lessons learned after getting run over by a train
Well, sports fans, that was about as thorough an arse-whuppin' as you're ever going to see. Sen. George Allen is about to concede, so that means that the Dems swept both houses of Congress and the nation's governorships and state legislatures. What Sherman did to Atlanta, so too did the Democrats do to the GOP. What happens now?
I spent some time the last 24 hours surfing the Net and watching the TV news as all of the analysis poured in. I watched lots of Republican hand-wringing and Democrat bell-ringing and, truthfully, didn't hear much in the way of intelligent insight from either side. This afternoon I listened to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, and from them I heard analysis that was much better, but it wasn't complete. I believe that the GOP needs to do some serious soul-searching right now, or else we will see another Democrat tsunami 2 years from now.
The first priority for the Republican Party is to take a good long look in the mirror. The GOP got waxed yesterday, and it wasn't the fault of the mainstream media, or the liberal blogs, or the hysterical rantings of the Democrat leadership, or anyone else. The Republicans lost because they abandoned the principles of conservatism. Look at these two links:
http://www.mikepence.com/cpac06.htm
http://acuf.org/issues/issue5/040205news.asp
Rep. Mike Pence (R.) represents the 6th Congressional District of Indiana. He is the very definition of a strong Christian conservative, and he is the chairman of the conservative House Republican Study Commission. Read those two speeches from 2004 and 2006 and you will see that Pence was one of the few Republicans who saw this Democrat "perfect storm" coming. GOP success over the last 26 years has been the result of principled conservative leadership from men like Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich. Today's Republican Party betrayed the ideals of those two pioneers in an attempt to hold on to power and, in the process, lost that very power they sold their souls to maintain. Today's GOP increased the size, scope and cost of the federal bureaucracy at rates that embarrassed even liberals. Today's GOP outspent every Democrat Congress and every Democrat President that we have ever had. With friends like that, who needs enemies? Conservatives didn't have much desire to vote for these RINO's.
Another reason for the GOP loss was because of scandal and corruption. Republican politicians around the country became mired in all manner of local scandals (Ohio and California are prime examples). In the Beltway, the GOP sank right up to their eye balls in the Abramhoff scandal. The Foley scandal showed that Republican leadership in the House was either horribly clueless or criminally guilty of a cover-up. Christian conservatives nationwide began to question whether or not it was right to cast a vote for these clowns.
What's the old saying? "The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem." The Republican Party must confess their sins and repent. They must admit that they were poor stewards of the trust conservatives put in them, and they must pledge to recommit themselves to the principles of Reagan conservatism.
That's the first priority. The second priority is to formulate a battle plan for the next two years. That plan must be aggressive, and well publicized, and it must be rooted in the bedrock principles of conservatism. What must the plan look like? That will be the subject of tomorrow's post. But for now---Good night Speaker Pelosi, wherever you are!
I spent some time the last 24 hours surfing the Net and watching the TV news as all of the analysis poured in. I watched lots of Republican hand-wringing and Democrat bell-ringing and, truthfully, didn't hear much in the way of intelligent insight from either side. This afternoon I listened to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, and from them I heard analysis that was much better, but it wasn't complete. I believe that the GOP needs to do some serious soul-searching right now, or else we will see another Democrat tsunami 2 years from now.
The first priority for the Republican Party is to take a good long look in the mirror. The GOP got waxed yesterday, and it wasn't the fault of the mainstream media, or the liberal blogs, or the hysterical rantings of the Democrat leadership, or anyone else. The Republicans lost because they abandoned the principles of conservatism. Look at these two links:
http://www.mikepence.com/cpac06.htm
http://acuf.org/issues/issue5/040205news.asp
Rep. Mike Pence (R.) represents the 6th Congressional District of Indiana. He is the very definition of a strong Christian conservative, and he is the chairman of the conservative House Republican Study Commission. Read those two speeches from 2004 and 2006 and you will see that Pence was one of the few Republicans who saw this Democrat "perfect storm" coming. GOP success over the last 26 years has been the result of principled conservative leadership from men like Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich. Today's Republican Party betrayed the ideals of those two pioneers in an attempt to hold on to power and, in the process, lost that very power they sold their souls to maintain. Today's GOP increased the size, scope and cost of the federal bureaucracy at rates that embarrassed even liberals. Today's GOP outspent every Democrat Congress and every Democrat President that we have ever had. With friends like that, who needs enemies? Conservatives didn't have much desire to vote for these RINO's.
Another reason for the GOP loss was because of scandal and corruption. Republican politicians around the country became mired in all manner of local scandals (Ohio and California are prime examples). In the Beltway, the GOP sank right up to their eye balls in the Abramhoff scandal. The Foley scandal showed that Republican leadership in the House was either horribly clueless or criminally guilty of a cover-up. Christian conservatives nationwide began to question whether or not it was right to cast a vote for these clowns.
What's the old saying? "The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem." The Republican Party must confess their sins and repent. They must admit that they were poor stewards of the trust conservatives put in them, and they must pledge to recommit themselves to the principles of Reagan conservatism.
That's the first priority. The second priority is to formulate a battle plan for the next two years. That plan must be aggressive, and well publicized, and it must be rooted in the bedrock principles of conservatism. What must the plan look like? That will be the subject of tomorrow's post. But for now---Good night Speaker Pelosi, wherever you are!
posted by hondo at 10:22 PM
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