Interesting read I saw over at Hannity's
-------------------------------------------
Let’s face facts. Conservatives in ’08 have found themselves on the fringe. They were unable to stop John McCain from becoming the nominee in ’08. Conservatives are now faced with the choice of holding their nose and voting GOP, or running off to the third parties to vote their conscience and hand Obama a victory. There’s almost no chance of a comeback in the Senate, or even in the House.
So how did they get here?
I’m interested in what people think happened. Here’s my top five things that went wrong:
1. Bush: Before you scream BDS, hear me out. Bush ran as a Compassionate Conservative, and yet for almost half or more of his Presidency he couldn’t even find his veto pen to control a ballooning budget. Many of his own ideas are hardly Conservative.
And yet Conservatives turned out to defend him and support him in ’00 and ’04. That had the double effect of telling the GOP leadership that Conservatives didn’t need to be taken seriously, and of giving the public a false sense of what it means to be a Conservative… and they didn’t like it. In the end, Bush wasn’t a Conservative, but he did redefine the movement in a way that damaged it fatally.
The Solution: Conservatives should have turned on Bush in ’00. Since time travel isn’t possible the only hope for Conservatives is to leave the GOP, take the lumps of an Obama victory and rebuild.
2. On the Defense: I’ll be honest, I do not think Conservatives are racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc. I’m sympathetic to the Conservative cause and would vote for a real Conservative.
However, think of how many times a Conservative has to start one of their talking points with “I’m not a homophobe but I don’t support Gay Marriage.” Or: “I’m not a racist but I oppose Affirmative Action.” Or: “I’m not a Xenophobe, but I want to crack down on Illegal Immigration.” Conservatives have found themselves on the side of issues that have driven away voting block after voting block, isolating them from growing minority blocks. Its made people view the Conservative movement as, at best, unsympathetic, and at worst, monsters.
The Solution: Conservatives need to be more proactive at pointing out why their views are reasonable while finding a way to reach out to these minorities. Wanting secure borders shouldn’t automatically mean alienating Hispanics
3. Failure to convince: Conservatives have, since the rise of Right Wing Radio, been quite to laugh at, deride, and belittle moderates. Anyone that compromises even a little bit is driven from the party as a RINO. Anyone that disagrees is a dirty Lib.
Thanks to this attitudes, Conservatives are seen as fringe elements among Moderates and Independents (Point 1 doesn’t help). Why bother listening to someone that will deride and laugh at you if you dare to disagree? Conservatives have become the angry drunk of the political world: Unwilling to even try to be polite and a sure bet to get a punch in the nose before the night is over.
The Solution: Conservatives need a charismatic proponent for their platform. Someone that won’t immediately jump to attack politics when they encounter someone with different ideas and someone open minded enough to listen to the Moderates and Independents you need to win an election. And No, Fred Thompson wasn’t that guy on his best day. Right Wing Radio’s tactics of shouting over the objections of the other guy, ignoring him, and belittling your opponent sells ad time, but won’t win elections or influence anymore.
4. They waited too late: Lets call a spade a spade. Rush, Sean, and Savage were irrelevant in the ’08 Primaries. They waited too late to back a winner, and by the time they were supporting Romney McCain was carrying the votes. IIRC Rush didn’t even deliver his home county in Florida.
Conservatives as a whole remained divided in the primary and waited too long for those they saw as leaders to actually show leadership. If they want to have an impact, that can never happen again. Conservative leaders calculated voicing support too early could make them irrelevant if their candidate of choice fell short… and yet in the end waiting made them irrelevant anyway.
The Solution: Start planning for ’12 now. Identify rising Conservative leaders and draft them to start preparing now. Who cares if McCain wins in ’08. Make him fight in his own party in ’12. You might not dethrone him, but you’ll force the GOP to take you seriously far earlier than ’16.
5. Missed Opportunities: Bush’s Presidency is a collection of missed opportunities. Paying for the GWoT should have been the wedge issue to make entitlement cuts to pay for the war. Instead, the Federal Government borrowed to spend money on the war and undercut the dollar. The GWoT should have been the center piece of a new way to wage war on a new enemy. Instead its become the Cold War Pt. 2: The same play book, just less effective. 9/11 should have been a call to action, to buy bonds, to become first responders. Instead it was a call to go shopping.
Bush’s Whitehouse, which was called a “Conservative” administration has been missed opportunity after missed opportunity to help Conservatives realize their long term goals and define for Americans what it means to be a Conservative.
Lest you think this is Point 1 repeated, the blame isn’t entirely Bush’s. Frist and DeLay helped sink the Conservative name and goals into the mud from the Senate and the House. Gingrich, Rush, and Sean should have stepped up to voice the Conservative agenda as the voice of populace if the elected “Conservatives” wouldn’t. If they wouldn’t, we the people should have spoke up to demand action.
We didn’t, and probably the greatest opportunity to set this nation on a Conservative track disappeared, hijacked by NeoCons and worse.
The Solution: There isn’t one for this point. The ship sailed. The only “solution” is that Conservative voters, leaders, and politicians need to be more proactive in the future.
__________________
-------------------------------------------
Let’s face facts. Conservatives in ’08 have found themselves on the fringe. They were unable to stop John McCain from becoming the nominee in ’08. Conservatives are now faced with the choice of holding their nose and voting GOP, or running off to the third parties to vote their conscience and hand Obama a victory. There’s almost no chance of a comeback in the Senate, or even in the House.
So how did they get here?
I’m interested in what people think happened. Here’s my top five things that went wrong:
1. Bush: Before you scream BDS, hear me out. Bush ran as a Compassionate Conservative, and yet for almost half or more of his Presidency he couldn’t even find his veto pen to control a ballooning budget. Many of his own ideas are hardly Conservative.
And yet Conservatives turned out to defend him and support him in ’00 and ’04. That had the double effect of telling the GOP leadership that Conservatives didn’t need to be taken seriously, and of giving the public a false sense of what it means to be a Conservative… and they didn’t like it. In the end, Bush wasn’t a Conservative, but he did redefine the movement in a way that damaged it fatally.
The Solution: Conservatives should have turned on Bush in ’00. Since time travel isn’t possible the only hope for Conservatives is to leave the GOP, take the lumps of an Obama victory and rebuild.
2. On the Defense: I’ll be honest, I do not think Conservatives are racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc. I’m sympathetic to the Conservative cause and would vote for a real Conservative.
However, think of how many times a Conservative has to start one of their talking points with “I’m not a homophobe but I don’t support Gay Marriage.” Or: “I’m not a racist but I oppose Affirmative Action.” Or: “I’m not a Xenophobe, but I want to crack down on Illegal Immigration.” Conservatives have found themselves on the side of issues that have driven away voting block after voting block, isolating them from growing minority blocks. Its made people view the Conservative movement as, at best, unsympathetic, and at worst, monsters.
The Solution: Conservatives need to be more proactive at pointing out why their views are reasonable while finding a way to reach out to these minorities. Wanting secure borders shouldn’t automatically mean alienating Hispanics
3. Failure to convince: Conservatives have, since the rise of Right Wing Radio, been quite to laugh at, deride, and belittle moderates. Anyone that compromises even a little bit is driven from the party as a RINO. Anyone that disagrees is a dirty Lib.
Thanks to this attitudes, Conservatives are seen as fringe elements among Moderates and Independents (Point 1 doesn’t help). Why bother listening to someone that will deride and laugh at you if you dare to disagree? Conservatives have become the angry drunk of the political world: Unwilling to even try to be polite and a sure bet to get a punch in the nose before the night is over.
The Solution: Conservatives need a charismatic proponent for their platform. Someone that won’t immediately jump to attack politics when they encounter someone with different ideas and someone open minded enough to listen to the Moderates and Independents you need to win an election. And No, Fred Thompson wasn’t that guy on his best day. Right Wing Radio’s tactics of shouting over the objections of the other guy, ignoring him, and belittling your opponent sells ad time, but won’t win elections or influence anymore.
4. They waited too late: Lets call a spade a spade. Rush, Sean, and Savage were irrelevant in the ’08 Primaries. They waited too late to back a winner, and by the time they were supporting Romney McCain was carrying the votes. IIRC Rush didn’t even deliver his home county in Florida.
Conservatives as a whole remained divided in the primary and waited too long for those they saw as leaders to actually show leadership. If they want to have an impact, that can never happen again. Conservative leaders calculated voicing support too early could make them irrelevant if their candidate of choice fell short… and yet in the end waiting made them irrelevant anyway.
The Solution: Start planning for ’12 now. Identify rising Conservative leaders and draft them to start preparing now. Who cares if McCain wins in ’08. Make him fight in his own party in ’12. You might not dethrone him, but you’ll force the GOP to take you seriously far earlier than ’16.
5. Missed Opportunities: Bush’s Presidency is a collection of missed opportunities. Paying for the GWoT should have been the wedge issue to make entitlement cuts to pay for the war. Instead, the Federal Government borrowed to spend money on the war and undercut the dollar. The GWoT should have been the center piece of a new way to wage war on a new enemy. Instead its become the Cold War Pt. 2: The same play book, just less effective. 9/11 should have been a call to action, to buy bonds, to become first responders. Instead it was a call to go shopping.
Bush’s Whitehouse, which was called a “Conservative” administration has been missed opportunity after missed opportunity to help Conservatives realize their long term goals and define for Americans what it means to be a Conservative.
Lest you think this is Point 1 repeated, the blame isn’t entirely Bush’s. Frist and DeLay helped sink the Conservative name and goals into the mud from the Senate and the House. Gingrich, Rush, and Sean should have stepped up to voice the Conservative agenda as the voice of populace if the elected “Conservatives” wouldn’t. If they wouldn’t, we the people should have spoke up to demand action.
We didn’t, and probably the greatest opportunity to set this nation on a Conservative track disappeared, hijacked by NeoCons and worse.
The Solution: There isn’t one for this point. The ship sailed. The only “solution” is that Conservative voters, leaders, and politicians need to be more proactive in the future.
__________________
hno:
