VDH nails it pretty good here.

What went wrong? or - how everything went right for the Democrats?

Run a conservative with a clear message and I'll vote for him, otherwise p**s off.

re: #3 Gmac

Run a conservative with a clear message and I'll vote for him, otherwise p**s off.

Xactly!

Less finger pointing, more elbow grease.

The young'uns, far right and PC hurt the conservative message. VDH nailed it.

Old army rule. When everything's broken, go back to the basics.

re: #7 LGoPs

Reagan re-education camps. Who's in with me?

I like this quote.

Remedy? Run as a true conservative, energize the base, and out-debate and outthink your liberal opponents.

It's easier to outthink someone when you're on offense like the Democrats were. Quite frankly, Republicans had a hard time defending why another Republican should be in the White House.

re: #8 ArmyWife

Reagan re-education camps. Who's in with me?

I am...

:)

Run as a true conservative, energize the base, and out-debate and outthink your liberal opponents.
This is my favorite line from his article. And how hard can it be to outthink a liberal?

What went wrong?

A lot.

What do I win?

:-)

We ran a moderate and got slaughtered. And all these pundits on TV say we lost because we were to far right. Wrong. Get back to our conservative ideals and we will get voters back. That means getting rid of all these RINO's and porkers that are killing us. I've thought that it might be better to abandon the GOP and start a Conservative Party. Make a list of our ideals and run candidates who will stick to them.

I blame Bush.

He has never done a very good job of pointing out ALL of the good things he has accomplished. He let the left trample him in public opinion. He became their bitch.

That alone doomed whoever was going to run against The One™

IMHO

In this way of thinking, someone like Jindal, Palin, and other fresh new faces will save the party in 2012, especially as hope and change soon proves neither hopeful nor different.

That's a downer.

re: #10 LGoPs

Great! Let's pitch a tent and print up some fliers.

As disheartened as I am with the election results and especially with the appalling ignorance of many of Obama's supporters I find it hard to believe that we can't appeal to people's innate common sense. And the conservative message is firmly rooted in common sense. It will be a struggle to divorce it from the left's bugaboos and from what much of the public is brainwashed against but we can do it. This country is worth fighting for...

I'm in the truth-in-all-three camp.

And frankly, I can't tell wtf VDH is trying to say here, beyond that.

And I used to call him da man, he was better IMHO before he started hanging around with those Hoover Institute toffs.

re: #11 cathypop

Run as a true conservative, energize the base, and out-debate and outthink your liberal opponents.
This is my favorite line from his article. And how hard can it be to outthink a liberal?

Well, that's not the entire prescription he gives. He also says:

The key is not to abandon conservative positions, but to explain them in novel ways to the majority who might find them more in tune with human nature — and consequently more humanitarian than their usual caricatures of being too selfish, tough, or insensitive.

I take that to mean: BE truly conservative, and "SELL" your conservatism in the sense of making it clear and comprehensible that conservatism is indeed the most effective way to achieve the main goals shared by most Americans. Rather than modify conservative principles to create "compassionate conservatism," stick to conservative principles (I like the ones VDH outlines) and demonstrate to the electorate that those principles are themselves inherently compassionate.

McCain's campaign was exactly what the Dems would have picked to run against if they were able to pick our candidate. It was just a mess from the get-go.
We knew that the media would give Obama a tongue bath every time he deigned to speak, and that they'd ridicule/minimize everything our candidate did/said. And we nominated a guy who, despite his real life toughness, was absolutely cowed by the media. I was a Romney supporter and while I don't know that he would've won, he would definitely not have allowed himself to get steamrolled by the press like McCain did.
Oh well, we'll just have to try harder to get it right in 2012.

re: #11 cathypop

We do it often right here. Can't be too hard!

Victor Davis Hanson’s take

/finally, a conservative with his head screwed on straight

Conservative economic and foreign policy views and liberal social views is what does it for me. I'll vote for that dude early and often.

The Republican Party desperately need to rethink immigration. I'm not talking about Mexican border security or other issues south of the border, but rather I'll speak now from personal experience. I know a lot of people who work in the high-tech industry, and they DESPERATELY want the genius Indian and Chinese physicists, chemists, and inventors, but they can't get them into the country. We need to open up our economy to skilled labor if we want to stay at the top.

Also, we could start growing talent in our own country instead of brainwashing them with ultra-liberal views. Let's have a cheer for cognitive dissonance in liberal schools!

re: #17 LGoPs

As disheartened as I am with the election results and especially with the appalling ignorance of many of Obama's supporters I find it hard to believe that we can't appeal to people's innate common sense. And the conservative message is firmly rooted in common sense. It will be a struggle to divorce it from the left's bugaboos and from what much of the public is brainwashed against but we can do it. This country is worth fighting for...

That's precisely the message of VDH's column.

re: #20 Lincolntf

McCain's campaign was exactly what the Dems would have picked to run against if they were able to pick our candidate. It was just a mess from the get-go.
We knew that the media would give Obama a tongue bath every time he deigned to speak, and that they'd ridicule/minimize everything our candidate did/said. And we nominated a guy who, despite his real life toughness, was absolutely cowed by the media. I was a Romney supporter and while I don't know that he would've won, he would definitely not have allowed himself to get steamrolled by the press like McCain did.
Oh well, we'll just have to try harder to get it right in 2012.

IF they were able to pick our candidate? They DID pick our candidate.

re: #19 stuiec
I fully agree that we need to stick to our conservative principles. Touchy feely conservative does not work

What went wrong?
It was a race decided on feelings, not issues.
The media FIX was in.
Regardless of all his positive achievements, Bush was an albatross around the neck of any Republican candidate.
The oppositions campaign was DIRTY.
DEMOCRATS LIED!
REPUBLICAN HOPES FOR '08 DIED!

/? in 2012

re: #23 ClosetConservative

That isn't what VDH said...

re: #13 VMA211Dan

We ran a moderate and got slaughtered. And all these pundits on TV say we lost because we were to far right. Wrong. Get back to our conservative ideals and we will get voters back. That means getting rid of all these RINO's and porkers that are killing us. I've thought that it might be better to abandon the GOP and start a Conservative Party. Make a list of our ideals and run candidates who will stick to them.

I'd back a Conservative Party if it had the strategic sense to make common cause with the GOP when the two had similar interests. I'd advocate backing GOP candidates who met the Conservative standard and running competing candidates wherever the GOP ran a non-conservative. And I'd apply that principle at all levels, from national elections down to local elections.

re: #20 Lincolntf

McCain's campaign was exactly what the Dems would have picked to run against if they were able to pick our candidate. It was just a mess from the get-go.

I am still not convinced democrats did not rig the primaries to have Mac come out on top - he seemed to surge ahead when all polls pointed to Rudy or Mitt. It was weird. It was like what Rush was doing with Hillary - dems appeared to be voting for Mac and it worked.

I work in high tech, and I would rather have an American kid than import labor any day of the week.

Many of the American kids at the job are of Indian and Chinese descent, BTW.

Step one is to quit outsourcing tech jobs overseas, such that American kids don't "see" a market for these skills.

re: #30 Racer X

Yeah, I won't dismiss that notion entirely, but if Republicans had truly united behind a different candidate (Romney, in my view) then the impact of the Dem interlopers would've been negligible.

Sunset on the San Gabriel Mountains of California. Mile long shadows. The Towercam, Pacific time zone.

"... paradise is all around us and we do not understand."

— Thomas Merton, the avatar guy.

For all the campaign talk of a trumped-up, constructed war on terror, Obama’s advisors — at least when they speak privately — know that keeping America safe since 9/11 was a Bush achievement rather than a natural occurrence.

Thank you President Bush. The balls in the lefts court, they are either going to keep us safe and piss off a whole lot of LLL or:

we then see a single repeat of September 11 — the credibility of the Democratic Party will be lost for a decade.

re: #33 Ojoe

Sunset on the San Gabriel Mountains of California. Mile long shadows. The Towercam, Pacific time zone.

"... paradise is all around us and we do not understand."

— Thomas Merton, the avatar guy.

So true. Just watched a beautiful sunset here in central Texas.

A big problem is that of the Electorate. They are not informed (as has been repeatedly pointed out on these and other threads), the Media, when not dead, is openly engaged in advocacy journalism, and lastly, there has been no evidence of anything even remotely resembling proper Conservative conduct by the GOP in the last 7 years.

It was the perfect storm.

This was a campaign without issues, a post-modern campaign, a Jerry Seinfeld campaign, a campaign about nothing, a puffy-shirt campaign. VDH, did you notice? What kind of intellectual analysis can you do, of a vacuum?

re: #24 stuiec

That's precisely the message of VDH's column.

I've always had an uncanny grasp of the obvious...

:)

re: #36 rawmuse

A big problem is that of the Electorate. They are not informed (as has been repeatedly pointed out on these and other threads), the Media, when not dead, is openly engaged in advocacy journalism, and lastly, there has been no evidence of anything even remotely resembling proper Conservative conduct by the GOP in the last 7 years.

It was the perfect storm.

No they are not informed. Ask most people and they are oblivious to the O's history. Tell them about it and they are amazed. This irritates the hell out of me!

When you cannot show a nickel's difference between Republican and Democrat economic behavior (NOT policy), then why bother? When the similarity hits $700 trillion...well...

re: #29 stuiec

I'd back a Conservative Party if it had the strategic sense to make common cause with the GOP when the two had similar interests. I'd advocate backing GOP candidates who met the Conservative standard and running competing candidates wherever the GOP ran a non-conservative. And I'd apply that principle at all levels, from national elections down to local elections.

Well, I think you would have to start it at the local/state level and go from there. And get it going in every state before trying national elections but I think it is doable.

re: #23 ClosetConservative

The Republican Party desperately need to rethink immigration. I'm not talking about Mexican border security or other issues south of the border, but rather I'll speak now from personal experience. I know a lot of people who work in the high-tech industry, and they DESPERATELY want the genius Indian and Chinese physicists, chemists, and inventors, but they can't get them into the country. We need to open up our economy to skilled labor if we want to stay at the top.

You find a genius, you can bring them in on a special visa, there's no problem.

You want cheap foreign labor by calling them "geniuses" when all they are is cheap, I'm against it. Strongly.

re: #29 stuiec

I'd back a Conservative Party if it had the strategic sense to make common cause with the GOP when the two had similar interests. I'd advocate backing GOP candidates who met the Conservative standard and running competing candidates wherever the GOP ran a non-conservative. And I'd apply that principle at all levels, from national elections down to local elections.

Unfortunately, this sort of vote-splitting would ensure a Democrat victory in nearly every election.

The Republicans need to clean house and offer strong candidates. The rest will fix itself.

I like how the media turned on McCain.

I hope Obama took notes.

I'm out the last thread for good. Not going back.

re: #14 Racer X

I blame Bush.

It pains me to say it, but I agree with you completely.
GW ran the worst PR campaign in memory, starting with a misplaced focus on WMD as the case for invading Iraq and ending with his failure to define the causes of the current economic meltdown.
In the end all he could do was hide under a rock so as not to be a liability to his own party.

re: #23 ClosetConservative

Conservative economic and foreign policy views and liberal social views is what does it for me. I'll vote for that dude early and often.

The Republican Party desperately need to rethink immigration. I'm not talking about Mexican border security or other issues south of the border, but rather I'll speak now from personal experience. I know a lot of people who work in the high-tech industry, and they DESPERATELY want the genius Indian and Chinese physicists, chemists, and inventors, but they can't get them into the country. We need to open up our economy to skilled labor if we want to stay at the top.

Also, we could start growing talent in our own country instead of brainwashing them with ultra-liberal views. Let's have a cheer for cognitive dissonance in liberal schools!

1) I'd say that VDH has a good take on what social conservatism should mean: respect for the sanctity and dignity of individual human beings. If "liberal social views" means treating some persons as disposable, I'll oppose them.

2) I work in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley. My company has software engineering and manufacturing operations on several continents and sells its products in over 50 countries. I don't see any shortage of highly-skilled labor here, and there are plenty of engineers and scientists from South Asia and East Asia here. But if you want more American-born kids to grow up to be engineers and scientists, I suggest you look at the teachers' unions and how American classrooms are run these days, and see how much human potential gets wasted or destroyed in our schools.

re: #37 itellu3times

The people I know who were ecstatic about Obama's election, for them it was a supreme feel good moment with little or no thought behind it.

For a political party that preaches the perils of appeasement, the Republicans have been quick to bend over for the left as of late. If they would just be unabashedly conservative, they might just win next time.

What happened is that many, many Americans now pick a president like they are watching "American Idol" and because of that, our country is in big trouble.

re: #44 OldLineTexan

I like how the media turned on McCain.

I hope Obama took notes.

That would be a dream come true. Keeping my fingers crossed.

re: #41 VMA211Dan

Well, I think you would have to start it at the local/state level and go from there. And get it going in every state before trying national elections but I think it is doable.

New York State has had a Conservative Party for many years, if I recall correctly.

re: #49 USCMSNE

For a political party that preaches the perils of appeasement, the Republicans have been quick to bend over for the left as of late. If they would just be unabashedly conservative, they might just win next time.

Yup, it might actually give people a choice that isn't Party vs. Diet Party.

re: #50 calvin coolidge

What happened is that many, many Americans now pick a president like they are watching "American Idol" and because of that, our country is in big trouble.

You don't talk much, but you do it with effect. +1.

re: #50 calvin coolidge

What happened is that many, many Americans now pick a president like they are watching "American Idol" and because of that, our country is in big trouble.

So true and so scary

re: #40 OldLineTexan

When the similarity hits $700 trillion...well...

/that would be a really bad thing

re: #36 rawmuse

Not informed is an understatement.
Borderline cretinous is more like it.
They wanted hope and change.
Instead, they get Clinton Redux, and now they hope it will change!

It would help if the Family Values crowd wouldn't keep getting caught with their values down. It would help if the party nominated someone who can speak intelligently in public. It would help if the party would get out and do some Ross Perot-style edumacatin' once in awhile.

re: #43 looking closely

Unfortunately, this sort of vote-splitting would ensure a Democrat victory in nearly every election.

The Republicans need to clean house and offer strong candidates. The rest will fix itself.

I don't advocate vote-splitting in every race. I suggest backing one candidate when the GOP offers a suitable nominee, and presenting a competing candidate only when the GOP offers up a "RINO" or "faux Democrat." In that latter case, the Democrat is very likely to beat the GOP candidate in the first place -- and in the second place, if that kind of Republican wins, it doesn't help.

re: #46 CalBear84

GW ran the worst PR campaign in memory, starting with a misplaced focus on WMD as the case for invading Iraq and ending with his failure to define the causes of the current economic meltdown.

In the end all he could do was hide under a rock so as not to be a liability to his own party.

Bush had a green light to wipe all of the Taliban off the face of the earth. No one would have said shit. He wasted that opportunity by changing the focus onto Iraq. I'm not saying Saddam did not deserve what he got, we just jumped into Iraq too soon. We should have given Saddam a bit more rope to hang himself, while at the same time eliminating ALL those fucking Taliban.

re: #45 bosforus

Yeah, it was making me grumpy too.

re: #51 cathypop

That would be a dream come true. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Look, Matthews wasn't the only media mouth "tingling". Most of them treated Obama with the mishandled amorous gusto of a junior-high crush. If and when the bloom falls off that fragile flower, they will flick him with fickle ferocity.

re: #49 USCMSNE

For a political party that preaches the perils of appeasement, the Republicans have been quick to bend over for the left as of late. If they would just be unabashedly conservative, they might just win next time.

One of the problems is the local/state GOP chairmen. They have great influence on who gets to run, especially here in Florida. Croniism is rampant. RINO's galore. Liberals who call themselves Republican because there are more registered than Dems.

re: #56 Killian Bundy

/that would be a really bad thing

Question: Has the number stopped going up yet?

/

What went wrong?

1996 redux...Bob Dole/John McCain.

re: #62 OldLineTexan

Look, Matthews wasn't the only media mouth "tingling". Most of them treated Obama with the mishandled amorous gusto of a junior-high crush. If and when the bloom falls off that fragile flower, they will flick him with fickle ferocity.

Very well put.

re: #60 Racer X

Bush had a green light to wipe all of the Taliban off the face of the earth.

/um, did you ask Pakistan about that?

Act like conservatives and NOT like the Bud Light version of liberalism, and quit spending like drunken libs!

re: #62 OldLineTexan

If and when the bloom falls off that fragile flower, they will flick him with fickle ferocity.

Yep. Flick him really frickin far.

re: #60 Racer X

Bush had a green light to wipe all of the Taliban off the face of the earth. No one would have said shit. He wasted that opportunity by changing the focus onto Iraq. I'm not saying Saddam did not deserve what he got, we just jumped into Iraq too soon. We should have given Saddam a bit more rope to hang himself, while at the same time eliminating ALL those fucking Taliban.

The fact that a large proportion of those Taliban are and always have been in Pakistan puts a crimp in your argument. I am certain the Pakistanis would have said something if Coalition forces swept into the North-West Territories and tribal areas.

That doesn't take into account the Al Qaeda operations in other countries from the Philippines to Paraguay.

re: #67 Killian Bundy

/um, did you ask Pakistan about that?

Pakistan was in no position to say shit to us after 9/11.

re: #58 SFGoth

It would help if the Family Values crowd wouldn't keep getting caught with their values down. It would help if the party nominated someone who can speak intelligently in public. It would help if the party would get out and do some Ross Perot-style edumacatin' once in awhile.

Exactly. How come every election year there is some repub caught with his pants down, Foley,Craig, or crooked dealings like Stevens. We don't need any of these whackjobs living a double life.

re: #64 OldLineTexan

Question: Has the number stopped going up yet?

No it hasn't, we're still in drunken sailor mode. I was just pointing out that you slipped a decimal point.

/$700 trillion would be almost 50 years worth of U.S. GDP

re: #60 Racer X

Bush had a green light to wipe all of the Taliban off the face of the earth. No one would have said shit. He wasted that opportunity by changing the focus onto Iraq. I'm not saying Saddam did not deserve what he got, we just jumped into Iraq too soon. We should have given Saddam a bit more rope to hang himself, while at the same time eliminating ALL those fucking Taliban.

He went after Iraq because he believed the bullshit that Muslims are good people like us Jews & Christians, esp. b/c they worship the same god and revere Jesus and Moses; therefore, you just need to free them from the dictator and it's kumbaya city. Would the fools who sold him on that asininity please identify themselves? Didn't think so.

re: #71 Racer X

Pakistan was in no position to say shit to us after 9/11.

/so, we should have invaded Pakistan?

What went wrong...
Random thoughts:
1) A lot of people don't vote on principle, but superficial factors, from white guilt to ethnic pride to biography. (Character matters in as much as it relates to #3 below.)
2) A lot of people don't value American principles (mostly responsibility) rather European ones (mostly equality of station rather than equality under the law.)
3) So many republicans don't stay true to the American principles they have traditionally espoused.
3a) Other republicans value loyalty over getting principles right (See Ted Stevens)
4) Perhaps most important--several years, in a 24-7 media environment, of a tough war have badly damaged the Republican image.
5) Duh, the economic problem.

We need to clarify what American values/principles are, explain to Americans why they are superior to being taken care of, state what the practical policy implications that Republicans will persue once in office will be, and throw out Republicans who do not hold them. Preferably in primaries!

(I do not mean to imply that liberals or democrats hate this country; I do state that often they do not share it's values.)

re: #72 VMA211Dan

Yeah, it would be great if the Republican Party had zero deviants in it, but I don't think that's why we lost. The Democrats have countless cretins and ne'er do wells in their Party and "the middle" never holds it against them.

re: #68 Ozark Mountain Daredevil

quit spending like drunken libs!

Let's leave Teddy outta this!

re: #75 Killian Bundy

/so, we should have invaded Pakistan?

The best time to do it would have been when Musharef was losing power before his election and one of their popular candidates got chilled.

The long range fight will be recapturing our education system. It's actually pretty amazing that there's still close to half of us that refuse to be brainwashed after so many years of indoctrination. If we don't take back the education system, this fight will be the long defeat...

re: #77 Lincolntf

Yeah, it would be great if the Republican Party had zero deviants in it, but I don't think that's why we lost. The Democrats have countless cretins and ne'er do wells in their Party and "the middle" never holds it against them.

They don't preach wholesome, patriarchal-style, family values. There are a lot of non-traditional families in this country these days, and some of them might even vote conservatively if they weren't routinely bashed by hypocrites.

Why Barack Obama won:

1. He's black. (We're not supposed to say it, but I'm saying it. He's black. Everyone, including myself, thinks the idea of our first black president is pretty cool, and the amount that helped him win CANNOT be understated.)

2. He's not Republican. When the stock market tanked, since that got (rightly or wrongly) blamed on the Republicans and Bush, I don't think ANY Republican had a chance of winning.

3. He's perceived as "cooler." Let's face it, if Obama was a stuttering, pasty white guy who said the EXACT SAME THINGS--he would've gone down in a landslide.

That's it in a nutshell.

Could the McCain camp have run a better campaign? You betcha.

Would it have changed the outcome of the election? Not a chance.

Those three big reasons Obama won are nothing we could've overcome. Obama would've had to burn a flag on the white house lawn to lose this election, and I'm not even sure that would've done it.

re: #81 SFGoth
I don't think McCain bashed anybody, nor do I think he is a hypocrite. I just think he was a poor campaigner in a year when we needed a great campaigner to even stand a chance.

re: #74 SFGoth

He went after Iraq because he believed the bullshit that Muslims are good people like us Jews & Christians, esp. b/c they worship the same god and revere Jesus and Moses; therefore, you just need to free them from the dictator and it's kumbaya city. Would the fools who sold him on that asininity please identify themselves? Didn't think so.

He went after Iraq because he saw what Al Qaeda was able to do with Afghanistan as its state sponsor -- Afghanistan, poor and backward. With Iraq as its state sponsor, led by Saddam Hussein and funded by the UN Oil for Food fiasco, what kinds of massive attacks could Al Qaeda have mounted against the USA and the rest of the civilized world?

The belief that the Iraqis would act like the Italians did in 1944 when the Allies drove out the Nazis and Fascists from the leg and foot of Italy was the root of the post-invasion chaos, but not the determining factor of whether the invasion was justified.

re: #48 Ojoe

The people I know who were ecstatic about Obama's election, for them it was a supreme feel good moment with little or no thought behind it.

Yah, but that's a large part of the "liberal" movement, feeling, not thought. Why wasn't there a more thoughtful element? Well, McCain ain't that type.

And in today's PC world, nobody wants to stir up the kind of bad "feelings" a reasonable person would have about Obama.

I put it almost all on McCain, a good man, but past his time, and just never really cut out for the presidency.

Of course, one must then ask, how did McCain become the nominee? I wish VDH would spend a little more thought on that, and come up with something constructive, cuz it stumps me. All I get is decline & fall kind of answers.

re: #70 stuiec

Ironically, taking down the Baathists in Iraq has proven easier than dealing with the Saudi / Paki jihadist factories that are making Afghanistan such a pain in the ass.

re: #82 white rabbit

Could the McCain camp have run a better campaign? You betcha.

Would it have changed the outcome of the election? Not a chance.

Anyway, we'll never know.

re: #48 Ojoe

The people I know who were ecstatic about Obama's election, for them it was a supreme feel good moment with little or no thought behind it.

Yeah, it feels good for a moment. But the hangover will last for four years.

re: #75 Killian Bundy

/so, we should have invaded Pakistan?

I never said that. I'm saying we had a green light to wipe out all the Taliban in Afghanistan.

re: #86 CalBear84

Ironically, taking down the Baathists in Iraq has proven easier than dealing with the Saudi / Paki jihadist factories that are making Afghanistan such a pain in the ass.

Which maybe validates it as a strategy!?!?

re: #88 stuiec

Yeah, it feels good for a moment. But the hangover will last for four years.

And they will blame the hangover on Bush

I think we should focus on basics of conservative principle - somewhere between the mealy-mouthed RINOs and the far right one issue folks.

re: #92 rightymouse

I think we should focus on basics of conservative principle - somewhere between the mealy-mouthed RINOs and the far right one issue folks.

I will have nothing to do with a party that does not include tax breaks for puppies!

re: #73 Killian Bundy

No it hasn't, we're still in drunken sailor mode. I was just pointing out that you slipped a decimal point.

/$700 trillion would be almost 50 years worth of U.S. GDP

Yeah, I noticed after I did it. My bad.

re: #86 CalBear84

Ironically, taking down the Baathists in Iraq has proven easier than dealing with the Saudi / Paki jihadist factories that are making Afghanistan such a pain in the ass.

Not just Afghanistan, either, but dozens of countries. Somalia is proving to be a real pain in the ass -- and a source of blowback to the Saudis, what with their shipping being attacked and their having to reroute it around Africa. (Not good for Egypt, either, to lose all those transit fees from the Suez Canal.)

re: #90 itellu3times

I was for taking out Saddam when I saw the CNN video of him "celebrating" 9-11.
Right then and there would have been fine with me.
Coalition / Schmoalition

re: #83 Lincolntf

I don't think McCain bashed anybody, nor do I think he is a hypocrite. I just think he was a poor campaigner in a year when we needed a great campaigner to even stand a chance.

I'm not referring to McCain. I think he's a pretty likable guy really, and notice that he did not have one of his infamous temper tantrums during the campaign. In fact, when I closed my eyes, I could imagine him snapping the ball back to the QB during his glory days at Michigan.

re: #95 stuiec

Good point.
Blowback's a bitch ain't it!

re: #79 VMA211Dan

The best time to do it would have been when Musharef was losing power before his election and one of their popular candidates got chilled.

There's never a good time to invade Pakistan.

/six times the population of Iraq, much better armed, and much worse terrain

re: #93 bosforus

I will have nothing to do with a party that does not include tax breaks for puppies!

All hilarity aside, I will vote on gun rights.

re: #99 Killian Bundy

Don't forget the nukes.

re: #97 SFGoth

McCain gave it all he had. It's not McCain's fault that he's not young, handsome, and sounds like he's promising to pay your mortgage.

re: #93 bosforus

I will have nothing to do with a party that does not include tax breaks for puppies!

What about kitties? Don't they count too? lol!

re: #14 Racer X

I blame Bush.

He has never done a very good job of pointing out ALL of the good things he has accomplished. He let the left trample him in public opinion. He became their bitch.

That alone doomed whoever was going to run against The One™

IMHO

President Bush did the best job he could pointing out his accomplishments. In this country though, the government doesn't control the media (until now where the MSM is so close to the Dems and Obama that it has zipper burns). Bush's legacy will be our response to 9/11, our victory in Iraq, and our continued destruction of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. It will hopefully be duly noted.

Leave it to the liberals and Obama to use the "blame Bush" canard when, come November, 2012, they put to use to explain to a poor and hungry populous why the United States now ranks lower than Zimbabwe when it comes to economic growth (even after cutting the military by 70% and spending a staggering $10 trillion dollars on semi-annual stimulus packages as part of the New Deal II initiative).

re: #89 Racer X

I never said that. I'm saying we had a green light to wipe out all the Taliban in Afghanistan.

We pretty much did that, remember the retreat from Kandahar and Tora Bora?

/they just moved across the border and are now infiltrating back

Is the print huge? Like mine is 20 pt - I kinda like it.

WE are going to have to unite our squabbling differences of left, center, and right, and stick to just...Conservative, conservative, conservative. Is the party ready to do this? Are WE ready to do this?

A realist. No pandering to the liberals. No fear of our conservative values. Willing to enforce the present immigration laws. Who do we have now that is articulate and assertive, that will protect our constitution, value family principles, resist governmental management of the people, and markets and continue to support the free market economy and our military strengths.
We have to unify as Conservatives!

VDH suggests that the next Republican Pres candidate should be able to:
explain why conservatism appeals to the innate values of most ordinary Americans...

So who best to fill that role?
I still love Sarah Palin, but could she really pull it off?

re: #99 Killian Bundy

There's never a good time to invade Pakistan.

/six times the population of Iraq, much better armed, and much worse terrain

Yeah I know. Don't forget the nukes. Paki's got plenty. But maybe if we pushed them a little at the right time. The central government has no control over these tribal areas.

re: #107 notutopia

I agree 100%, but back-biting and blame-placing have become a large part of the intramural discussions within the GOP. Maybe in a month or two people (both voters AND candidates) will snap out of it.

re: #108 CalBear84

I'm not sure. But she certainly is on TV a lot now isn't she?

My favorite quote comes from Jonah Goldberg.
"Maybe if the GOP hadn't spent money like crack addicts with a week to live, things would have been different"

re: #103 rightymouse

What about kitties? Don't they count too? lol!

Yeah, kitties are cool too. But puppies are my single issue.

re: #104 RightLogic

We're worse than Zimbabwe?
I hear the weather's nice there this time of year!

Is it beer time yet?

re: #111 FightingBack

Fine by me :)

re: #107 notutopia

WE are going to have to unite our squabbling differences of left, center, and right, and stick to just...Conservative, conservative, conservative. Is the party ready to do this? Are WE ready to do this?

Well, that would be nice and I'm all for it. I've been calling for a big tent party for a long time.

Unfortunately there are many here who are intent on purging certain elements from the party.
I think it's the wrong way to go myself. I believe that we need more voices not less.

re: #104 RightLogic

President Bush did the best job he could pointing out his accomplishments.

I disagree. Bush has done a horrible job at PR and promoting his accomplishments. Not a peep about what he has done for Africa.

Bush was right to proclaim "mission accomplished" - all government sponsored Iraqi resistance was decimated. The only thing left was the tribal insurgents. He should have focused on that - and pointed out it was foreign interference (Iran, Syria) that was driving the violence.

Bush made some mistakes - but they were magnified horribly by the left and the media and he stood by and let it happen. He had no response to that.

re: #1 coquimbojoe

VDH nails it pretty good here.

Hehe -- yeah, funny ... I just linked to this three times in the previous thread.

On social issues, there has to be some conservative touchstone, like reverence for uniqueness and beauty of individual life. What unites skepticism about euthanasia, abortion on demand, or embryonic stem-cell research is fear of a sort of soulless Brave New World notion that individuals don’t matter, that ease of lifestyle trumps every other difficult moral consideration, and that such thinking is the beginning — not the end — of something frightening.

I understand that VDH is trying to tap dance through a mine field here and I think he catches the essence of a huge issue. There is more to fear from a culture of death than just abortion. Euthanasia and ill conceived genetic meddling are within immediate range. We should be wise enough to avoid this dead end.

Accepting the wisdom of supporting a culture of life and then negotiating the political verbiage is a way to reconcile the factions. The (R) have no hope of electoral success if they alienate the pro life voting bloc.

re: #117 DesertSage

Well, that would be nice and I'm all for it. I've been calling for a big tent party for a long time.

Unfortunately there are many here who are intent on purging certain elements from the party.
I think it's the wrong way to go myself. I believe that we need more voices not less.

I think we need one voice. One set of ideals and then communicate them. We don't want to become a conglomeration of special interests. The Dem's have that perfected. But it is also what can bring them down.

I think religion is sinking the Rebublicans. I say we all worship the way we want, within legal limits, and get religion out of the schools and government. Forget abortion. Leave it to the individuals morals and karma. Just please don't kill live babies.
Ban marraige. Make it a religiuos or legal agreement between two people.
We need to work on our security, the economy, and the infrastructure.

re: #22 Killian Bundy

/finally, a conservative with his head screwed on straight

...better still --- he's a lifelong Democrat!

re: #113 bosforus

Yeah, kitties are cool too. But puppies are my single issue.

Yeah...but can your dog do this?

re: #109 VMA211Dan

The central government has no control over these tribal areas.

Well, one thing's for sure, you'll never control the Taliban without controlling the tribal areas in Pakistan. Unfortunately, I just don't see us having the stomach to do that.

/we're going to be in Afghanistan for a long time

The top ten reasons for why George W. Bush invaded Iraq:
1. Iraq had WMD;
2. Iraq denied having WMD;
3. Sadaam threatened his daddy;
4. Sonny-boy wanted to make good on Daddy's failure to finish the job;
5. Cheney told him to do it;
6. Saudi paid him to do it;
7. Israel asked him to do it;
8. France and Russia told him not to do it;
9. The Joos tricked him into doing it; and,
10. teh oil.

re: #124 rightymouse

Yeah...but can your dog do this?

Love that pic! But that's the thing, you can't turn your back on a cat.

re: #107 notutopia

Kudos and a Upding. The Dems are not as unified as people would like to believe. They have weak leadership in both the House and the Senate (Pelosi and Reid? - please). What the GOP needs to do is broaden its conservative base without diluting the conservative values that a majority of people hold dear. The country is still a right-center country. Unfortunately, there wasn't the will in the GOP national party leadership to pull together a strong conservative candidate after the 2006 elections. Hence we ended up with McCain. Now no candidate is going to fully appease all members of his party but McCain was selected not to appease the 40% that make up the Right but rather the 20% that make up the center.

I strongly suspect that McCain lost more of the Right vote than he gained by attempting to pander to all the centrist (including those leaning left).

re: #126 Spare O'Lake
Did we get any oil from Iraq? I think they are selling it to everybody but us. How much did Cheney/Bush get from these oil profits?

re: #114 CalBear84

Yeah, but the boar flies are a bitch.

I was prognosticating to the 2012 general elections in my original comment.

re: #122 yah

I think religion is sinking the Rebublicans. I say we all worship the way we want, within legal limits, and get religion out of the schools and government. Forget abortion. Leave it to the individuals morals and karma. Just please don't kill live babies.
Ban marraige. Make it a religiuos or legal agreement between two people.
We need to work on our security, the economy, and the infrastructure.

I don't think religion is sinking the Reps at all. Perhaps single issue religious stuff is way too loud, but that can be tempered.

After reflecting on things this past week, I'm of a mind that the RINOs have been our heavier albatross. We've been steadily getting rid of them in elections because they pi$$ us off. And it has meant allowing the Dems gain more seats.

Time to regroup.

re: #126 Spare O'Lake

The top ten reasons for why George W. Bush invaded Iraq:
1. Iraq had WMD;
2. Iraq denied having WMD;
3. Sadaam threatened his daddy;
4. Sonny-boy wanted to make good on Daddy's failure to finish the job;
5. Cheney told him to do it;
6. Saudi paid him to do it;
7. Israel asked him to do it;
8. France and Russia told him not to do it;
9. The Joos tricked him into doing it; and,
10. teh oil.

here ... this is a little more helpful --
Four ways to justify the overthrow of a foreign government ~ Hitchens

re: #129 VMA211Dan

How much did Cheney/Bush get from these oil profits?

BILLLIONNNZZZ./

re: #127 bosforus

Love that pic! But that's the thing, you can't turn your back on a cat.

Truer words have never been spoken. We have four cats. As independent as they seem to be, they are more of a pain than the lone dog in the family. Except my eldest cat, who is 16 this year. She is still my baby. Is that ok? :)

re: #132 Iron Fist

Beautifully stated...regret I have only one upding to give you...

V/r,
LGoPs

re: #133 Fearless Fred

here ... this is a little more helpful --
Four ways to justify the overthrow of a foreign government ~ Hitchens

hey - sorry --- you must click on the 4 reasons clip down below the images ...
" Four ways to justify the overthrow of a foreign government (05:49) "

Democrats, after all, just replaced their 91-year-old Sen. Robert Byrd as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee with equally entrenched 84-year-old Sen. Daniel Inouye; and are now talking about re-empowering the big unions that helped ruin Detroit, are hiring all the Clinton retreads for a second try in the Obama administration, and seem to want to use the ancient Freddie/Fannie/postal service model to expand the government.

And still -the repubs can't win against these asshats.

re: #134 Spare O'Lake

BILLLIONNNZZZ./

Your source, Please.

re: #139 VMA211Dan

Lemme guess...DailyKos? Or maybe CodePink?

re: #129 VMA211Dan

Did we get any oil from Iraq? I think they are selling it to everybody but us. How much did Cheney/Bush get from these oil profits?

You're kidding right? Here are the countries we buy from.

Maybe you forgot your sarc tag?

re: #133 Fearless Fred

here ... this is a little more helpful --
Four ways to justify the overthrow of a foreign government ~ Hitchens

I like Hitchens' 4 excuses for invading, but I'm not so sure they were what motivated Dubya.

My opinion:

Carter was a dark horse candidate. Clinton was a dark horse candidate. Zerobama was a dark horse candidate.

When Republicans put up a principled conservative with the support of the base, they win. When the choice is between a dull, unexciting Republican candidate, and an exciting unknown dark horse candidate, human nature is to pick the exciting choice over the lackluster candidate.

The Repubs didn't run any exciting candidates this year, (yeah, I'm dissin you Thompson and Paul fans) so they lost.

re: #132 Iron Fist

Well said. Thank you.

re: #112 rawmuse

My favorite quote comes from Jonah Goldberg.
"Maybe if the GOP hadn't spent money like crack addicts with a week to live, things would have been different"

It would be great to have a confab in Amsterdam with Jonah Goldberg and Rich Lowry. Not that I know whether...

re: #132 Iron Fist

Excellent ~ up dinged and favorited!

re: #135 rightymouse

Truer words have never been spoken. We have four cats. As independent as they seem to be, they are more of a pain than the lone dog in the family. Except my eldest cat, who is 16 this year. She is still my baby. Is that ok? :)

It certainly is. My wife nearly breaks out in tears whenever we see a stray cat in the neighborhood. I love pets, but dogs especially.

The reason why Wall Street zillionaires like a Ted Turner, Warren Buffet, or George Soros endorse Obama’s tax plan is that they make so much that increased taxes don’t matter, or they can hire costly consultants to find exemptions not available to most plumbers or electrical contractors. Even when they choose to endow favorite causes they prefer tax exemptions — either now with write-offs, or postmortem without estate taxes — and de facto have the taxpayer subsidize their particular take on proper policy. Unfortunately, the Republicans failed to even develop such an argument that the very poor and the very wealthy in cynical fashion support liberal policies, while those in between who struggle in entrepreneurial fashion to do even better are caricatured as unpatriotic and selfish.

President 0 won't get the breaks Bill Clinton got from his "good ole boy" charisma, and the novelty factor will wear off quickly.

He's going to have to work to prove himself to his party and the country, in his biggest "community organizing" challenge ever.

I expect that the eight years of poisoning the well that the Democrats and their MSM allies have been doing to President Bush will prove the 0bama Administration's undoing. That, and the inevitable overreaching and incompetence of Democrats in power.

re: #122 yah

I think religion is sinking the Rebublicans. I say we all worship the way we want, within legal limits, and get religion out of the schools and government. Forget abortion. Leave it to the individuals morals and karma. Just please don't kill live babies.
Ban marraige. Make it a religiuos or legal agreement between two people.
We need to work on our security, the economy, and the infrastructure.

Trying to follow the non-sequitur there in your comments.

1.

I think religion is sinking the Rebublicans.

- Might as well start a separate Agnostic politcal party then.

2.

I say we all worship the way we want, within legal limits, and get religion out of the schools and government.

- Well, if it's going to have legal limits then that will require government involvement. Kind of like the government sanctioned churches they have in China I presume?

3.

Forget abortion. Leave it to the individuals morals and karma. Just please don't kill live babies.

- Well abortion does involve the killing of babies (we don't start out as chicken embryos). As Reagan once pointed out, "I've noticed that everyone for abortion has already been born."

4.

Ban marraige. Make it a religiuos or legal agreement between two people.

- If it is banned then it wouldn't be legal. I know what you are saying but it is a religious agreement and a legally binding contractual arrangement between two individual parties (ideally between a man and a women). The fact that the government has turned into some sort of financial incentive (except during the Great Society when the opposite was the case) is what is causing the problem. If the financial incentive (tax exemptions) are removed, I think most of SF would calm down (then again maybe not).

re: #139 VMA211Dan

Your source, Please.

/ is a sarc tag, Dan.

re: #44 OldLineTexan

I like how the media turned on McCain.

I hope Obama took notes.

The media will not turn against Obama. He's their man. He made them part of history. Their egos will not let them. After all they are much more important than we peons who did not agree with them. Like Bill Ayers of the 70's - part of history!

re: #141 rightymouse

You're kidding right? Here are the countries we buy from.

Maybe you forgot your sarc tag?

No, I didn't forget the sarc tag. It was a legit question. I think I remember that Iraq was selling to other countries but we were left out. This was over the summer. Thank you for the data.

re: #136 LGoPs

I'll give him one for you.

re: #154 VMA211Dan

No, I didn't forget the sarc tag. It was a legit question. I think I remember that Iraq was selling to other countries but we were left out. This was over the summer. Thank you for the data.

The question on Bush/Cheney making money deserved a sarc tag.
Sorry.

One thing that normally separates Republicans from Democrats is that Republicans don't insist on "groupthink". Some of that distinction seems to have been lost in the post-election flurry of recriminations. I want people to vote Republican because they are Conservative at heart. It strikes me that many Repubs, be they RINO's, Evangelicals, Reagan ex-Dems or whatever, are now no longer content that people in the Party agree with them on an issue. They need those people to agree in exactly the right way or they are "the problem".
I'm really hoping that by this time next year, the Republicans will have come to some kind of terms amongst themselves.

re: #58 SFGoth

It would help if the Family Values crowd wouldn't keep getting caught with their values down. It would help if the party nominated someone who can speak intelligently in public. It would help if the party would get out and do some Ross Perot-style edumacatin' once in awhile.

Fred Thompson stuck to conservative values, explained them in a way anyone could understand and demonstrated an ability to out-debate the opposition.
If that's the formula, why wasn't he our candidate?

Doesn't it simply come down to not upholding Republican core beliefs? Maybe we should let the party go under like GM and force a restructuring.

re: #158 Hobbes

Fred Thompson stuck to conservative values, explained them in a way anyone could understand and demonstrated an ability to out-debate the opposition.
If that's the formula, why wasn't he our candidate?

The media was slamming Fred in the primaries for looking tired and not much fire in his speeches. He couldn't separate himself from the other candidates on message alone. He is better in a one-on-one interview.

Conservatism is a message which resonates with a majority of mature clear thinking Americans. Lukewarm conservatism as espoused by McCain was an effort to appeal to the immature and muddled thinking Americans. As such, the message was lost and so went the messenger. I initially said this race was between a socialist and a democrat. Later on this morphed into a race between a Marxist and a socialist, but that is water under the bridge.

We don't need a new message, the message needs to be clear. In regard to energy, most Americans see energy independence as a national security issue. We shouldn't care about losing the green vote, it is lost anyway because they don't even consider national security as an issue, much less energy independence.

The message needs to be one of increasing our base electricity generation capacity, traditionally filled by coal and nuclear power. Since most of the liquid fuels used in this country go into transportation, the clear message is to expand our base generation capacity to provide an energy source such as hydrogen (either through internal combustion engines or fuel cells) to power our transportation sector. Unless we have excess electricity generation capacity (to generate the hydrogen in the first place), we can not even hope to shift away from liquid fuels.

Anthropogenic global warming is an abstract idea, our monthly electric utility bill is a very concrete entity. You can talk to me about "clean coal" or other "alternative" energy sources after we have secured our national security.

MI

re: #158 Hobbes

Fred Thompson stuck to conservative values, explained them in a way anyone could understand and demonstrated an ability to out-debate the opposition.
If that's the formula, why wasn't he our candidate?

At first he didn't run, and then he didn't really run.

/sorry

re: #137 Fearless Fred

Chris Hitchins is about 20x smarter than that whiney creep he's debating.

Back to basics. Its a simple solution to a complex problem.

re: #118 Racer X

I disagree. Bush has done a horrible job at PR and promoting his accomplishments. Not a peep about what he has done for Africa.

Bush was right to proclaim "mission accomplished" - all government sponsored Iraqi resistance was decimated. The only thing left was the tribal insurgents. He should have focused on that - and pointed out it was foreign interference (Iran, Syria) that was driving the violence.

Bush made some mistakes - but they were magnified horribly by the left and the media and he stood by and let it happen. He had no response to that.

Bush lacked the boldness to fight back when the left/media shat on him. He/we needed him to give as good as he got, and he didn't.

re: #160 VMA211Dan

The media was slamming Fred in the primaries for looking tired and not much fire in his speeches. He couldn't separate himself from the other candidates on message alone. He is better in a one-on-one interview.

That's all well and good, but are you arguing that McCain was better in speeches or that he looked less tired?

re: #166 Hobbes

That's all well and good, but are you arguing that McCain was better in speeches or that he looked less tired?

McCain wasn't even in my top three. I had Mitt, Rudy and Fred ahead of him. Voted for Mitt in Florida primary. McCain's terrible immigration bill put me off him.

re: #162 OldLineTexan

At first he didn't run, and then he didn't really run.

/sorry

So, what you're saying is that content is less important than the presentation. Charisma carries the day, huh? Guess all our blather about sticking to values and selling them is useless unless, like Obama, we are willing to run for twice as long as anyone ought to and make spirited presentations with no substance whatever. You can't have it both ways, can you? Either we sell our ideas or we hide 'em behind compelling charm. I prefer the former.

re: #167 VMA211Dan

McCain wasn't even in my top three. I had Mitt, Rudy and Fred ahead of him. Voted for Mitt in Florida primary. McCain's terrible immigration bill put me off him.

Hell, none of us voted for McCain, we voted against Obama. Next time though, we might want someone to vote for.

re: #138 FrogMarch

Think WE can if, we ...
We must stop the blame, shame, go round. He said, she said, they said, ...it's time to move on.
I promise you that the democrats are not wasting time on strategy and tactics for the next election. All the seats that are being vacated in the senate to place constituent loving dept. heads are all a part of the tactical maneuvers. If WE don't get our shat in order and that means we MUST come to a collective agreement as a CONSERVATIVE party, WE will be to blame.
We need a VISION Statement that defines the NEW Conservative PARTY.

We need to get control of our primaries. No more open primaries! If you live in an open primary state (I don't thank goodness) then you need to get involved with your state Republican party NOW to make sure that in 2012 only Republicans get to decide who the Republican nominee is.

It's the ECONOMY stupid...

Instead of trying to find new ways to fix the economy, the message should have been: Let us correct the government introduced distortions which created the problem in the first place. The primacy of "toxic" loans created by strong arming the banking industry by attempted social engineering via the CRA, and the poisoning of the financial sector by repackaging these loans as AAA mortgage backed securities by FM/FM should have been made crystal clear. Blame didn't need to be placed on anyone. The simple facts would have led the population to assign blame appropriately.

A candidate who was espousing fixing the problem rather than fixing the blame (or bailing out everybody and everyone) could have won in a landslide with such a message. The majority of the population was firmly against the bailout bill, hence the name change to rescue bill. Instead, we were left with candidates who argued about how much money should be thrown at the problem.

MI

The problem with liberal notions of high taxes and big government (besides the obvious problem that they don’t work) should be that they are elitist. Those born into particular social and economic castes are frozen: the government supplies just enough subsidized housing, food, and fuel for those in untaxed lower-income brackets to remind those citizens that it is not all that bad staying there. Meanwhile, those struggling to become prosperous and leave capital behind for their children are suddenly taxed to death just as they begin to succeed — as if, once the hyper-wealthy have gotten theirs, the rules change and no one else can follow.

I thought VDH nailed it here. We do not have an effective message on economics. Of course- it doesn't help that we tossed fiscal restraint under the bus, but that's another point.

It's not always easy for people to understand what a screw job welfare is unless they've been there, and even many people on welfare don't understand how it is they're being screwed. And the bureaucrats do everything in their power to keep these people under their boot. It's not a helping hand- it's a choke hold. Having an effective message on this point could turn a lot of voters.

re: #168 Hobbes

So, what you're saying is that content is less important than the presentation. Charisma carries the day, huh? Guess all our blather about sticking to values and selling them is useless unless, like Obama, we are willing to run for twice as long as anyone ought to and make spirited presentations with no substance whatever. You can't have it both ways, can you? Either we sell our ideas or we hide 'em behind compelling charm. I prefer the former.

You can get all pissed off, or you can look at what happened.

Then you might actually READ what I posted, and see how much of what you wrote was exactly that...what YOU wrote.

re: #22 Killian Bundy

There are a whole lot more just like him. WE have to find a pair of them that WE will all Collectively SUPPORT and GET them elected for 2012.
Think collective conservatism!

re: #157 Lincolntf

WE don't have a year to waste. The 1st goal is to get ALL conservatives to first agree that we MUST unite.
: )

re: #118 Racer X

I don't think Presidents need a PR person. Not in this day in age of the 24 hour news cycle. I (as well as most Americans) have a multitude of news services and sources from which to draw our information (even if it is with a slightly biased filter) and create our own conclusions. If you (generically speaking) are still drawing your information from a single source in the MSM or even the "Big Three" then that's your lost. Bush could have discovered a cure for cancer and made sure that not a single puppy would ever get hit by a car again. Know how the MSM would have reported it? "Bush Responsible for Overpopulation of Humans and Dogs!"

The MSM hate Bush not for any real or imaginary failures but for the fact that he comes across as an everyday kind of guy (set aside family history for a moment). To them he is a simpleton, a rube, an idiot as are the majority of Americans who elected him twice to be President. It must be painful for the MSM to know that Clinton is the only Democrat President since Truman to win reelection for a second term (Johnson did not seek his party's 1968 nomination).

So yeah, President Bush may have a PR issue with the MSM but it's really the MSM that has the PR issue with most of America.

re: #173 Sharmuta

I agree, but I also don't care about trying to "turn" these voters. They know who butters their bread. It was like McCain pandering to the "foreclosure" crowd, saying he would buy up these "toxic" mortgages and "refinance" at the current market value. This socialist idea of McCain really forced me hold my nose this election. The majority of people don't want to hear about helping 1% of homeowners with a bailout for being stupid and/or greedy. They want to know how we are going to fix the problem that encouraged this stupidity and greed in the first place.

MI

re: #174 OldLineTexan

You can get all pissed off, or you can look at what happened.

Then you might actually READ what I posted, and see how much of what you wrote was exactly that...what YOU wrote.

I'm not all pissed off. As to what happened, we fell down at the primary contest level and wound up with the wrong candidate. Should I assume from "...many Americans now pick a president like they are watching "American Idol" and because of that, our country is in big trouble." that you believe we have no choice but to accept the need for a charismatic candidate - his beliefs notwithstanding - if we hope to win? You did say that, didn't you, or did I misunderstand?

re: #175 notutopia

...
Think collective conservatism!

The use of the term collective simply has too much baggage to work for me. Words do have meaning...

MI

re: #180 taxfreekiller

Political Bio Please.
: )

Victor Davis Hanson is one of the best. I’m glad he is on our side.

Let's see,

Did Reagan compromise on any of his principles to win 49 out 50 states in 1984?

The hard part is not going against the liberals, but going against the "Country Club" Republicans of our own party.

One thing I can say about the Democrats is they stay united no matter how wacky they become but the Republicans always stands a chance of not getting total support within their own party.

Goldwater lost the support from the"Rockefeller" Republicans in 1964 and lost big time.

Reagan Not only got support from his own Republican party but took many "blue dog" democrats with him, and Reagan did not give up any of his principles for political expediency to achieve this.

"The key is not to abandon conservative positions, but to explain them in novel ways to the majority who might find them more in tune with human nature..." ~amen, alleluiah

"On social issues, there has to be some conservative touchstone..." ~doesn't have to be religious!

Charles, what's your take on this? If we disagree on the "social-conservative" thing, do we agree with what VDH suggests here? (Full disclosure: I own half-a-dozen of his books, I agree with him on damn near everything...)

re: #181 Militant-Infidel

Here lies the real problem, we are fragmented and we lost this election because of our fragmenting to liberal agendas. WE, not one or two of us, ALL of us must unite again and define the values of CONSERVATISM in the Republican Party.
Collectively united...
: )

re: #117 DesertSage

Well, that would be nice and I'm all for it. I've been calling for a big tent party for a long time.

Unfortunately there are many here who are intent on purging certain elements from the party.
I think it's the wrong way to go myself. I believe that we need more voices not less.

You do realize there are elements in the party that would like to push you out, me out, and a whole bunch of other Lizards out because to them WE'RE the rinos.

By trying to pander to the 1%ers, we risk losing the 99%ers. The message needs to be the same as it always is: Individualism, personal betterment, limited government, low taxes and national security. Contrast with: Collectivism, group attainment, big government, high taxes and weak defense. Even an old codger with a speech impediment could win with this message. The MSM will try try their best to obfuscate the message but will fail.

Mr. Universe: "You can't stop the signal."

MI

I think it was the economy. McCain would have won in a landslide had the blow-up not happened. It happened under Bush's watch. Republican's were always thought to be stronger running a free market economy and it blew-up. It started with the bullshit gas prices -- record profits of the gas company -- middle income families w/ their SUVs getting squeezed...

It was the economy. And now we are really screwed because now we get to move towards socialism --

re: #192 SoCal Republican

The missing ingredient is the "free market economy". We haven't had such a thing since at least The Great Depression and FDR. Maybe it will once again become popular in a "retro" kind of way.

MI

re: #194 Iron Fist

Fred didn't really run for President. He thought about it, decided that he had a duty to run, and he made the effort, but his heart wasn't in it. I can kinda understand. Look at all the absolute shit that the President, any President has to put up with. Day to day I'm sure that it gets tedious as hell, and there is the lovely fact that everywhere you go men with machineguns are at the ready to meet out violent death if things go wrong and the President is attacked.

That one has to get old. Anywhere you are, on two seconds notice, can turn into an open fire-fight. This is especially true with the war going on. How many virgins are they going to offer Abo Dabo bin Blowinshitup for a hit on the President. Hell, they might let the kid get laid before he blows himself up so that he'll know what he's getting in return for his mission.

I don't know if I can agree that his heart wasn't in it. I rather think he got demoralized because the money wasn't there. A guy like him with some money like that of Soros behind him might have stuck with it, despite his having admitted when he left the Senate that he felt that job was one of more frustration than anything else. His delivery is just that of the old bull who knows what he believes, why he believes it, and doesn't have to preach. Oh well, that's water over the dam, isn't it and, for the most part, your points are well taken.

re: #192 SoCal Republican

I think it was the economy. McCain would have won in a landslide had the blow-up not happened. ...snip...--

Woulda, coulda, shoulda... the "blow-up" was inevitable. The message was, "lets get back to Washington and bail this problem out", instead of "lets fix the hole which is sinking the boat". Sorry for the mixed metaphor.

MI

re: #4 coquimbojoe

Xactly!

More to the point, run a candidate that really wanted to win!

re: #45 bosforus

re: #190 Militant-Infidel

By trying to pander to the 1%ers, we risk losing the 99%ers. The message needs to be the same as it always is: Individualism, personal betterment, limited government, low taxes and national security...

Absolutely. If once elected we'd actually believe and practice these points we would never need essays like this again.

Obama wins Pennsylvania by 650,000 votes (approx) and wins Philly by approx 700,000 votes.

I don't know why nobody is saying this, but the real reason the GOP is losing is because they refuse to campaign in urban areas, effectively conceding these areas to the dems. The dems have 40 years of failure to show for their policies in these cities (think Philly, D.C., pre-Guliani NYC, Baltimore, New Orleans, Atlanta, Detroit, Cincy, Cleveland, Chicago, Denver, St. Louis, etc. etc etc.)l yet; the GOP hasn't done a damn thing to win votes in these area.

These are winnable votes if the GOP could articulate how conservative policies would improve these urban areas; instead, we've had decades of ignoring these areas. If the GOP wins the urban vote, they crush the dems every single time.

re: #132 Iron Fist

Logged in just to upding you...Nice work.

re: #200 taylork

These are winnable votes if the GOP could articulate how conservative policies would improve these urban areas; instead, we've had decades of ignoring these areas. If the GOP wins the urban vote, they crush the dems every single time.

That would be pretty hard work; think in terms of getting Daley and all of his pals to switch parties, bring all those votes with him, of course, and then declare that more freedom is the answer. It would be worth it, though. That would be a historic event.

The reason why Wall Street zillionaires like a Ted Turner, Warren Buffet, or George Soros endorse Obama’s tax plan is that they make so much that increased taxes don’t matter, or they can hire costly consultants to find exemptions not available to most plumbers or electrical contractors. Even when they choose to endow favorite causes they prefer tax exemptions — either now with write-offs, or postmortem without estate taxes — and de facto have the taxpayer subsidize their particular take on proper policy...
-VDH

It looks like we have the makings of a permanent aristocracy here, with a political class whose business is to suck up to them, and damn everyone else. Sounds pretty sixteenth century to me. These are the people who benefit from leftist policies, and their bux keep the democrat party afloat come election time. Only a tremendously motivated, unshakable solidarity amongst us can check this. How do we do it?

Social liberalism and fiscal conservatism does not compute. They are antithema to each other.
Social liberals wanna spend money on social programs.
IOW's bigger government controlling our lives and taking more of our money.

Fiscal Conservatives wanna lower taxes, reduce government spending and government programs (which are very costly and very inefficient, if it works at all), and balance the budget.

Perhaps a Social lib/Fiscal con can tell me how they can unite these two opposing views.

re: #80 LGoPs

The long range fight will be recapturing our education system. It's actually pretty amazing that there's still close to half of us that refuse to be brainwashed after so many years of indoctrination. If we don't take back the education system, this fight will be the long defeat...

It's amazing how few Americans understand the basic principles of capitalism. The schools have hardly made a dent in combatting this sad ignorance.

Conservatives need to push for greater understanding of basic economics. Unfortunately, the teachers of today don't understand it, so they can't teach it. The teachers are employed by the state, so they think the state generates the wealth of the nation. They don't see the connection between their paychecks (taxes) and the source of taxable income (businesses).

Of course, they'll soon find out when they're laid off or paid in chits, like the states did during the Great Depression. It will be too late for them, when they finally understand the sources of the teachers' paychecks.

Conclusion: let's teach more basic economics in the early grades.

Feeling a ("push:[") tonight,

Whatever, your lounge, your ...rules random as they may seem. Or
maybe liquid and flowing towards...?

VDH for President! Or at least California Senator.

Not much analysis is needed to learn why the Chosen One is today President-Elect:

1) The busted Housing Bubble (which subsequently caused investment losses, bank failures, pushed automakers to the brink, etc, etc).

2) The "mainstream" media paving the way for their Chosen One.

Conservatives thought we were voting for a President and wartime Commander in Chief. How were we to know the press had retooled it instead to a vote for American Idol?! This must have happened because a serious vote for President would have required some small amount of experience for both, not just one, of the opponents.

re: #153 Hobbes
Hobbes, Have you read this?

Arianna Huffington looks set to cement her position as the Queen of Capitol Hill in the next few days.

The Times has learnt that the Huffington Post, her influential political website, will confirm within the next week that it has completed a $15 million (£10 million) fundraising from investors.

The money will finance the expansion of HuffPo, as it is known, into the provision of local news across the United States and into more investigative journalism. And it will ensure that Ms Huffington's influence continues to spread across the US political scene.

She is a close friend of Barack Obama, the President-elect - who, with Hillary Clinton, has posted on her site - and, at a dinner in London on Wednesday night, joked: “I only text three people - my two teenage children and Barack Obama.”

re: #203 Semi Cartman

Don't forget the media Maven exclusivity now to be empired by
Huff Po.

Just when I am so discouraged and depressed with the parade of whinny, selfish, elitest liberals taking the controls of gov't again Dr. Hansen comes along with another intelligent analysis of what conservatives need to do. Thank you again Dr. Hansen for lifting my spirts one more time.

I'm sorry, but "conservatism" will never win an election again. To anyone under 40 and anyone who gets their news and opinions from the MSM, Daily Show and SNL conservatism has become a dirty word. There is no reason for the Republican party to hitch their wagon to "conservatism".

America was founded on classic liberalism. We let socialists hijack "liberalism" and now Republicans are stuck flogging the dead horse of "conservatism". It's a losing proposition. Barack Hussein Obama now represents the new flag-waving patriotism, taking the mantle of Lincoln and Reagan.

The only way back is by exposing the Dems for the frauds they are and reclaiming classic liberalism for the Republican party.

What went wrong... uninformed, emotional, star-struck persons voted for the most dangerous, unqualified, leftist candidate in the history of our great nation.

Demon-craps are working to tear down the fabric of our Federalist Representative Republic (not Democracy)... they will destroy this great experiment and attempt to replace our system with a social/political/economic system proven time and again as unworkable and doomed to failure.

Mac lost because he would not defeat a less worthy opponent. He was more concerned with 'getting along' with the enemy than defeating him. He was weak, ignorant of the true will of the people, and too entrenched in the 'professional ruling class' mentality.

Close the borders, lower taxes, defend the innocent and reject the questionable morality of 'alternative lifestyles', tort reform, drill now in every available location, allow the marketplace to invest in alternative energy research, and aggressively pursue the war on militant Islam (not terrorism).

Obama has no new ideas, no plan other than the destruction of our established national mores, offers no hope and is no change from the other pseudo-intellectuals the left is infected with.

God help this country over the next four years.