The same old song and dance
On Wednesday I put up a post that had a lot of people cheering, and quite a few gnashing their teeth. Why? Because I'm one of those that are demanding change in the Republican party. I explained it then, and with all due respect to Michael Medved and his ranting yesterday about how certain ideological steps being posited right now will shrink the party instead of growing it, he doesn't understand what I, and many others are saying.
We don't mind if moderates, centrists, or Independents want to be in our party. We're the big-tent party here. We'll take them all.
But, WE will be the ones who lay out the platform and the agenda. Why? Because the moderates have run the party into the ground. In 2000, on the heels of President Bush's election win, we went from the party of small government to the party of big government. We went from the party of fiscal responsibility to the party of pork, earmarks, and spending every little dime on every little project.
In short, the party lost it's way, and it was due in no small part to the moderates becoming the voices int he party rather than the conservatives. Thanks to them, the only differences between Democrats and Republicans is that we still liked tax cuts, and we still stood strong on national defense.
So, I called for a change, and while I'm no leader, by God I'll do the leading if I have to to save this party. I called for change in several ways.
-- Find good conservatives out there to run against the old guard entrenched int he party that lack the forward-looking vision we need to succeed.
-- We need fresh blood and fresh faces, not just in Congress, but also in the upper echelons of the party itself. Mitt Romney, despite his centrist/moderate leanings would be ideal to head up the RNC. Like Gingrich, the man knows how to organize and mobilize, and he's smart with money, so fundraising wouldn't be an issue.
-- Get the farm team out there. That means you get Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele, Tim Pawlenty, Pete Hegseth, Bill Russell, and Bob Scheiffer out there talking and "scouting." In addition, you take the best and the brightest of the center-right New Media to also do the scouting and find people that are young, energetic, and adhere to conservative values. That's the future for Congress.
-- Some of our leadership has to change, hence the title of this piece. (I'll get to this in a second.) But we really need to look to people like Jeff Flake, Eric Cantor, and John Shadegg in the House. they should be the party leaders. They're strong on fiscal conservatism, and they hold to an idea that you reach across the aisle when your opponents are ready to come to you, not the other way around.
-- The voice of the party isn't John McCain. Yes, we supported the nominee, but readers will recall that we put out a warning to him. If he were elected, we'd put his butt under a microscope, and we'd oppose him if he did anything that was contrary to the party's inherent ideology. We could honestly care less what John McCain has to say because he's amongst the moderates that want to drag the party to the center and abandon the conservative roots that pulled it out of the darkness of the 60s and 70s.
Now onto the same old song and dance, and why we need a sincere leadership change int he House. Captain Ed highlights an op-ed in today's WaPo penned by Minority Leader John Boehner:
While Republicans are disappointed by Tuesday’s results, we respect the American people’s decision and pledge to work with President-elect Barack Obama when it is in the best interest of our nation. Some Democrats and pundits may want to read Tuesday’s results as a repudiation of conservatism — a sign that Republicans should give Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue a free ride. I don’t see it that way, and neither should Republicans across the country.
The next four years are critical to the future of our families, our economy and our country, and we have a responsibility to rebuild our party by fighting for the principles of freedom, opportunity, security and individual liberty — the principles upon which the GOP was founded. Recommitting ourselves to these principles means two things: vigorously fighting a far-left agenda that is out of step with the wishes of the vast majority of Americans and, more important, promoting superior Republican alternatives that prove that we offer a better vision for our country’s future.
America is still a center-right country. This election was neither a referendum in favor of the left’s approach to key issues nor a mandate for big government. Obama campaigned by masking liberal policies with moderate rhetoric to make his agenda more palatable to voters. Soon he will seek to advance these policies through a Congress that was purchased by liberal special interests such as unions, trial lawyers and radical environmentalists, and he’ll have a fight on his hands when he does so.
In record numbers, Americans voted on Tuesday for a skillful presidential nominee promising change, but “change” should not be confused with a license to raise taxes, drive up wasteful government spending, weaken our security, or give more power to Washington, Big Labor bosses and the trial bar. Americans did not vote for higher taxes to fund a redistribution of wealth; drastic cuts in funding for our troops; the end of secret ballots for workers participating in union elections; more costly obstacles to American energy production; or the imposition of government-run health care on employers and working families.
Nice talk, but talk's cheap, and Boehner was given his shot in 2006. He had just be installed as the party leader in the House before the drubbing we took in 2006. We decided it wasn't fair to oust him when the loss wasn't technically his fault. And we watched as he tried his best to hamper the Democrats. It was the Republicans who mounted the rogue session of Congress earlier this year as Democrats took off on their recess, and we, the people, watched gas prices climb to numbers never seen before.
What did they do when Congress reconvened? They tried to get a bill through that would have lifted the congressional ban on offshore drilling. Where'd it go? Last time I heard it was languishing in committee somewhere. Back in June of this year Harry Reid tried to jam-down the Warner-Lieberman climate control bill. What did Mitch McConnell do to stop it, and force it into committee where it was killed? He requested the Senate clerk read the entire bill, from beginning to end, all 500 pages of it.
That's leadership. McConnell knew the asinine global warming bill was a farce, and it would end up hurting the nation more than helping it. He fought against it. What did Boehner do? He let the Democrats in the House steam-roll him. I'm sorry, but Boehner talks a good talk, but he lacks the spine we need. As I said above, Flake and Shadegg would be ideal to take the reins of leadership in the House. (Cantor is already going for the whip's job.) We urge readers to e-mail both Rep. Flake and Rep Shadegg, and urge them to run for the Minority Leader's position.
Fresh ideas come with change. And we can ill afford to be stuck with the same old song and dance from the wallflowers that lack the backbone to fight a radical agenda that will surely be coming down the pike from a President Obama.
Publius II
We don't mind if moderates, centrists, or Independents want to be in our party. We're the big-tent party here. We'll take them all.
But, WE will be the ones who lay out the platform and the agenda. Why? Because the moderates have run the party into the ground. In 2000, on the heels of President Bush's election win, we went from the party of small government to the party of big government. We went from the party of fiscal responsibility to the party of pork, earmarks, and spending every little dime on every little project.
In short, the party lost it's way, and it was due in no small part to the moderates becoming the voices int he party rather than the conservatives. Thanks to them, the only differences between Democrats and Republicans is that we still liked tax cuts, and we still stood strong on national defense.
So, I called for a change, and while I'm no leader, by God I'll do the leading if I have to to save this party. I called for change in several ways.
-- Find good conservatives out there to run against the old guard entrenched int he party that lack the forward-looking vision we need to succeed.
-- We need fresh blood and fresh faces, not just in Congress, but also in the upper echelons of the party itself. Mitt Romney, despite his centrist/moderate leanings would be ideal to head up the RNC. Like Gingrich, the man knows how to organize and mobilize, and he's smart with money, so fundraising wouldn't be an issue.
-- Get the farm team out there. That means you get Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele, Tim Pawlenty, Pete Hegseth, Bill Russell, and Bob Scheiffer out there talking and "scouting." In addition, you take the best and the brightest of the center-right New Media to also do the scouting and find people that are young, energetic, and adhere to conservative values. That's the future for Congress.
-- Some of our leadership has to change, hence the title of this piece. (I'll get to this in a second.) But we really need to look to people like Jeff Flake, Eric Cantor, and John Shadegg in the House. they should be the party leaders. They're strong on fiscal conservatism, and they hold to an idea that you reach across the aisle when your opponents are ready to come to you, not the other way around.
-- The voice of the party isn't John McCain. Yes, we supported the nominee, but readers will recall that we put out a warning to him. If he were elected, we'd put his butt under a microscope, and we'd oppose him if he did anything that was contrary to the party's inherent ideology. We could honestly care less what John McCain has to say because he's amongst the moderates that want to drag the party to the center and abandon the conservative roots that pulled it out of the darkness of the 60s and 70s.
Now onto the same old song and dance, and why we need a sincere leadership change int he House. Captain Ed highlights an op-ed in today's WaPo penned by Minority Leader John Boehner:
While Republicans are disappointed by Tuesday’s results, we respect the American people’s decision and pledge to work with President-elect Barack Obama when it is in the best interest of our nation. Some Democrats and pundits may want to read Tuesday’s results as a repudiation of conservatism — a sign that Republicans should give Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue a free ride. I don’t see it that way, and neither should Republicans across the country.
The next four years are critical to the future of our families, our economy and our country, and we have a responsibility to rebuild our party by fighting for the principles of freedom, opportunity, security and individual liberty — the principles upon which the GOP was founded. Recommitting ourselves to these principles means two things: vigorously fighting a far-left agenda that is out of step with the wishes of the vast majority of Americans and, more important, promoting superior Republican alternatives that prove that we offer a better vision for our country’s future.
America is still a center-right country. This election was neither a referendum in favor of the left’s approach to key issues nor a mandate for big government. Obama campaigned by masking liberal policies with moderate rhetoric to make his agenda more palatable to voters. Soon he will seek to advance these policies through a Congress that was purchased by liberal special interests such as unions, trial lawyers and radical environmentalists, and he’ll have a fight on his hands when he does so.
In record numbers, Americans voted on Tuesday for a skillful presidential nominee promising change, but “change” should not be confused with a license to raise taxes, drive up wasteful government spending, weaken our security, or give more power to Washington, Big Labor bosses and the trial bar. Americans did not vote for higher taxes to fund a redistribution of wealth; drastic cuts in funding for our troops; the end of secret ballots for workers participating in union elections; more costly obstacles to American energy production; or the imposition of government-run health care on employers and working families.
Nice talk, but talk's cheap, and Boehner was given his shot in 2006. He had just be installed as the party leader in the House before the drubbing we took in 2006. We decided it wasn't fair to oust him when the loss wasn't technically his fault. And we watched as he tried his best to hamper the Democrats. It was the Republicans who mounted the rogue session of Congress earlier this year as Democrats took off on their recess, and we, the people, watched gas prices climb to numbers never seen before.
What did they do when Congress reconvened? They tried to get a bill through that would have lifted the congressional ban on offshore drilling. Where'd it go? Last time I heard it was languishing in committee somewhere. Back in June of this year Harry Reid tried to jam-down the Warner-Lieberman climate control bill. What did Mitch McConnell do to stop it, and force it into committee where it was killed? He requested the Senate clerk read the entire bill, from beginning to end, all 500 pages of it.
That's leadership. McConnell knew the asinine global warming bill was a farce, and it would end up hurting the nation more than helping it. He fought against it. What did Boehner do? He let the Democrats in the House steam-roll him. I'm sorry, but Boehner talks a good talk, but he lacks the spine we need. As I said above, Flake and Shadegg would be ideal to take the reins of leadership in the House. (Cantor is already going for the whip's job.) We urge readers to e-mail both Rep. Flake and Rep Shadegg, and urge them to run for the Minority Leader's position.
Fresh ideas come with change. And we can ill afford to be stuck with the same old song and dance from the wallflowers that lack the backbone to fight a radical agenda that will surely be coming down the pike from a President Obama.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 9:31 AM
2 Comments:
Nice post and Flake and Shadegg would be good minority leaders. As Flake noted in his WaPo piece, and you in your post here, we need a return to conservative basics.
And to scout "explainers-in-chief" for leadership positions in Congress and the next conservative President. Bush was good at some things, but communicating the principles effectively day-in and day-out was a glaring weak spot.
In a communication age, this is not a weakness our leaders can afford to have. When an otherwise good prospect is weak here, get coaches for God's sake - if they can't get up to speed, keep them in support positions and get the articulators out front.
Couldn't agree more with the title, same old song and dance. All we can do is hold our pocket books and wallets extra tight and hope the socialist illuminati are out of office in a few years.
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