NO
There are many reasons why the GOP lost this election. Contrary to the pundits point of view, IRAQ IS NOT the main reason the Republicans lost. The main reasons is the reality that the party left the conservative base. On the one hand there was every reason in the world to vote for the Republicans. Then on the other hand the conservative independents like myself that vote Republican because they were the closest party in philosophy see the Republicans as nothing more than big government. For the past 6 years I watched government grow in a Republican controlled Washington. I watched conservative values tossed aside like so much fodder. When did the Republicans begin to court the elusive conservative base? When it became time to vote.
The message I heard more often than the successes of the Republicans was, "Well who else ya gonna vote for?" and "Don’t you realize San Fran Nan will be the House leader?" Well uhhh yeah. I knew that. My response was voiced a year ago when the conservative base began raising hell about immigration for example. We were ignored then and even now in Presidents Bushs’ congrats speech to the Democrats, I heard appeasement to them in "working to find a "comprehensive immigration reform" and that insulting "So that we will have workers for the Jobs Americans won’t do." In other words just shut up and vote.
I went ahead and voted straight ticket Republican (sans TX governor and Lt. governor). Yeah, I shut up and held my nose and voted Republican. If nothing changes in the next 2 years I have a fishing trip I have been thinking about. I will not do it again.
Below are some selected comments from Lonestartimes.com that I found interesting about this election cycle. I also think they are very representative of just what the conservative base thinks about the Republican party. Oh yeah there is one block quote from Rush Limbaugh.
The Republican party is not, and never has been, the “Conservative Party”. It is, and always has been, a conglomeration of persons of widely differing philosophies with a common enemy.
More recently the party has been led by others whose only goal is to be elected and remain in office. They have no principles beyond reelection and inevitably their true colors show. It is NOT enough to fool some of the people some of the time, as this election proves.
Leader means doing something and providing an example. He never did lead, he held a position.
The GOP house “leadership” of Hastert and Frist was about as weak as it gets. Rumsfield is out but at least he had a backbone and walked the walk. Where is Newt?
"You and I hunger for ideological leadership and we’re not getting it from the top. Conservatism, conservative ideology was nowhere to be found in this campaign from the top," Limbaugh said today in his post-election analysis. "The Democrats beat something with nothing. They didn’t have to take a stand on anything other than their usual anti-war position. They had no clear agenda and believe me, they didn’t dare offer one. Liberalism will still lose every time it’s offered."
<snip> In answering questions about how he feels about the election results, Limbaugh said, "I feel liberated. … I no longer am gonna have to carry the water for people who I think don’t deserve having their water carried. … If those in our party who are going to carry the day in the future both in Congress and the administration are going to choose a different path than what most of us believe, then that’s liberating. …
Rush Limbaugh
WorldNetDaily: ’Liberated’ Limbaugh flays GOP for lame campaign
What happened to the GOP?
I am a recovering Democrat. When I became conservative, I thought Republicans stood for responsibility (personal and fiscal), discipline, and CONSERVATIVE principles. I feel like the victim of a bait and switch.
How did the Republicans come to forget the principles and the innovative means to achieve conservative ends (a la Gingrich) that put them in the majority? It took a half-century for Democrats to overreach and get so full of themselves they thought they couldn’t lose. It took Republicans little more than a decade.
And what can we do? Conservatives have abandoned their posts. They’re not going to fight the Dems. They’re going to “compromise.”
Alas and alack.
Technorati Tags: News, Politics, Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Elections
2 Comments
November 8, 2006 at 10:01 pm
I have to say ‘yeah’ to all of the above. The republicans never used their power when they had it. Now they don’t. Hopefully a new crop of spined republicans will bring the party back to the principles of the party and control.
Though I have to say – the ‘new’ congress still scares the bageebers outta me. What price will we have to pay for ‘teaching the republicans a lesson’?
WC
A little hope for a new day.
Mike Pence
Squawk
November 8, 2006 at 10:24 pm
When Bill Frist was made President of the Senate every
conservative should have written & called their Senator and made it clear this was not what they voted for.
It just dawned on me that whom ever has that job represents that group. He represents each of their will much more than any political representative we citizens have.
We should have understood this from day one and gave them hell. If each Senator is swamped with calls & letters he will respond.
We did not hold their feet to the fire.
And there in lies the very argument I have had for the past year. Rubber stamping these idiots and not holding their feet to the fire led to this. THAT I do blame the Conservative voters for. (Squawk)