Redstate

We are lacking leadership, nothing more. We have Newt out pandering and making commercials for global warming; we have McCain publicly denounce the NC ad about Obama because he will "do everything in my power to make sure not only they stop it but that kind of leadership is rejected"; and of course, lose elections in strong red districts.

We are sheep wandering without direction and
while may offend some, John McCain is not and I suspect will not become a leader that will promote and generate interest in conservative ideals. Unfortunately, I see nothing but a near party meltdown over the next several years, especially if McCain is elected if he fails to step up and lead.

But as Erick has more aptly said then I, the party is currently broken and needs someone with the skills and tools to purge the non-believers and get us to the promised land.

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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
--Aristotle

I'll be long dead before we come back from the wilderness.

Never in my lifetime has it been more important for us to look at City Councils, School Boards, and State Legislatures for some new blood...while these fools in DC play their fiddles, we need to start GOING to these meetings at the State and local level, and trying to shop around for our future Politicians to send to Washington.

Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida.
-Quintus Horatius Flaccus

This presents the principle that describes the R party problem...

"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.
I could wish you were cold or hot.
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."
Rev. 3:15-16

Because, as some claim, we've "bent over backwards" for social conservatives the last 7+ years? You know, Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Dick Cheney's grandchild has two Mommies, etc.? Or could it be because of Iraq and gas prices? My GUESS, purely guessing, is it is because of the latter.

At least that's how they got rid of them in the old country.

I want to give my voice in agreement though, that we do need to return our party to the basics of conservative principle.

We can only do that if the party leadership is ready to let that happen. I'm no babe in the woods. I know what happens when an entrenched group is threatened or besieged. It gets ugly, people are hurt and carnage is usually the result.

We still need to go ahead and attempt to remove them anyway. Maybe hand grenades and flame throwers?

Congress is a mess. The party is a mess.

I'm ready to join discussions of what to do to fix it all after November/POTUS is taken care of.

"Government of the people, by the people, for the people."
A. Lincoln

Erick, I really do believe, that if the opportunity ever presents itself, I would love to sit down and buy you a beer and just talk with you. I read your posts and I can't help but wonder how you and I think alike.

I am moving at the end of this month to start a new job in Pierre South Dakota. I will be living three blocks from the state capitol building too. So, I will be getting more involved there this summer.

I believe too that this November will be a train wreck, but it needs to happen. Your Bible quote is fitting for this situation.

Cheers

Wubbies World, MSgt, USAF (Retired):
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(""The only reason that some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.")

People threw out the GOP because they stood for nothing but bloat, pork, and waste -- as well as incompetence. They have done nothing to change that. People will vote for ANY alternative that doesn't come across as scary. The Dems will have the $, persona, and MSM to make that happen -- the GOP is not at present capable of changing that.

The failed "leadership" must be purged -- YAF style.

With this, though, we need to salvage some of the members who could be part of the solution rather than just trying to hold every last seat. Of those endangered, Reps. Marilyn Musgrave, Tom Feeney, and Tim Walberg come to mind.

www.republicansenate.org

In January 2009, the Iraq War stops being "Bush's War" and becomes "Obama's War."

The GOP will finally be free of the need to have to justify to the American public why our troops must take steady losses for years to come on behalf of the Iraqi people so they can turn right around and screw us on Iran and OPEC and Israel. Then the party can begin to define a new foreign policy that the American people will find inspiring.

There's a precedent: In January 1969, the Vietnam War stopped being "Lyndon Johnson's War" and became "Nixon's War." Which was a great relief to Democrats, who have tried to forget that LBJ ever existed.

Alternatively, McCain will win the election. But I'm convinced that McCain has the right stuff to bring the Iraq War to a swift and successful conclusion.

So by 2011 or so, the GOP will be in good shape either way.

You and I are on the same page. While I would love to see the Republican's prevail, if for no other reason but to replace Ginsberg and Stevens, the reality is that the sooner this bunch capitulates, the sooner real conservatism will have a chance.

I'm on my 4th year now on city council in fast-growing suburb of Dallas. Since I have been on, we have continued to lower taxes, erase fees, while mainlining an annual surplus (this year may hurt). It won't change the country, or even get noticed most of the time, but it is something I can do, and we all can do to make a difference in the immediate community in which we live. Its very easy to play arm-chair QB and diagnose the problems with our leaders, the second step is to get out there and do something about it.

So ditto from a disappointed WASP, Conservative-Calvinist.

I know the answer from conservatives every time the Republican Party is in trouble is, "be more conservative", but I'm not sure that's the problem. The most popular Republicans are usually not that conservative, like McCain, Schwarzneggar, Giuliani, Bloomberg (before he switched), etc. I'm not saying that's a blueprint for Republicans to follow, just some cold, hard political truth.

I think the Republicans biggest problem is Bush, followed closely by Iraq, although the latter has been less and less an issue, but Americans still want it over as soon as possible.

I've almost come to the conclusion that there is nothing the Republican Party can do but let another wave blow through and take away more weak Republican Senate and Congressional seats, and just hope that McCain pulls it through and we keep the White House.

Once Bush is out of the spotlight, and the Iraq War looks to be ending, I hope the Republican Party can begin to rebuild its shattered image.

I hope this scenario turns out better, but I'm cynical that congressional Republicans being more conservative is going to suddenly reverse our fortunes, but at this point we have nothing to lose.

conservatism works every time it is tried. Running on a platform of strong national defense, limited government and traditional moral values will work. Ronald Reagan perfectly articulated these themes.

McCain can't and won't because he's not a true believer. He's a fraud and his latest global warming/big government socialist idea proves that. He needs to lose and he needs to lose big. If he wins, the GOP is over as he will complete the transformation of the party into Democrat-lite.

The Congressional GOP isn't much better as they will go along to get along. They're insiders who use the levers of power to keep themselves there. There needs to be an electoral bloodbath this November to make this work and the message will be clear: acting like liberal democrats will cost them votes.
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Halls of Justice Painted Green, Money Talking.
Power Wolves Beset Your Door, Hear Them Stalking.

notatool.com

...has been an absolute disaster for the GOP. I can't believe that this guy had so much influence with Bush.

“.....women and minorities hardest hit”

Who is Don Young's primary challenger? What can be done to support him/her? Where do I donate? Are there any promising polling numbers? When is the election?

I know that I could easily just use Google to find the answers to these questions, but I ask these to make another point. I follow politics pretty closely. The fact that these questions are not readily obvious and front-and-center to readers of the Right blogosphere and online community is also a symptom of the problem. If Don Young has a credible primary challenger, why aren't conservative blogs buzzing about it?

Young vs. (unknown) should at least rise to the same attention level as Gilchrest vs. Harris, Schwartz vs. Walberg, and Specter vs. Toomey. I remember all of those races, and while they too could have used better online/grassroots organization, they were light years beyond what the Young vs. (unknown) race currently is.

"Operation Purge" for 2008 and beyond needs to get more organized.

Erick, I am absolutely positive that you represent about 90% or more of the registered Republicans in the US. Just about all of us want a major change in the direction that the party has taken since, oh, about 2000, maybe 2004. Maybe before 2000. It does not really matter. The point, as you perfectly summed it up, is that Republicans want change.

My question, then, is what direction you would like the party to go in. Specifically, what political platform would you like the GOP to embrace for the next elections (2010), since 2008 is a dead issue. Please give specifics, not just "Reagan Conservatism" or other such bumper sticker, book jacket slogans.

I think that this would create an excellent starting point for discussion here at RS, since the terms "conservative" and "Republican" have become rather ambiguous of late.

What might make me open my wallet to the RCC and RSCC.

1. Fair Tax - Flat Tax
2. No Earmarks
3. A complete turnover of the Leadership.
4. No Amnesty until the border is 100% secured. Then a case by case basis. Any illegal using a fraudulent Social Security Card or other crime to face immediate deportment.

I worked Mark Foley's old district (FL-16) for Joe Negron. What I took out that election was that the numbers for the Dem and governors race were right where they were supposed to be. People voted just like they voted in the previous election..but they did not pull the lever for Negron....granted Foley's name was still on the ballot, but these people were not voting Dem they just weren't pulling the lever in the Congressional Race in disgust with the Republican Leadership. If I, a lowly campaign worker, understood that..why couldn't the party leadership understand that.

“There's nothing new you can't say about dirt” - Gram Parsons

With all due respect to the true 12-step program, the Republican Party must go on a program of its own. How long do you think it will take the RNC to get to step 1 and admit it has a problem? I think the party could go a long way if it owned up to the American people its transgressions over the last few years (out of control spending, medicare drug plan, failure to fight for judges) and showed how they would not sin again.

Blue State by Birth, Red State by Choice

Just 4 years ago, that was one of the phrases being thrown around.

And now this diary is here and there's another one discussing the destruction of the party.

All that to say... I'm thinking that the Republican Party used to have fewer people prone to histrionics, didn't it?

Or was I just not paying attention?

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be. --Voltaire

a "Permanent CONSERVATIVE Majority"!!

Erick

About that Republican brand, what is it?

Seems sense 1995 and the days of Contract with America, Republicans have been against things, not for things, well maybe more spending. I'm going to sidestep the finger pointing, but the real question in my mind is what do Republicans stand for, instead of stand against?

I hate the "change" buzz, it's stupid in my view, but you have to stand back and ask yourself what does the Republican brand stand for, and how do you sell that "dog food" to the public. I think if you'd poll the readership of RS, trying to make a list 10 things that are important, or seemly important, you'd have a hard time. That's the problem in a nutshell.

Using your biblical metaphoric terms, is this the period where Republicans wander the wilderness of Sinai looking for a new Moses to appear from the mountain with a new set of tablets defining the brand, or is it some other biblical reference? Jesus and the Temple mount throwing the money changers from the temple to restore the faith. I really don't know.

Right now, the vast majority of Republicans in Congress stand for nothing that I can tell, well maybe getting re-elected, and that's also one of the other problems confronting the Republican brand.

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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !

comers in prominent positions.

The most visible proof of this will be the VP pick, and this is one of the reason's that I support Palin.

It will drop like the Whigs before it. And hopefully true conservatives will reincarnate a political party with some backbone and principle out of the ashes.

The GOP has completely removed itself from any of its core beliefs, platforms, principles, etc. The only thing it hangs on now is War. That will not survive when people are getting economically crushed and are caring less about war because of it.