There’s no question about it, the biggest problem that the Republican Party has in 2008 can be summed up in three words…
George W. Bush
It’s so apparent, I’m surprised they haven’t figured it out yet.
Last week, we learned that more than 3/4 of the American public thinks the country is on the wrong track and that President Bush has approval ratings that rival those of Nixon during the depths of Watergate. If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s looking like the GOP is headed for a loss in Congress that will send them back into the post-Watergate wilderness.
Which means that the debate over the Republican future will begin as soon as November’s election returns are in.
Well, maybe we should start talking about the future before the inevitable disaster strikes.
Here are a few thoughts:
- The Republican adoption of Christian conservative/evangelical social policy is, in the long term, a loser.
- Fiscal conservatism means being fiscally conservative, even if it “hurts” your constituents. Are you listening Republicans from farm country who voted for that pork-laden farm bill ?
- Simply calling your opponent a liberal doesn’t work anymore, you need to actually have an idea.
- We all need to admit that the United States fucked up when it came to the invasion of Iraq in two respects. First, the intelligence was wrong when it came to WMD’s. Second, the politicians (i.e., Rumsfeld and Richard Perle) who vetoed plans submitted by military planners to fight the Iraq War screwed up royally. Third, the fate of Iraq is, ultimately, in the hands of Iraqis.
That’s just a start.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
The adoption of conservative social policy IS NOT a loser, but, being seen as an evangelical policy is. The press will see to that.
And the invasion did have some problems. But the intel on the WMD was not necessarily wrong. We found wmd, he had wmd, and he was ready to start a nuke program. But I agree with the Rumsfield part, when he refused to increase the troop levels and go on the defensive. If you invade a country, take it over and run it. We let it slide into chaos because we didn’t want to “offend” anyone…
May 16th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Good points, Doug.
I am not willing to concede defeat so early. However, I would add that if Republicans do not break the hold of the Bush-Neocon-Multinationalists on the GOP, the Party might never recover. John McCain could still be our next President.
Rather than preaching a message of fear, and then continuing policies that export our jobs to low-wage banana republics and Red China, Republicans must return to the quest to return our government back to within its Constitutional limits. We need to promote a MERIT based society, where once again, people can come here from all over the world and become successful.
America can be that “shining city on the hill” for others to emulate, but to get there we must shake-off the yoke of the multinational corporations. To do that we need STRONG anti-trust action that breaks-up these oligopolies and promotes the formation of small companies that will be competitive and productive.
One example would be for the FCC to prohibit any company from owning more than one media outlet. This would immediately return the airwaves back to the local communities and would kill off the mega media companies, at least here in the United States. Oh, that fat liar, Limbaugh would squeal like a pig, but his show would still survive in syndication, but without the corrupting influence of mega corporations like Clear Channel.
Here in Virginia, a return to the Primary system is necessary for the selection of candidates with broad appeal. The McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli “presumptive nominees” are already spouting unpopular programs that include the return to regional taxation and foreign-owned, private toll roads. Both of which are sure losers at the polls.
By their actions these “presumptive nominees” have shown that they do not see themselves as answerable to the citizens, but are clearly beholden to multinational interests. The People are seen merely as those poor wretches who will be stuck paying the bills after the multinational corporations have gotten fat and pulled out. We need better candidates; men who see where the People are headed and who are able to get out in front and lead them. The McDonnell-Bolling-Cuccinelli ticket represents a philosophy of government ON the People and not government FOR the People.