The Gop In Disarray, GOP needs to reclaim conservative values Options

[Kate]

Republicans need to reclaim basic conservative values


-- Gov. Mark Sanford (R-South Carolina)


"It takes time to damage a brand. It takes even longer to rebuild it."

The Republican Party is in disarray. It has been in disarray for a lot longer than Barack Obama has been the president. In my opinion, the Republican Party has been in disarray since the mid-term elections of 2006.

That disarray had a devastating effect on the nominating process for the 2008 presidential election, and resulted in the election of a Democratic president and a Democrat-controlled Congress.

The disarray within the GOP has a singular cause: the presidency of George W. Bush.

In 2000, George W. Bush ran his campaign on a platform to reduce the size of government and introduce spending restraint. He called himself a conservative.

True conservative principles call for limited, constitutional government. Yet under Mr. Bush, the government grew more than under any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal.

Ironic that that statement is being made today about Barack Obama by many from the Bush administration.

Conservative principles call for smaller government and strict fiscal responsibility. Yet under Mr. Bush, the government went from a $128 billion surplus in fiscal 2001 to a $454.8 billion deficit in fiscal 2008 (ending Sept. 30).

And just to emphasize the escalating profligacy, in a single year, the deficit rose from $162.8 billion in 2007 to the $454.8 billion figure the following year.

That, folks, is not fiscal responsibility.

Under Bill Clinton, the average annual growth in federal spending was 3.4 percent, while in Mr. Bush's first term, federal spending grew 7.6 percent a year.

On Sept, 25, 2005 the U.K. Timesonline ran this headline: "Andrew Sullivan: Is Bush a socialist? He's spending like one."

That same week, Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "George W. Bush is a big spender. He has never vetoed a spending bill. When Congress serves up a big slab of fat, crackling pork, Mr. Bush responds with one big question: Got any barbecue sauce?"

Conservative principles call for sound, effective national defense and realistic evaluation of major threats to United State's interests in areas of foreign policy. In 1821, then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams stated, "America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy."

And true conservatives stand firmly on a bedrock belief in individual liberty. Mr. Bush has become known for his foreign policy recklessness, his own newly devised preemptive anticipatory use of force abroad, and for his widely expanded Patriot Act resulting in startling reduction in civil liberties.

The margin of victory for Barack Obama of ten million votes, securing 53 percent of the popular vote, and winning the electoral college vote 365 - 173 tells me that many Republicans crossed party lines to vote for the Democratic candidate.

In my opinion, Republicans who voted for Mr. Obama were actually voting their disapproval, disenchantment and disillusionment with their own party.

The Republican Party cannot rebuild by wasting time trying to rehabilitate the image of George W. Bush. That has become a distraction and a source of continuing contention within the party.

It is time to move on. Let history judge Mr. Bush's presidency. It is time for Mr. Bush and all members of his administration to return to their private lives and end all their public-relations efforts to salvage their image. It is too late for that.

Future generations, political scientists and historians looking back will determine the Bush legacy.

The Republican Party needs to do a lot of soul searching about their beliefs and principles and convictions and policies.

Republicans need to reclaim the values so badly tarnished by an administration that called themselves conservative then operated in opposition to just about every historically conservative principle.

It would help if real conservatives would stand up and own up to the fact that the Bush Administration blew it.

Perhaps then the American people might be able to take another look at genuine conservatism without the visceral antipathy brought on by eight years of the misrepresentation of conservatism by George W. Bush and his cohorts.

·Carol Petersen is a freelance writer, artist and photographer from Lancaster Township.

[dowhatyoulike]

Good luck with that!

James Carville

When your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil.

You guys are good for finger pointing and derisive laughter. And that's about it.

[mnepats52]

Political Identification - Wash. Post/ABC News 4/24/09

IND 38%......DEM 35%....GOP 21%


Political Identification - NYT/CBS News 4/27/09

DEM 38%......IND 36%.....GOP 20%


GOP in Congress reject Obama's proposals because: 70% say for political reasons - NYT/CBS News 4/27/09

GOP 2009: What Hole? We Don't See A Hole !

[StrobeSML]

One of the big problems is that Republicans are working at cross-purposes within their own party. The biggest example would be the conflict between the classic "Goldwater" conservative who believes in a smaller and less intrusive government and the "social conservative" who wants to add initiatives against things like abortion, gay marriage, pornography, evolution in science class, etc. The problem is that these require more laws and more intrusion and more people to enforce those rules. The two groups are mutually exclusive but the GOP continues to smile and nod and ignore the contradiction.

Unfortunately, until the Republican party truly defines the party in ways that are not contradictory, they will continue to be in disarray. They might be able to hold the group together for a few years but there will be a point when one side accuses the other of not being conservative enough.

[Kate]

Unfortunately, until the Republican party truly defines the party in ways that are not contradictory, they will continue to be in disarray. They might be able to hold the group together for a few years but there will be a point when one side accuses the other of not being conservative enough.

This is what is causing defections in the party.

It's one thing to disagree with the way a legislator votes but something is totally wrong when that person is badly maligned by their own party.

I don't agree with Spector's vote on the stimulus package however I do respect his years of service. I don't agree with the way Cong Pitts always votes however I respect his years of service.

Wasn't it Ronald Reagan who said that Republicans should never speak out against their fellow Republicans?

[Bustina di tè]

Wasn't it Ronald Reagan who said that Republicans should never speak out against their fellow Republicans?

No, what he really said was,"I made a poopy in my pants, Nancy". (IMG:http://talkback.lancasteronline.com/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
But that's OK because Obama thought Reagan was the greatest president since sliced bread.

[lee41]

Gee, even Republicans are now blaming Bush for everything that is wrong.

Perhaps missing in the analysis is the Republicans in the House and Senate who dutifully toed the party line and voted to give Bush whatever he wanted, threatening the 'nuclear option' if Democrats stood in the way of Bush spending all of his political capital.

Also missing is that the Republican rise to power was based on lies: a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, a reversal of Roe v. Wade, line item veto, ban human cloning, medical liability reform, tax cuts pay for themselves, and "compassionate conservatism". All of these different factions were stitched together by Rove to try to deliver a permanent Republican majority. Each faction was promised they would get what they wanted, only there was little effort to actually deliver. Instead it was hoped that these factions would still support Republicans anyway.

This post has been edited by lee41: May 2 2009, 12:03 AM

[justplainjoe]

so now even sanford and sons blame bush. looks like i was right all along.
it was bush's fault , although i wonder why sanford and sons went along with him if they knew in their hearts he was wrong?
maybe they have no moral compass.
i mean if i knew, then surely they should have known, right?

[skeptic2]

Gee, even Republicans are now blaming Bush for everything that is wrong. Perhaps missing in the analysis is the Republicans in the House and Senate who dutifully toed the party line and voted to give Bush whatever he wanted, threatening the 'nuclear option' if Democrats stood in the way of Bush spending all of his political capital. Also missing is that the Republican rise to power was based on lies: a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, a reversal of Roe v. Wade, line item veto, ban human cloning, medical liability reform, tax cuts pay for themselves, and "compassionate conservatism". All of these different factions were stitched together by Rove to try to deliver a permanent Republican majority. Each faction was promised they would get what they wanted, only there was little effort to actually deliver. Instead it was hoped that these factions would still support Republicans anyway.

I would add immigration reform, privatizing social security and the prescription drug benefit to this list. Of all these things, only the drug benefit went through. They pulled out all the stops to get it through. It's telling that they didn't try so hard on the other issues. We're all left guessing whether there was a really a sincere desire to get the other things through.

[BigBaron55]

As long as the GOP listens to the rants of ones like Rush, Hannity & Colter.
As long as the best the GOP can do is put the likes of Creighton, Palin and other fools in,they are going to be in serious trouble. They are in denial and going in the wrong direction. They have to learn to move past Reagan, its been over 20 years move on. Get a new adgenda stop living in the past. You guys are never going to come back as long as you don't realize the world has changed and you must move on.

This post has been edited by BigBaron55: May 2 2009, 08:24 AM

[mnepats52]

·Carol Petersen is a freelance writer, artist and photographer from Lancaster Township.

oh brother...

so now that taking an actual principaled stand when it really mattered...

is totally gone..(like in 2004...or 2006..or last year)

and the polls are in the tank...

along with the party's power...

the republican plan to reclaim glory is....

....

throw bush under the bus....

3-MONTHS AFTER HE IS GONE...

Poll: Bush Getting Even More Unpopular Out Of Office

Bush approval - Jan-2009: 31%

Bush approval - April-2009: 26%

- Wall St. Journal/NBC News 4/30/09

lol...

GOP 2009: Any Suckers Left?

[lee41]

The GOP Chairman's message to moderates:

"All you moderates out there, y'all come. I mean, that's the message," Steele said at a news conference. "The message of this party is this is a big table for everyone to have a seat. I have a place setting with your name on the front. "Understand that when you come into someone's house, you're not looking to change it. You come in because that's the place you want to be."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/44203877.html


IOW, if you are a moderate and want to join the Republican Party then you better vote the way they tell you to or else you will end up like Specter.

[wrsny337]

One of the big problems is that Republicans are working at cross-purposes within their own party. The biggest example would be the conflict between the classic "Goldwater" conservative who believes in a smaller and less intrusive government and the "social conservative" who wants to add initiatives against things like abortion, gay marriage, pornography, evolution in science class, etc. The problem is that these require more laws and more intrusion and more people to enforce those rules. The two groups are mutually exclusive but the GOP continues to smile and nod and ignore the contradiction.

Unfortunately, until the Republican party truly defines the party in ways that are not contradictory, they will continue to be in disarray. They might be able to hold the group together for a few years but there will be a point when one side accuses the other of not being conservative enough.

Well-said, strobe.

That accusatory "one side" will be (and has been) the Religious Right: The religiously politically active Republican sect that has successfully isolated the GOP from mainstream American society (with GOP approval).

Jefferson and Jesus metaphysicaly collaborated: "My kingdom is not of this world . . . "

[SWWeiss]

The problem with the Republican party is they consider Pitts, Specter, and Bush, Republicans.

[dowhatyoulike]

Steven D over at Booman Tribune.

When liberals and progressives are out of power we hold protests about illegal wars and the mistreatment of our fellow Americans, we recruit new voters and we try like hell to convince people that our views on politics are correct. When the right is out of power they buy guns, spread lies, turn up the hate-0-meter on talk radio and Fox news and talk secession and revolution.

Evidenced by this despicable sig:

Liberals. Rope. Tree. Some assembly required.

Purge away, just get rid of everyone who doesn't pass muster. That'll fix everything.