McHenry Shows Why GOP Not Ready to Return to Majority
March 11, 2009 by Cato
Filed under Conservatism, Fiscal Policy, National Politics, Republican Campaigns, Taxes
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has never been a conservative. In many ways McHenry is the Frank Kratovil of the GOP. He has no true philosophy. When it can get him votes, he claims the mantle of Reagan. When it suits, he sucks up to the Bush wing of the party. Basically, the guy would sell his parents for the right number of votes.
Greg Sargent claims that McHenry is a “key player in crafting the Republican message.” If this is true, this only proves that we are not ready to move back to the majority.
McHenry’s view:
We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
The conservative view:
We need to propose ideas which demonstrate to the American people that lower taxes (particularly lower corporate rates) and lower, rational government spending are what is needed to reboot this economy. We need to explain the simple notion that giving up personal liberty to participate in the government dole IS NOT in our own, or our nation’s, best interest.
Unfortunately, we have chosen to elect people like McHenry. They are obviously not interested in the nation’s best interest. They are concerned with personal power.
An excellent case in point is the recent Senate fight over earmarks. Unless your name is Tom Coburn, or John McCain, or a VERY few others, Senate Republicans (nor many House Republicans) have much to say about earmarks without being complete hypocrites.
Personally, I’m far more concernced about cutting wasteful programs than I am earmarks. It’s just that earmarks are an easy (and usually valid) whipping boy.
From people like Eric Cantor and Patrick McHenry, to the RNC’s Michael Steele, the GOP needs to learn that we win with IDEAS. NOT BRANDING. NOT MESSAGE. The message needs to mean something.
H/T – DelawareLiberal
Right on… we must stick by principles. As Gov. Mark Sanford said, we have to be prepared to lose… the important thing is to stick by the core principles we know are right.
Great post.
Great points all around. These days I find myself paying a fair amount of attention to both Annapolis and DC Republicans, and Republicans everywhere suffer from the same blight. They have become the party of reflexive opposition to anything the Democrats propose, even when the Democrats propose ideas that were stolen from the conservative playbook. Our ideas (generally) are good ones, but there needs to be some method to our madness. We can’t be fiscal conservative and pro-business one day, and then propose to reregulate Constellation Energy Group the next. We have become a party of erratic temperament, shouting about messaging but not proposing anything. We have become the Democrats from earlier this decade. The same people that we beat handily in election after election. If, as Mr. McHenry suggests, we must wait for the other party to fail, we will in fact be a failure.
Thanks. While I certainly don’t believe that we need to be in the permanent minority in order to remain true to our principles, short term losses may be necessary. I personally don’t expect the public to believe that the GOP is the “fiscally responsible” party while we are being represented by people like Boehner, McConnell, Blunt (now Cantor) or Patrick McHenry. Give me a true liberal anytime. At least they’re honest about being spendthrifts.
We need to show the American people that we’re serious about cutting spending and promoting freedom before we can expect them to trust us again. If that means sacrificing a few of our own, so be it. The “appropriating class” needs to be stopped. Let the Thad Cochran’s of the world switch parties. Then we can beat them with real conservatives.