The public wants something different from the Republican Party; they want it to follow them rather than trying to lead voters down a primrose path of Democrat Lite.
Republican House leader John Boehner has topped all records for fecklessness in the ongoing Nancy Pelosi affair. Speaker Pelosi, was caught lying when she stated that she had been mislead by the CIA over the use of enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding. Boehner stated that Pelosi should produce the evidence or apologize, when a better call would have been for her to step down from the office of Speaker if she had no evidence; a call that some Democrat legislators purportedly have already made. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich has also hit the nail on the head when he called her actions despicable and a dishonor to the whole Congress.
Boehner's statement is just another in a series of bad calls made by Republican leadership during the last few months, including, but not limited to the institution of a "listening tour" by various politicians who, according so some sources, have done very little listening and a whole lot of talking. What we see is a simple failure to recognize that the public wants something different from the Republican Party, which may become worse than marginalized if its leaders and those they support are unwilling to follow the public’s lead, rather than attempting to lead that public down a primrose path of Democrat Lite. Meanwhile, Pelosi has been demanding a "truth commission" to determine what the CIA actually did, the facts of which are already on the record. It might be a better idea for the Republican leadership to call for a "truth commission" to investigate the Speaker, instead of weaseling out with calls for an apology. Imagine the sight of Madam Pelosi melting down while being questioned under oath. It would likely be a scene worthy of the old Perry Mason TV series.
The idea of an "Office of Republican Weasels" is, in fact, the creation of Pat Gray and Edd Hendee of KSEV radio, Houston, who were recently rebuffed in numerous attempts to interview Republican "leadership" on the air. To be fair, Pat and Edd are not exactly the best friends of the current party leadership. The purpose of their attempts was to ask these individuals to account for their lack of responsiveness to their national constituency. It is likely that Boehner and several of his colleagues suspected this intention, and refused to accept the invitation.
Pat and Edd had another interesting observation. When Bob Dole lost his bid for the White House he had the good grace to retire from politics and settle gracefully into a part time position endorsing dog food and Viagra. Their suggestion that this would be a good move for John McCain was not far behind, although it was also suggested that the average dog might not trust anything endorsed by Mr. McCain. The implication is clear; Pat and Edd, and a lot of other people were not pleased with Senator McCain's Democrat Lite position and his failure to properly articulate Conservative policies during his campaign. Houston Conservatives, symbolized by those who call in to talk with Pat and Edd, are largely on board with their position; that McCain should bow out and make room for a Senator better able to represent the people of Arizona, and the needs of the nation as a whole.
Yet, everywhere, we see calls for Republicans to move to the left; a strategy that has always failed in the past. It is a recipe that did not work for McCain or many others, and which is exemplified by the Senator's interaction with the "angry Wisconsin guy" about whom I wrote in October 2008 The fact that so many of these pundits fail to recognize is that radio talkers such as Rush Limbaugh are not leading public opinion as much as following it. They ignore the reason that the 2008 election was as close as it was; the presence of Sarah Palin. Without the Alaska Governor in the Vice Presidential slot McCain might have lost all fifty states. Certainly, there were a tremendous number of people in the Houston area who were willing to stay at home rather than vote for a man they didn't trust to be true to basic principles. I know because I encountered a lot of them.
What the left leaning pundits are ignoring or are ignorant of is that radio programming is a creature of the free market. Programming that people don't like will get no listeners. If radio talkers are out of step with their audience they will lose audience faster than the time it takes to read this. As long as Limbaugh and his colleagues maintain their audiences there can be no truth to the belief that the Republican Party should move further left.
Meanwhile, to take full advantage of Pelosi's gaff, the Party needs to find its voice and put it to use. The talkers can’t do it for the politicians and the politicians have to give up weaseling and turn back to the basic principles that made the party successful before; principles that the voter base will still follow. If the present "leadership" does not lead then it will find itself out of a job and replaced by people who know how to do it. The Tea Party movement is all about exactly that point. Nancy Pelosi’s run for public office has always been about feathering her own nest. She has now shown herself thoroughly disloyal to America and should be cast in that light at every suitable opportunity. The right shouldn't allow her to get away with murder or they will end up looking just as bad as she does.
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Pat Gray and Edd Hendee can be heard on KSEV Radio, AM 700 weekdays from 6-9 AM, Central Time in the Houston Area, or over the internet. They are the number one rated program in their time slot.
Imagine, if you will, then-minority leader Pelosi saying of then-Speaker Dennis Hastert, after he had been caught in a blatant and shameless outright, bald-faced lie, "I think he should apologize and move on".
After spending the last 9 years with every Democratic kook in the government calling for the prosecution of Dick Cheney for war crimes and the impeachment of president Bush for everything from lying to the UN, to firing his own employees, to not excusing himself before breaking wind, Republicans are still content to piddle down their leg and take the self-imagined "high ground" when dealing with their political opponents. After it brought them such rousing success, I can see why they'd want to stick to that strategy.
Re: The Office of Republican Weasels
John Boehner and the balance of the Republicans inside the beltway just don't seem to get it. They scream against the spending levels of the current administration as if we are going to forget all about how prolific their own budgets were when they had the reins.
They speak of 'listening' tours, and widening the base, and being more inclusive. All of it is just blather!
Conservatives did not pick the candidate in the last election. John McCain was chosen for us. He was anointed early on by the mainstream media. A 'maverick', a moderate who could be negotiated with. He was touted as the antithesis of the lock-step right-wing ideologue. It was all a load of Hooey!
John McCain got waxed because if your choice at the polls is Democrat or Democrat Light, you might as well go for the Full Monte. This is the same thing that happens during Congressional and Senate elections. Democrats run stealth candidates that bring a refreshing style of 'reasonable' liberalism to the campaign. Meanwhile the republican candidate is running away from his conservative roots as fast as he can in an effort to increase his appeal across the minority demographic. The result is that while the republican candidate may convince a miniscule percentage to cross the aisle, the democrat keeps his base while the true conservatives, who've been offered that choice of democrat or democrat light, stay home.
Here I must note that I've always been of the opinion that liberals have always had a 'personnel' advantage over conservatives. Not only that, but they know it! The liberal believes in the absolute infallibility of government; and from birth their children are groomed for life as a bureaucrat. Liberals rise through government in the same manner as conservatives rise through business. The best and brightest of the liberal persuasion will always gravitate to government service; while the best and brightest conservatives will always gravitate to the boardrooms of our Fortune 500 companies. After all; business success may shower wealth on an achiever but the high offices of government grant power over individuals. The result of this is that during elections we're always fielding the 'B' team to begin with. For the people who watch the evening news each night and wonder "Where in the hell did the Republican Party find this moron?" Well, now you know. Most republican candidates for office are the dolts that were too stupid to be a success in business.
Liberals are constantly driving home this image: "If the Republican Party does not shed its radical, small government, traditional values, campaign style; they are doomed to wander the political wilderness for the next two generations." What makes this even worse are the self proclaimed 'spokesmen' such as John McCain's daughter Meghan, are such inarticulate airheads that MSNBC is slavering at the mouth, trying to get her on a program, any program!
This is also the exact reason that conservatives such as Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal are constantly pilloried. These are but two of the truly conservative voices attempting to lead the party from the political wilderness. Both are governors of fairly large states, both are unabashedly conservative, and their agendas have produced great political success for themselves and their respective administrations.
This is all part & parcel of the war in this country that now passes for political discourse. Nothing is more important than the triumph of liberalism. The complete obliteration of conservative philosophy and the absolute annihilation of any conservative being are defined as one in the same. This is of primary importance, as conservative thought has no place in the new lexicon.
We, as a nation, are at a political crossroads, and the media gatekeepers ensure that the only people from the right that are allowed to speak are the most inarticulate, unanchored, most easily led, idiots they can find. For Lord's sake! The current administration is proposing a $3.5 trillion budget and planning on carrying an $11 trillion deficit and all we can see on the 5 o'clock news is some beltway republican that can barely stammer "Uh…uh spending bad!"
Liberals hold the keys to the culture. While snap polls continue to show a majority of people in this country hold conservative principles, the overwhelming majority of viewable political candidates identified with conservatism are among the most tongue-tied, unprincipled, intellectually challenged, examples that can be found.
As can be proven by the records of both Palin and Jindal; conservatism works every time it's tried! I also believe that we conservatives need to adopt the same 'take-no-prisoners' attitude that permeates the left. Personally; I don't care how much hand-wringing or condescending effrontery emanates from the Left whenever they are confronted by an articulate, unabashed, angry conservative. I know that when I hear a Sarah Palin, or a Rush Limbaugh, or an Ann Coulter speak; I'm sitting in my living room thinking "Finally someone's shoving back!" Why do you think the Left tries so hard to marginalize these people? Because they cannot defeat the argument, nor can they stand up to the attitude! Why do you think that the Left is promoting people like Meghan McCain? Liberals would love nothing better that to have conservatism become identified with such a political lightweight!
The liberals have been playing rough for years. If we don't start to give as well as we get, we'll deserve the prediction of James Carville; to be the minority party for the next two generations.
Amen, Milbrat. Couldn't have said better myself.
Striped controller: Bad news. The fog's getting thicker.
Johnny: [jumps to an overweight controller] And Leon is getting laaaaarrrrrger.
Striker, listen, and you listen close: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.
If the left succeeds infiltrating the Republican Party as it has so many other institutions, and someone like Colin Powell ends up at the helm, the game is over.
Ll Mike;
Whatever do you mean by the word 'if'? Reference John McCain, Arlan Specter, Olympia Snow, and a host of other RINO's who feel it's time to discuss the terms of surrender.
The issue is we need to fight fire with fire! For instance, take health care. This administration is broadcasting the amount of supposed savings we will achieve uder a single payer system. No one, not the media, nor the republicans ask the simple question that if we're going to save so much money under this system, why on God's Green Earth are we looking for a funding stream for health care?
Another example would be nominating a racist to SCOTUS. Democrats polloried Samuel Alito,l calling him literally every name in the book, and were not brought to task by the fourth estate. However, let the left nominate a mediocre jurist, whom during her latest sojourn into discrimination, could see nothing wrong with tossing out the results of a 'race neutral' promotion exam. Obviously, she cannot muster any 'judicial empathy' for discrimination against white males. Will no one oppose this woman?
She also ruled in a 2nd Amendment case that this amendment only covers what the feds may do and has no bearing on restrictions the states may impose; even though there is settled law that, in essance, ascribes the entire bill of rights to be adheared to by the states. Does anyone believe, for a minute, that she will be a capable associate justice?
The Bush administration was trashed over 'unsustainable' deficits. Bush's entire deficit over eight years was $3.5 trillion. Obama is spending that much in year one! He plans $11 trillion in deficits over his presidency, and there's nary a peep out of anyone.
Sir, we are already infiltrated. Treatment to excise these tumors must begin immediately!
Milbrat:
Agreed. Stealing the auto companies, giving it as payback to unions who killed the golden goose to begin with while punishing the investors, the unpredictability of fuel costs caused primarily by government policy (just state and fed taxes are incredibly greater than net profits to oil companies while they never one hole or even type one invoice); CRA and its ultimate effect on banks and insurance; Medicare and Medicaid plus regulation, interference in any efforts to reign in trial lawyers and the net effect on the cost of medicine, etc.
It all reeks of government involvement, yet they're gaining more control, and all that governing comes from left leaning political idealogy.
My paranoia comes from looking at a decades long steady takeover by the left of education, large philanthropic trusts, main sources of news information, science, entertainment, most recently public corporations and soon to be medicine and I'll bet all forms of retirement investing (IRAs, 401Ks).
Joe McCarthy was for the most part right – certainly 'close enough.' These people on the left are groomed for this kind of strategy and implementation. It's what they do best, and they prosper themselves best in these political endeavors.
We prosper ourselves working 100 hour weeks, finding ways to serve others with our businesses; investing now for later. Although logic and truth are on our side, those who tend to rise to the top into politics on our side just aren't the best at it. Who is articulating effectively these days? The population and the information they ultimately receive seem impenetrable.
I would not put it past them at this point with the incredible amount of momentum on their side, with a population that picks a president or congressman like they would a favorite football team, to somehow engineer a puppet head of the Republican Party to finish things off.
Alright, I know I'm Chicken Little here…
I'll just hand out Mark Levin's book and man phones for a reasonably articulate conservative I hopefully will find for the midterm elections.