GOP Launches Launches Democrat Lite Tour

03 May, 2009 by William Teach

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It’s supposed to be a listening tour to accompany their launch of the National Council for a New America. So, where do they launch it?

With the party at its lowest standing in several decades, Republicans on Saturday launched a listening tour in the heart of the Democratic suburbs, where several of the party’s leading voices steered clear of hot-button issues and instead emphasized the need to advance new policy ideas to revive the party’s prospects.

There’s a great idea. Let’s listen to Democrats. That should get the Conservative base involved!

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and former Republican governors Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney – both frequently mentioned as potential 2012 GOP presidential candidates – spoke to about 100 attendees at a pizzeria in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Va.. The event was the first held by the newly launched National Council for a New America.

The common thread at the forum was that the Republicans Party’s struggles are rooted in its nostalgia for a more successful past, and inability to offer a policy agenda suited for the 21st century. To make a political comeback, the GOP leaders argued, the party needs to modernize its ideas and agenda.

Modernize, huh? In other words, become Democrat Lite. Check the National Council link. See what their wonderful “Blueprint for Our Conversation with America” is. I’ll wait.

Are you as annoyed and disturbed as me, if you are a Conservative? It gets better

At the forum, there was little talk about the president’s recently passed budget and stimulus proposals, which were vigorously opposed by Republicans. Instead, the GOP trio talked about bread-and-butter issues that directly impact voters – the rising cost of health care, merit pay for teachers, and the price of college tuition.

Really? These are the issues they discuss? Democrat issues? Certainly, they are important, but how about energy independence? What happened to “Drill Here, Drill Now?” How about discussing issues like the out of control spending, which the GOP was heavily involved in before the Democrats showed them that the GOP was the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Dems NY Yankees? How about the expansion of the federal government and the constant intrusion into private lives and businesses? Democrat plans for gun control? Illegal immigration? How about the massive debt the country is going to be holding thanks to the Generational Theft Act, the Omnibus bill, and the ever rising budget, not to mention the coming tax increases as well as the rising cost of goods from climate change legislation? Eric? Hello?

So, I thought I might ask him over at his Whip Blog, where I can “join the conversation.” I left one, part of which was

Is the National Council for a New America’s agenda meant to be a joke? Health care as #2 on the list? National security as 4? Where are the parts about responsible spending, being wise stewards of the money the federal government takes from the people at the barrel of a jail cell, limiting the the federal government in private citizens lives, reducing illegal immigration, and leaving issues that belong to the States and the People to the States and the People, as espoused in the 9th and 10th Amendments? (there was another long paragraph, but, was only able to rescue this one)

Comments are moderated, and, at the time of posting this, still not showing up. Someone else’s comment is there, though. Guess Eric only wants to have a conversation with those who mostly agree with him.

Dan Riehl writes:

I don’t want to be too hard on these guys. My belief is that they are well-meaning, along with wanting to keep their names in the mix. But Jeb Bush has another new Federal Education Plan and Romney wants to talk Health Care reform? Who would have guessed. They’ve both been doing the same thing for years. This is a PR stunt and one that’s doomed to fail if it’s going to produce Democrat-lite.

These guys and the rest of the Republicans need to catch a clue that being Democrat Lite doesn’t work. If someone offers you a Rolex, or a copy of the same Rolex for the same price, which do you pick? There is no need to modernize ideas that have been popular since the time the Declaration of Independence was written, heck, before that, and much codified in the Constitution. There is no reason we can’t discuss other issues, but, how about ones that Conservatives and Republicans (not necessarily one and the same) care about? Why not go to this post at the Whip Blog and let him know.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove