Enough with the “re-branding” crap
Photoshop credit: Oblogatory Anecdotes
Last night, it started: the Republican pundit push to “re-brand” conservatism and the GOP.
If I hear that word one more time today, I am going to throw my TV through the wall.
“Re-branding” is the new Empty Change.
I’ll repeat what I said back in May when liberal Republicans led by Arnold Schwarzenegger started pushing this line:
First, the Beltway Republicans dress up like Barack Obama and start peddling “the change we deserve.”
Now, Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to “rebrand” the GOP and push it further to the left…
…President Bush moved to the “center” (LEFT) on illegal immigration (shamnesty), education (No Child Left Behind expansion), health care (Medicare prescription drug benefit expansion), and campaign finance–alienating the Republican base and doing little to assuage his opponents in the Democrat party or bolster his historically rock-bottom approval rating.
As for who’s getting heard, perhaps Schwarzenegger should be reminded of the 2004 GOP convention line-up.
The problem with the GOP isn’t the packaging. It’s the product.
The problem isn’t about public relations. It’s about principle.
Schwarzenegger wants to castrate the elephant.
The question is whether the party will have any conservative balls left when Schwarzenegger and company are through?
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- The battle for the GOP begins now…(Part 2) « The Forum
- Pursuing Holiness
- Where do we go from here? UPDATE « Conservative Pilgrim
- Election Postmortem | Jeffrey A. Setaro
- Lets Talk About “Rebranding” : Political Capital
- Post-election Thread: The Future of the GOP — The Opposite of Jim Bunning
- Jamoke of the Day Award: The Angry “Conservative” « the morning commons
- The Republican Brand — Can It Survive On Its Libertarian Component? | Popehat
- It’s The Narrative, Stupid – The Politics of Scrabble
- Brain-Jockey » Blog Archive » Hiding the Republican Principles
- Michelle Malkin » Obama backs off tax increases; Schwarzenegger mulls tripling car taxes, raising pet taxes, and more
- Lets Talk About “Rebranding” : Liberty’s Lamp
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Until the media balances itself, our candidates will be portrayed negatively and we will never win.
I suspect that by next summer there will be a major push to find fiscal conservatives. By then, I expect unemployment to be pushing 10% and an obama/pelosi/reid admin to be printing money right and left while contemplating major tax increases.
We need a new party. Sarah Palin can head up the new bull moose party.
Absolutely right. Rebranding is weakness. The Left wants us to rebrand. It makes their agenda more palatable.
They just don’t get it. All the PR in the world won’t sell a bad product. What we need is a return to principles.
We don’t need two democrat parties, one is plenty.
A few of use were discussing this outcome last night after serving as election judges. We saw the defeat coming from a “safe” precinct of conservatives. While not experts, we agreed that the only thing we have to fight for….. is the return of true conservatism. If it need be, couched in terms of original Coke, so be it. I prefer RC myself. But we need to purge Republican Lite, RINO’s, whatever you wish to call them. You can ID them by smooth talk, greasy hair and insipid smiles.
use = us…. sorry
We need to stop “re TOOLing” the GOP leadership. We have too many TOOLS and not enough leaders.
The moderates are already trying to push us left because by putting a moderate up and watching him get slaughter wasnt enough punishment for the party.
The more the Republicans move to the left, the more damage they do to themselves.
There is no need to re-brand the party, we need new leadership, new faces. I’m sick and tired of the Karl Roves, Ted Stevens, and the old farts of this party.
We need people like Bobby Jindal, etc.
Screw the Republicans.
We need a CONSERVATIVE Party.
At least with an Obama presidency, we can be active and put up a fight. With McCain in there, we could have only rolled our eyes.
As for Arnold, he has turned into a major liberal and is pushing for large, like 20 billion worth, of tax increases here in California.
Arnold is NOT a fiscal conservative.
But one thing we can take from the Democratic playbook is to start grooming a couple of substantial candidates NOW. Start with Sarah & Bobby Jindal. Obama was annointed in 2004.
Don’t try to please people who despise you.
Here.Here!
What? No re-branding?? And here I just got out the sackcloth and ashes to repent of any conservative beliefs I have so I’d be ready for re-branding!
Much as I hate to disagree with MM (both being bloggers who live in Mary-Land), I think the conservative brand could use some rebranding.
By controlling the media, the left has succeeded in painting conservatives as racist, uneducated, nutjobs. I think there has to be an effort made to educate people that conservatism is nothing more than plain common sense.
It should be an easy contrast to make given the circus of corruption and incompetence that is coming to Washington.
On November 5th, 2008 at 10:59 am, njrazd said:
Screw the Republicans.
We need a CONSERVATIVE Party.
CONSERVATIVE Party
I support it!!!
Here’s a brand I want to see:
Palin/Jindal 2012
Fight,good conservatives, fight.
The GOP leadership can go one of two directions now:
1) Okay, to win elections, we have to be even more socialistic, like the Dems
or
2) Let’s get back to small government, conservative principles that won landslides in ‘80, ‘84, ‘88, and ‘94.
Hmmmm, which one do you think they’ll choose?
well another laugh of the day comes from Merideth on the today show …quote.
“camelot has just come back to the White House”
roflmao!!!
Bush did all the retooling needed to destroy the Party. Yesterday’s results are proof enough of what Bush and McCain have accomplished.
“Rebranding?” Sounds painful! Besides, I like my conservative beliefs and principals just fine; and who knows, had Republicans decided their presidential nominee, instead of the MSM, a true conservative may have been given the nod – and won!
Exactamundo!!!
Re-Brand This!
Show 44 the Door
I remember in 2006 when the Republican Party left me. I gave them one more chance in 2008. They don’t want me, that’s fine. I’m glad President Reagan didn’t live long enough to see this.
For the first time in my life I’m actually ashamed of my country. Al Queda just won a major victory – and they didn’t have to fire a single shot.
Don’t forget that Bush gave more money to fight AIDS in Africa than any other president.
It really helped the rebranding, didn’t it?
/sarcasm off
My idea to rebrand is to throw out all of the bums.
Have you seen who our president-elect is? Do you think he got there on experience or qualifications?
The elites of this party want to blame the base when its the elites who cut the base off from the debate.
When is that GOP meeting that is suppose to happen post election ? We need to push for some good conservative voices there.
I want to fix my party but I dont have the connections to do it. I pushed for years to get the GOP to change and it didnt listen. I’d love to be able to go on the RNC and work hard to fix things.
Our ideas work but not when we trust them to people who just dont believe in them.
One final thought. What absolutely KILLED us was the domination of the media by the left. From TV to the internet we got out messaged badly. Fox news isnt even conservative its more an entertainment network than an area of serious conservative journalism. And where is our NY Times or AP News ?
We also need a strong conservative presence on the net. A sort of internet news service run by the blogs and payed for by the GOP. There is no counter balance to Yahoo or Google.
If we build a good conservative internetwork the people will come and stay.
Second look at The Constitution Party!
I agree.
this country has been liberal 33% conservative 33% and moderate 33% for decades. the moderates always determine the outcome of the elections, which behooves both ends to pay attention to what their concerns are. obama will probably be a one term president, because his congress will pass all manner of crazy laws and taxes which will put him outside of acceptable middle ground, just as our antiabortion zealotry puts us outside the middle ground, especially when we are spending like drunken sailors.
I’d like to re-brand some of those rinos and put them in somebody elses herd.
Except for the judges around here, the Pubs did pretty well in Houston and Harris County. Texas Republicans held on to the House and Senate in Austin. The ones that won ran on conservative ideals and did not have scandals chasing them. Pretty simple formula if you ask me. buh-by Nick Lampson…
Well ya’ll better hurry before the Fairness Doctrine is reinstated. Anything Truely Conservative will be branded as hate speech. Once the conservative newspapers and radio go down we will be in the dark. These “voices” are the usually the first to go in a marxist society. The message from Obama will be unity but behind closed doors…the bomb will be dropped on conservatism.
We need a few things to happen and re-branding is not one of them. A return to our principals by our leadership. We need to recruit more people of all varieties to speak out on our behalf…like this guy http://uk.youtube.com/user/machosauceproduction and getting people like Bobby Jindal more national recognition. Additionally we do need better PR people because we do need to get our message out and the ones we have are crap and always on the defensive. Lets play some offense please.
And finally for a preview of what is to come please take a gander at my state of MA…one party control for years…ahh it is sublimely awful. I so wish that the comparison to Deval (aka Obama lite) and Obama was made and illustrated what we could have on a national level. Don’t blame me I voted for McCain and Beatty (Sen. Kerry’s opponent) and Frank is not in my district.
BTW time for Pajamas media and the right wing blogosphere to push the party in the direction we want.
The party uses the blogoshere as its cheerleaders. The Dailykos proves that the net can play a pivotal role in a parties politics.
Its time to stop being cheerleaders and start being leaders.
I won’t be able to watch t.v. for 4 years.I remember the Clinton years,when his face was there 24/7.The all too fawning media was his accomplice in covering his various schemes.Now they are going to try and rebrand BO as the new JFK gag!!!!!!
you know, if it wasnt for the fact i’m not a viable candidate type, i’d run for office
I think i’d do a good job though
rebranding is just putting the same pile of $h!t in a new, shiny box. the smell doesnt change, but at least the ribbon on the package is fresh.
YOUR EXACTLY RIGHT MICHELLE.
The party needs to be a strict constitutionally AND socially conservative party. Politics are controlled by the active 5% of the population. Let it be our 5%.
Let’s tell it like it is. The vast majority of the so called Republican politicians are pandering, cowardly, weak, self indulgent asses. There’s nothing wrong with the Republican Brand . . . the phonies that wear that brand are the problem.
Conversation in our office (Democrat co-workers):
LAURA: I went to bed after Ohio.
BARBARA: I went to bed after California.
ME: I went to bed after Montana–Hannah Montana.
Farmgal – I’m with you on that. I only had the tv on for about 10 min last night. And the only programming on this morning was Disney Channel for the kids. Didn’t know the first companies to be hurt by all this is my cable provider!
As for rebranding – I think we need a conservative revolution of some kind. And I wish I knew how to go about finding that.
Michelle could not have quantified things any clearer. That’s our message to the RNC.
That’s it.. in a NUTshell.
The GOP had better realize.. and realize it quickly… that they are never going be be “better liberals” than the Liberals.
McCain’s campaign revealed to Republicans just how pointless it is to be… A MAVERICK.
Stop worrying about what liberals will think and start worrying about what your base thinks.
Look at the Virginia and Indiana results. Enough people bailed on the GOP and went with Barr to cost McCain those states.
Wake up GOP.
Here is the re-branding I believe:
The MSM media are traitors to the people.
They have ushered in an era of big oppressive government, the loss of freedom and the loss of liberty.
Anti-capitalism = anti-American.
The redistributive world will lead in one new direction for Americans and that is down.
Nothing has changed about Obamas views now that he is selected, he is still a Marxist.
The real story of Obama is still unknown
by millions that voted for him and they have made a horrendous mistake.
The media decided on this action months ago and colluded to deceive the American people.
They are derelict in their duty and have betrayed generations of people to come by this action.
A free society can not exist with this sorry excuse for a press.
My brother, who I adore, just called me a racist for disagreeing with Obama’s redistributive change policies, pitting brother against sister.
Congratulations, Obama: Let the division begin!
The GOP leadership is incompetent, and is not representative of conservatives. The entire leadership needs to be purged.
So, the American electorate had to choose between a committed leftist and a wishy-washy one, and about 64 million of them decided not to go half-assed. If Americans had a true conservative as one of the choices, it would at least be a fair fight.
Either get rid of the entire GOP leadership, or begin a separate Conservative movement. I’m done dancing around with these tools.
Have to go liquidate my assets and stuff them in a mattress now…
I too am a Texan and quite proud of my senators and legislators. Too bad so many states have caved and sacrificed the Republic for socialist ideals. By contrast,Texans are used to fighting and persevering in the face of great odds.
rplatt said:
Let’s tell it like it is. The vast majority of the so called Republican politicians are pandering, cowardly, weak, self indulgent asses. There’s nothing wrong with the Republican Brand . . . the phonies that wear that brand are the problem.
Let’s see…The same people who thought John McCain was the “future” of the GOP stil can’t figure out that he was responsible for own defeat, but still want to push the same schtick again because he was the “most electable” (?).
Wow
Somehow, someway, something told me this is what would happen. Despite losing two elections in a row, the RINO leadership would think it’s because they’re just not leftwing enough.
Where the GOP’s focus should be on in 2010
1. Fight for CENSUS. If we can get enough control over state houses we can control redistricting for many states. That would put the DNC at a disadvantage
Currently how thenumbers break down
States that gain congressional seats
Texas +4
Arizona +2
Florida +2
Georgia +1
Nevada +1
North Carolina +1
Oregon +1
South Carolina +1
Utah +1
States that will lose congressional seats
California -1
Illinois -1
Iowa -1
Louisiana -1
Massachusetts -1
Michigan -1
Minnesota -1
Missouri -1
New Jersey -1
Pennsylvania -1
New York -2
Ohio -2
As can be seen there will be a large shift of congressional seats in 2010. Unfortunately the dems will have control of the census data so they can monkey with the results. But if the GOP is SMART we can gain control of key state houses and control how congressional seats are divided up.
We need to do what the dems did in 2006. They targeted SEC of states like here in Ohio to get a political hack like Jennifer Bunner. The GOP must make an effort to take her out.
Start to do some SERIOUS party buiidling. Party building isnt getting pork or buying phone banks or giving to GOP mass mailing organizations. People make up our party not just a few select elites with connections.
Creating a news stronger conservative media. Rush and Hannity and the blogosphere need to act as ONE rather than just being seperate entities. Rush needs to put his money where his mouth is and help to rebuild this party. That goes for all the talking heads of the conservative movement.
Lets get some IDEAS out there GOP! We cant just be a negation of big government. Just saying no isnt enough we have to explain why no is a better option. Ideas are sorely lacking in our party right now
CLEAN OUT THE RNC ! Mel Martinez is a total flop as a political leader. No more political hacks the Dems backed a left wing extremist howard Dean for DNC leader and he has led them back to the best showing in a decade. The DNC moved left it didnt moderate. The GOP needs to move right and not moderate.
That’s the meat of it – principles. Ones that were successfully applied in the past during other eras of conservative success need to be applied again. We just need to figure out how.
To say we need to abandon those principles now and “get over Reagan” or whatever is akin to saying we should abandon the first and second laws of thermodynamics because their application in the steam engine was so long ago.
There’s nobody. Look at the guys on stage during the primary season. Every single one of them advocated new government programs to solve the problem of the month. I had hope for Palin until I listened to her talk about increasing funding for special needs families. That’s just not conservative, especially when done on a federal level.
Until we get a person up there who thinks that we should reduce the size of the federal government *and* return power to the states, we conservatives are done.
Want to fight about abortion? Taxes? Foreign policy? Read what Orwell said below, then pat yourself on the back for being a sucker to the 2 party system.
“It was not desirable that the proles should have strong political feelings. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working-hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.” – 1984 by George Orwell
i for one am tired of that mantra, too. i am not sure that i can handle the current liberal GOP now. i know, if it goes further left, well I will be left without a party.
These folks don’t get it. It is not rebranding we need, it is OLD branding. We need to go back to our roots. If we should learn anything from this election: it is that when you dilute the GOP, we will always lose.
We should have learned that from GHW Bush.
Bingo!
The only re-branding necessary is to get back to conservative small government roots.
The GOP seems to follow the Air America, New York Times/LA Times Model.
Moving Left = Failure. Lesson learned??? NOPE, Move further Left, and Fail with even greater margin.
I wouldn’t doubt they try to move even MORE Left…and make themselves indistingusable from Democrats. Result will be even BIGGER loses.
MarcoPolo
If you split the moderate conservatives you will forever doom the basic ideals of our constitution.
FIX THE PRODUCT.
Sadly, you are correct.
You know, it’s a shame that the main job of the commander in chief could not come into play in this election. Bush has kept this country safe for the last 7+ years and yet, that was not part of the campaign at all, due to McCain’s decision to distance himself from Bush. McCain holds the ultimate responsibility for losing this election, but I still have to put the blame on Bush for basically ruining the GOP politically. Bush responded admirably to the terrorists attacks of 9/11 and has kept this country safe since. He did this by keeping constant pressure on al Qaida, forcing them to retreat and constantly be on the run.
However, domestically, Bush never used this approach. It’s one thing for the opposing party, i.e. The Left, to talk about and reject policies. But when those attacks become personal, not to just Bush, but the things that represent this country, you HAVE to respond. When Dick Turbin referred to our troops as Pol Pot, Soviet Gulags, and Nazis, what was the response from the White House?! Nothing, not a d*mn word. When Murtha said our troops murdered in cold blood, what was the response from the White House?! Nothing. When Kerry said the troops were going into houses in Iraq in the middle of the night, Bush had no response. I could go on and on. Bush could have really made these dems look like fools. When you show weakness and don’t respond, as what happened in the US in the 90s by not responding to terrorist attacks, the attacks will not only continue, but get stronger. Bush has been called a terrorist, Hitler, etc. with no response.
I believe that had Bush responded to these horrible accusations, using the Bully Pulpit of the presidency, these attacks would have stopped and there would have been a lot more favorable rating toward him and McCain would have had to distance himself.
Take no prisoners.
Return to the fundamentals.
William Amos - I agree that conservatives need better organization and presence on the net. We have some good spokespeople and bloggers that say the right things, but all to often their good works gets tainted with scarcasm and humor, which is a turn-off to many. This approach gets them dismissed as far right kooks. We need a new spokesperson that doesn’t have baggage associated with their name. Someone that simply states the conservative position with no scarcasm and lays out unrefutable and provable facts. It appears that this takeover was a well orchestrated multi-year effort led and financed by far left extremists. We need the same organization and must focus on two year events – first the 2010 congressional elections followed by the 2012 Presidential election. While we were reading and commenting blogs and viewing Hot Air we were out-maneuvered through well orchestrated planning. Only well orchestrated planning on our part will get conservatives back in the game.
The time to gut the Republican leadership all over the country is at hand. From local legislators, congressmen, and committee leaders all over the country, the corruption, incompetency, and self-gratification at the expense of the citizens will stop now. I’m not one to leave the party and say the party left me. I’m going to work to fix it no matter how much time it takes. America, the Constitution, and our place as the most free country in the world is at stake. Nothing is more important than preserving this country and its foundations.
Well, it certainly looks as if McCain re-branded himself right out of a victory. Let’s see, shall I vote for the Democrat or the Democrat-Lite? Tough call.
The real problem here is that the Republicans have allowed the Democrats (and their propaganda arm, the MSM) to brand them in the first place. And they fear showing their traditional brand.
Contrast McCain (old, RINO, loser) with Reagan (old, True Conservative, winner).
Reagan never ran from his conservatism, he was proud of it. He extolled its virtues. He preached its common sense and its values. And the people bought it because they knew it made sense, and that he was authentic and they wanted to follow him.
Leaders lead…and win. Kinda-sorta-maybe RINOs lose.
People with no guiding principles will find that no one wants to follow them.
Say it. I AM AN INDEPENDENT.
See how good that feels. Now you owe neither party any loyalty. Loyalty is a 2 way street, and while conservatives went ahead and supported McCain, even though he wasn’t our choice, his opponent was far worse.
If the Republicans want me to come back into the fold, they had better start walking this way, because I have gone as far down this path as I can. In fact I am turning around and heading back so the Republican needs to either hurry up and catch me or continue to shrug it’s shoulders and head further away.
I ain’t coming to them.
We absolutely need to “Re-brand”, as eight years of Bush have destroyed the GOP. Not only has Bush destroyed the GOP but he has destroyed the ideals of the party. All of our ills are now blamed on small government, free markets, and low taxes. ‘Conservative’ is now going to be a label that can be used as a pejorative, much like ‘Liberal’.
I’ve been saying this for months – there’s going to be a war for the soul of the GOP. We are going to be re-branded like it or not. The question is which faction of the party wins the re-branding war? It’s time to take a side my friends…
The Sixteenth Amendment (Amendment XVI) to the United States Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1913. This Amendment overruled Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. (1895), which greatly limited the Congress’s authority to levy an income tax. This Amendment allows the Congress to levy an income tax without regard to the States or the Census.
TRY THE “FAIR TAX”
RETURN TO THE FUNDAMENTALS.
RE-branding?? How about WE, the People, take BACK the party or create a new one.Ignore the Obamessiah–from this day forward he means NOTHING to a single conservative. We will have 4 years to fix whatever damage he does later.
Today is the best day to discuss the pluses and minuses of this election–what was done wrong? That is easy–what was NOT discussed?
Fiscal responsiblity: Why did Joe the Plumber become so popular at the end?? Because he spoke the TRUTH and exactly what ALL CONSERVATIVE VOTERS were feeling then.
Illegal immigration and the effect that it has had on this country. The 20-30 million have had a detrimental effect economically, socially, our hospitals, exploding gangs and violence.
VALUES–name ONE Repub that used that word. or the Constitution the very foundation of this country and has made it prosperous and unique.
What was right?? Sarah Palin and everything about her–but what was wrong was McCain’s handlers stiffleing her and making her spout McCains agenda (which was NOT the party platform–did he ever bother to look at it I wonder?)
How about a true leader–where has Mitt Romney been the past two months???
what got us into this in the first place? The ability of independents to vote in the Democrat or Repub primary and that needs to stop!! THAT was how McCain came out off of his death knell. The Repubs DID NOT SELECT him, the fence sitters did. If that happened in YOUR state you need to get with your party NOW and get that process amended before the next election. or we will be having this same discussion in four years…..
Agreed. I am sick of RINOs telling us to get over Reagan and move on. I say bring Reagan principles back and watch a conservative revolition take hold once again!
Re-branding is definitely the last thing that is needed.
We need to flush the Republican party completely for something new. No more playing at it. If a conservative party is to be born, let them bear a (C) next to their name. (R) = (D) these days, we need something other than that.
Ahh a lion, but the liberals WON. So, if we actually stick to being conservatives, i.e., pick a side, we can win too. People naturally go towards people who KNOW what they stand for. Rinos simply are not convincing and could not articulate any ideas and that is why they look wimpy, like losers, and lost.
The entire leadership of the GOP must be purged. All Waspish Washington Beltway Cocktail Party Elitists must be removed and replaced with grassroots activists from the real world. There must be a real effort to reach out to minority communities who actually share many of the same prinicples of the REAL GOP.
You want to see the real discontent in the Republican. Watch the GA Senate race if it winds up going to a run off. The only that saved Saxby (RINO) Chambliss this time around was the fear of giving the Democrats 60 seats in the Senate. Now that we know it will not be possible even if Chambliss is beaten watch the landslide vote against him if this thing goes to a runoff.
Now is the time to talk strategy.
No loyalty is easy.
IT ALSO MEANS NO COMMITMENT,
as in “empty suit”.
Sadly the Republicans will allow Obama and his pals to continue using Bush as the scape goat for the next four years. Even though the Dems control everything they will use Bush and the few Republicans that filibuster on our behalf as the reason they cannot meet all their fairytale promises.
Somebody in the conservative right has to step up and take control of the Republican party. The sooner the better.
RINO’s have a legacy, and his name is Barack Hussein Obama.
Those who trotted out McCain/Romney/Giuliani deserve to get blamed for the Obama disaster.
We owe it to ourselves not to forget and not let it happen again.
In the meantime enjoy a soon-to-be liberal SCOTUS, gun bans, government takeover of the entire medical sector, redistrubtion of wealth, taxpayer funded abortions, business driven away, and jobs lost. I could go on, but I don’t want to be too much of a downer.
I don’t think the point has been made. The majority of Americans are speaking. They are now more likely to live in the proximity of an urban area where individual responsibility is more likely to be shifted to government services.
Think of it as the difference between the average NYC republican and the average Oklahoma republican.
You won’t win elections without the urban centers. You’ve got to convince them that the core of the most-consservative party should mean less government, more individual responsibility.
That’s the hard target for you to hit.
It ain’t easy when people have learned how to vote themselves favors from the public trust.
Bear in mind that many of the states gaining seats are gaining them with liberals moving there to escape high taxes but bringing their tax and spend ideas with them. That’s how stupid liberals are.
I will never again vote for the lesser of two dimwits. Since 1988 all that has achieved is a slow slide toward the liberal/socialist agenda. If the rebublicans can’t figure out what core values are worth defending, living, and being proud of, let them go the way of the Whigs.
Conservative Party Now!
Well for one thing, we need to get past blaming Bush for everything.
Start fresh, don’t look back. There are plenty of young conservatives out there that deserve the chance to serve.
Remember that the RINO Leadership didn’t like or want Reagan but wanted Bush Sr. in 1980. Only Reagan’s popularity with the people forced the RINOs to accept him and ride his popularity to the White House.
They still saddled him with Bush Sr. for his VP whom I believe Reagan didn’t really want. They still do not want outsiders like Palin to crash the party.
THEY MUST GO to save the GOP or else we true conservatives must find a new party home.
First, let’s insure that the federal government gets as little of our money as possible, so that they have less to work with and the dems look bad. This will happen anyway, because of dems’ tax policies, but we can help, LEGALLY of course. For example, we should all talk to our tax professionals to see if any of us can get on a tax payment plan (usu very low interest rate) and let the money trickle in to the government slower than ever. A 3% or so interest rate is not bad, and we can use the money elsewhere, such as FOOD, CLOTHING, CHURCH.
I don’t think the party is salvageable. Too much liberalism has infected it.
When Rudy Giuliani is viewed as “conservative,” there is every reason to believe that the Elephant needs to be euthanized.b
I agree with many of the sentiments above.
Its time to lay the Republican Party to rest and rebuild a new American Party that takes the best of The Republican, Libertarian, Constitution and Conservative Parties!
Lets leave behind the old guard of John McCain, Lindsey Shamnesty, and the other RINOs.
re: Bobby Jindal
If he realizes (and states) that Intelligent Design is not science – and should not be taught as science…..fine.
Otherwise, let’s keep looking.
Bingo, give this man a cigar — before Obama declares them illegal. I hate to contempalte it but we may well be on an irreversable road to a one-party country, an electoral dictatorship.
How can we rebrand when we don’t know what our current brand is? We have no leadership and no message.
hawkeye54, I agree: Reagan I believe did not even like much rino bush sr. I actually did not vote for bush sr. in 1992 because I knew REagan was not happy with him. Clinton won.
My point being the dressing up as liblefty light will not work as a “new GOP”. Besides, to the people who bought in, Obama is the perfect product. He is whatever you want him to be.
Now about buyer’s remorse…
#91: when the majority has less government services because less people have incentive to make $ and pay taxes, I think things may shift back. When there is no money for welfare, and the global economy allows businesses to GET THE HECK OUT OF THE US, I think the poor, I mean lazy, will see a bleek pic and have no choice but be puhed back.
the GOP does need to rebrand, but not in the way these people mean it. i mean it in terms of returning to conservative principles as its core. it has strayed too far from them and now does not look much different in policy than the democratic party.
the GOP has already performed what amounts to the “Coke vs. New Coke” analogy. it had a winning, productive product in conservatism. but the GOP has decided to “mix up the formula” and move to the center/center-left. and people are not drinking it. go back to the original product. use the technology we have today (new media, web, marketing) to spread conservatism. that will bring us victory.
Rebranding is an illusion. For all the reaching across aisles, compromising, working together,etc. that the Republicans have done during the past 8 years, the only result has been defeat. No matter how “bipartisan” they get, Democrats, the media, and the stupid ignorant people who vote STILL hate Republicans! Heck – Bush practically IS a Democrat and look how they’ve treated him!
IMHO thinking people want to see a fight. They want to see candidates that aren’t afraid to “tell it like it is” and confront their opponents.
As far as the 40% + stupid, irresponsible voters out there, it’s about time some of the geniuses in the Republican Party figure out how to convince them that LIBERALISM IS KILLING THEM! I don’t know what we need: rap songs? Conservative gangsta speak?
The media sucks, but I’m tired of this mess being blamed on them. The reason McCain lost is because he is a loser. He is a coward. He is a sissy. He is self-deceived into thinking that people are impressed with all his antics. In reality, McCain sucks! He always has! I was only hoping that he’d win so we’d at least have Palin. Other than that, i just wanted Obama to lose.
Thank God for Roberts and Alito! We need to make sure there is NO Gang of 14 for Obama’s judicial picks and that we scrutinize them to the fullest. It will be difficult, but the public needs to know and we need to shout it from all corners. Pick the angle (like they always pick the overturning of Roe issue) AND STICK TO IT. Is it going to be guns or property rights or freedom of religion? PICK IT AND STICK IT.