9 Post Election Thoughts

* I’m not interested in “bipartisanship” and the Republicans in Congress shouldn’t be either — unless the Democrats are willing to move to the right, not vice-versa. When the Democrats push non-conservative legislation (which should account for almost everything they do), the GOP goal should be to throw sand in the gears at every opportunity.

* I think moving to the middle is at the root of the GOP’s problem, not the solution to our problems. I think the fact the GOP didn’t cater to conservatives is exactly the reason why we lost in 2008, not something we should do less of in the future.

* No one who was in charge of anything in the GOP in 2008 should be in charge of it in 2009, particularly Mitch McConnell. The best case for any of these guys could be made for John Boehner, who was a generally competent, conservative leader — but in the end, even he blew it on the bailout, which should be a career-ending call for a Republican leader.

* I don’t much care what George Will, Kathleen Parker, David Frum, any McCain staffers, Christopher Buckley, Colin Powell, David Brooks, Tucker Carlson or any of the other snobs, Beltway insiders, or sell-outs who trashed Palin or voted for Obama think about anything.

* The closest thing the GOP has to a political leader now is Sarah Palin, not John McCain.

* John McCain has been the equivalent of a Biblical plague on the Republican Party. He screwed conservatives at every turn to get revenge on us for rejecting him in 2000, he put the party at a financial disadvantage with McCain-Feingold, he supported an amnesty bill that devastated the party in the short term and would be even worse in the long term, he signed onto the bailout, lost the 2008 election, and now his worthless aides — probably, with his blessing — are trashing Sarah Palin and trying to blame her for McCain’s failure — and my guess is, he isn’t done yet.

* Obama winning the election is terrible news for the Republican Party and for America, but it is entirely conceivable that having McCain in there could have been even worse…

* I still hear conservatives talking about a “purge” of moderate voters. Bad idea. When you lose elections, you need to add more voters, not drive them out of our party. The only place we need to “purge” moderates from is leadership positions in the Republican Party.

* Along similar lines, the big problem the GOP has is that we don’t do the basic things that people expect from Republicans. We don’t fight — for small government, to get spending under control, for law and order (see the immigration fight), to get corruption in Congress under control, for free speech, and to limit government power.

Those things should be as basic to our Republican representatives in Congress as blocking and tackling are in football. If they start getting back to basics, you will see conservatives get excited again, the money will flow again, the new media will talk up Republicans again, moderates will flock back to the party and we can turn things around in a hurry.

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!