Jul 08 2007
America Has GOP Fatigue
I tell you what, the nation is so tired of listening to the whining from the far right I have to admit it is probably best the GOP go into a time out for a while – at least the far right. They throw temper tantrums, sling insults to any and all who think differently, and attack our nation’s leader and their party’s leader. With friend like this you have no friends. Just read the media tripe and then the real intentions on the right. First the tripe:
Let’s say you’re a Republican president, a bit more than midway through your second term. You’re scrambling to salvage what you can of a deeply unpopular war, you’re facing a line of subpoenas from Democrats in Congress and your poll ratings are in the basement. What do you do?
You estrange the very Republicans whose backing you need the most.
Puulllease. The base is estranged itself from the rest of America. The base (and we are talking only half the base) went into mob drool-down and called President Bush a traitor and called for his impeachment. And amongst all the handwringing were those ugly voices of racism which ‘the base’ did nothing to disown or distance from.
You want to know what is bugging the base – it has reached the end of its acceptable dogma. No one is buying their lines without challenge anymore. So they respond by wanting purity and compliance from all. One nation, under the right, with one ideology and view of justice thrust upon us all. I hate to do this, but one fellow blogger I was very close to for a time has taken the turn I hoped the far right would not take. But they did and I refuse to follow. Count me out of this kind of thinking:
Before, the difference between the us and them was that they – meaning liberals – would say anything to get elected, swaying in the polls like the weak pieces of crap they are. Those RINOs who have come out and said basically the same thing they’ve been saying all along are media darlings get all the bullet quotes.
Know this that it’s a promise that we will sweep them from office over the coming years as we begin to “cleanse the party of the so-called “moderatesâ€, or “liberals in hidingâ€.
It’s a long time coming.
The largest problem with the GOP over the last ten years has been because we let outselves – for the sake of votes – get infiltrated by these literal “wolves in sheeps clothingâ€, who incidently ran in their particular campaigns as hardcore conservatives, only to backtrack once they got the job.
…
There is no revolt, it’s a cleansing and a revealing of who these RINOS really are, not only as politicians, but as to their character as well.
All this ranting does is tell people like Voinivich and Alexander there is no use in trying to ally with the far right on common issues any more. The far right is saying it plans to work towards your defeat, and they promise to never let anyone do anything they do not support 100%. Therefore there is no need for unity because the far right will not tolerate ‘that kind’ of unity.
The GOP has become a bunch of little tin dictators who try to brow-beat people into submission instead of winning them over. But worse, when they cannot win them over they refuse to accept it with grace or honor or statesmanship. The GOP cannot stomach America when it disagrees with them – just like the fringe left.
Both parties are being over-heated by hot heads who are breaking down our will to work together and succeed in common cause. They focus on the blunt one sided win, not the finally tuned joint project. Those of us who want more for American than one party pushing their ideology on us need to realize we cannot have these out-of-control Don Quixote’s running our country. They aren’t that smart, they don’t have all the right answers (not even the best answers) and their hate and anger destroy more than their marginally beneficial ideas can bring to this country. The price to continue to deal with these people is too high.
Both the right and left have given us the best they have for innovative progress. Now they are just an open wound trying to infect us all with their holier-than-thou hate. The GOP is just another reminder of why stoking emotions ruins good work. This is not Reagan’s shining city on the hill or Bush’s American Phoenix (with bullhorn) standing upon the wreckage of the WTC. No, this GOP is something malignant, something trying to kill off new ideas and differing opinions. These are simply Rightwing-KoS-Kopies, a reflection of all that is wrong with the worst of the left. Count me as a proud (and impure) independent Bush-Reagan conservative.
Bush is not a conservative and never has been – just look at his record. I say this as a past and present supporter of the President. He is more like Leiberman than Reagan…and compared to Gore, Kerry and Clinton – far more acceptable.
You can be a Bush Moderate or a Reagan Conservative – but Bush’s ideology is not any where near Reagan where conservatism is involved. I suggest you actually read some of Reagan’s writings and you would find out that he would be with the people you call “far right” today on most issues – not in the middle.
I don’t like people redefining conservatism by lumping two different philosophies and approach and calling them identical.
Jacqui,
Of course Bush is a conservative – as am I. We aren’t YOUR kind of conservative. And if you want our brand out of your shrinking party not a problem. Just don’t complain when no one comes to talk to your minority about what to do with the future of this country! Get over it – conservatism is not owned by anybody.
AJ
I think you are over rating this whole extreme conservative thing, sure some voices are ranting from a very few, but the bottom line is that the real power base some think is there is not showing in the numbers.
Just look at any poll of Republican candidates and except for Fred Thompson, the most classic conservatives are off in the also ran support levels.
What we are looking at in today’s world is that to get elected either party has to attract the middle, that is a fact of life, the real bottom line is just how far to you have to tip the balance toward the center to get enough support to win and how much will the conservative base be displeased by how far you are reaching out.
Still when you boil it down the conservatives will support the Republican candidate because they will suck it up and vote as they need to in order for the Republican party to come out on top rather than have a Democrat ruling the roost.
However having said that, even the base will only go so far and will reject a situation where it gets to the point that you have to support a Republican candidate who is running on an agenda that could be confused with Democrat Lite.
Right now a lot of bets are on the Republican race boiling down to a Rudy v Fred face off. It is way to early to tell how all that will play out.
But one thing is clear the Democrat side is doing a whole bunch more pandering to the extreme left than the Republicans are doing to the extreme right.
Fred has his appeal for some, Rudy has his 9/11 confidence his tax lowering in NYC and crime reduction which are all good points that Fred will have to overcome, but Rudy has other issues that voters will have to balance out. Rudy has his right to life position and some other things that are putting a drag on things for him.
One thing that could be a weak point with conservatives that hasn’t been fully explored is the whole idea of being a SDNY prosecutor in the past. The conservative don’t really have a lot of love lost for Fitz or Spitzer and a lot of other products of that place. In fact I have seen good analysis in depth that tries to show that Fitz learned his dog and pony show stuff from Rudy taking the lead.
No crystal ball here, just saying it could become a factor as the race boils down.
Kind of telling that on Mac’s website he refers to “Senator Santorium” (sic) rather than use the correct label “Former Senator.”
If hard line republicans were so popular, how come Rick lost? At the very least, it doesn’t seem like he’s someone you’d want to take campaign advice from. Falling in love with losers is one of the hallmarks of a fading movement; the left has been doing it for nearly 40 years now.
One last quibble – If Mac likes Rick Santorum so much, you’d think at least he’d do him the honor of learning how to spell his name.
on Fred v. Rudy: I see a regional competition coming. Rudy’s going to be more popular in the northeast, upper midwest, and far west. Fred’s going to be more popular in the south and in the center of the country, generally speaking. Interesting to see which groups and areas end up having more sway.
I could live with either as the nominee.
WWS
I will be the first to admit that in many posts I spell names wrong because I didn’t second check them. Granted a blogger post should be more careful.
So yes you are quibbling…and perhaps reaching as well.
WWS
You have a good point on the regionality issue, but it sort of mirrors the whole thing about the 2006 election cycle.
If that premise is true, you have Rudy trying to get support where in that cycle we had issues to say the least and Fred is hitting positives in the other area of the country.
I have even seen speculation that a Rudy/Fred ticket , pick your choice of who is on top could have it’s merits.
One point both Rudy and Fred have going for them is neither would create and open seat that would have to be defended in the next election cycle as an added vulnerability in the political chess match for power.
A Rudy/Fred (Fred/Rudy?) ticket has a lot going for it theoretically; but it’s difficult to see either man willing to take second spot, especially since both of them are at the age where they need to go for it now or never. Ego and all that, you know. McCain’s goose is cooked, his train has gone off the rails and isn’t getting back on. (I like him at times, but personality-wise he would have been a crappy president, so it’s just as well)
On the democrat side – I see a Hillary/Obama ticket as a very strong possibility, if not a probability. Obama’s too young and inexperienced to take the lead role, but precisely because he’s so young a try at VP doesn’t hurt his future prospects at all. But people (read: New York Times editorial writers) vastly overrate Obama’s draw – as if black voters were going to vote for anyone besides the democrat nominee in the election.
The funniest thing shaping up about the 2008 race – the Dem’s know that Hillary is going to lose, and they’re going to nominate her anyways. They can’t help themselves.
I would ask soothsayer about that, but he seems to have quit the forum completely the moment Libby’s sentence got commuted. I have a mental image of him racing around his house on all fours howling and foaming at the mouth, but I thought that would have worn off by now.
LOL, WWS! Great post!
We live in interesting times…are any of us reminded of the times in which Hitler came into power, ie his “Power to the Little People” mantra?
More and more I am finding myself wanting Rudy to win the nomination. Regardless, I want a winner in Nov. ’08. Waaay to much is at stake.
I think Fred Thompson has done a lot of butt kissing to avoid getting stabbed in the back by the right, but sooner or later he will “betray” them too. Poor babies.
They are babies you know, they want what they want when they want it and they are the only ones who get decide what is and is not proper.
screw em.
You are exactly right, Terrye.
I know I’ve got GOP fatigue and I usually vote GOP. I think that if the election were held tomorrow, I wouldn’t even bother to go, because I can’t root for either side.
What really gets me about the GOP isn’t just how badly this immigration thing was handled. No, what gets me is that, so far, we’ve had at least three of these GOP-in-revolt blowups (Harriet Miers, Dubai, immigration), and in two of them, the GOP tried to force President Bush to choose between the War on Terror and whatever it is the President wanted that the GOP didn’t. The GOP tried to hold up funding for the war during the Dubai affair, and then the GOP dropped hints that they might stop supporting the troops if Bush didn’t back the hell off on immigration. And on top of that, the moderate Republicans are renouncing support for the war anyway.
What the hell good are these people for anyway?
I remember before the last election, 2006, the pundits were talking about letting the Dems win, on the theory that the country will be so disgusted with the Dems by 2008 that the Reps would be swept back into power in Congress. Of course that requires that the Reps not go around doing stupid things to make the country just as disgusted with them as with the Dems.
I am pretty goddamn fed up with both parties right now.
Something that the left is just waking up to – the Presidency is important for the sake of the Supreme Court, if nothing else. We’re at a rough tie currently – 4 judicial conservatives, 4 judicial liberals, and Kennedy in the middle playing Justice Hamlet….
“To affirm or overturn; that is the question. Whether tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of the New York Times editorial writers and take arms against a sea of “progressive” jursiprudence, and by opposing, end them; But that dread of public disaproval, the undiscover’d country from whose bourn Clarence Thomas has never returned, puzzles the will and makes me rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that I know not of.”
but I digress. Anyway, the next two justices to retire are the two most liberal. (Stephens and Ginsburg) We’re one judicial appointment away from a conservative Supreme Court that will last a generation or more. This is a chance that only comes up about once every 50 years, so it would be a helluva time to blow it.
“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply swell its numbers…. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.†— Ronald Reagan.
http://www.macsmind.com/wordpress/2007/07/08/no-strain-at-the-base-of-the-gop/
I think we are still a center right country. The key for GOP will be if they have the message and agenda that the country can get behind, and if they communicate that well enough to win back the Independents. There are already signs that the GOP is winning back Independets in some polls (probably due to frustrations with the Dem led Congress).
There are real differences between the two parties. No one expects every single member in the GOP to have the exact same belief on every issue. But, that doesn’t mean you have to surrender the fundemental principles of your party.