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Another Perspective
Time Heals All Republicans
Is there something fundamentally wrong with the Republican Party?
I am a naturally optimistic fellow, not easily depressed. But on election night, despite a supply of cheap champagne and leftover Halloween candy to boost my spirits, I went to bed thoroughly demoralized and in the dumps. The piece by Robert Stacy McCain that appeared on this site the next morning (“Doomed Beyond all Hope of Redemption”) pretty much summed up my feelings.
But Time, the Great Healer, soon started to have its salubrious effect on my psyche, and I was able to wade through some post-mortem analyses without getting physically ill, and eventually came to the conclusion that though, yes, the Republican Party (the only political party through which conservatives wield policy making influence) has many problems, it is not the complete wreck that some assume, and therefore the nation is not, necessarily, doomed.
Like many conservatives, I had bought into the very reasonable narrative that lower enthusiasm on the Democratic side for Obama, combined with much higher enthusiasm for Romney among Republicans than for John McCain in 2008, would mean the 2012 electorate would be much more evenly split among Republicans and Democrats versus 2008, and Romney’s strength with independents would likely push him over the top. That didn’t happen. The “enthusiasm gap” didn’t manifest itself and though Romney improved greatly upon McCain’s performance with independents, Democratic turnout beat Republican turnout by about as much as it did in 2008. In addition to losing the presidential race, Republicans, once hopeful of capturing the senate in a target rich environment of vulnerable Democratic seats, actually appear to have managed a net loss of two seats.
Republican failures in Senate races in 2012 and 2010 highlight the most serious internal problem for which the Republican Party needs to find an answer. In 2010, so-called “Tea Party” conservatives pushed weak Senate candidates in the contests against a particularly vulnerable Harry Reid in Nevada, and in favor of the one Republican candidate who could have (and would have) won in an open seat in Delaware, long-time congressman Mike Castle. Castle, however, was deemed too “moderate” so the Tea Party’s nod, and ultimately the nomination went to Christine O’Donnell. O’Donnell, like the Tea Party’s Nevada selection, Sharron Angle, was an unpolished (putting it kindly) candidate whose only selling point was an unflinching conservative worldview. Arguments about electability were swept aside, and it didn’t matter that O’Donnell and Angle could easily (and I mean easily) be painted as kooks. As a result, the Republican Party fumbled away two easy pick-ups, with the Tea Party faithful arguing that it was better to lose elections to liberal Democrats than to elect moderate “RINO’s”, or even “establishment” conservatives. This mistake was repeated again in 2012 with Todd Aiken in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana. Again, two more sure-win Senate seats given away by ill-advised candidate selection.
Did Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, with their imbecilic comments on rape (which seemed to get more press attention than Benghazi), ultimately cost Mitt Romney the presidential election? Probably not, but they did further tarnish the Republican “brand” playing into the hands of the Democratic propaganda machine that the Republican Party is hostile to women, and full of ignorant, right-wing religious zealots. To be a majority national party you have to build coalitions, like Ronald Reagan did so well in the 1980’s. By definition, everyone in the coalition will not be in agreement on every issue. But conservatives when backing primary candidates need to realize that being able to win the general election has to be an important consideration. Someone who is less than a 100% conservative, but who conservatives could bring into coalitions on most important issues, is not a bad alternative to a liberal Democrat who will always or almost always be opposed to conservative positions. The Republican Party, to be a national majority party, needs the likes of a Mike Castle in Delaware or a Richard Lugar, and to cast them aside as candidates in contested elections for the likes of Christine O’Donnell and Richard Mourdock is insanity. In order repair the damage of eight years of an Obama presidency conservatives are going to need to build large governing coalitions greater than their own numbers.
Along those lines, there are those that are blaming the 2012 calamity on the fact that Mitt Romney wasn’t conservative enough and did not provide a stark enough contrast with Barrack Obama. But the reality is that the contrast was pretty stark. Like most every politician out there (including Barrack Obama), Mitt Romney had to deal with past position flip-flops and some of his campaign team’s strategic decisions can be second guessed, but in what really mattered in this election, he laid out a clear vision of support for free-enterprise, low taxes, and reduction of over-bearing government regulation that was clearly and fundamentally different from President Obama’s policies of stimulus spending, auto bailouts, increased regulation, and increased taxes on the “rich.” Romney’s problem was that he was never able to erase away fully the caricature of himself engrained in the minds of many voters through early and ubiquitous Obama ads that he was a crass, unfeeling, out of touch, rich guy. It didn’t help that that caricature was also pushed by many of Romney’s opponents in the Republican primary. In the end, though voters in exit polls expressed agreement with the core Republican value of limited government, they also thought that Obama would do a much better job looking out for the interests of the “middle class.” In the end, the bigger philosophical agreement was no match for the smaller more personal concern. And that is my reason for hope. Even with a strong Democrat turnout, the basic philosophy that is the core common bond of Republicans resonated with a majority of the electorate.
Yes, the Republican Party has to stop “eating its own” with purges of perfectly electable (if not perfectly conservative) candidates. Yes, the Republican Party has to work harder at selling itself to women, Hispanics, and other minority groups. But Republicans don’t need to (and should not) alter their core beliefs. Romney’s defeat at the hands of an apparently vulnerable incumbent has less to do with giant faults within the Republican Party than it does with the particular circumstances of this election. The bottom line is that it is very difficult to pivot out of a highly competitive primary and into a general election and defeat a well-funded incumbent with a huge, in-place, campaign machine. That’s just political reality. And you can bet that just as it looks bleak for Republicans after this bitter defeat, it looked just as bad for Democrats after 2004 and 1988, and for Republicans after Clinton’s reelection in 1996. The electorate is fickle, and both parties tend to fritter away quickly what looks like national dominance. It will be even more so with Democrats this time around with a lame duck president with an uninspiring first term record that likely will not be improved upon in his second term.
So Republicans should not get too carried away with recriminations. To borrow some sports advice, what Republicans need to do is step back, regroup, and focus on fundamentals. In this case, that means focusing on expanding coalitions, selecting the best suited candidates, and winning elections.
About the Author
Brandon Crocker is the chief financial officer of a commercial real estate development and management company in San Diego.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (96) | Leave a comment
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Numerian| 11.12.12 @ 6:26AM
Hmmm...I don't think so. We are IN FACT doomed beyond all hope of redemption, and all the happy talk in the world is not going to change that. The question is; what now? If the country is doomed, then what do we individuals do? My ancestors escaped the European aristocrats by coming here; but where can I and my children go to escape the Ruling Class and the scum who support them? The plain fact is, we're stuck, and we have no hope for a future.
Aristocat| 11.12.12 @ 6:36AM
There's nowhere to run...We need to stand and fight.
Numerian| 11.12.12 @ 7:56AM
That option has occurred to me, though I absolutely abhor the thought of violence.
SUBVET| 11.12.12 @ 10:48AM
Yes I see your type numerian......your the guy waving the flag at the back of the fight.
A cut and run guy that can't stand violence your the guy that stirs the pot and when the fire gets to hot runs.
Where I come from those guys got friendly fire.
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:19PM
He sounds like he's descended from a long line of Swiss, and Torries.
I wonder if he was a Human Shield for Saddam Hussain, shortly before the Bombs started dropping?
Cause, I'm thinking that he was.
Boar Hunter| 11.12.12 @ 12:36PM
Stand and fight?
Neither Romney or any other member of the republican establishment stood up to Obama at any point during his first four years in office.
As I pointed out before the election, the republican establishments response to the worst presidency in history was to run the guy who lost to the guy Obama defeated in the last election. Not unsurprisingly, Romney received less votes than McCain...again.
Post election, Boehner's first act was to begin a new round of concessions to Obama over spending.
I am glad Obama is president. Maybe the apathetical morons that allowed us to reach this point will wake up once they realize Obama's policies policies are the reason they are cold and hungry.
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:37PM
I'll go even further.
My advice - AGAIN - to the Republicans, is to stand aside and let President Apocolypse have everything he wants. More Taxes, More Regulations, More Coal Plants Shut Down, More Drilling Moratoriums, Higher Prices for Everything.
Only when we become Ukraine, after the Forced Famine, will we turn this around.
Sad, but True.
Appleby| 11.12.12 @ 3:17PM
Moi aussi. Stand back and let it crash, and don't anybody rush in to pick up the pieces. When the whole country has been hit by Hurricane Sandy and there's no cheque at the post office from Mom and Dad, THEN they'll figure out that their trick does not work.
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 5:14PM
You sly minx, you.
Don't ever think that I don't love you.
Cause, I do.
SUBVET| 11.12.12 @ 7:13PM
Tim your to old for her.............
mike 3/505| 11.12.12 @ 3:19PM
Agree...Vote "present" on all tax & spending bills. But filibuster...for 4 years if necessary, ALL Judicial Appointments and "process" type measures...like "limiting the filibuster." Do not approve one...not one lifetime appointment by the President to any board, governing body or court...not one.
Bill8472| 11.12.12 @ 1:41PM
Boehner stood up to him. Didn't help. Maybe that's why the post-election concessions now, although that could also be explained by the Republicans being willing to do all they can to help Obama sink his own ship.
Bill8472| 11.12.12 @ 1:39PM
Australia beckons.
chriser| 11.12.12 @ 2:00PM
Good luck there - they have a former college communist club member as their Prime Minister, they've had socialized medicine for 50 years, you can't cut a tree down on your own property without approval of the local council, they've just implemented a carbon tax, and on and on and on. There truly is no where else to go to get away from the ruling class statists.
Appleby| 11.12.12 @ 3:18PM
Sounds like Canada. Except the men are really men.
SUBVET| 11.12.12 @ 7:15PM
See TIM you will need to move to canada.
ElGordo| 11.12.12 @ 2:25PM
Our fortunes can be reversed. It can be 2010 again in 2014. Boehner and the House Republicans must bring out what happened in Benghazi. They should have NO negotiations on anything with the Administration until the Administration releases all the information on what happened at Benghazi
C. Vernon Crisler | 11.12.12 @ 11:43AM
I'd say if Brandon Crocker represents the majority in the Republican Party, then good riddance to the Republican Party. Crocker manages to blame CONSERVATIVES for the defeat of a Republican MODERATE. Gees, the sooner a conservative party is formed, the less we'll hear from the likes of Crocker.
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:25PM
Obviously, Mr. Crockashit hasn't figured out that we coulda run JESUS CHRIST, and we would've lost this Election.
Teach a Man to Fish?
Why would we do what some Jew says, when we can just GIVE THEM an Obamafish?
SUBVET| 11.12.12 @ 7:18PM
Why....Tim we have barackaclause.....he will just hand out the fish.....
hat tip..rush
Bob K| 11.12.12 @ 5:26PM
Yes there is a fundamental problem with the Republican Party.
The problem is that it's leadership and unthinking pundits like yourself, Mr. Crocker, think that the natural constituency of the Republican party is conservative. It is not.
The Republican Party's natural constituency is white people. Reagan got that. That is why he won big. When are you guys going to get it?
Stop preaching economic policy direct from the mouths of conservative economists for at least part of the campaigns and start preaching conservative values without apologizing for them before and after they are brought up.
Learn to differentiate between government unions and private unions and attack the former and encourage the latter. To weaken the Union movement you have to go after the government unions first. There is no love lost between them and private unions.
Start acting like men instead of eunuchs when attacked by left wing liberals for your beliefs. Start trying to divide the Democratic coalition of blacks and hispanics. They don't like each other to begin with. Hispanics are competing with blacks for federal, state and academic jobs and promotions. Latino's have all but run blacks out of politics in Southern California.
There is much that can be done if it is done without apologizing when it comes to splitting the opposition!
MelvinNC| 11.12.12 @ 6:37AM
The same thing was said, right after the 2008 election. No we don't need to regroup. We need a civil war within the Republican Party Leadership.
All Conservatives keep being told, "Well, you guys need to be more like us." That statement makes about as much sense as the Communist Chinese embracing a two party political system.
If Conservatives need to embrace the Liberal philosophy then why be a Conservative?
"Well, you guys just need to change, and talk to the hand." All of us sudden the Liberal chattering class has taken the holy high road. They conveniently have forgotten all the vile and filthy crap the called Conservatives before the election.
There needs to be a bloodletting within the Republican party, NOW, and not during the next Primary season either.
ElGordo| 11.12.12 @ 10:31AM
Our fortunes can be reversed. It can be 2010 again in 2014. Boehner and the House Republicans must bring out what happened in Benghazi. They should have negotiations on anything with the Administration until the Administration releases all the information on what happened at Benghazi
ElGordo| 11.12.12 @ 10:34AM
That's NO NEGOTIATIONS
Boar Hunter| 11.12.12 @ 12:39PM
"Boehner and the House Republicans must bring out what happened in Benghazi"? They didn't do a thing about it before the election. What makes you think these cowards are going to raise a ruckus now?
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:27PM
Plus, it's too late, already.
What's next?
Fast and Furious Hearings?
Unfckingbelievable.
Appleby| 11.12.12 @ 6:39AM
The current group in charge of the Republican Party cannot pour piss out of a boot with directions on the heel. No doubt they will respond to this shellacking by selecting the next "electable" fish in line and shoving them at us relentlessly for the next four years as our "only choice" while the dominos continue to fall all around them...and no matter what the Democrats do, nobody will speak out against them because that would be "racist" or [fill in the blank] phobic in some way.
You cannot surrender your way to peace, and you cannot nice your way to victory. Either get out there and play the game or go home.
Gary B| 11.12.12 @ 7:14AM
"Is there something fundamentally wrong with the Republican Party?"
Yes. To the world, it feigns concern about the Constitution, loss of liberty, loss of economic freedom, etc. In truth it delights in Democrat victories. Why? It advances the ruling elite's agenda without lifting a finger.
Joellen| 11.12.12 @ 7:40AM
Jackson Jr., in a mental institution and being held for alledge crimes, WINS; Marion Barry caught smoking crack with a prostitute WON his reelections; Bobby Menedez stiffs (no pun intended) two prostitutes WINS; Ann Warren lies about her heritage and possible law credentials BEATS a "Moderate/Liberal Republican", Claire McCastle has "legal problems" WINS, Obama worse President EVER up against a Moderate candidate, WINS and yet the author and many like him argues the CONSERVATIVE branch of the Republican Party/aka Tea Party has to change! I dont think so Mr. Crocker. In fact, your whole premise defines the word "INSANITY". You and the Republican Lites keep pushing your 'definition' of the Republican Party and yet you keep losing with your Lite candidates - why dont you truly sit down with the American citizen and understand what we the law abiding, tax paying America wants from the Republican Party.
BTW, have any of the AS readers noticed, not once do these same promoters of reducing/denouncing the values of the Republican party EVER ADVOCATE the Democrat party lighten up on their "values?
pogybait| 11.12.12 @ 9:30AM
The current Republican party has turned political innocence into a form of self indulgence; pretending that they are doing a kindness by mere association at voting time or withholding political favors rather than reflect contemporary realities which in itself reeks of self righteous posturing or offering some uninspired utopian vision which somehow would provide harmony by just inserting itself.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.12.12 @ 10:07AM
Joellen;
To some extent, the Democrats have gone through this process. Following 1988 and the third lost presidential election in a row, they nominated a southern member of the DLC (their organizational response) in 1992. As a result, Clinton, who ran as a moderate (remember the Sister Souljah moment) was victorious, though he immediately began governing as a radical, which lead to the Republican congressional victories of 1994.
Likewise, after the Democrats were beat by trying to run John Kerry as some kind of pro-defense Democrat, they went through a great soul-searching, as well. In 2006, they concentrated strictly on victory in Congress, running their Blue Dog moderates and conservatives in many districts where Nancy Pelosi's agenda would never win on referendum, but by electing a Democrat those voters handed victory to her anyway (and it is important to recall that the architect of that successful campaign was Rahm Emmanuel).
It is important to note, though, is that the Democrats usually have success when they are pretending to be something that they are not (i.e. they portray themselves as thoughtful compassionate reasonable people who love their country and all of its people instead of the party of the envious and slothful who want to tear down those who are more successful).
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:31PM
Let's all remember the Old Adage.
Obama Voters, who don't Stand For Anything?
Will Fall For Everything.
Contest on Friday.
John - The Mighty Fahvaag| 11.12.12 @ 7:58AM
Ok, Who let the "Let's all be Democrats so we can get goodies too!" Dood into the room?
No! Wrong! Poor analysis, and even poorer conclusion. Romney lost because Romney was a Liberal Democrat masquerading as a Republican. He didn't turn out his base.
1. Angle lost because she was undermined by the GOP Establishment who knew she was less likely to play the Club Senate game. There is also the little issue with the fact that Harry Reid would have "won" that seat anyway.
2. O'Donnell was sabotaged milliseconds after winning the primary. Castle was not even close to functionally being a Republican. He was guaranteed to be a reliable "bi-partisan" excuse for his masters in the Democrat Party. He also was probably going to LOSE. Delaware is solidly deep Blue, which means the state is dominated by the fundamentally stupid.
3. One must take into account from where this opinion is issued. San Diego, Mexifornia. The GOP was just flushed from the State Legislature. They don't have enough seats to generate a stink if every one of them broke wind at the same time. Any GOP political opinions emanating from the land of fruits and nuts are more than likely the bleating of a Dhimmi.
This opinion is 180 degrees wrong. Flush twice - Gorelet's don't work on one... and forget this one.
John - The Mighty Fahvaag
Albert Constantine Jr.| 11.12.12 @ 10:21AM
While the depth or strength of my feelings (or choice of metaphor) might not be quite the same, I had some of the same thoughts as I read the article, including the one about the California origins of the advice.
Though I've expressed my thoughts on the Castle-O'Donnell primary of 2010 a number of times in the past, I will reiterate this one. It is particularly telling that when Castle thought he was going to win the race, he spoke of the need for party unity once the primary was over. Once he lost, suddenly party unity was no longer important, and he refused to endorse O'Donnell.
It is my understanding that Lugar never endorsed Mourdock, as well.
While I understand the advantage achieved when we expand our numbers, how significant this advantage is can be weakened if we shore up our lines with unreliable partners.
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:40PM
Plus, Lugar didn't even LIVE in the Freakin State.
Kwan| 11.12.12 @ 8:07AM
Those that voted against Obama exhibited a higher level of understanding. Understanding that Obama is an internal enemy and a threat to America's freedoms, prosperity, and national security, voters with this higher level of understanding voted against the traitor Obama. Of course kind hearted and concerned leftists always want to help by encouraging Republicans to move to the left if they want to survive, but becoming a Communist-lite Party will only hasten the conversion of the country into becoming a third-world basket case. For now Obama will expand the war on the American people with higher unemployment, inflation, a great depression, massive debt, commodity shortages, rolling power blackouts, war in the Middle East, and a continuous weakening of the nations security in order to achieve the left's utopian quest for social justice and equality. But ultimately this clown-circus of ineptitude will be brought to it's well deserved end, as more and more voters begin to exhibit this higher level of understanding.
pogybait| 11.12.12 @ 9:13AM
Yes....but does anybody really believe that the aggressive designs of the current administration and their affiliated party can be checked merely by good faith?
Appleby| 11.12.12 @ 3:20PM
They can only be checked by allowing them to run their full course and NOT lifting a finger to bail them out.
Al Adab| 11.12.12 @ 8:25AM
What is wrong? Even the moderate GOP understands that there exist moral absolutes in this world which societies cannot ignore without peril. It is however, that same moderate wing which so often finds itself in a bidding war with the redistributionist Left to bring home the bacon or pass out the goodies. They are doomed to lose such a war because of fiscal realism.
All that said since the GOP and Conservatives find themselves in a neo-pagan, hedonist world of moral relativism, it is unlikely that voters will rediscover the value of moral living and liberty any time soon. Still, it is necessary that someone, somewhere stand for timeless values and for the priority of freedom over materialist security which as we know is no security at all. Stand fast therefore even if never again is electoral victory (at this level, many local areas and States still adhere) in the cards.
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:44PM
"The only way that this form of Government can succeed, is if the People are of Strong Religious Based Charater, and possess a Strong Sense of Hard Work and Personal Responsibility." John Adams.
I'm paraphrasing.
Al Adab| 11.12.12 @ 3:28PM
Sorry to be late getting back in. Was outside stacking firewood for the winter, off the grid you know.
Anyway, I had that very conversation with my county GOP Chairman just this morning. His answer is that he never wants to hear from those right wing, religious, social conservative types. "I ignore them" he says, "all I'm interested in is winning." Of course that didn't work out so good this time around since The Left managed to brand Romney as some kind of right winger. All this and he was to the left of McCain.
If the GOP stands for nothing but a social services bidding war then the future is bleak. Whether people want to admit it or not, there is a moral condition which government is obligated to respect...not to implement. Relativism and hedonism may be the choice of this society, but it should never be the choice of a moral, self-governing people.
CJW| 11.12.12 @ 3:57PM
Al Adab
The Reps have several key beliefs. Pro life on abortion, cut taxes, a strong defense, and limited government. It should not be difficult for conservatives, moderates, libertarians, and even conservative Dems to support a Republican candidate. Yet we seem more angry at groups within the party than we are at Dems.
Dems are better at politics. They all unite and focused on beating Romney. The 70% muslims who voted for O did not care that 70% of the Jews voted for Obama. The labor unions like the Teamsters who lost jobs with the pipeline, and the United Mineworkers who lost jobs due to the war on coal voted for Obama.
Our problem is not the candidates, such as McCain and Romney, but ourselves who do not vote and give the victory to Obama. We are not children that need a candidate to inspire and get us out to vote. Of course, stupid candidates like Akin and Mudrok do not help.
Teflon93 | 11.12.12 @ 8:29AM
Except you don't mention Linda McMahon, Scott Brown, and all the other RINOs---Romney first and foremost---who you Establishment weak sisters claimed would be the key to victory but who got whipped by dimestore liberals.
You people are slimy little Ruling Class bootlickers. Time for you to go.
DTOM| 11.12.12 @ 8:29AM
In Wisconsin 700,000 votes cast in last week's election were blank except for a vote for Obama and the left's liberal highwater mark, Tammy Baldwin. That was 20% of the votes cast!
Gee, why would 20% of the voters who bothered to show up on election day only vote for the two candidates who have the least impact on local politics? Maybe because they have no interest in local politics because they are not FROM here!
It is time to "Lock the Vote!"
Vote fraud is as rampant here as it is in Chavez's Venezuela, Castro's Cuba, and Putin's Russia. Are not those the avowed heroes of our big President?
Early voting is clearly a huge problem. All it does is provide far more time for a small army of thieves to exploit a basically Swiss Cheese vote security system.
So is same day registration. One polling place accepted a college student's note from his GIRLFRIEND that he lived here. His vote went right into the machine!
So is the obstruction of voter ID. EVEN THE UN OBSERVERS WERE AMAZED AT THE NO ID REQUIRED ISSUE!!!
There is no rational reason for these, especially the voter ID obstruction other than to facilitate vote fraud.
Why do Republicans look so stupid time and again?
Because we don't CHEAT.
And until we "Lock the Vote" you can kiss this country "Good-bye."
And the next world war will not be won by freedom lovers - it'll be won by the rapacious left.
DTOM| 11.12.12 @ 8:29AM
Germany, Japan, and Italy were lucky. We will not be so lucky.
Joe McCarthy was right, 'There were 200 members of the Communist Party in the US State Department in 1952. Today, the Communists are fighting the Muslim Brotherhood for the control of the US State Department....
Lock the Vote - It's our only hope!!!
Good luck with all that - C-ya!
Sjccoach| 11.12.12 @ 8:37AM
Typical CINO loser logic. If you want to win become the Democrat party lite. The Republican party is the house divided against itself that can not stand. The losses will continue until the party goes the way of the Whigs. A new party is needed. Then the CINOS can become the Democrats they are.
Mary| 11.12.12 @ 9:06AM
Only 1/3 of the nation voted. Seventy percent of American's claim to be conservative. Until the Republican establishment embraces conservative principles voters are going to stay home. Conservatism wins everytime. Republicans forget to dance with the one that brought them.
Boar Hunter| 11.12.12 @ 12:45PM
Exactly!
ElGordo| 11.12.12 @ 2:27PM
It's been almost 3 months since the Benghazi and the Administration is in its cover up mode. It's time for the House Republicans to play hard ball. The House Republicans should refuse to negotiate any tax changes until the administration releases all the information on Benghazi & Fast/Furious
Boar Hunter| 11.12.12 @ 3:23PM
Sorry to keep kicking you today, but as far as I can tell the Republicans don't have any balls, hard or otherwise.
CrackerHound| 11.12.12 @ 4:15PM
LOL @ ElGordo....
You give republicans WAY too much credit.
How long have we been urging the GOP to play hard ball and how many times have they actually done it?
They will continue to ignore the high crimes of Democrats, and they will continue to put up liberals in disguise every four years. It's a permanent condition and the only question is; what do we do now?
Here's the game that REALLY gets me:
Conservatives put up a dynamite, shooting star as the next standard bearer...said standard bearer wants to be liked by the media and becomes a liberal.
Warrior| 11.12.12 @ 3:55PM
In order for Conservatism to win, you must first nominate a Conservative.
No More Rinos!| 11.12.12 @ 9:56AM
Mr. Crocker claims, "Yes, the Republican Party has to stop "eating its own" with purges of perfectly electable (if not perfectly conservative) candidates. Yes, the Republican Party has to work harder at selling itself to women, Hispanics, and other minority groups. But Republicans don't need to (and should not) alter their core beliefs."
Just WHAT are Republican (your) "core beliefs," Mr. Crocker? We have a Platform that clearly spells out one set of "core beliefs," and then we have a Scott Brown, Dick Lugar, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arlen Specter, Jorge W. Bush, and, yes, Mitt Romney, along with others, ALL of whom have routinely SOLD OUT those "core beliefs!"
Once again, just WHAT are Republican (your) "core beliefs," Mr. Crocker?
PolishKnight| 11.12.12 @ 10:07AM
Bravo No more Rinos! Indeed, Brandon seems determined to learn the wrong lessons from history. McCain pandered to La Raza (the Race) and Hispanics demanding racist entitlements. Romney said he had "binders" full of women to give special hiring preferences to. Bottom line: Why should racist and sexist entitlement groups bother voting for half handouts from Romney, or McCain, when they can get the whole enchalada from the Democrats?
Only by DEFENDING civil rights for whites and men can a future candidate get turnout from the battleground states from his electorate AND cut off a major vote getter for the left. Probably 80% of the Obama electorate didn't CARE SIGNIFICANTLY about the position things Romney brought to the table: cheaper gas, lower unemployment, and reduced deficit spending (the latter of which to them is abstract). They like getting first class race and gender treatment. Period.
Learn the lesson. In the meantime, perhaps if the left finally does raise the tax rates on the wealthy maybe they'll give a hoot about the interests of the primary Republican electorate. I hate to say I agree with the left on that one, but they seem to have a point there. Remember how bank CEO's paid back the tarp money when they got wind of limits on their multi million dollar bonuses?
Al Adab| 11.12.12 @ 11:43AM
Exactly so my friend. The GOP will not and cannot win a bidding war for handouts against the real redistributionist thing. There needs to develop an alternative to statism and central control, to the command economy and dependency.
While over 60%of citizens want obamacare repealed, they nonetheless voted once again for its author. Philosophical consistency is not to be found. The automatic tax increases, including the 2% bank transaction "fee",the dividend and capital gains increases, come in January unless positive action is taken to stop it. Wait for the Supreme Court appointments.
Don't forget, this is the economy they want, the new norm of high unemployment, high taxes, central planning and social spending.
PolishKnight| 11.12.12 @ 11:59AM
I don't think it's about what they "want" so much as they don't really care. It's funny that for all the yammering of the left that the republican party is "racist" by default for having white males in it, their electorate is a bunch of racist and sexist entitlement seekers. They like the idea of being in the "big fish in the smaller pond". One guy told me that he got off on the perk that if he was stopped by a white officer for speeding (even though he knew he was guilty), he would try to play the race card. They love it. Plus in addition to enjoying racist and sexist entitlements, they can accuse those who oppose their racist and sexist entitlements of being racist and sexist. It's like Genghis Khan claiming that this his victims are a bunch of murderous thugs.
And the Republican elites let them get away with it!!!
I love to tease the left that their elites really aren't doing anything about crony capitalism for now. The leftist elite's relatives are getting kickbacks. But perhaps if they start hitting the right wing elite cronies in the pocketbook, they might start to become more proactive about winning elections...
Butch| 11.12.12 @ 4:43PM
Well, you beat me to it, NMR. What Republican "core beliefs?" Get elected with whomever it takes, organize the committees, compromise with communists, then turn around and compromise again and again over the same issue, until they have 90 percent of what they originally asked for? Then get re-elected again and again, do the same thing, participate in insider trading and corporate consulting, get filthy rich, then retire and become a lobbyist. Those values?
Eisenhower, Nixon, both Bushes--they all undermined our constitutional republic and materially helped get us where we are today. I'm not interested in taking advice from a California Republican. Look what following your own advice has gotten you, Sir.
Stkman| 11.12.12 @ 10:15AM
It is time for the Tea Party to become what is should have become from the begining, a political party unto itself. Demint, Cruz, Rubio and the likes will all leave the Republican party to join a party that actually cares about the country and its culture.
SUBVET| 11.12.12 @ 10:58AM
but Charles K said 3rd. party is a no no...........
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:49PM
It is.
We need to install these people into the Republican Party.
A Third Party is nothing more than a Fool's Errand, brought about by Desperation.
One only need look at what happened because of Ross Perot.
A Third Party is a NONSEQUITOR.
Period.
Jacob McCandles| 11.12.12 @ 2:35PM
yep. I'm not angry with the Republicans, except maybe Murdoch and Akin, those idiots. I've had it with the Sheep.
Bill8472| 11.12.12 @ 10:16AM
We now know that the self-destructive view that it is better to be ideologically pure and lose to Democrats is not a strategy that will serve our ideas about what is good for the nation, so this election cycle has served ONE good purpose.
Now we must resolve the more difficult problem, which is to determine whether not the right wing needs to be more moderate, or take upon itself the chore of attempting (with a high risk of failure) a cultural shift in our direction.
It strikes me that the right wing in Congress ought to go along with President Obama's plan for the next set of tax policies and laws. That's categorizable as a moderate tack, but I think that tax changes without spending cuts (outside of the tax laws) will clarify the rightist view from the leftist one, and help pave the way for a right-wing shift in 2014 and 2016.
billwitten| 11.12.12 @ 11:18AM
Um, no. Not sure if you have a mouse in your pocket or not but this "We" knows exactly the opposite. I guess you're going to ignore the leftist Republican at the top of the ticket, right? Did he win? No, he didn't. The Presidential race always has coattails. Romney's coattails were cut off by not being able to fire up the conservative base. That is why Republicans did poorly down the line.
Let me ask you, Bill8472, what exactly is left for us to vote for if we go against what we believe? Folks like you forget that political parties are not football teams. We are not talking about the difference between running a shotgun offense or a Power I. You are one of those morons who thinks that candidates winning is a good thing as long as they are running on the Republican ticket, whereas we know that the only way to fix this nation is to return to Constitutionally and fiscally sound government.
Liberal Republicans have brought us Chief "Justice" Roberts, DHS, TSA, EPA, restrictive ROEs for our fighting men, a $16 trillion debt, gun control, the list just goes on and on.
Go take your testosterone gel and leave the thinking to those of us that have their own supply and really are in "the right-wing".
Bill8472| 11.12.12 @ 12:17PM
Okay, I'll get out and leave the right wing to you "real" types.
Not that I'll vote collectivist; I just won't vote at all and leave the idological purity to the ideologically pure, since you don't need my vote anyway.
billwitten| 11.12.12 @ 12:20PM
Excellent. I hear the Democrats are looking for a few good libs. You'll be comfortable over there.
Bill8472| 11.12.12 @ 1:43PM
No, I'll just quit. Why not? All you ideologically pure types are talking like "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and spouting gassily about standing and fighting and all that stuff.
Maybe after all you guys have chased yourselves around the tree and turned to butter, the rest of us can pick up the pieces and go on.
TLP| 11.12.12 @ 1:53PM
Evidently, you forget the two Promises by Democrat Congresses, to Cut $2 for every New Dollar in taxes, both under Ronald Reagan, and George Bush the Elder.
They're LEFTISTS, and by Definition, that makes them LIARS.
billwitten| 11.12.12 @ 4:48PM
So what exactly bothers you about we "ideologically pure types"? That we are intelligent-enough to be confident in our understanding of the philosophical, logical and moral facets of our beliefs? Our unwillingness to compromise on elements that are necessary for the design of the Founders to be put in practice?
What is your issue? Do you believe in anything? Or is everything negotiable for you? Let me guess: A true believe in the gray, huh? Nothing is black and white, it's all just shades of gray, right?
Or are you too terrified of your own shadow to stand up for something? That would explain your childish attempt to ridicule folks who are mad enough to fight for what they believe. You would have been one of the flaccid Loyalists ridiculing the Founding Fathers for their willingness to stand up to the King.
I pity you. May your chains set lightly upon you and weigh crushingly heavy on your heart.
Petronius| 11.12.12 @ 10:38AM
The Republicans have never been a Political party. It's just a damned clique that concerns itself with getting into the #1 clique on the continent, the beltway horsey set controlled by Our enemies. That's where the Real power emanates from and nobody can vote Them out! Those who don't bother to vote know this all too well. From now on the only people who will live well will be those who are smart enough and unscrupulous enough to be elected by Them to its membership. They also know that we are the last generation they must maintain control over as all who follow us are clueless dependent sheeple.
Tom Kyba| 11.12.12 @ 11:19AM
Right on the money!
vtwin| 11.12.12 @ 11:32AM
Why should the GOP change? Republicans need to make more persuasive arguments. Women need to be convinced. The probing of vaginas after rape, carrying to term the rapist child, and employers making decisions about female employees’ access to contraceptives is about religious freedom. The elderly need to understand giving up his or her Social Security and Medicare benefits they’ve paid into all of their working lives to pay for tax cuts for the rich is about smaller government. Working class Americans need to understand sending well paying manufacturing jobs to China that increase profits for stock holders is about economic freedom. And people of color and other minorities need to understand waiting in long lines and the proving ones citizenship while traveling in public are about combating voter fraud and finding illegal aliens.
billwitten| 11.12.12 @ 11:44AM
Go somewhere else, troll.
Boar Hunter| 11.12.12 @ 12:47PM
"Spit" Oooh! that looked messy, but you deserve it.
Boar Hunter| 11.12.12 @ 12:48PM
Glad you ducked billwitten.
billwitten| 11.12.12 @ 1:30PM
Quack.
RCV| 11.12.12 @ 10:57PM
You're trying to talk sense to the demented, Vtwin. It's like trying to teach a pig to sing . . .
JFGalt| 11.12.12 @ 12:43PM
Another "doesn't get it republican". The people of this country are somewhere else than where the republican party is. The Tea Party captured the sentiment but the republican party worked against it. They failed to see that the tide was shifting. They keep offering the same old political hacks or worse yet the offspring of political hacks. We don't need yet another Bush family member. Go out and get a real job and stop trying to start a dynasty by using your family's name. The system is screwed up and the republican leadership needs to be put out to pasture. Romney was a poor candidate. He was the result of what the media didn't destroy - why? Because they knew that he wouldn't beat OBAMA!
Boar Hunter| 11.12.12 @ 1:11PM
Polls show that 89% of foster kids want to go live with Romney because "he don't beat anyone."
RCV| 11.12.12 @ 11:00PM
You had the opportunity to nominate a conservative in the primaries, but you guys were too intent on fighting each other to organize. Don't blame others for your own political ineptness.
Martin kzovich| 11.12.12 @ 1:12PM
I agree with much of what you say. And i deplore those Republicans who appear in my view to want to
compete with the
Communists as to who will appease or pander to various groups the most. i do not know if Romney's team was inept and also lying to themselves about optimism--they had me fooled.
What is needed is new leadership and better organization for reaching and getting out voters.
If another moderate is nominated examples would Chris Chistie or Jeb Bush I will not even bother. They are unacceptable and will lose gaurenteed. Playing nice is losing proposition and it is phoney. I have hjad of enough of that.
jdondet| 11.12.12 @ 1:13PM
No sir, Mr. Crocker you are just plain wrong. Take this one example, starting very soon we who work will receive a tax increase. Why, did Obama push through a tax increase in congress? No, the Bush tax rates will expire. Why? Because moderate Republicans lead by John McCain put a time limit on them. Thank you, oh voices of moderation.
Soon, these voices of moderation will fall over themselves to push for amnesty for illegal aliens and what ever other schemes the Democrats can come up with.
To run down the Tea Party is to forget history, after the 2008 election. The GOP establishment had resigned itself to minority party status for years to come. The Tea Party breathed life back into the GOP or do you wish to forget 2010? Why is it I am asked always to moderate my views but the other side is not?
ElGordo| 11.12.12 @ 2:28PM
Speaker Boehner should not agree to any tax conferences until Obama releases all the information on the tragedy in Libya and Fast and Furious
Anthony| 11.12.12 @ 2:05PM
With all due respect, Mr. Crocker and the rest of the R elite establishment have their heads up their asses.
The cry now for total capitulation to amnesty and all the other leftist causes is nothing more than a call for conservativism to commit suicide.
The call for more "inclusiveness" is just plain assinine, typical of losers looking for an answer. Meanwhile the Ds are laughing their asses off over folks like Steve Schmidt, Kruathammer, Krystol and Mr. Crocker. The Ds don't even have to hand these morons a sword, they bring their own to their own demise.
We are the party of inclusion, our message is the message that resignates with THINKING SELF SUFFICIENT people. And there is the problem. We are not the problem folks, it's the other half of America that has jettisoned our Constitution and belief in American exceptionlism that has killed America.
Romney was by far a more intelligent, moral, thoughtful, and world experienced candidate than Obozo. Fast & Furious, Behngazi, 14% unemployment, The people DIDN'T CARE.
Obozo played to the baser instincts of Americans and won a majority of them over.
The only concession I will make is that until and unless we conservatives dismantle and take control of the other 3 pillars of corruption, the media, academia and entertainment, no R will ever win national office again.
We need to storm these institutions and remove the leftist cancer that has invaded these institutions.
Short of that, only the collapse of America will save it.
Anthony| 11.12.12 @ 2:21PM
CONT. Let me also address Crocker's bullshit critique of the Tea Party and their candidates, whom he claims cost us the senate. Romney was our 3rd moderate establishment candidate and what did that get us????
Akin's stupid comment should have made no difference given what Obozo and the Ds have done to America. It was the media that killed Akin, like they did with George Allen's incipid macacca comment in 08. Obozo made far worse comments than Akins and they were hushed up or ignored, same with D candidates for senate/congress. And especially same with Biteme on a daily basis. Who is really worse and more dangerous to America folks, Akin or Biteme??????
When Ds make far worse comments than Akins did, they get ignored or "explained away". Rs never have that luxuory.
If you want to win elections, the answer is easy, it's not our policies or our candidates, it's the 4 pillars of corruption that control America.
Take over the media and academia and we'll have Rs in office for decades. That's the answer.
So stop with all the other self hatred bullshit. It's the other side that's destroying America, not us.
Derek Leaberry| 11.12.12 @ 2:22PM
Republicans have been told by thinkers like Pat Buchanan for twenty years that they would become permanent losers if current immigration patterns continued. The leaders and financial wing of the party refused to listen and now it is too late. Only economic catastrophe can save the Republicans now.
ElGordo| 11.12.12 @ 2:23PM
It's been almost 3 months since the Benghazi and the Administration is in its cover up mode. It's time for the House Republicans to play hard ball. The House Republicans should refuse to negotiate any tax changes until the administration releases all the information on Benghazi & Fast/Furious
Joe D.| 11.12.12 @ 3:47PM
You are off your rocker. Castle would not have won. He was a liberal not moderate. And the dems already had their liberal. O'Donnell was a good candidate until you rinos esblishment republicans got through trashing her with lies. So go back into your hole. We, Tea Partiers are going to fight you until we get our country back you the liberal/socialist and you rinos.
Joe D.| 11.12.12 @ 3:48PM
And don't forget you rinos put another loser in romney in front of us and lost. Give up yet?
Jim Sweeney| 11.12.12 @ 6:46PM
You left out the important part: Romney lost because many white conservatives stayed home. They did not like him for wahtever reason and left the decision to the uneducated, lawless, illegitimate child makersmoochers and moochers at the public trough who make up much of the Obama electorate. Those stay-at-homes are the people to excoriate. They deserve what they will get. Those who voted do not.
montanalablover| 11.12.12 @ 8:01PM
The Republican Party needs some twicking no doubt but what is fundamentally wrong is not with the party it's that there are too many freeloaders in this country sucking at the government pig trough so Republicans are officially outnumbered with the takers/leeches/bottom feeders. I dont' know that there will ever be another Republican president again. As it was so well put recently, I think by Rush Limbaugh everyone loves SANTA CLAUS/aka Barack Hussein Obama and the Democratic Socialist Party. Welcome my friends to the USSA.
Rhoetus| 11.12.12 @ 10:12PM
Invite the Britts to burn Washington again.
jdondet| 11.12.12 @ 8:39PM
The Speaker is a perfect example of moderation. He could not wait to bow down before Obama, " Obamacare is the law of the land," that is his standing up for principle. You do realize the GOP in congress have not tried to stand up to the left since Newt had his showdown with Clinton. Democrat lite is not a winning game plan.
Oldefarte| 11.12.12 @ 9:37PM
I hate to play Grinch here but I told you all. I suffered through this pre-11/4/08, and I crawled out of the ditch thereafter and pleased/begged with all of you that IT'S THE DEMOCRATS, STUPIDS! Four years of having this excrement shoved down my throat and pleading, and it still did not good. Okay, this is what you wanted. He ain't so bad, he's just incompent, right? BS! The excrement will begin hitting the fan on 1/1/13, so get mentally and financially prepared. Armageddon is upon us. He diembarked from his trojun horse in 2008 and has slowly initiated his destruction. Now he has not future election to hold him back for his total destructive wishes. You out there who are labor union members of either private or public concerns, who marched in lock-step to your union bosses wishes on 11/6/12 and who comndemned this country to hell in a handbasket, know that the end is near. This ain't no typical election and everything won't WORK OUT. Ther will be no future elections to worry about.It's caput, finis, the end!!!!!
Rhoetus| 11.12.12 @ 10:15PM
Rules for Conservatives @
http://www.saveamericanow.us.com
Havoc| 11.12.12 @ 11:14PM
Yes. (There is something wrong with the Republican ...)