Deep down in Update III to a Thighgate post, Robert Stacy McCain makes an observation which is spot on about the mood out here in blog-over country:
There has been a lot of crazy on the blogosphere today that had nothing to do with me and, discussing it with Jimmie Bise Jr. this afternoon, we reached an agreement that a lot of conservatives are feeling frustrated lately. They are disappointed in the presidential field; their favorite candidate either dropped out long ago or is currently in third place. And there was also some disgruntlement over CPAC this year. Ergo, people are happy to have someone to lash out at.
I’ve been feeling and feeding on the mounting frustration. And it’s not just about candidate placement, or any one or two things.
It’s a general disgust with the Republican Party and its intelligentsia, a feeling of being trapped.
It’s mostly an intra-Party problem. No blaming Obama for this malaise, or that disgust in our hearts.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
We need to mount a campaign to get Allen West re-elected. The “Republican” that will face West in the primary is likely a Democrat plant. The thought of losing his voice in Congress makes my blood boil, especially if it is at the hands of the Republican Cocktail Party pols.
No blaming Obama for this malaise, or that disgust in our hearts
1. It’s completely obvious that Obama is a secret Kenyan Mooslim Commie Black Supremacist traitor working to destroy America, Christianity, and Western Civilization.
Gosh, why aren’t swing voters swarming to us when we talk like that? It’s a real mystery.
/
2. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
3. IMHO much of the Presidential race is beyond our control. We could nominate somebody toxic enough to almost guarantee a November loss, but if the economy improves enough, the incumbent President will win no matter who our nominee is. Period.
However, reassuring independent voters that we…aren’t crazy…could be critical to the outcomes for Congress.
First and foremost, I would like to make it clear that I am an ardent supporter of thighs. My support for thighs crosses both ideological and political boundaries and I am not afraid to say it or admit it publicly.
Second…!!!
We have to keep our heads up, peeps…
Silly boys 🙂
What gets me and obviously just observation is how poorly republicans seem to communicate ideas/solutions/alternatives. How poorly (and I understand media doesnt help) conservative ideas are portrayed.
Everyday we see a candidate losing ground because of something stupid he said or staff has said. Recent example thats handy…some remark by a Santorum supporter about an aspirin tablet being birth control. We understand what the guy meant…but sheesh..look at memorandum and see how the voting public understands things. More thought and less talk please. On it goes…Mr Frontrunner Romney with his back to back gaffes about poor and theur safety net and then whamo..the minimum wage increase discussion.
Look at our elected geniuses in the House and Senate. Not content to keep the birth control discussion to just objecting Catholics…nah…lets over react so we can run as the anti birth control party. That will sure be the winning ticket.
Are there any smart republican politicians left in DC? Why are we handing the 2012 election to the democrats?
What was the last perceived republican or conservative “win” with anything?
You know what Im getting at…we discuss things and know better but nothing seems to get any traction. Given all the things wrong with the current administration 2012 should have been easy for conservatives/republicans.
Well I think it’s more than that. If we’re going to overreact, let’s at least overreact in the right direction. That being the one that points out that the Government is going to decide what healthcare you can and can’t buy, and that will be it, no ifs, ands, or buts, about it. Just because they’re claiming to save money now (although I find that reasoning a bit chilling when we’re talking about people having kids) there’s no reason to say that will be the logic going forward (since “save money” is always the first excuse to do something stupid.)
Yet the party can’t even mount a reasonable argument about this, instead they have to siphon off the Bishops anger over religious issues, like it’s the only problem with the regulations.
The lack of communication from the Republicans is probably the worse thing for the entire party. Where are they on the tv, talk radio, the blogs, the newspapers? Good grief. They should be hammering their efforts to get how many jobs bills – 20? 25? – that passed the House and are being blocked not by the Senate, but by the DEMOCRATS in the Senate. They should be pounding the point that it is the 1st amendment violation of religious freedom, NOT women’s health. They should be pounding Keystone, drilling our own oil, the real unemployment numbers. Put their people who speak well on tv, like Paul Ryan and Jim DeMint. Put their people who can fired up the masses like Michele Bachmann on the talk radio. They need a PR team that to be available as much as possible to speak directly to the people on the radio, tv, and blogs.
The taxed enough already tea party worked hard to get ordinary citizens into Congress. Let these people speak. And for pete’s sake , can we have a candidate who understands what the tea party is? The tea party is not crazy, bigots, anarchist, hayseeds. It is simply the fed up voters. Newt is the last one standing who gets what t.e.a. stands for and is speaking what We the People are asking for – fight for us, reduce taxes, reduce spending, reduce bloated government, and kill Obamacare.
You can’t force the media to report what they don’t think is significant.
For instance …
Ha ha ha. Obamanomics results in the economy shutting down in 2027, only 15 years from now.
I’m sure you heard that last night on the news.
Yeah, but Neo – I mean, good point — but — it’s not that it’s not significant. It’s that it would interfere with the Leftist narrative.
Bill Whittle has a series called WHAT WE BELIEVE that I ran across again today. Bill Whittle is just a brilliant guy.
He says in Part 1, all these redistributionist ideas have been tried many times. they are not new. and they always fail.
but that’s what the Left and the MSM (but I repeat myself) are involved in propping up right now. And it’s shutting down our economy.
Here’s a link to the series of 7 short, brilliant videos.
PART 1 SMALL GOVERNMENT AND FREE ENTERPRISE
PART 2 THE PROBLEM WITH ELITISM
PART 3 WEALTH CREATION
PART 4 NATURAL LAW
PART 5 GUN RIGHTS
PART 6 IMMIGRATION
PATY 7 AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
http://www.muditajournal.com/archives/764.php
Hi jimzinsocal — but I think what I’m learning this primary is how much conservatives and republican don’t overlap. If the republican establishment supported conservative principles, there would be no romney candidacy.
I think if they were conservative and cared about the good of our country, they would support Newt. Newt has the most experience and the best plans.
For years I have thought that the Republicans are incompetent. or stupid. Now I wonder.
My question remains, WHY CAN’T WE HAVE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY? THEY’RE NOT USING IT FOR ANYTHING.
It’s easy to be disgusted when we worked so hard to elect the GOP house majority only to see them cave over and over and over on basic principles of conservatism – the latest being the non-paid for payroll tax crap. Hell, they can’t even muster the courage to frame it as it should be – Obama is GUTTING social security!! COME ON TEAM – GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER FOR GOD SAKES!!
The biggest problem with the conservatives in the GOP primary field is that they are allowing the media to frame their message. It’s the typical GOP politician trap.
Not sure I have all the facts yet over payroll tax cut debate, but “All tax cuts must be paid for” itself is a liberal idea. You cut the taxes first, and that will provide additional pressure for politicians to cut spending.
To wait around for tax cuts to be “paid for” doesn’t really make much sense in the first place, and provides a convenient excuse to never cut taxes.
“Obama is gutting social security”? o rly? Since when did we become champions of giant government entitlement programs, even if this was true?
Yes, but, I absolutely agree with the notion that the GOP is again allowing the media to frame the message. It is Romney’s duty as front-runner in the primaries to frame the GOP message to counter the media’s slander and innuendo. Let’s hope that the GOP message he spreads is a conservative message.
—
“All of our problems may be solved with a simple amendment to the constitution: Congress shall make no law which empedes the creation of private wealth.”
I agree except that the payroll tax isn’t a true tax but a fee to pay for social security – that is why it needs to be paid for because otherwise the social security fund goes bye-bye and grandma gets an IOU instead of a check.
Oh why did you have to use the word malaise in your title to remind me of the famous Jimmy Carter malaise speech back in ’79?
I absolutely despised this man but whoever wrote this speech for him could write it again today for Conservatives who feel this frustration.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/carter-crisis/
A counter-thought for the morning…
http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-first-%e2%80%98tea-partied%e2%80%99-nomination-so-far-a-grand-success/
The malaise is very real. I am as thoroughly unhappy with all of the Republican candidates as anyone.
I fear this primary season has exposed the deep split between social conservatives — who are important to the Republican Party, but (i) do not have sufficient numbers in large population states to ever elect a president and (ii) scare the ‘independents’ and ‘moderates’ who, ceterus paribus, provide the margin that decides elections — and the fiscal conservatives who advocated a much lower level of federal spending, far less borrowing, and far less intrusion into the lives of citizens — who express most of the spirit of the Tea Party and strongly attract ‘independents’ and ‘moderates’ otherwise disgusted by Obama’s and the Democrat Congress’ 2009-2012 spending spree (and in many cases were disgusted by George Bush’s and the Republican Congress’ 2001-2008 spending spree).
And, arrayed against both of them is what’s left of the Washington Beltway Republican Establishment – the Karl Rove’s of the world and much of the conservative commentariat – who are perfectly happy with big government as long as they’re doing the spending and getting the spoils. They do not believe either the social cons urgency that we’re morally going to hell in a hand basket or the fiscal cons urgency that we’re bankrupt.
This disunity is a formula for disaster, and yet there is no clear path to unity with any of the existing candidates.
Perhaps we’re really approaching the time when it’s time to abandon the Republicans and form a new fiscal conservative party to take on the debt and entitlements without regard to social conservative issues.
I’ve been a lifelong Republican, but it it has become increasingly clear the Republican Party as a whole is not serious about solving our problems. There are individuals who want to do what needs to be done, but the Party itself will not do it.
If only Ron Paul weren’t such a complete naif on foreign policy and defense!
Unless we get a candidate with a positive message who can unite the Party as well as the independents and moderates needed to win a general election, it’s a waste of time. Our money and effort should be in Congress and the States – find fiscally conservative, but not rabid social con, candidates and elect them. Hunker the country down for four years of (at best) gridlock and defunding Obama’s schemes, or at worst Obama’s completing his program of destroying America.
But, it’s a fact we simply cannot win a meaningful victory with any of Romney, Santorum or Gingrich.
Cato,
An excellent post. One which gave me serious reason to ponder. A few points, if I may?
At the risk of splitting hairs, I personally believe there is a difference between not being happy and being unhappy. I believe you, and may others, are really and truly unhappy with the current Presidential field. Me, I am just not happy. It’s not the same. I only say this because the effort, the energy, required to shift from “unhappy” to “not happy” is minimal, does not require one to abandon their overall principles and might do a world of good for our collective outlook as the year progresses.
Again here, I respectfully disagree. Increasingly, the individuals who “want to do,” ARE doing. I see the “party” being alive and well; Rags “counterpoint” here eloquently underscores just how obvious that is. That makes me happy. It makes me remember the progression we have gone through and the arc of reform that progression has brought with it.
For example, in a previous post Professor Jacobson mentioned Dennis Kucinich and Marcia Kaptur in the Ohio 9th. Something that was left out of the discussion was that on the other side of the Ohio #9 aisle is Samuel Wurzelbacher (one “Joe the Plumber”) and another candidate who is actively styling himself as a TEA Party candidate. Put more succinctly, one of our very own is going up against one of the most powerful and entrenched liberal Congress critters in the country. That never would have happened 4 years ago. It would have been unthinkable 14 years ago.
We don’t need a candidate to unite us. We can do that on our own. Similarly, no candidate can divide us. Only we can do that to ourselves. It will take time for us to get where we want to be. But, if we are patient and persistent, both the trajectory of our heading and the likelihood of our success are certain.
Brilliant!
As a Toledo native, I must say that the world could end tomorrow in a fiery apocalypse and Toledo would still vote democrat. There is absolutely no way a Republican of any stripe will win there. The only reason Ed Weber served for a single term was because Reagan took Lucas County and Lud Ashley was coasting; more importantly, Ashley (in congress since 1955)did not groom anyone to be his successor. The Republican party in Lucas County is about as moribund as the Republican party in Illinois. Best to concentrate effort and financial support for people like Allen West because Mr. Reagan in unavailable to take Lucas county again….
Sadly, I think you may be right there 9th. Joe’s campaign is (helped) being run by a young man named Phil Christofanelli, an up and coming grassroots champion and a close, personal friend of mine. Phil has made it quite clear that even under the best of circumstances, beating either Kaptur or Kucinich will be an uphill battle.
That hasn’t stopped him from trying though, and this is precisely my point. Phil likes to win. A lot. But the effort, the cause itself, is such a strong pull for him that he will do whatever he can if it means moving us in the right direction. Win or lose. I believe Phil is reflective of a large number of us. At the risk of sound “rah rah,” think Thermopylae, think the 101st in the Ardennes… We will “lose” some friends, we will lose some ground, without question. But our losses will never make us lose faith, will never make us QUIT. We do not stop fighting. With willpower like Phil’s (just ask him, he has lost more than he has won), with courage like Joe’s (he knows he is in an uphill struggle) and the determination to pick ourselves up time and time again, even if we have been knocked flat on our asses, there is only VICTORY.
9th or not, I am in it to win it. After we get Barack out of office, we can start seriously sorting ourselves out. Until then, there will be no rest and no respite.
It’s all well and good to have the feisty newcomers on board but I don’t think that is enough any more. Jan Schakowsky had the first serious challenger ever last cycle in Joel Pollak–he of the “I confronted Barney Frank on YouTube” fame. However, he didn’t have the connections, the internal fortitude, or frankly in the end, the true desire to win. He was more interested in parlaying his tussle with Barney into winning the votes of mushy moderates. He ran off to California to work for/with Breitbart. Connections and experience matter. The problem in Washington is the great sucking sound you hear is the lure of the country club that is congress. The best intentions get lost by the wayside, if you can get there in the first place. It takes the fortitude that Sarah Palin so obviously has demonstrated to really change things in DC. This is the thought process that brought me to Newt: he has been there and has beaten them at their own game, using the rules in place. I do think his biggest hurdle is the nomination; he definitely has the fortitude to win the general. You really have to love this country to subject yourself to a campaign.
Your distinction between ‘unhappy’ and ‘not happy’ comes perilously close to splitting hairs, but I think I see what you’re trying to say. If pushed, I suppose in your forumlation I am ‘unhappy’ with most of the field, but perhaps only ‘not happy’ with Romney – but it’s a close run thing there for ‘unhappy’.
I think you’re correct that there are people in the Party who are trying to do the right thing, my point, however inartfully made, was that for the most part, the Party leadership is not willing to do anything substantive.
Patience and effort to do the right thing are virtues, but there comes a point when doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result, no longer makes sense. I’ve actively worked for Republican candidates since going door to door with my mother for Ike in 1956; I fought the good fight in 1960, 1962 (Nixon in California), 1964, 1966 (Reagan in California), 1968, and so on and on down through the present. I have never before had the sense of a lack of understanding on the part of the powers that be in the Republican Party of the importance of fiscal discipline to solve the debt and entitlement problems. Or the general cluelessness on the part of candidates. Hell, even Bob Dole was a better candidate than any of these clowns.
I freely admit it too. I knew it was a tightrope as soon as I typed it. To clarify: “Unhappy” in this context is an all out negative, “we suck” for instance. “Not happy” is slightly less than positive, it’s “we could be better,” or “we expect more.” “Unhappy” lays its ears back and starts slashing at anything it does not agree with. “Not happy” looks for room for improvement, seeks out common ground and works towards “happy” sooner, rather than later because there is less ground to travel between “not happy” to “happy” than there is “unhappy” to “happy.”
No no! I thought it was very ah…artfully…rendered. And you are right, our leadership is not doing everything it needs to do. That’s partly on us for putting them there but we do not have to compound the error by keeping them there. We can fix that by voting them out and we can also make their “not doing anything,” or “doing the wrong thing(s)” extremely uncomfortable for them even while they are in office. It takes effort, and it takes time. You know this better than I ever could, I am sure; you have been “in the fight” longer than I have and I sincerely thank you for it.
This is precisely where “unhappy” and “not happy” comes to bear: We have had results. We have made serious progress over the years, and as a veteran of the struggle, if you are candid, I am sure you have seen the fruits of your labor(s). Rather than being unhappy, than focusing on the negatives (and there are many), all of the results we have not seen (and there are many), I implore you to be “not happy” with the progress we have made. If “doing the same thing” is not yielding the result you want, I encourage you to look for new methods and new tactics, to recalibrate your approach to get the results you want. This battle is not over by a long shot. Losing in November will undo a lot of progress we have made and make the war that much harder to win. Of this, I am certain.
Yes, I’m sure Republicans could do much better without the social con vote.
Facepalm.
I notice that in every election, the problem is always those icky social cons. It is never the right time to take a stand on social issues. It is always the right time for social cons to shut up and fall behind the fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republican elite.
In fact, I remember being lectured to by people like you, how McCain only lost because of us social cons. Uh huh.
well unlike you and maybe 30% of the country, the rest of us are not uptight about what other people do in their own personal lives. We’re so busy taking care of our own business we could care less what everyone else is doing.
The problem is not that people aren’t socially conservative enough. The problem is the 30% who want to stick their socially conservative nose in everyone else’s business. 80% or so of the country has conservative values but only 30% are considered far right. That tells me you all need to just mind your own business-the world will be better off when we have alot more people accepting and a lot fewer judging.
No man is an island. That is why the Left works so hard to influence the culture. That is why they are relentless in introducing slippery slopes into our culture.
Look at how the Left has done everything they can to destroy the family, through cultural and legal practices. But when marriage and the family craters, the society and the economy nose dives. And then NO economic policy will save you.
Look at how the Left has undermined marriage and fatherhood and have promoted promiscuity and out of wedlock births. Now look at the prisons. The prisons are FILLED with criminals who didn’t have a daddy. And full prisons means more tax money coming out of your wallet, and more laws to combat more crime.
You cannot divorce social conservatism from fiscal conservatism. Even the Left understands this, why can’t you?
Yes, I’m sure Republicans could do much better without the social con vote.
I’ve seen estimates where 11% of the population are social conservatives, whereas 14% are conservative democrats.
That being the case, the republicans probably could do better by pushing a purely financial agenda and drawing in the conservative democrats.
That, essentially, is was what the tea party did.
I actually felt the social cons co-opted the tea party fervor and eventually scared people off.
In my opinion, social conservatives spook people. Most people don’t disgree that there are social problems in the US. They do disagree that those social issues should take priority over pressing current issues, such as the economy in this case.
Social conscience is not a zero sum game. Just because I want to solve economic problems doesn’t mean I have no desire to address social issues when the time comes.
The election should be about solving the most pressing concern at that juncture in time. As they say, “When you’re up to your A$$ in alligators….”
Yes, if Republicans would only drop the social conservative nonsense, and become socially liberal, that would work oh so well. I mean, hey, let’s help the Republicans become MORE like the Democrats, not less. That is what conservatives and disgruntled Republicans really want.
Yup, if only the Republicans would become more like the Left, we’d all win more and become better off.
Facepalm.
Hi CatoRenasci, Newt’s CPAC 2012 outlines a decisively meaningful victory. That’s the whole point.
If you don’t have time to watch the video, there is a transcript of most of the speech you can skim through.
Just look at it and think about what it would be like to pass this legislation and kick-start the economy.
http://newtgingrich360.com/profiles/blogs/newt-2012-cpac-2012-american-campaign-newt-man-with-the-plan
My disgust arises from the following. I used to believe the Left was our greatest enemy. It’s not. We are. With the exception of Ronald Reagan on a good day (on a bad day Reagan could also make wampum with liberals), the Republican party for the past 50 years has failed us either through denial, delusion or collusion with the Left and is the real reason for the fix we’re in.
I understood the essential motivational and behavioral model of the Left – the twisted Utopianism, the uncompromising need to control, their indispensable weapons of marginalization and dehumanization — when I was about 20 years old. Really, how hard was it? I wasn’t a historian or scholar. I just cared about politics. Once this was understood, it was only a matter of adapting these truths to the issues of the time. And, once understood, it occurred to me that the Left was a pushover, or should be to a “professional,” practicing Republican. Why not? Once you understand the Left, really get their phony “tolerance,” their dumb-as* viciousness and dumb-as* policies, it’s not hard to take them apart. And as Breitbart says, if you can’t sell liberty, you suck.
Well – we suck. We really suck. Santorum sucks and Romney sucks.
The failure of comprehension and courage – of historical understanding and of imagination – within this party as the Left rooted itself and rose against America over the past half-century and most especially over the past 20 years is absolutely mind-boggling. We see it everywhere — in that mind-bogglingly stupid ad by Rick Santorum, in the mind-bogglingly stupid Romneycare. We see it every day in the shape and words and actions of John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell. These men do not BEGIN to grasp the Left or if they do (secretly in their heart of hearts) have no idea how to fight them.
So here we are ready to reprise 2008 and every other year (with the exception of 1980 and 1984). We suck.
You are absolutely right-conservatives allowed this to happen. Let Obama be a reminder to not let it happen again.
Raven, You are correct…WE SUCK…Professor Jacobson should reprint your response on the top line of the Blog.
Why we suck is the question that needs to be asked so we can remedy the situation. Personally, from what I see here in the South, no one is willing to speak up and DO anything. They talk a good fight but in the end they just lay down and die. This is not limited to just politics, I see it in church and in affinity groups. People say “Yes, Sure, I will help” then they never show up. Or worse yet, they say “I can’t do that” and they walk away. We are seeing all these responses in every election cycle.
Many leaders today, whether they are Republican, Democrat, or Other are not value oriented, they are power or money oriented.
Rep. Wayne L. Hayes, stated that he would have left office much sooner than being forced out after the tidal basin scandal, if he had known how much money there was outside of the Congress. I think he may be more typical that we think.
So, what should we do?
Hi JoeA38 — what can we do? Thousands of wonderful people are already making this a reality. I was talking on the phone with some of them last night. This is the TEA Party energy, with a plan.
Newt’s CPAC 2012 sets forth exactly what we can do to jump-start the economy, repeal about 40% of Obama’s government on the FIRST DAY , including getting rid of all the czars, bring manufacturing back the America, reform taxes for LOW tax rates and HIGH tax revenues (the Laffer Curve), bring power back to local communities by enforcing the 10 Amendment. And there’s so much more.
There’s a transcript you can read through quickly to get the idea. Please go and look at this.
The goal is to make government accountable again to the will of the American People.
Malaise is a ticket to nowhere. We can turn our disgust with the republicans to energy for a much brighter tomorrow.
http://newtgingrich360.com/profiles/blogs/newt-2012-cpac-2012-american-campaign-newt-man-with-the-plan
I ain’t buying beer to cry in it. The fact is Romney’s campaign has lost it’s inevitability and we have two conservatives in this race who have the courage to fight him and the establishment GOP. I am proud of both Newt & Rick. They have achieved much with very little in the way of funding and have had to put up with more hateful attacks than most people could stand. I am also proud of the rank and file GOP voters who see through Romney and reject him … and that is 70% of them.
I am a Newt supporter and I’m doing what I can to help elect him and Santorum supporters need to do the same. Newt wasn’t my first choice, but Palin didn’t run. I could have cried in my beer, but I’d rather drink it, break the glass on the counter and then go out and kick some butt.
This election is just too important, so let’s not get demoralized … let’s fight and keep fighting until we win.
Pretend I just clicked Like a zillion times 🙂
My vote for line of the day!
I second your vote!
A bit on the buccaneer side for this early in the day, but what the hell…
It’s 4:00 some damn-where…
Casablanca, drink up!
cheers chased by a shot of butterscotch schnapps.
It’s really simple. Look at the money. The same interests (mostly) that are funding Obama are funding Rombama and that is where you get the “electability” thing. Those interests are donating twice as much to Obama than they are to Rombama which is confirmed by InTrade Obama being a 2:1 favorite to defeat Rombama.
Meanwhile, the GOP establishment continues to intensify its war on not only conservatives in general but specific conservatives, like Rubio and West in FL (Bush country BTW) where the GOP-controlled state legislature is cutting the same deal with Democrats that the CA GOP did, a deal that protects ALL incumbents and which killed the GOP in CA. The same is happening in TX and elsewhere while everyone piles on in mocking CA.
It all happens because people hold their noses rather than stand their ground while they still can. CA is hopeless not because there are no Republican voters or no conservative voters, there are more here than any other state. CA is hopeless because there is only one party.
The only thing standing the way of the parties effectively merging in DC are the 20 conservatives in the House who stood the government on its head last year and 3-4 senators like Demint, Paul, and Rubio. That may improve in November but the state level carnage continues unchecked because voters just won’t stand their ground.
The ABO narrative is killing us. Thank you Karl Rove and Sean Hannity.
I think Newt should campaign on the ineffectiveness of John Boehner and the GOP House. The GOP’s “Pledge to America” has become a complete joke. They have broken pledge after pledge, and Obama has rolled them time and again.
John Boehner has been absolutely pathetic and he should receive 100 X more criticism than he does. Newt should point out that the 2010 Election has been practically nullified because the GOP Leadership has taken a completely cautious approach to everything they do. 1 vote on Obamacare repeal, Debt ceiling increases, miniscule budget cuts. Boehner seems to have no gameplan and is flailing in the wind like a battered white flag. Newt knows a thing or two about being Speaker; he should point out that the current Speaker is a sauced mess.
I’m going to do my best to help Gingrich and that’s all I can do. At least we have showed the establishment that they can’t just push on us whoever they want.
I have been thinking the same thing, Prof! Early on I wasn’t as worried over a Romney win, but when the old guard Republicans said he was the only electable one… that’s when it seemed like the same old same old!
I am with the fighters though. Even if not my man, I will fight for Romney (or whoever) against Obama!
Here is a post that summarizes much of my personal disgust: I’m TRIED of my KIDS and CHURCH being WEAPONIZED against me!!!
Again to the earlier points. So we now have passed the payroll tax extension. Where are the Republican talking points that speak to this sort of nonsense? Our elected guys say nothing about this from Pelosi?
In debate before the House vote, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) praised the work of her colleagues.
“This represents a victory to have a payroll tax cut for the middle class. It’s important for those families because it puts $40 more into a paycheck,” she said. “It has a macro-economic effect because those families will spend that money and put it into the economy. That is a job creator.”
^^and thats what voters will take away…that those democrats..those guys really care about the workingman.
I used to say the same in response to Ted Kennedy crap:
These guys wouldnt know a workingman if he jumped down their shorts with a lawnmower.
So once again…no political gain whatsoever for conservatives..nada. The democrats haul off the talking points and Obama will be + in the polls.
Let’s see, we’ve got:
Super-uber anarchic, fascist liberals
Super-uber liberals of the unicorn shepherds type
Leftist liberals for change for the sake of change
Standard liberals
Moderate Democrats
Centrist Democrats
Conservative Democrats
Left leaning independents
Centrist independents
Right leaning independents
RINOs
Moderate Republicans
Centrist Republicans
Conservative Republicans
Conservatives but not Republicans
Severe Republicans (wtf???)
John Bircher Conservatives
Traditional Libertarians
LINOs
And so on and so on….
We have all these people of all these political stripes and to all of them we say, “OK, we got two tents here – Democrat or Republican. Pick one and go with the flow.”
—————————
All kidding aside, the GOP/Conservative malaise is real. I won’t repeat what others have insightfully offered, but would add that I think a lot of it is more global, a matter of burgeoning media history, as a result of how we interact politically and informationally. Since the advent of 24/7 cable TV news, what constitutes a ‘news story’ has changed dramatically from the days of three major networks with a half-hour daily slot to fill of the 60s/70s. Only the top and emergent stories saw air time. Now and for the past few decades, just about anything can become a ‘news’ item, provided it fills air time and at least maintains ratings. This can be both good and bad – many secondary stories are still important and deserve air time, while some completely fluffy nonsense too often does as well.
The problem comes with the multiple 24/7 news media outlets ability to micro-focus on the tiniest little issues and events, too often to blow them up into something far more substantial than they deserve. After decades of this, it has made many of us just as prone to micro-focus, too often to the detriment of valuable assessment of current events. How many of us have seen (or wrote) posts wherein someone likes a candidate’s policies, style, record, etc., but gosh.. back in 1986 he said something the writer just can’t live with, a deal-breaker? How many of us have seen ongoing argument/discussions that get so far out in the weeds it becomes almost comical, describing a process and expectation that Jesus, Buddha, and Allah would all fail?
I won’t belabor it, but a lot of the malaise rests upon a foundation of almost too much information being available, to where we not only know a candidate’s positions, polices, voting record, etc., but also every single word he or she has ever spoken or written all the way back tot their school days. We know their medications, shoe sizes, sexual predilections, hat sizes, and frequencies of flatulation. We know far more about today’s candidates than ever before, much of it under what is merely the guise of ‘vetting’, but is too often simply character assassination. Take a brief moment and run through all the details about yourself and your life that would come out if you were to run for national office. Would you still run? How reasonable is it to expect the near perfect candidate? Have we ever had a near perfect candidate – or did we simply not know as much about candidates in past decades, such as Kennedy’s infidelities, for example, which were unknown to the general public till long after his death?
I think that no candidate looked at as closely as they are these days will ever measure up, and that a shift will have to occur where voters will have to accept warts and pimples more than ever. These aren’t more prevalent, just better known because of our 24/7, all-intrusive, politically driven media corporations.
Our biggest problem is that the GOP would rather lose the entire election (the presidency, the House and the the senate both nationally and locally) than let the tea party win like they did in 2010. The establishment republicans in the house effectively neutered the tea party congressmen. We say we are at war with the establishment, but don’t forget, the establishment fired the first shot so to speak.
We are in the middle of a battle, not the time to start flailing.
Question: 1. Is it possible that the Dem elites are trying to purge their party of “moderates” with their HHS concept rule.
Maybe to stop any infighting on their side?
2. Since the left is so “socialized” in everything they do;
everything to them is psycho-logical (I say just psycho),
I am thinking the politics of personal destruction is the only strategy they do understand. I am thinking that Breitbart understands this. I am thinking the only inroad our political side has to remove POTUS Obama from office is going to be a personal history take down; that is what his supporter’s understand. He does need to be thoroughly vetted this time, every stone unturned. Has anyone here heard of Man’s Country (Chicago) or of the DLC club at Jeremiah Wright’s church or of the free condo space for Rahm at Rep. Rosa DeLaurel’s(D. Conn) crib, or of the mysterious death of her (former)top aide, Ashley Turton (young mother of 3). Obama has never been vetted and he will not be by MSM, but his closet is so full you can’t shut the door. Bloggers need to quit wringing their hands and write in the right direction.