Nov 6, 2008
Tough Election Leaves GOP In Dire Straits
Politico: Republican Party Seen As Increasingly Out-Dated, In Its Worst Shape Since Rise Of The Conservative Coalition
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Play CBS Video Video GOP Hopes For Bipartisanship Sen. Kay Bailey-Hutchison-R, Texas talks to Harry Smith about how the GOP may respond to an Obama administration and a Democratically controlled House of Representatives.
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Video McCain Has "No Comment" Without his usual entourage, Sen. John McCain steered clear of the press while Gov. Sarah Palin returned to Alaska. Chip Reid reports on where the Republican Party stands.
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Video Roadmap To Palin's Future Sarah Palin is being labeled by some as "the star of the Republican party," but as Thalia Assuras reports, her future may be in Hollywood.
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(CBS/96Rock)
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Photo Essay End Of The Trail John McCain graciously concedes defeat in the presidential election.
Thumped convincingly in consecutive election cycles, the Republican Party now finds itself in its worse straits since the rise of the conservative coalition - a minority party without the White House, fewer seats in the House and Senate, only 21 governors and full control of just 14 state legislatures.
Most ominously for Republicans, the GOP is increasingly becoming less grand than old - and outdated. As reflected in Tuesday’s results and exit polls, it’s a party that is overwhelmingly white, rural and aged in a country that is rapidly becoming racially mixed, suburban and dominated by a post-baby boomer generation with no memory of Vietnam or the familiar culture wars of the past.
Beyond demography, the party is now, thanks to the outgoing president and some members of Congress, perceived by many voters as either incompetent, corrupt, or just not standing for much.
Even on fiscal issues - for decades central to the GOP’s appeal - Republicans now lag.
In an election focused on the economy like none since 1992, Democrats had the advantage on which party would best address the current financial crisis, limit spending, reduce the deficit and cut taxes for middle-class voters, according to a pre-election survey taken across four battleground states - Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Colorado - by the American Issues Project, a conservative third-party group. Not coincidentally, each of those states - red in 2004 - flipped to the Democrats on Tuesday.
Intermingled with the cries of anguish in GOP circles this week - as well as a fiew choice words aimed at the McCain campaign - there is a common mantra: What do we do now? Interviews with some of the leading figures in the party, many of them representing GOP hopes for a future restoration, answer that question with a consensus that Republicans need not undergo major ideological shifts. Instead, these governors, former governors, and members of Congress say the party must re-embrace its small government roots while striving to embrace the reform mantle and become relevant to the day-to-day concerns of average Americans.
All concede that the party’s once pristine brand name has been tarnished during the Bush era.
“I don’t think we’ve done a good job in the last two cycles of defining what Republicans are,” said North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr.
And if a Republican president and Republican-held Congress presiding over a massive increase in the size of government wasn’t bad enough for the party’s image, the shaky handling of the economic crisis this fall by the White House and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill was the last blow to conservative fiscal credibility.
“In the near-term the answer is clearly yes,” admitted Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, when asked if the bailout had hurt the party brand.
“It was a watershed moment,” added former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a vocal opponent of the $700 billion rescue package. “It went against every principle Republicans held.”
The hope now is that this election will offer a political cleansing of sorts, with Democrat dominance providing a fresh opportunity for Republicans to rebuild around new leaders, draw sharper contrasts and articulate conservative principles in a way that they will lead moderate voters who’ve abandoned the GOP back into the fold.
“We’re still a center-right country,” said Sen. John Thune, a South Dakotan who is eyeing a leadership role in the new Congress and is seen by some in the party as presidential timber. “Democrats won those voters in the middle who ought to be part of our coalition.’
With Democrats firmly in control of both chambers of Congress, Thune said Republicans have a chance “to get back on offense”
“I think this is going to be very liberating for Republicans in Congress.”
And Republicans are wastng no time in critiquing some of President-elect Obama’s first moves.
“With the selection of Rahm Emanuel [as White House Chief of Staff] I think Sen. Obama is sending a strong signal of partisanship,” said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. Emanuel has been offered the job, according to Democratic sources, but has yet to accept it. “He’s a hardball player if there ever was one. That doesn’t say much to me about this ‘post-partisan’ presidency.’ ”
But while the GOP does battle with Obama and his liberal allies on Capitol Hill, other Republicans would also like to see the party use this wilderness period to reassert itself at the state level and re-create the sort of coalition of conservative reform governors it had in the 90s.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the party should take four primary steps: show no tolerance for corruption, practice what it preaches about limiting the scope of government (“There should not be such a thing as a big-government Republican”), stand for working families and small business, and embrace reform.
“I hope there is a strong focus on recruiting candidates for governor as a top priority for 2010,” said Bush. “A reform conservative agenda can be shown at the state level regarding education, health care, and environmental policy while the liberals advocate the status quo, just more of it, in Washington, D.C.”
Two young Republican governors who are being touted by some as future presidential candidates agree, noting that the party must win its way back by appealing to voters on issues on which it has largely been silent in recent years.
“We have to have actual ideas,” said Pawlenty, 47. “The Republican idea factory has dried up. And we’ve got to catch up on the key issues of our times -- health care, renewable energy and education.”
“We need real solutions,” adds Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, 37. “It’s not enough to be just against single payer health care, for example. We’ve got to discuss how we promote private coverage, to apply our principles to the issues that affect people’s lives.”
“The other side is worse,” said Jindal, is “not a very inspiring bumper sticker.”
Translating the theoretical to the practical is key said Rep. Eric Cantor, a Virginia congressman who began a campaign this week to be elected Minority Whip, number two in the party’s House leadership.
“We shouldn’t be talking about lower taxes because supply-side economics is better for Americans but because it puts more money in people’s pockets,” said Cantor. “Where we have to focus is on reconnecting with people across this country where they live.”
But while recapturing the advantage on issues is important. Republicans are frank about the urgent need to also become a party that looks like the nation America is quickly becoming.
Obama won over Hispanics - the country’s largest minority group and target of ardent outreach by President Bush - by sizable margins, gains some in the party attribute to the perception fueled during the immigration debate that Republicans were hostile to Latinos..
Obama also trounced McCain among younger voters - those who represent a powerful voting bloc for decades to come.
“I would suggest that conservatives need to do the math of the new demographics of the United States,” said Jeb Bush. “We can’t be anti-Hispanic, anti-young person, anti many things and be surprised when we don’t win elections.”
“We’re not relevant to people of my generation,” admitted Rep. Paul Ryan, a 38-year-old Wisconsin conservative seen as a rising star on the right.
Ryan said the party had become ossified, emblematic of a despised status quo.
“No more old bulls, no more old boys network, no more just bringing ome the bacon to get re-elected,” he said.
Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, spoke admiringly of Obama’s new majority
“He built a different coalition than has elected other Democratic candidates,” Jindal observed of the new president’s support from nearly all regions of the country and spanning many traditional divides. “We need to be aggressive for every one of those voting blocs.”
Pawlenty, the son of a truck driver who worked his way through college, is also passionate about the need to put a new face on the party.
“Demographically, culturally, technologically and economically the country is changing,” he noted, while the GOP is “stuck in a 30-year-old feel in tone and image.”
“We need a more forward-leaning, newer, younger, more diverse party. That does not mean that our values and principles get thrown overboard.
“But you can’t be a majority governing party getting almost no support from African-Americans, modest support from Hispanics, with a major gap with women, and decreasing support from modest income Americans.”
The party, Pawlenty concluded, “needs to be freshened up.”
By Jonathan Martin
Copyright 2008 POLITICO
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See all 431 CommentsAll these issues deserved action and real solutions these last 10 or 15 years, but Republican control of congress and the Whitehouse worked to make sure these real issues concerning the average middleclass american were swept under the carpet.
You have to realize, no one really cares for the Rebumblican point of view anymore. Your party will continue to lose voter support until it is nonrelevent. Its almost there now.
Posted by kevnkar at 07:17 PM : Nov 07, 2008
Did he tell you he lives in a cardboard box?
Well this discussion seams to be running out of steam. I wanted to say that I''ve enjoyed the debate. You are one of the only liberals I''ve come across who presents a coherent and intelligent argument for their views. You can''t convert me but you have my respect.
Off to find a fresh debate........
Posted by tuckerndfw at 06:36 PM : Nov 07, 2008
So, Hillary and Kerry wanted the SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENT of the USA to DEFER TO THE UN... LOL!
That part of the law was obviously unconstitutional, so it was stricken. So your point is...?
EITHER CONGRESS APPROVES OR DISAPPROVES war. Congress DOES NOT pass the buck.
Posted by kevnkar at 06:26 PM : Nov 07, 2008
I think HIS number 1 proirity is to LEARN HOW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS BY DOING SOMETHING *OTHER THAN* GIVING MONEY.
We elected you, college boy. Now it''s time for you to GO TO SCHOOL and learn the REAL WORLD.
The No. 1 priority, Obama said, is to get Congress to approve an economic stimulus plan that would extend jobless benefits, send food aid to the poor, dispatch Medicaid funds to states and spend tens of billions of dollars on public works projects. If the plan is not approved this month, in a special session of Congress, Obama said that "it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States."
Not even in office yet and spending money that the middle class will have to fund through higher taxes.
Posted by kevnkar at 06:18 PM : Nov 07, 2008
It sure is a slow news day, isn''t it. Even the stock market didn''t change much.
Could it be, the trolls are all in shock from realizing that starting next year, THE DEMOCRATS WILL BE IN ABSOLUTE POWER just like the GOP was 8 years ago.
And THEY WILL BE TOTALLY TO BLAME FOR EVERYTHING FROM THEN ON. They will have NO EXCUSES, NOBODY TO BLAME.
They''ll probably have to start a war somewhere to divert attention from the fact that they don''t have a CLUE HOW TO RUN A COUNTRY. All they''ve ever done is CRITICIZE THE OTHERS WHO ALWAYS DID. They don''t know how to do it themselves.
OH, LOOK, somebody already started a war for them in Iraq. They''ll perpetuate that forever like LBJ did, and all the while they''ll BLAME BUSH for starting it while they fail utterly to end it.
When they''re STILL BLAMING BUSH six years from now, we can all open a can of vintage beans and laugh around the fire in the 55 gallon drum in the alley, next to the dumpster where we''ll all be living by then.
Posted by IOWEIGN at 05:49 PM : Nov 07, 2008
So, are you saying the USA is SUBORDINATE to the UN???
Does the UN have AUTHORITY over the USA???
Posted by txgrouch2007 at 05:50 PM : Nov 07, 2008
Still no answer? Perhaps I didn''t ask my question clearly enough.
DOES THE UN DICTATE TO US WHAT IS LEGAL OR ILLEGAL in our own country????
Yes? No? If no, then WHAT DOES THE UN HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING BEING LEGAL OR ILLEGA?
WHY ARE YOU MAKING A JUDGEMENT OF LEGAL OR ILLEGAL BASED ON THE UN???
Posted by kevnkar at 05:57 PM : Nov 07, 2008
Because they REFUSE TO ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER OR ADMIT THEY WERE EVER AT FAULT OR TAKE ANY BLAME EVER.
Consider how many Republicans left office after a ethics or morality scandal:
Nixon
DeLay
Frist
Foley
Spitzer
...
Consider how many Democrats have been IN an ethics or morality scandal:
Ted Kennedy
Bill Clinton
Marion Berry
the guy whats-his-name who replaced Foley
Now how many of THEM left office
(crickets chirping)
Yah, THAT''S HOW Democrats take responsibility. THEY DON''T.
Why does everything have to be so cut and dry with the leffties. Bush this and Bush that. There has been more than 40 years of *** around in the middle east through presidents of both parties. It must be pretty important to have sustained efforts to try to stabilize the region for so long don''t you think. And yes, when Obama gets "the book" and gets educated, he will continue those efforts or betray Israel which he said he would never do.
%u201DThe international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again. "
Speech from the Oval Office by President William Clinton, explaining his attack on Iraq
reported by The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 16, 1998
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clintontext121698.htm
BTW, Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998.
Bill Clinton INVENTED the WMD LIE.
Posted by IOWEIGN at 05:49 PM : Nov 07, 2008
So, are you saying the USA is SUBORDINATE to the UN???
Does the UN have AUTHORITY over the USA???
Posted by IOWEIGN at 05:45 PM : Nov 07, 2008
Congress DID vote FOR war against Iraq. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry voted FOR it.
WASN''''T THAT ILLEGAL, TOO???
Posted by txgrouch2007 at 05:44 PM : Nov 07, 2008
Illegal - no - it was under UN auspices.
Posted by IOWEIGN
Wellthen he did it with the complicity of congress so I guess the lot of them are criminals and we should throw them all out and start over.Hmmmmm! What a great idea. We have gone so far astray from what the founding fathers intended it''''s rediculous. It has not been Of The People, By The People or For The People for a very long time. It is government of the people by the corrupt and for the corrupters.
Posted by kevnkar at 05:37 PM : Nov 07, 2008
Congress was for violating a treaty - right...
Posted by kevnkar at 05:37 PM : Nov 07, 2008
Well, by now it should be OBVIOUS that Congress is full of criminals...
But yah, FUNNY how they forget that Hillary Clinton and John Kerry voted FOR WAR.
FUNNY how they forget that BILL CLINTON INVENTED THE WMD LIE and LAUNCHED AN AIRSTRIKE AGAINST IRAQ on the eve of his impeachment vote.
WASN''T THAT ILLEGAL, TOO???
Posted by IOWEIGN
Wellthen he did it with the complicity of congress so I guess the lot of them are criminals and we should throw them all out and start over.Hmmmmm! What a great idea. We have gone so far astray from what the founding fathers intended it''s rediculous. It has not been Of The People, By The People or For The People for a very long time. It is government of the people by the corrupt and for the corrupters.
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