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
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
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
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: GOP
Power Line
» The Alarmists Do "Science": A Case Study
Power Line
» When In Doubt, DeletePundit & Pundette
» About last night's voteCommentary
» The End of the BeginningGay Patriot
» How John Hoeven Can Save AmericaCommentary
» Flotsam and JetsamJustOneMinute
» The Topless Ann AlthouseEd Driscoll
» The Bears Are Who We Thought They Were
EXACTLY
The Liberal media will never lose its bias as long as it would rather hire a journalist with a 2.0 average from Columbia or Berkeley than hire someone who graduates cum laude from Iowa State or Oklahoma.
The only way to do this is to use the same book the leftist are using. Conservatives must get control of the media, schools, universities etc. Think long term, several decades at least because that is how long it took leftist to get control of these institutions.
Reagan said: ‘The 12 scariest words we could hear are’:
Whatever is given is what they control and decide. If someone else decides for you that is the opposite of liberty.
Before we have the reorganizing of the RNC and congress we need to tell them what we decide.
I want all our principles applied not a different recipe for each election.
We may lose, but we will know we can trust our representative to do the right thing!
The second element we need is an effective communicator whom can not only state why our ideas work but why the socialist ideas are bad for our country.
I suggest that we look for new great leaders from our business community that possess both the rock solid principles and are effective communicators.
Hmmm, how about they simply get back to the conservative basics. Let’s see, now where would I find those principles? Oh yea, at the Constitution Party.
Seven Principles of the Constitution Party are:
1. Life: For all human beings, from conception to natural death;
2. Liberty: Freedom of conscience and actions for the self-governed individual;
3. Family: One husband and one wife with their children as divinely instituted;
4. Property: Each individual’s right to own and steward personal property without government burden;
5. Constitution: and Bill of Rights interpreted according to the actual intent of the Founding Fathers;
6. States’ Rights: Everything not specifically delegated by the Constitution to the federal government is reserved for the state and local jurisdictions;
7. American Sovereignty: American government committed to the protection of the borders, trade, and common defense of Americans, and not entangled in foreign alliances.
I heard all the idiot neo-cons last night starting with the same old nonsense about the hispanic votes and too far right stuff. So, no, they did not learn their lesson. Yet! I fear it may be too late anyway. Each elction cycle now brings more dem voters via 3rd world immigration. The GOP can never make up for the ground gained by the dems from 3rd world immigration. It’s like the old “we’ll make up our per unit loss through volumes”. How about they just adopt the platform above. They coudl soften a few things but stick to the main points about constituion and borders. If so, I might even come back.
Hangfire
Boycott the MSM and their advertisers.
IT WORKS.
“It is true that we had a Republican Congress and a Republican president and they squandered Reagan’s legacy,”
“They abandoned our Republican principles. I want to return to them.”
- Tom McClintock
Weary Citizen
You got it right.
Normally, re-branding is done after cow thieves rustle cattle and try to claim the cattle were their’s all along.
I don’t want a “re-branding”. I want to get back to the convervative basics and run the “rustlers” out of Dodge.
Ignore the idiots in the media do not watch their shows do not buy their papers WE Conservatives need to get our own information and their need be no -rebranding….WE NEED to go back to the ORIGINAL brand….there is nothing wrong with good old fashioned CONSERVATISM….its a brand that will last and last if not messed with….no MORE RINO’s, NO MORE MODERATES….NO MORE “conservative” CONCUBINES in the media….NO MORE.
Well, the Democrat light brand worked so well, what shall we try next? Socialsim?
If there were failures election day they were tow in number.
Fisrt, Bipartisanship, reaching across the aisle and the nonsense that you ‘capture the center’ that way, big time up in flames. McCain’s inherent fault.
Second, Compassionate Conservatives, meaning not standing up and fighting for your programs and beliefs, never a winner to make yourself into the opposition’s punching bag. Bush’s inherent fault.
Both deader than the doornail. No rebuilding required, just a home coming.
“Schwarzenegger wants to castrate the elephant.”
“The question is whether the party will have any conservative balls left when Schwarzenegger and company are through?”
Schwarzenegger was elected in a recall election to replace a very unpopular governor. He has proven ineffective and I doubt he is that relavent in California Republican politics any more.
To castigate Schwarzenegger when it was Bush from Texas that had an insane post Iraq invasion policy, fiddled and diddled about illegal immigration, was clueless post-Katrina, and gutted the United States Treasury while theives stole everything in sight seems a little bit off the mark.
The GOP needs to be re-branded. The GOP of this election was not conservative in the least. we need to go back to old Coke!
If the GOP does not re-brand itself back to the Conservative party of Reagan i will not change my registration back from independent to Republican. I don’t want to say good bye to the GOP but i will!
What? They didn’t screw it up the GOP enough by moving toward the middle of the road?
I’m still predicting buyer’s remorse for a lot of people that helped propel The One into the oval office on the Hope ‘n’ Change Express in the next four years.
If there’s any rebranding done, I suggest the use of a hot iron the the part of the GOP Beltway elite that we have to thank for the decline. Any suggestions on the brand we should use on them?
“Re-branding”? This was the sixth time since Reagan that “conservatives” have fallen in behind a “lesser of two evils” candidate. Perhaps now they’ll see that this is a losing proposition.
Barry F: the word “Traitor” comes to mind.
Excellent choice of analogy, Michelle. As I recall, New Coke was the best advertising gimmick Pepsi ever had.
And, again California RINOs shunned McClintock for starry-eyed support of much more left-leaning Schwartzenegger.
The RINOs FEAR true conservative principles and would rather serve in minority status and enjoy the crumbs tossed to them by the Dems like good little lacky dogs.
The RINOs DO NOT KNOW HOW TO LEAD!!
I am already reading up on the American Conservative Party, the Constitution Party, and the Libertarian Party.
No, the RINO GOP leadership will believe they are not left-leaning enough and will continue their madness foisting unpalatable candidates upon us.
We don’t need to rebrand! We need to find strong conservatives and support them. There are many in the state legislatures around the country. We must vet them carefully, as RINO’s need not apply. We must also set up a support and funding system so that were ready for 2010.
The liberals are going to become drunk with power over the next two years. Let them. The fools who elected the libtards need to see and feel first hand the misery that is about to come there way. High taxes, high unemployment, high fuel costs….ect. They will soon realize that the dream is a nightmare.
We have two years to build a strong conservative team to run in 2010, the time to start is today.
I hope you’re right, but I doubt you are. My guess is the party leadership will misconstrue the results of this election, move the party further to the left and the sheep will follow.
If you really, really, want to rebuild the movement, the first thing you have to do is get control of the RNC and evict every one of the RINOs. The next thing is to make sure you get the conservative message out every day on every issue. The third thing you have to do is find real conservatives to run in every race possible, as soon as possible. The fourth is to fund their races adequately, or even lavishly. That’s how the Dems won in 2006 and 2008, and it’s the way we’ll have to go to win in the future.
Purge the neocons and rebuild on true Reagan conservatism. That is the only way we win.
“Traitor.” You may be onto something, Jon.
BC, the GOP has been the best thing going for the Dems. When you shun your base to capitulate to the left, you danged sure can’t be trying to help your own party.
True. After not getting the nomination the first time, Reagan spent four years going around the country, making speeches, building support, refining his message. Waiting for the primaries is foolish.
The world and America are very different places then they were back then.
Change is inevitable. There’s no going back. But I guess holding on for deal life is the classic definition of “Conservative”.
Thanks moonbat. The constitution party got 10 votes. 10 more than they should have.
The only brand is the Reagan brand.
On November 5th, 2008 at 12:30 pm, txvet2 said:
Yup, “grow” the party by excluding everyone txvet2 calls a RINO. You know… Because Romney is in a cult and Giuliani is a “baby killer”, etc.
eaglebrand, you could not be more wrong. this country has flirted with socialism since the 1930s. Look at the 70s. do you know what taxes were in the 1950s? the top marginal rate was over 90% for income over 400K. we have not had such low taxes in ages. so, rinos who keep saying the country has changed don’t know their history.
If the Republican party moves to the center and embraces more of the values of the Democratic party why should I vote Republican.
Exactly!
And when the Coca-Cola company rolled out New Coke, they stopped making the old Coke. Consumers had the option of Pepsi or Coke’s imitation of it. Coke sales faltered and Pepsi sales surged. Coke had to bring back the old Coke to survive.
The question is, when will the GOP figure it out, and how can we help them?
tax rates since 1913, check this out, out right confiscation of income in the US, then talk to me about conservative brand being dead. http://www.truthandpolitics.org/top-rates.php
You are right on, Southpaw!
Screw you!!! Show me ONE moonbat item in that list. You are the poster child with what is wrong with the republican party. “I hate your candidate, but he is all I have so I will vote for him”. Your strategy of voting for ANY candidate they throw out there has worked real well hasn’t it? they don’t have to change wiht lemmings like you in the party.
Since the GOP abandoned their base and slept with the enemy, I vote for a good ol’ scarlet “A”. Right over the heart.
oops. I stand corrected. Bill Grant IS the new moderate republican party prototype. Well, you can have them, lemming. Why grow a party that no longer represents conservatives? Becasue they have an ‘r” beside their name? Nice.
You’ll know if the GOP plans to return to its’ founding principles if they are honest enough to say that Carter begat Reagan at the same time that they admit that George W. Bush and the Repubican congressional leaders from 1994 to 2006 begat Barack Obama; Another sign will be if the GOP embraces the senate and house Republicans that twice voted against the bailout; If not, we’ll have to let them know loudly and clearly what it will take for our continued support.
Perfect analogy. And as anyone knows, bourbon and Pepsi totally blows.
GIMME MY COKE BACK!
I hope when the GOP leadership looks back over the election and primaries they take notice of what Ron Paul was saying.
My dream is someone with a Paulian message and the charisma of Reagan.
People rally around intelligence and vision. This is why we can’t win if we become the party of Sarah Palin.
Now you’re getting it. The borrow and spend big government (R) is much better than the tax and spend big government (D)
There’s been a lot of talk (understandibly) regarding ‘W’ being such a disappointment….his unwillingness to get tough and fight back….
We all (myself included) should’ve picked up on this when he moved into the White House and discovered that it had been trashed by the Clintonistas on their way out.
He just let it slide…..
Interesting you mention that. What percentage of taxpayers were raking in 400K in the 50s?
I’ve read stories about how many of the top money making film stars, such as Gregory Peck, in the ’50s went overseas to make films to avoid the high tax rate as money earned outside the US wasn’t taxable then.
Just go back and check to see just how many U S star actors were overseas making films then.
How many other high earners shifted there wealth overseas back then to avoid the high tax rates? Same thing will happen again.
reagan was laughed at, called a dumb actor, etc., etc., he was vilified like Palin was, even by the rpubicans, especially when, as with mcshame, they passed him over and lost. i also blame huckabee for forcing mccain on us. i am an evangelical, but the way huckabee and some others treated mitt is unforgivable. mccain outright lied about mitt, but he refused to tell the truth about another dem, bo.
None of the ideas above will work while around half of the adults in this country get a check from the government, paid for with other people’s taxes or loans to the government, paid for with our children’s taxes. Until “our” representitives stop the gravy train things will only get worse.
Who is John Gault?
141, and it is a lot easier now to move overseas. companies will flee and the folks that voted for bo will ose their jobs. hahahaha. I am sorry, but i am not mopping, i am excited to watch this fool fail and his supportrs duffer more than conservatives will: union members, NY residents, etc.
143, they will work. do you know how many people got welfare before clinton? how many got handouts? when the handouts get smaller and less people can pay taxes, when there is less incentive to work and make $, americans will wake up. like i said, this isn’t the first time this has happened. jimmy carter won huge, then got kicked out 4 yrs later. in the past, there were many socialists and even commies in the US. They get kicked out sooner or later everywhere, even in europe. what is great about the US, we can kick them out sooner because of our elections system and because this country is not homogenous in thought.
And those that don’t will be surprised to see their taxes rise so BO can “spread the wealth”. Just like Clinton, he’ll sadly announce that he “looked over the numbers” and just can’t see where “WE” can afford the tax cuts for 95% if us and we will “ALL” have to sacrifice. We ALL suffer the consequences.
And and it was renamed “Classic Coke”
I say, every conservative that owns a biz, maybe it is time to lay off obamamaniacs. this will likely happen anyway. at least out in the country, we can hunt and grow our own food if necessary. in the cities, they are stuck.
Chick, it’s imperative that people keep their own money, and it is easier to do these days. A click of the mouse, and poof, it’s somewhere else. If, like remora, they want to ride along and eat the crumbs, annoying but ok, but don’t let them turn into bloodsucking parasites. Let them finance Peggy the Moocher with their own money.
BTW, did I miss it where are you from?
The word was out days ago, Obama wanted to lower expectations. Mine were pretty low to begin with…
Lord almighty. Didn’t Bush’s leftward tack teach anybody anything – no one with an “R” after their name will get any credit with anyone for moving left unless they go all the way. Why would we even bother considering it?
“On November 5th, 2008 at 12:52 pm, Weary Citizen said:”
Haven’t we been through this before? Teaching religion in schools/getting rid of federal funds for public schooling is not something we should be doing, Pulling out of NATO and most other treaties, ending all foreign aid, ending gambling, the renunciation of foreign bases and the removal of our military from overseas, etc, etc… actions that your party of misfits, truthers and Ron Paul cultists advocate. Gutting the federal authority in the way proposed would lead us to disillusion or civil war, just like it did in the 1860’s.
Again, we have been through this. The point you are missing is that Chuck “fire doesn’t melt steel” Baldwin will never be elected to anything other then head of your little politicized star trek convention of 40 year old virgins and X-files addicts.
You are the poster child for what’s wrong with this site. It has been inundated by boneheads who don’t realize that in order to have representation you need to get you candidate elected.
Gee, all hail President Chuck. No, McCain was a good man with some bad ideas but he is what came out of the primary process… The process where by people decided that they couldn’t vote for the only candidate who ran a successful business because he was the member of a “cult” and therefore a “RINO” or the mayor who transformed a completely failed city that people were fleeing into a place where people wanted to live so efficiently that it was unimaginable because he was a “baby killer” and therefore a RINO.
What people here refuse to allow themselves to understand is that this is a numbers game and whomever has the most numbers gets to control the agenda.
Working to whittle down our numbers (RINO hunting)rather then grow the party is just going to make ourselves irrelevant.
The OTHER thing is that the American public took a look at the mess the republicans left. Bush, (who was wrongly identified as a conservative by the media) has been vilified to the point where his name is a curse word on the streets of the Blue states. The republicans that were elected to congress, (some genuine conservatives some not) went drunk with greed and flushed our money down the toilet, racking up an obscene amount of debt and letting in illegal aliens, etc… All of that, but primarily the media campaign has left the USA voting left of where it’s true center is.
So, instead of labeling everyone that we any disagreement with a “RINO” perhaps we shouldn’t look for competency and a little bit of brains; not ideologically pure screw ups. Perhaps we should concentrate on winning some elections and then NOT making a mess.
john w, you are exactly right, being bipartisan in washington is a total loser. better to have half the people hate you than all of them. smaller government, get rid of the waste and crap, and hold people accountable.
Well, McCain will. He’ll be back to work in the Senate resuming his “maverick” label, reaching across the aisle to those who have just spit on him, laughed at him and cursed his name. You’ll recognize him by the “Kick Me” sign taped to his back.
Sad, but true, Marco, as were her pro-illegal remarks, ala McAmnesty. She definitely has charisma and can draw crowds, but I’m curious if she really believes in this stuff or was just pandering.
The GOP elites made a big deal out of rebranding the party in the image of McCain. How is that working out for you?
Nobody wants to exclude the Moderate Republicans. But Romney introduced public-financed health care, and Giuliani ran NYC like a liberal too.
They’re welcome in the party, but I didn’t vote for them then and I am not certainly not going to vote for their type in two years.
I don’t care to support any candidate who doesn’t support me. I did not vote for McCain this time. I didn’t win, but I may have made it easier for the 3rd party to get ballot access next time.
I am not a total ideologue – I would have voted for her if she were on the top of the ticket. I mean, the left hated her so much she must be a threat to them.
I certainly haven’t given up all faith in her. I actually knew who she was before McCain tapped her, and I liked her as much as I like Sanford and Jindal. So I am indeed hoping that she was just doing her job and repeating the McCain message, and that she was not being aggressively brainwashed by the neoconservatives.
Re-brand? like the “new” Coke, a big failure.
Just give me the old reliable conservative principles.
the problem is not the message. it is THE MESSENGER.
McCain, Dole, Bush etc. could not communicate their way out of a paper bag.
the greatest attribute of Reagan was his ability to connect with the American people.
the Repubs are doomed unless and until they are able to bring in more fresh new candidates like Palin, Jindal, etc who can deliver the message effectively, and not run away from their principles and become “me too”, “reach across the aisle” democraps lite.
In light of Sarah Palin’s phenomenal popularity and potential to be an agent of change on a national level, what do you think she should do in the immediate future? 255 (50%)
Run for re-election as governor in 2010 255 (50%)
Sit out and prepare for a presidential run in 2012 60 (11%)
Challenge Lisa Murkowski for the Senate 73 (14%)
Appoint herself to take Steven’s place, if and when he is disqualified 94 (18%)
Stay home and raise her children 27 (5%)
Vote on this poll
Votes so far: 509
Days left to vote: 6
This is the poll from the Meet the Real Sarah Palin Blog. It began this morning. Janet Crain, one of the bloggers, was finally able to take it off of moderation. It was on moderation because of the nasty troll comments, it was getting during the last month..you don’t even want to know I read some of them. I think the McCain campaign might want to re think if it is trying to blame Sarah Palin. To many she was the shinning light.
http://sarah-palin-2008.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-can-we-alleviate-some-of-damage.html
Tight, soundbite truths like this cause people to think. Just like Jefferson’s: A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything away.” With today’s short-attention span theatre-type voters, 30-sec radio and TV spots to start pounding home these messages would be helpful.
Remember the “Bicentennial Minute” commercials that ran in ‘76? They also taught true American history and instilled pride about our founders and their grand experiment.
We’ve got to start pounding these messages home now and get funding from conservative orgs like Heritage Foundation and Focus on the Family. Whomever you pick, Fred Thompson, Sarah Palin, Rush, Hannity or even the few conservatives in Hollowood — feature all of them ad nauseum, to broadcast these principles.
– Laree
Well, then again, they may not want to re-think that. Her presence on McCain’s ticket convinced my g/f to vote for Obama. . .even though she liked McCain as a candidate better than Obama. Palin scared the crap out of her. . .and I know from talking to some of her friends (and mine) that she’s far from the only one. I don’t really have any way of knowing if she attracted more votes than she deflected, or not.
Personally, I liked Palin fine, but thought she would have attracted more votes if she’d tended more moderate. . .like the majority of Americans.
So have you accomplished more in life than Sarah Palin?
I don’t remember seeing you winning any governorships of any size state.
oh yeah. be more moderate. that is exactly what is wrong now.
let’s spit in the face of the American people, and try to sneak through a shamnesty bill that gives away American sovereignty. or let’s bailout Wall st. execs and put our kids further in debt.
yeah, that worked just great.
moderate RINOs are the main downfall of the Repub party. along with “compassionate” conservatives.
On November 5th, 2008 at 2:17 pm, Bill Grant said:
“On November 5th, 2008 at 12:52 pm, Weary Citizen said:”
Grant, it seems like this a game to you and winning is all that matters. Have you advocated any principles this country should reflect? Have you read the Constitution or Bill of Rights? This is what our country is based on and the goal of those who have given all to maintain. Have you read anything about the Constitution Party? How many years has the federal government had to screw up our schools? The founding fathers didn’t set up a federal dept. of education. The CP does not advocate biblical teaching in schools. You seem to think the federal government owns its citizens and bestows rights upon them. To you and all your contemporaries – read your history, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Don’t assume our government is supposed to be based on what has occurred in the past 50 years. You seem to base your opinion of CP members as wackos. I’ll put my background up against yours any day for life experience – veteran/degreed/former member of 4 unions/federal law enforcemnt/raised in home w/o running water. Worked in the tenements and rubbed shoulders w/the Elite. I haven’t been sheltered with others paying my way (since age 15) and never having nose bloodied. You can call us boneheads but we’re the boneheads that helped build this country (ironworker), helped enforce laws and taught our children christian values. We are not ready to sell out our values for anyone who does not represent the principles of our original founders. If you desire a European government – take a long swim. Don’t tell us we have to settle for the death of 1000 cuts till this country does not exist. We won’t accept Dem-lite anymore!
Weary Citizen’s post was the best post placed. Don’t settle for the slow or fast destruction of the country you love.
Just to reiterate the sentiment, it’s not the brand that needs changing, it’s the individuals currently comprising the brand who do. Classic recipe, made and distributed under new management, to borrow from the Coke analogy. We can now work on rehiring for the empty top spots, and let’s do it right this time. New applications are currently being accepted.
And just what representation is that? Amnesty? How about bailouts? Or how about McCain/Feingold? Or the group of 14? Or how about……. Look the republicans acted like a bunch of liberals. They spent like $ was going out of style. They were pigs at the pork trough. Never opposed PC or affirmative action. The leaders championed amnesty, then appointed martinez to a top leadership position as a poke in the eye. They told the base to go f themselves. With friends like that……
If winning means giving up the issues you hold dear (disclosure, some would call me a RINO as I don’t give a rip about abortion) then what do you have? A party that does not represent you. And anyone who thinks we could “borrow and spend” as oppose to “tax and spend and think we would never have to pay the piper is delusional. At some point, the republicans spending would bury our treasury. Look, if I felt the republicans could be moved back to the basic principles of smaller gov’t, lower taxes, the constitution, and defense of our borders, I would stay with them. But I don’t see that happening. And even if they did get back to basics, it is a losing strategy. The simple numbers prove that out. Again, each election cycle there are at least 4M new immigrants on the voting roles (that is just the legal ones, now add the anchor babies and you have another 1M plus coming of voting age). The vast majority of those are from 3rd world countries and are destitute who will support whoever promises to give them more (ie the dems). The demographics will doom the republican party unless it continues to drift left (they have proven unwilling to attack immigrant quality and levels which would benefit the party). Hence why Rove chased hispanics so much, ensuring the self fulfilling prophecy he painted.
The only chance of true representaion is to break the 2 party system. Preferably 4 parties spanning the spectrum. Now, I have seen your assertions of the Constitution party truther stuff in the past and it was, frankly, hearsay. You may not agree wiht the platform but is 75% the same as mine (compared to 40% of the republican policies lately). I can be swayed to another conservative party. As for the GOP, too much history and too many knives in my back to forget it (I still vote for conservatives in the GOP like Lamar Smith and Cornyn, just not straight ticket). If/when they get a clue I will be back. Till then I am an independent conservative.
Well said, #167.
I’ve come to this conclusion: the Navy certainly has quite the track record for producing some of our most inept Presidents:
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard M. Nixon
Gerald R. Ford
Jimmy Carter
George Bush, Sr.
John KerryJohn McCainWe definitely need some more Soldiers like Washington, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Reagan, and Russell.
As I’ve said on another thread, now that the country has stooped to as low as it can by voting in to the presidency the most unqualified candidate in history, I now will not have to ever vote again for LOTE. I will vote for the person that represents my values and principles.
IMO, I think she was held down or held herself down in order to not show any conflicts between the two, herself and Juan. I’m afraid if she were to come back and run for the top spot in ‘12 the immigration issue will have been addressed by then…therefore her feelings on the matter is of no real consequence. If for some reason it was still an issue in ‘12, I feel she would follow suit with the majority of the country and want boarders closed and no amnesty, she’s too down to earth in her American values not to.
Just an opinion, we all have at least 1.
How about a compromise: you guys keep the Republican brand and turn over the Conservative moniker to the actual conservatives. It sounds like they want it back.
Very well said. I grew tired of the republicnas p*ssing down my back and telling me it was raining. IMHO, the 2 party system is ruining this country. It is party above all else. Both conspire to set the “barriers to entry” so high a 3rd party is helpless. In private enterprise, the offenders would be broken up under anti-trust laws. But since it IS the gov’t officials running the oligarchy, they have no interest in halting their stranglehold on power. Enough!
– Senator Phillip Buster
Thing is, most Americans aren’t far to the right, or far to the left. Most fall somewhere in between. So being more moderate wouldn’t be ’spitting in the face of the American people’. It’d be more like representing them.
One of the major problems with our two-party system right now, is that the Democratic party leadership is heading that party farther and farther to the left, and the outspoken voices of the Republican party are urging it further and further to the left.
No one seems to care that this leaves us in a situation where NEITHER party accurately represents the majority of Americans, who generally fall somewhere in the middle.
Both parties are ignoring this at their peril.
Sorry, I meant “Republican party . . .further to the right”.
Typed the opposite of what I meant.
What is sadder? The fact that the Republican party nominated a moderate bi-partisan centrist that didn’t stand up for fundamental conservative beliefs, or the fact that this middle of the road approach didn’t work.
I myself think I would be more upset if John McCain and I stood shoulder to shoulder on the important issues of immigration and bailouts.
That said, I don’t think a hard line conservative would have stood a chance this election. The media convinced the electorate that the only acceptable change was a leftward socialist shift away from the evil Republican party.
any Repub who insists on “reaching across the aisle” should find something better to do with his hand.
No more hand-outs, literally or figuratively.
Yashmak, I said that the Shamnesty and Bailout bills were spitting in the face of the American people. don’t crop my comments to fit your purpose.
if you support either of those bills, then shame on you.
On November 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pm, Send_Me said:
Well, you effectively voted for the product of a different organization, idiot.
All the above. It is not as simple as just principle. PR put Obama in the White House.
On November 5th, 2008 at 2:46 pm, MarcoPolo said:
Well yes.. We already have. Either of them would have run a better campaign. Either of them would have made the ticket stronger as a VP pick.
” But Romney introduced public-financed health care, and Giuliani ran NYC like a liberal too.”"
No, Dinkins ran the city like a liberal. He ran it into the ground. You are going to see what “running things like a liberal” actually signifies.
Congratulations, your candidate won.
Such a victory! Of course all they probably needed to do was fill out the paperwork and get the signatures… But hey, we are going to have 4 years of an America resenting trotskyite which evidentially you have rationalized as OK if we can get Ron Paul and his merry band of misfits back in 1012.
re #180 Senator Phillip Buster
Actually, this is exactly what you said:
I may have misinterpreted your quote, where the “and”, denotes an additional action beyond the initial “spitting in the face of the American people” action.
I didn’t ‘crop your comment to suit my purpose’. At worst, I misinterpreted a poorly phrased statement. If so, sorry.
For your edification, I supported neither the amnesty legislation, or the bailout legislation (the latter of which I find to be the hallmark of the end of fiscal responsibility in this nation).
On November 5th, 2008 at 3:51 pm, 4gotnblud said:
Better to lose everything… Right? That’s just what seems to be the rationalization here. Better to lose everything then compromise on anything. Or even not to compromise, just postpone a battle or 2 until you can regroup…. Nope, the best we could have hoped for was a fighting chance this time around. The opposition got everything it could possibly have dreamed of.
yes.
Yes. One of the main reasons I didn’t vote for it. That and the whole “doesn’t stand a chance thing”. Add in the truther element and it was see ya.
You seem to think mis characterizing everything I have said with one of your bumper sticker responses is going to persuade me that the constitution party, as it is, stands a snowballs chance in hell of going anywhere.
I was taught to recite it in grammar school. (Thanks to schoolhouse rock I already knew the preamble.) Please, you don’t have a lock on your allegiance to the Constitution. I once swore an oath to it. Just because someone slaps the name “constitution party” on their political platform doesn’t make it any more or less true to the document.
Did you keep Obama out?
You don’t have a lock on that either.
I won’t need to, we just elected one.
What I have said is if you let the perfect be the enemy of the good you are going to get the bad. My choice was to vote for the imperfect over the horrible and fight to make it more perfect. We got the horrible, but at the end of it I will know that I went down swinging.
Look at what you are going to have to accept. Not “Dem-lite” but “Dem-very heavy.”
Was that in the 70s/Sesame Street heyday, Bill or ? Either way, it sounds after my TV-kid watchin’ time.
The McCain staff is in full attack mode against Governor Palin: She cost him the election. I was afraid of this-McCain and Goons never take responsibility for a screw up.
They have been pulling this crap since 1982. If only the whores had gone after BroBama in such a fashion.
I would like to Brand some so called Republicans. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the poster child for closing the borders retroactively. He is a Kennedy pimp pure and simple.
—
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Laura Ingram (sp) said this on O’Reilly the other night.
Holy crap … Campaign Carl just did 5-6 minutes of behind the scenes of the last few weeks between Palin and the McCain group. Fighting and bickering and pointing blame. Wow. I’m guessing that Palin was too hot and too straight forward and a go getter that the McCain group was none of the above. This is what I read between the lines.
Preen Palin and Jendal for 2012. Because all future elections will be media and technology driven. Gone are the days of a roll of 1’s and a soapbox.
So, do you win over many people by calling them “idiots”?
“If you can’t answer a man’s arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names.” ~Elbert Hubbard
I take issue with the phrase “hard-line conservative.” Ronaldus Magnus was one — did he come across to anyone as strident or intractable? Nope, he was a grandfather type who knew what he was doing, just using commonsense and he brought the country along — a country, I might add, who lined his funeral cortege for miles and miles. How many presidents ever had that kind of affection from so many?
Greta’s having more Palin tonight, so I’ll be checking that out soon, but the outrage of the evening was listening to Kondrake and Barnes on Britt Hume’s show tonight. They were busting on Republicans for not going after Hispanics in Texas, esp., and they seemed to be hinting at the illegal version. They warned that TX would be Republicans didn’t get with the program. There’s some conservatism for ya — ignore the rule of law and pander to the illegal vote since it just seems inevitable. These morons just don’t get it.
What should the Republican Pary do now? It should decide to actually stand for something.
It should be leading a clear, unambiguous political movement for Capitalism (Laissez faire Capitalism -minimal government interference in economic affairs) That means no government subsidies to businesses, the abolishment of numerous regulatory agencies and the end to taxes that cripple business.
It should stand consistently for individual rights – including freedom of speech (no government censorship for any reason), freedom of association (no affirmative action and no quotas) and property rights (no estate tax, no progressive income tax and no expropriation of property for any reason).
It should stand for an unassailable national defense.
If the party could give up the ideology of appeasement to the left and unapologetically take up the ideology of freedom, it would finally be able to secure our country from harm and usher in an era of prosperity unprecedented in history. I don’t think this is possible in the current philosophical atmosphere, but the more we push for this change, the more the party can be influenced.
StandardDeviation said:
The only brand is the
ReaganPalin brand.FIFY.