

Moral Integrity – And I don’t mean leaving the page boys alone, taking bribes or not having sex in airport men’s rooms. Part of the Republican strength has been that it is not the party of special interests to the same extent as the democrats. It means standing up for the aspirations of American men and women, many of whom hold similar beliefs to Georges (#71). Being viewed as the party of Big Business at the expense of a regular American is at odds with this.

Thanks to the many who posted such thoughtful comments.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:10 pm 75. Dave:

It always makes me chuckle in a disbelieving way when the so called pro-choice side like to try and paint conservatives as the extremists on abortion. Yes there is a part of the conservative movement that would like to see abortion banned federally, but they are small and really have no chance of making it happen. In reality, it is the left that are the extremists on the issue. The Supreme court replaced the will of the people with a fraudulent right based in nothing but their own preference and the nation has picked at the wound ever since.

Were Roe gone, the different parts of this country would treat the issue differently and I doubt there would be any state where the law would ban abortion all together. But also, in probably the majority of states, the life of the child would at some point actually become a consideration where today, on celebrated birthday -1, a child is a lump of tissue. To find fault with the federalist anti-Roe position is truly the extremism.

But as in most things in our declining nation, the media leads the lemmings and they respond as expected.

Feb 17, 2009 - 8:30 pm 76. Knights13:

The republican party carries the name and is out of touch with its supporters. The old republicans have no party to vote for anymore.

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:07 pm 77. cedarford:

Northern Light – Not to mention Blacks. What? you didn’t know that millions of Black Americans are church going Christians? How is it that this group, which is against same-sex marriage and in favour of traditional family values, doesn’t vote Republican?

Because people are far less motivated by “values” than by what they offer in security, a chance to better lives, helping those in need of help, and what is being done for their economic well-being. Areas blacks feel Republicans fail miserably on with respect to black communities.

*******************

George: How about this as the new Republican Platform????

We believe in America governed by a limited government

I don’t want limited government. Not in all areas. I want maximum government involvement in things like having excellent highway, Internet broadband, navigable waterways that are filled with clean water, not what some “maximally free” people wish to dump in it. I want enough government to do basic R&D, enough that our nations and airspace and sea lanes are resonably safe. I want all the government we need to keep an eye on certain high-level capitalists whose greed makes them unable by their very nature to self-regulate and avoid conning and stealing from ordinary American citizens.

1-Government whose first responsibility is to assure maximum freedom (least interference) for all citizens.

Freedom comes with responsibilities. Freedom should be considered a journey that you have to have and keep by doing your share of the rowing.

a.) Deep belief in sanctity of human life and equality of all individuals

The “sanctity” of life is garbage, and there is no equality in individuals.
I could care less if 20 people I don’t know in this state drink themselves to death, or some woman in Japan wants an abortion. I don’t want to pay massive new taxes since China’s free ride for Dubya on future debt came to an end..for heroic measures to “save” all the brain-dead elderly a few more years, or spending 200K on “everything” for a profoundly retarded neonat with massive birth defects.

I don’t care that we have people in another state wanting abortions while in Fundie-Land they dont want people outside Fundie-Land having them….but curiously even the Fundies aren’t talking about restarting the Draft and joining the Muslims to sweep the world and end abortions in India and China or the Netherlands – or Canada.

f.) Charity for those in need

Private charity is good, but it is based on feelings, not logic, for the most part, and for society overall, frequently allocates resources so poorly that some charities and “pet diseases” swim in gathered gold…While if it was left to the “hearts” of the individual donor, others desperately in need of help would die without a cent allocated to their needs if left to the whim of individual donors. Which is why government or the church acting as the de facto government of communities has always had a role in ensuring that for most of history and across cultures, the worst off part of society gets something of the resources of others.

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:16 pm 78. G Alston:

#69 — “Exactly. I never suggested abortions be outlawed, even as Alton continues to maintain.”

Reading comprehension much? There’s this thing called an example, whereby one posits that “you could do X…” which doesn’t imply that X is what you (personally) want to do. Your mechanic says you could remove the hood of your car to see if a problem changes, and that doesn’t mean that he fervently believes that you personally want to do this. He’s giving you an example.

Try an English class.

#70 — “Restricting abortion is very important to a lot of voters.”

And why, pray tell, is it necessary for a political party to be a part of this? NOT restricting abortion is very important to an even greater number of voters. Wouldn’t the prudent course be to ask voters to deal with these things at the state level thus allowing the national party to attract a wider voter spectrum?

Feb 17, 2009 - 9:44 pm 79. AB Catson:

Recently had the experience of wanted to donate support to the Republican candidate for governor of VA, Bob McDonnell. He could win. However, his website’s many ‘donate’ buttons don’t go anywhere. Click and you get a page thanking you for support, but you didn’t get to do the middle part of giving money. Two emails to the campaign resulted in no response.

Called the RNC to ask for assistance. After 30 seconds of automenu, 20 rings to no answer, then an auto operator sending me to a mailbox to leave a message, leaving a message was not possible because the mailbox was full! The alternate menu had 4 more options, none of which worked — choose one and you just get the same menu again!

Delighted with our new RNC chair. However, he still has his RNC candidacy website running full force! And gop.org still sells George Bush merchandise. It’s all very stale, unkempt — like a lawn no one mows.

Now I’m kind worried because at this very moment, the base is paying close attention, hoping for some action — Obama has seen to that. NOW is the moment to start moving. And yeah, good ideas, but when they can’t even respond to someone who wants to donate, and when they don’t even bother to keep the phones working, well, that’s depressing.

What is it — are they all asleep, having coffee at some swank DC coffee house, or what? We need to get serious. Somebody, please get this act together pronto, or elections won’t be any different.

Feb 17, 2009 - 11:07 pm 80. Tex Taylor:

Northern Light,

Not to mention Blacks. What? you didn’t know that millions of Black Americans are church going Christians? How is it that this group, which is against same-sex marriage and in favour of traditional family values, doesn’t vote Republican?

You’re kidding me? You mean blacks actually attend church? That’s amazing. The things you can teach me.

But I guess Powell is a RINO. We wouldn’t want that now would we.

The mean the same brave Colin Powell that waited until the last two weeks to give Obama his endorsement?

Besides Specter, Powell would be number 2 on my list to say, “Get lost.” Conservatives were on to his pretentious act long before he was the first Bush appointment. He’s as phony as the day is long.

But I do find it comical to be lectured from a Canadian about American politic. If I were you, I’d be more worried about cleaning up your own backyard first.

Feb 17, 2009 - 11:41 pm 81. vivo:

39. Mongoose:

These are suggestions from an undecided voter and Independent, a view that would make your Party better and more accepted by the majority of centrists.

“Get rid of the far right.”

“There is no such thing in American politics. This is a construct of the the Left.
But there is a far left ”

If you’re blind to that fact, no wonder you can’t connect with the voters.

“Tell the truth.”

“It is the left that constantly lies, not conservatives or the GOP.”

You don’t have to hide behind what somebody else does. I said Tell the truth, YOUR Party to tell the truth, take responsibility. Who cares if everyone else is lying? I say YOU tell the truth and the voters will follow.

“Support separation of church and government.”

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It’s right there. Your comments are blurred and self-serving. History has nothing to do with this. This is the 21st Century. Just because religion had a heavy hand in the past doesn’t mean they can continue to do it. Religion and Government are two different animals. Oh, I’m sorry, I guess you want the Taliban to be in our government. Now I get it.

“Be respectful of others.”

This is EXACTLY what I mean: you should respect my right to express my opinion. This attitude will never attract voters. And, also, you think of yourself to be the ultimate authority on everything, fat chance.

“Embrace the World.”

Your tunnel vision couldn’t let you understand this phrase. It means reach out to the World and get out of your notion that the USA is the center of the Universe. Look at what Obama did in Germany. We are not alone. Voters want World leaders, not islanders.

“Peace, not war.

I have got news for you, there has been a war going on against America for decades.”

And whose fault is it?

“Have a sense of humor.”

Lighten up. Huckabee has a sense of humor.

Feb 18, 2009 - 12:08 am 82. vivo:

42. Tex Taylor:

Congratulations, you are hard-core conservative. Your message: don’t change anything.

It’s your choice. Bear the consequences.

Feb 18, 2009 - 12:17 am 83. vivo:

74. Marzipan:

I like your sincerity and objectivity. Why can’t everybody else be like this?

Feb 18, 2009 - 12:31 am 84. Marzipan:

80 – Tex

One of Reagan’s great strengths was his axiom to not attack fellow Republicans. The idea of a purge for ideological reasons is ultimately self defeating because it narrows the base instead of expanding it. Colin Powell is clearly not a social conservative, but I think had Bush listened to him instead of the neocons regarding foreign policy and defense, the party and the country might not be where it is now.

As for Specter – I live in PA myself and it is a swing state. The party can choose to put up ideologically pure candidates and tend loose at the state level, or they can put up candidates that appeal to the fiscally conservative but more socially moderate people who live in the suburbs of our cities who will provide the margin of victory.

Feb 18, 2009 - 5:53 am 85. Northern Light:

Hi again Tex Taylor,

I do pay attention to Canadian politics. I work hard every election. But American politics have a huge impact on Canada and besides American politics are like a three ring circus which makes it a lot more fun to follow.

Last fall I kept telling Canadians that John McCain was the better choice for Canadian interests (I know none of you care about what’s best for Canada, but I do) but nobody was listening.

I want the GOP to be competitive and the results from 2008 were scary. So in the interests of keeping the Republicans competitive I offer some suggestions.

1. You say throw out Colin Powell and Arlen Spector. I say throw out Pat Buchanan.

2. There are a lot of socially conservative Blacks and Hispanics that don’t vote Republican. Find out why and fix the problem.

3. Amazingly, there are a lot of Hispanics that own small businesses. They should be core supporters but except for Cuban-Americans in Florida they don’t vote GOP either.

4. During the primaries the only Republican candidate that actually excited his supporters was Ron Paul. Find out what he had that you guys can use.

5. Paul was also the only candidate that appealed to younger voters. If you can’t attract youth you’ll find the party dwindling as your supporters die of old age. What does the Republican Party have to appeal to people under 40? (I’m not under 40 so don’t look for an answer from me)

During the 2008 election I followed Virginia as closely as I could (God bless the internet). During the GOP primary Huckabee carried the smaller rural counties while McCain scored well in urban counties and along the coast. But during the election McCain carried the counties that Huckabee had won during the primary while losing the bigger counties to Obama. Republican support was reduced to the deep south, the Appalachian Mountains, and the emptier parts of the Midwest. This is not good. In fact, this is REALLY REALLY not good. I am not really a Republican supporter, but if I was I would be worried.

You seem to be advocating “Staying the Course.” That would be a good idea if there was potential for victory with the strongholds the party has. There isn’t. Making the party more appealing to its base while alienating everybody else is not the best strategy.

I have heard many comments on what went wrong. Some of them are political suicide. I don’t have the answers, but I do know the most obvious ones.

1. Inclusion, not exclusion.
2. Ideas that can be sold to the voters rather than simple minded blind attacks on the opposition.
3. The party must appeal to urban voters, the rural population is shrinking.
4. The party must appeal to people under 40. SO far the party seems to be insulting younger voters. This does not make friends.
5. Find a way to accommodate people who are conservative in one aspect but not another.

It could be that the GOP will leave things in the hands of the old boys network. The people who think the internet is a passing fad. You can mount campaigns that call Democrats nasty names while not offering up any real alternative. You can run a series of candidates who appeal to the aging rural base while alienating everybody else.

Then again, you can stay out of power for the next 20 years.

I think I’ve said enough. If you comment again you can have the last word.

P.S. If you ever felt like commenting on Canadian politics I would support your right to do so.

Feb 18, 2009 - 6:59 am 86. Yoski:

To me we conservatives are sitting on a gold mine. The stimulus plan will fail. Hence, we drive home the simple notion that tax cuts and less government regulation will bring about an economic recovery that everybody will benefit from. Say Democratic mismanagement of the system caused the economic melt down, not President Bush policies. Do not allow the Democrats to get away with blaming Bush policies. Promise to roll back the Orwellian aspect of the economic stimulus package such as nationalized health care, and tax increases. Demand and call for real investigations on who caused the $519B run on Sept. 17, 2008, how miss management of Fannie May and Freddie Max lead to the market melt down. When Democrats refuse, say they do not want the American people to know the truth. We do this consistently for the next two years then we win big.

Feb 18, 2009 - 8:23 am 87. beejeez:

You might start by re-examining the mentaility that suggests that reaching out to Hispanics, blacks, Jews, Muslims, women, and young voters is counterintuitive to sticking to your principles.

Feb 18, 2009 - 9:11 am 88. Pghmom:

#78. I agree that abortion policy should be determined at the state level. But at this time it isn’t. Right to life voters want someone to represent them at the federal level or the fear is that there will be no safeguards at all.

Feb 18, 2009 - 1:48 pm 89. G Alston:

#88 — “Right to life voters want someone to represent them at the federal level or the fear is that there will be no safeguards at all.”

Nice answer. Makes sense, unlike many here.

On the other hand, there’s zero sane reason why a party minority ought to be in any position to hamstring the national party. And claiming that they don’t hamstring the GOP is not reality.

Thus one key to turning around the republican party is that the abortion stuff has to be dropped entirely at the national level.
The same thing probably applies to *all* ’socon’ issues like gay marriage. By definition these are all divisive issues, not inclusive.

It perplexes me no end that the GOP is willing to relegate itself to permanent minority status to support a minority of the party members. About 10% of the democrats are diehard greens yet the democrat party doesn’t attempt to run on a platform of promising to ban automobiles and coal plants. Maybe there’s something Hawkins can learn from this (although I doubt it.)

Feb 18, 2009 - 2:19 pm 90. Marzipan:

85 – Northern Light

I am interested in hearing your perspective on health care in Canada since you actually live under a health care system that is (in theory at least) closer to some of the proposals I have heard. The rhetoric regarding this subject from both sides seems so ungrounded that I have difficulty making a basic cost/benefit decision. Would you care to comment sir?

Feb 18, 2009 - 2:36 pm 91. myth buster:

Alston- without the social conservatives, there is zero chance of the Republican party ever being in the majority or in the White House again. If you kick us out, we’ll gut the Republican Party and build our own. Don’t like that? Push an Amendment to the Constitution to convert us to a parliamentary system, but as long as we have a first-past-the-post system, you need the social conservatives to put us over the top. Alston, do you believe in the Constitution? If so, you must support outlawing abortion (or more accurately, enforcing the anti-abortion laws already on the books). Equal protection under the law- that is what this debate is about. As for the futility argument, rape and murder are both illegal now, yet people still commit those crimes. Shall we legalize them? By no means! Rather, we impose strict punishments, and then we arrest, try, convict, and sentence those who commit them.

Cedarford, who are you to judge what I do with my money? It cannot be a misallocation of resources for people to do as they please with their own money, even if that means flooding certain charities with money while others struggle. You’re also dead wrong about the anti-abortion thing. Catholics and Evangelicals push as best we can for an end to China’s One Child Policy, sexual abuse, mutilation and slavery in Africa, and racist eugenics policies that seek to force abortions on minorities, as well as shove euthanasia down our throats.

Feb 18, 2009 - 7:57 pm 92. G Alston:

#91 — “Alston, do you believe in the Constitution? If so, you must support outlawing abortion (or more accurately, enforcing the anti-abortion laws already on the books).”

Obviously there’s a reading comprehension problem in this tiny echo chamber. I haven’t discussed what I personally think about abortion. The weak minded apparently assume I must be for it. What I have discussed is whether or not abortion ought to be an issue at the national party level, and have advocated that the GOP drop the social planks so that those who want to vote one way or another do so at the state level.

(And here I thought republicans were all over this states rights thing.)

Why should the republican party have anything to say at all regarding social conservative issues? Take gay marriage. The democrats don’t have a party plank that says they’re for it. In fact they say nothing about it at all. Saying nothing doesn’t make the GOP into democrats. Saying nothing says only that the GOP as a political party doesn’t have an opinion on it.

Do you have an opinion on gay marriage? You do? Great! Go vote pro or con on prop 8 or whatever is the ballot measure in your state. It will pass or it won’t depending on the voters. If the good people of Kansas don’t want to see gays marry, what does this have to do with the GOP? Nothing. So why should the GOP be dragged into it?

Moreover, this is at the state level where it belongs. The only possible reason to have a stance on it as a national party is if you have some fantasy of a constitutional amendment. Good luck with that.

It probably doesn’t occur to you that there’s somehwere close to a million kids a year graduating school, and these aren’t social conservative voters. Not by a long shot. And they haven’t been for years. Meanwhile, the socon voters are dying out. What used to work in the 80’s is getting slimmer and slimmer. (I love how the echo chamber denizens cite socon victories viz Reagan.) Church membership in places that actually count (i.e. lots of electoral votes) in terms of national elections is practically on life support. As I see it, WITH social conservatives, there is an ever decreasing chance of the Republican party ever being in the majority or in the White House again. Of course, I arrived at this using a thing called math. I have no idea what you may have used for your claim.

The key to turning around the party is to get more votes. You can start with the umpteen million who have graduated since say 1990 who are largely democrat voters. (Do you ever look at voter demographics?) You do this by being inclusive. “Social conservative” issues aren’t inclusive. They’re what’s called divisive. For example, an issue that tells women what they can and can’t do with their bodies may not be perceived by those same young women as something OTHER than dictating terms to them. Take it or leave it. And it’s a big surprise when they leave it? Not a good plan when your recruiting base is already against those same issues.

There is no reason why the GOP ought to be involved in take it or leave it social issues, and this goes double for the party that is supposed to be supportive of personal choices. Either people can make their own personal choices or they can’t. I know you can’t see it, but advocating “take it or leave it” issues is self-contradictory and is going to cripple the party. Whether that’s sooner or later is the only real question.

#91 — “As for the futility argument, rape and murder are both illegal now, yet people still commit those crimes.”

The “futility argument” speaks to the inabilty of the minority to impose their personal beliefs on the majority. Most people (which includes some 85% of women last time I looked) are pro choice. Deal with it. Almost everyone is against rape and murder. Poor comparison on your part.

Feb 18, 2009 - 11:33 pm 93. David:

Here’s a thought. Dump Bush. Well, I know he’s already gone, but fess up and admit he was bad for the party. A 400 Billion dollar Medicare expansion is not a small government idea. Many of his troubles related to his horrible PR. He rarely defended himself, and when he did speak (admit it) he sounded like an ignorant hick. Sure, some of his speeches were brilliant, but too many would hear “nuculur” and start sniggering – at least a little. Finally, I’ll just say two names: “Ramos and Compeon” Pathetic. If you don’t know the story, and are looking for a little cheap enragement, look it up.
I say chuck the entire platform and go libertarian. If the party stopped kissing the butt cheeks of the evangelists (where else are they gonna go?), we could pick up a lot of crossover votes.
Number one. The party that believes in freedom should stop putting people in jail for smoking pot. Hey, you wanna keep heroin of the table, I can see that, but it is unwise to say the least to alienate a portion of the population that is bigger than (for example) the fanatically loyal gay and black vote.

Feb 19, 2009 - 2:46 am 94. whyyeseyec:

What are you TALKING about???? Six keys reasons to turn around the republican party??

Have you been watching the news lately?? Senators Snowe, Collns and Spector have screwed our nation on the federal level and now just this morning several Calif republicans have gone over to the dark side and screwed the taxpayers with tax increases while businesses are closing, cutting hours and laying off hard working Americans!!!!!

I see no reason to EVER vote for another republican!!!

No reason to vote at all. We the People get screwed no matter who we vote for.

Feb 19, 2009 - 7:57 am 95. Don Rhudy:

I thought this essay was very thoughtful and mostly right on. I do disagree with the idea of reaching out (2). Instead of that, sell the original American ideology, which embraces most conservative principles. Insist on an uncompromising adherence to the U. S. Constitution. A party that advertises and argues principles that promote Freedom, Liberty, and Free Enterprise will attract people. It won’t have to reach out to groups.

Feb 19, 2009 - 1:06 pm 96. Marc Malone:

I keep seeing the same things being profferred by the opposition: dump the religious stuff. I get it. the youth of today are not very religious. They are socially Liberal, because they’ve been indoctrinated that way. They lack experience, wisdom, and knowledge of history. So therefore, we should change our principles, because the Libs have been successful at undermining the values of our country. We should just cave in.

This is a ridiculous idea.

You don’t just abandon what’s right just because the youth have drifted away from it. We’re the adults here. The youth don’t tell us how to think. We tell them how to think. In time, with experience, they come around. Obama will provide that experience in short order, God bless him. Conservative beliefs will make a comeback for the next 20-30 years, then the process will repeat itself with the next young and stupid generation.

Anything else is just winning in order to rule, rather than winning in order to accomplish specific things. This is the reason the Pubs have suffered, because those elceted are more interested in getting re-elected than in accomplishing the goals of the party.

Feb 19, 2009 - 1:48 pm 97. joe:

A good starting point to reform the Republican Party is to stop supporting it financially. The money the RNC and the state parties spent on candidates like Lincoln Chaffee, Jim Jeffords, Chuck Hegel, Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, and Specter was and is a total waste given one cannot tell the difference between their positions than those of a Harry Reid. Why elect these closet leftists when you can vote for the real thing. It is a lot cheaper for the hard working and honest people who call themselves Republicans and surely not as frustrating.

Feb 19, 2009 - 3:11 pm 98. Michael:

1. Have personal convictions.
2. Proclaim those convictions loud and clear and vote on them.
3. Expose fraud and dishonesty.
4. If you have no convictions beyond making money get the hell out.

Feb 20, 2009 - 7:51 am 99. deguello:

We only need one key:the one needed to lock RINOS in a
dungeon full of rabid hyenas.Do that, and the party will prosper.

Feb 24, 2009 - 6:45 am 100. jeanie:

John Mc Cain won because Huckabee lied and discredit Mitt Romney and he writes a brook on do the right thing—it would be nice if old Hucbeea bs. would do that once in a agreat while.

So now our youth are stuck with the inept, con artist, used csr salesmenm community, non-u.s citizen Obamination.

Oh well we need a democratic majority once in a while to not vote one of them in for a hundred years after they mess up everything, being the boobs most of them are

Feb 27, 2009 - 1:57 pm 101. Hellfish:

Fire 10% of the federal government staff on the first day in office. The 10% more each year.

Mar 2, 2009 - 5:41 am 102. Doc E:

One thing not mentioned when it comes to “healthcare” is the need for tort reform. Additionally, even many Libs hate lawyers, so let’s use the lawsuit mess against them, and mention the Tort Tax we all pay for many things.

Mar 9, 2009 - 10:09 pm

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