Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Advice for Republicans
A lot of people are offering advice to Republicans. Here is some useful advice for "conservatives" -- a fairly plausible list of "to don'ts" -- and most of it applies equal well to confessing Republicans. Worth reading.
Early this morning I heard Howard Dean on CNBC, and he also offered surprisingly cogent advice to Republicans. The interviewer asked him whether Republicans would attack Democrats for being fiscally irresponsible, and Dean essentially said "What a joke. Republicans have no credibility on fiscal responsibility."
That is, unfortunately, quite true. So how do Republicans go about restoring their reputation as the party of the fiscal conservatives when they have so damaged their brand in the last eight years? The trick will be to avoid general philosophical objections to Barack Obama's proposals and instead focus on specific examples of wasteful government spending. Do not say "we believe the stimulus package is too huge" or "the Democrats are the party of tax and spend" -- such shallow and conclusory claims will ring hollow for most people. Better to point out particular wasteful spending and counterproductive taxes relentlessly and with specificity: "We know we need to stimulate the economy, we just do not understand how spending $45 million for a 'Museum of the Fork' in Camden is going to do anything other than subsidize a bunch of no-show, no-work union jobs. It's like the plot out of a Sopranos script." If the Republicans pointed out two or three such examples every week -- and that should be fairly easy to do given the gusher of money Congress is going to pump into their districts the economy -- people would begin to wonder what the heck is going on in Nancy Pelosi's House. Point is, if Republicans did nothing but expose pork and keep their own noses relentlessly clean for two years -- a tall order, I admit -- they would rehabilitate their reputation as the guardian of the hardworking, taxpaying non-complainer who puts his shoulder to the wheel every day whether he likes it or not, and vastly improve their chances in 2010 and beyond.
Sad to say, I'm not holding my breath.
17 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Jan 22, 12:01:00 AM:
Voters don't care about corruption or pork. They care about criminals, terrorists, and the economy.
Republicans ought to point out that Obama will give goodies to connect Black shakedown artists and exclude Whites.
Reps ought to rip Obama about caring more about terrorists rights than protecting Americans, and sacrificing American lives to coddle terrorists, with his closure of Gitmo, ordering the inmates sent into the Criminal justice system, and closing the "Black" detention centers in Europe.
EVERY American killed by a terrorist should and MUST be laid at Obama's feet (and the Democrats). Democrats MUST OWN THEIR DECISIONS, and Reps make the point that Obama is NOT THEIR PRESIDENT, but rather on the side explicitly of terrorists.
Reps ought to as well, point out that Obama, being the first President born and raised a Muslim, retains considerable sympathy for Muslim terrorists and takes their side over America's. They ought to do this EVERY TIME a released terrorist kills an American.
Finally, Republicans ought to warn, repeatedly and publicly as often as possible, that Obama and Dems are lax on terror out of sympathy for the Terrorists and hatred for America. It's inevitable that Terrorists will strike, and strike hard, against America so this is smart politics.
In short, Willie Horton / Jessie Helms Dems, who are "the Black Party" which is for terrorists (see Will Smith's comments about how he felt "nothing" for the 9/11 victims) and against the White Majority.
Obama will and has played the race card ad nasueum. Play it right back at him, make him the David Dinkins (who let Blacks riot in Crown Heights) of the Presidency.
Particularly, use the 9/11 survivors and families to demand Obama pay the price for choosing terrorists like Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the planner of 9/11, over America.
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu Jan 22, 12:50:00 AM:
Re: "Pork"
Democratic Sen. William Proxmire (Yale, Harvard Business School) used to issue Golden Fleece Awards, which identifed wasteful government spending between 1975 and 1988. That's why he became President.
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 01:02:00 AM:
After the 2006 election, there was considerable debate in the blogosphere as to how to rebuild the GOP. What did the GOP do to improve itself in the next two years? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, and they got hammered again in 2008. I can only conclude that the GOP likes things as they are. There will be no attempt to repackage the brand. Same old failed leadership and no revolt brewing among the rank and file that I can see. I wouldn't be surprised to see them get hammered again in 2010.
By TigerHawk, at
Thu Jan 22, 07:00:00 AM:
Of course, Anon 12:01, that stuff has to happen or come true before Republicans can make any progress, and I do not think that Republicans ought to put themselves in the position of hoping for a national security calamity. That is what the Democrats did, and if other factors had not come into play (the early errors in Iraq, Katrina, Bush's personal unpopularity, and the financial crisis) it would have hurt them terribly.
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 08:28:00 AM:
There isn't much Republicans can do until they increase their media presence. It has become so far tilted even a terrorist sympathizer has become President and a Tax Cheat will become Treasury Secretary.
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 08:29:00 AM:
Actually they could use the spending issue. Since Democrats won House and Senate the National Debt is up 23% and the defecit is up 600%.. Hammer away on that..
By Catchy Pseudonym, at
Thu Jan 22, 09:09:00 AM:
I've got some advice for Republicans... people like Anon 12:01 aren't helping your party.
By Dawnfire82, at
Thu Jan 22, 09:47:00 AM:
*sigh*
We know. They're also usually the ones who like to insist on ideological purity and get indignant and say, "well we don't need *your* vote."
But Catchy, Democrats used to complain about getting shoved into the same category as Troofers, Hezb Allah demonstrators, Stalinists, and other such freaks that would regularly show up at Lefty events.
There's plenty of insanity to go around.
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 11:42:00 AM:
TH repeats good suggestions for the GOP. I'll go one step further: I think the Congress is already held in low regard, so pointing to the examples of irresponsibility, while important, isn't enough.
Point to state issues as well. GOP Congress-persons should be politically active in their states, specifically pointing out state spending issues, in conjunction with their state GOP, to the district voters. Of course, that'll require state GOP's to become fiscally responsible themselves and that might not be easy. It's the only way back though.
One more thing the GOP Congress needs to do is promote generational change in their own leadership. John Boehner at al need to go; they're the reason the GOP is in this mess, not the solution.
The old losers can stay in Congress, sure, but should not be the leadership the GOP sends out to meet with the President, and shouldn't be making the public case for whatever. Young, ethically unblemished, and fiscally responsible; that's (emphatically) the future of the GOP.
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 12:07:00 PM:
Another piece of advice to Republicans: just wait. Obama will screw up, big time. He will alienate his followers big time. The GOP will have it's shot.
Get prepared for taking advantage of that chance is the best advice. Do all the things mentioned above and the GOP will be ready to win.
VDH knows the press will pay a terrible price for their unquestioning abandonment of their duty to "audit" Obama during the election, so the press will not be the obstacle they were in the 2008 election. Good essay. And a former CIA spy from Iran worries too, which is scarier.
By Escort81, at
Thu Jan 22, 01:31:00 PM:
I certainly am not hoping for a terrorist attack on the U.S. as a means of narrowing President Obama's electoral and incumbent advantage four years hence, nor do I hope the economic situation worsens.
The breadth and depth of the passion that President Obama's core supporters feel (a big number, some decent % of the people who voted for him) is truly remarkable, and I don't believe there is any analogue in modern politics. There are many conservatives who really loved Ronald Reagan, but I think that even those folks would say that their relationship with Reagan is not anything like what President Obama's core supporters feel toward him. Clinton was called the first "rock star President," but Obama is Elvis multiplied by The Beatles raised to the power of U2. I confess to finding it a bit off-putting, as if the POTUS could wake up tomorrow and email to his base, "cut off the tip of your left ear lobe and send it to me as a sign of your fealty -- and remember to use sterile bandages and disinfectant afterwards; you can't help me change things if you're in shock," and most of them would do it! I joke, but at the same time can't help but acknowlegde that it represents a fair amount of power. All of that said, 52-48 is not 62-38, so flipping a few million votes in 2012 turns President Obama into a Carter (though I would not make that bet right now without receiving substantial odds).
Somewhat O/T, but I suggest watching the Frontline piece which aired earlier this week, entitled "Dreams of Obama" (click on link and then click on "watch the full program online"). I was surprised to learn about the extent to which other Democratic senators and former senators (especially Daschle, who, evidently learning from Kerry's problems in 2004 with his voting history, told Obama that less is more in terms of a senate record) worked to position then-Senator Obama for his run from very early on in his senate career.
Further somewhat O/T, but related to the point above regarding core supporters, and also hilarious, watch the "I Pledge" video on YouTube and then go directly and read Iowahawk's biting send-up of the transcript of the video (scroll down to "I Pledge").
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Thu Jan 22, 02:59:00 PM:
Escort81: "I don't believe there is any analogue in modern politics"
You have to go back to FDR in 1933.
One FDR example: As a white 15-year-old kid in the summer of 1960, I did volunteer political survey work in the poor African-American neighborhoods of Charlotte, NC. (Everyone else was scared to do it.) Many of the residents in those neighborhoods invited me into their houses. Most of the homes had a picture of FDR on a wall 15 years after his death. (There were no pictures of Truman, Eisenhower or other public figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the walls.)
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 03:34:00 PM:
The battle begins at home.
I live in Ohio. The present governor, Ted Strickland, is a Democrat. Not a bad guy, but not terribly charismatic, and he's got some real problems with the state economy and by consequence, the state budget. This is becoming pretty self-evident, even to the Democrat-sympathetic newspapers.
It appears that John Kasich (former congressmen-Republican) will run against him in 2010 (among others). The goal for Republicans in Ohio is to get Kasich (who I hope wins the nomination) elected in 2010. Short term, that is the most that can be done.
I don't think that the legions of hard-core Obama supporters will change sides in 2012 (or 2010), but the people in the muddled middle may have second thoughts if there is scant economic improvement by the mid-terms, let alone 2012. There are a lot of centrist Democrat Congressmen that hold onto their seats with a slim majority. 20-30 could be flipped in 2010 if discontent rises palpably.
Again, I don't wish for bad things for Obama and the country, but the Democrats control the Congress and the Executive now, and they will have to deliver. Screamin' Howard's party will actually have to do something tangible, and the endless media tongue-bath of the new President will not keep all of the discontent abated, if nothing is accomplished besides the union card-check bill, closing the detention center in Guantanamo and a few other laundry list items on the Democratic Party to-do list.
-David
By Viking Kaj, at
Thu Jan 22, 04:23:00 PM:
Give the Chicago Machine enough rope and they are sure to eventually hang themselves. There will be blood, and there will be corruption trials. I can't beleive they are putting a tax scofflaw in charge of the IRS. People will get tired of this soon enough.
As for the Pepublicans, it's time to separate church and state. Kick the religious nut jobs out of the party and get back to fiscal responsiblity, small government, the bill of rights and America first.
A pox on the war-profiteering, CIA mongering, nazi-loving, hate inspired Walker and Bush families, I say. May a member of their family never recieve a GOP nomination again.
By Dawnfire82, at
Thu Jan 22, 04:36:00 PM:
They're regular Bond villains, aren't they?
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 05:27:00 PM:
I agree with those who said you have to win the states in order to win the seats in Washington. The last two Presidential elections, Pennsylvania has been supposedly a "battleground" state. However in both of those elections the Democrat has won fairly easily. The reason for that is Ed Rendell. He is the reason Hillary crushed Obama in that state. If you have the states wired good things happen in Washington.
One more point to offer up if we make politics "local." Look at the worst run states in the country, every single one of them is a hard core Lefty state (CA, NY, NJ, MA, CT, RI, MI, NH, VT, ME). Who the hell is moving their business into any of these states? Upstate NY has lost 50% of its population in the last 50 years, while the rest of the country has almost tripled in size...They prove everyday how the principles of the Democratic Party do not work and if looking at those states they can view what a mess Western Europe is right now.
By , at
Thu Jan 22, 07:06:00 PM:
Larry Kudlow says that owners of capital are pulling a John Galt, and have gone to Colorado, or wherever. His view is that the GOP needs to go supply-side and hard:
"It really is time for the congressional Republicans to come up with a tax-cutting alternative that includes slashing the marginal tax rate for large and small businesses and individuals, and brings the investor class back into play.
Right now capital is on strike. So are investors. Supply-side incentives will bring them back. This is where the GOP must go."
I think the bankruptcy of our banking system might be a little bit tougher to solve than this, but these prescriptions would help the equity side of the economy a lot. The problem is that I don't know that this advice would get Republicans elected.
