Roy Blunt for Senate ????

I often read with amusement that the GOP is dead.  I’ve heard all of this before, only to see the GOP come back bigger and stronger than ever.  Given that Barack Obama is fast becoming a younger, more charming version of Jimmy Carter I’m not too worried.   However …every so often we do something so completely stupid that I question whether we deserve to win or not.

Case in point – former House Minority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-MO) candidacy to succeed Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO).  If Blunt is the type of candidate we’ll be running in 2010 I fully expect the Dems to trounce us again.

How can we expect the average voter to take us seriously if we are running guys who personify the reasons that the voters threw us out to begin with.  In his video Blunt says that we can’t “borrow and spend our way to prosperity”.  Guess what guys, Blunt was part of the leadership that turned the Congressional Republican majority from a bunch of fiscally responsible conservatives to a bunch of mealy-mouthed spendthrifts.

What’s next?  Tom DeLay for Senate?  How about John Boehner for President?  How about a new party?

If the Missouri GOP can’t find some young DA or state legislator to run, give the seat up before putting someone like Blunt into the Senate.  I know that Blunt comes from a politically powerful family, and is powerful in his own right.  However, if the NRSC or RNC is willing to throw conservative principles so far down a well then the wishful thinking of the left could just become a reality.

A Call for Thought Over Emotion at the RPV Convention

Former gubernatorial candidate Wyatt Durrette makes an excellent case for an end to the emotionalism and desire for retribution apparent among some Frederick supporters.  Norm Leahy at Tertium Quids argues that there is a distinct disconnect between the Virginia party’s grassroots and the “establishment”; but the fault lies in political consultants and not in those elected to public or party office.

Leahy’s argument will hold up better over time.  While I respect Durrette, he lost me with:

Exchanges like the recent verbal jousting between Colin Powell and Tom Ridge on the one hand, and Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh, on the other, highlight part of the problem.  The idea that two men of the caliber of Powell (former Secretary of State and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and Ridge (former head of Homeland Secretary and former PA Governor) who tout the Republican banner would be banished from GOP ranks by some is poisonous nonsense.

It is not for me, or anyone else, to “banish” the likes of Powell or Ridge from the GOP.  However, Republicans were only able to see growth and strength when we were the party of fiscal conservatism and social responsibility.  Now that we are the party of spendthrifts (in a false hope to curry votes) and theocracy (to help keep the socially conservative wing on the reservation) we are out of power.

While the fall of Soviet-style communism may have been the loss of the glue which held us together, Obama-style economic fascism may be the new Gorilla Glue to bring us all back together.  Unfortunately, as long as consultants and moderates preach about a Republican “brand” rather than ideas, victory will remain just outside our grasp.

McHenry Shows Why GOP Not Ready to Return to Majority

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. Read more

Morning Line – March 3, 2009

Delaware -

Bill Colley over at WGMD has a great post on the current state of the Sussex County GOP.  The Sussex GOP needs to learn that elitism is as bad as anti-intellectualism (no I’m not calling them smart) and Bill needs to learn to insert a line break here and there.

Sussex County crying the budget blues.

Delaware Libertarian wants TARP money for the NBA.

Interesting take on the bank bailout from DelawareLiberal.  While I’m sure we won’t agree on the solution, we do agree on at least this part of the problem.

DelawareLiberal keeps hoping for a GOP meltdown.  Keep hoping.  We survived 1958 … 1964 … 1974 … We’ll survive 2008 too.

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A Prescription for Victory?

Is RNC Chair Michael Steele serious?  Read the transcript and listen to the audio.  Where does this fit in bringing conservative principles (and the ideas to implement those principles) back from the wilderness?

Steele may believe that sitting at “the cool kids’ table” will bring victory.  He would be mistaken.  The conservative message has never been the “easy” message.  Giving stuff away is the “easy”, liberal message.

We need leaders, not class clowns.

PS -

I know this isn’t popular with many of you out there.  My response is a simple one.  Make an argument for what Steele has done to date.  I realize that he’s new on the job.  I would agree that we should give him time to get acclimated.

However, if Steele were spending his time getting acclimated to the task of running the RNC I would say, “God’s speed Mr. Steele.”  Instead, Steele is grabbing every possible opportunity to get on TV or radio and cause embarrassment to the GOP.

Does anyone really defend stunts like this radio interview or publicly discussing retribution against incumbents who didn’t vote with their GOP fellows?

Will RNC Punish Arlen Specter?

Yet more evidence that former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is in way over his head as RNC Chairman.

It’s foolish to publicly discuss “retribution” against Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), or anyone else.  President George W. Bush was wrong using the RNC to back incumbents like Specter and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) in primary challenges.  Steele would be equally wrong in allowing the RNC to fund primary challengers against moderate / liberal Republicans like Specter.  That is not what the national party is for.

As we have discussed in the past, if Steele really understood (much less believed in) the philosophy of Reagan conservatism he wouldn’t need to pander here, equivocate there.  Unfortunately, taking a year off and absorbing all of Morton Blackwell’s Read to Lead list wouldn’t fix the problem.  It’s like church.  Memorizing the catechism isn’t enough.  You’ve got to BELIEVE.
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Jon Henke Hits Home Run, Michael Steele Lays Egg

The Next Right’s Jon Henke hits a home run with his “Guide to Republican Reform Rhetoric“:

This should help you evaluate the rhetoric you hear from Republicans as they dicker over the future of the Republican Party.

1. [BAD] Bargaining: “If you return us to power, we’ll stop the Democrats!  And behave better!”
2. [INADEQUATE] Apology: “We’ve learned our lesson”; “We lost our way.”; “We need to return to principles.”; “You can tell we’ve learned because we’re voting against Democrats!”
3. [GOOD] Repentance: “I was wrong to [fill in the blank with specific votes, decisions and opinions], because [fill in blank with specific reason] and I pledge not to do that again.”
4. [BETTER] Acceptance: “You have absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions at this point.” – RNC Chairman Michael Steele, acknowledging the Republican Party’s failures, lack of credibility and responsibility for same.
5. [BEST] Reform: “We abused the power we were given, and we should not be trusted with the majority again until we have taken steps to reform ourselves.  To that end, we are unilaterally adopting transparency, ethics and procedural rules for the Congressional Republican Caucuses.  What’s more, the RNC, NRSC and NRCC are adopting strict accounting rules to protect donations and expenditures, and strict communications accountability rules, including disclosure of evidence for independent review and verification, that will ensure the integrity and accuracy of any message we communicate to the public.  We hope the Democrats will join us in these reforms, but we will not wait for them to act before we get our own house in order.“

If Republicans still believe in Trust, but Verify, then rebuilding the Republican Party does not begin until Republicans make real progress on step #5.

It would have been a GRAND SLAM … except for #4.  Henke evidently didn’t see the entire interview with RNC Chair Michael Steele.
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Michael Steele’s “Disappointing” Start

Over at NRO, Andrew McCarthy isn’t too happy with Michael Steele’s start as RNC chair.  I can’t say I blame him.

To many, McCarthy’s criticism may seem picayune.  It’s not.  Steele’s less than stellar performance out of the gate is symptomatic of a problem that many of us feared – Steele is all hat and no cattle.

Claiming the mantle of Reagan conservatism, Steele would only be considered conservative in his home state of Maryland (and a few other leftist dominated areas).  It’s wrong for us to expect him to be successful in promoting a philosophy that he may grasp in his mind, but cannot feel in his heart.
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A Near Guarantee of Republican Victory

While liberals, the media, and whiny psuedo-Republicans decry the end of the Republican party and the demise of the conservative movement (two different things), I look forward to a resurgent party and a re-invigorated conservatism.  Why?  You need look no further than Delaware Dem’s post at DelawareLiberal.net.

Delaware Dem is far too typical of his (her?) leftist brethren.  They just don’t get it.  While their “Messiah” ran more as a Republican than a Democrat, they still think that the country has shifted left.  We’re not the ones in a snit because the President-Elect asked an evangelical Christian to deliver the invocation at Obama’s inaugural.  While I fully expect Obama to attempt to govern as a liberal, I know that his rhetoric will be centrist.  Talk about hypocrisy.

While DD accuses us of “hatemongering” and “exclusion”, it is really the Republican party which is the party of inclusion.  Name one prominent pro-life Democrat.  Yet, there are prominent pro-choice Republicans.  We don’t despise and ridicule the majority of Americans who are orthodox Christians (Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox, etc.).  While the majority of Republicans may be view “values” as a core component of our politics, those values are, by and large, reflective of the nation’s values.  We just need to learn to say so with a smile.
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Saltsman Should Be Disqualified as RNC Chair

Former Tennessee GOP chair, and Huckabee for President campaign manager, Chip Saltsman wants to be RNC Chairman.  Any member of the RNC who votes for him should be ashamed and immediately replaced at the first opportunity by the body which elected them to their post.

Saltsman decided to send the members of the RNC a little gift – a parody CD titled We Hate the USA.  The CD, by conservative comedian and parody artist Paul Shanklin, includes the song Barack the Magic Negro.

While I’ve been a fan of Shanklin’s for quite a while, this was not his best moment.  Rather than enter into a lengthy explanation as to why this track is rude at best, racist at worst, I’ll leave that to better minds such as my Red Maryland colleague Prof. Richard Vatz.

I’m not calling Saltsman a racist.  I don’t know the man and can’t speak to such character flaws.  I just believe that he showed extremely poor judgment in sending this little “gift” to the voting members of the RNC.  A nice card wouldn’t have worked?
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