It’s gotten so gloomy that at the annual House Republican retreat just before Inauguration Day in January, the motivational speakers included the executive who turned around Domino’s Pizza and the first blind man to reach the top of Mount Everest. Were the GOP a television network, it would be fifth-place NBC, falling not only behind its traditional competitors but Univision. Read more »
If conservatives come to the table with solutions that put our communities first, it will go a long way toward winning elections.
But it’s difficult to get people even to consider your reform ideas if they think, with good reason, you don’t like or respect them. Building a winning coalition to tackle the looming fiscal and trust deficits will be impossible if we continue to alienate broad segments of the population. We must be happy warriors who refuse to tolerate those who want Hispanic votes but not Hispanic neighbors. We should applaud states that lead on reforming drug policy. And, consistent with the Republican Party’s origins, we must demand equality under the law for all Americans.
While serving as governor of Utah, I pushed for civil unions and expanded reciprocal benefits for gay citizens. I did so not because of political pressure—indeed, at the time 70 percent of Utahns were opposed—but because as governor my role was to work for everybody, even those who didn’t have access to a powerful lobby. Civil unions, I believed, were a practical step that would bring all citizens more fully into the fabric of a state they already were—and always had been—a part of. Read more »
A national Republican strategist said in Iowa on Monday that Republicans should speak out in favor of same-sex marriage because the majority of Americans support it and it’s consistent with conservative values.
In private meetings with GOP elected officials and operatives from across Iowa, Ken Mehlman, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2005 to 2007 and managed George W. Bush’s re-election campaign, has been urging the politicos to recognize the evolution in thinking and demographic shifts in Iowa and the nation.
“Republicans have an opportunity to both stand up for values that are core to our philosophy — freedom, family values and the golden rule — and to do the right thing politically by allowing adults who love one another to have access to civil marriage,” Mehlman said in an interview with The Des Moines Register on Monday. Read more »
A reader emails regarding the gun control debate and in particular the Piers Morgan vs. Alex Jones.
So yeah.. just got through reading the reporting about this and finally got time to watch the full broadcast:
To be honest, after watching that, I think most pro-gun advocates need to let that one slide. I’m sure the pro-control crowd, given time to see more than just the highlights and soundbits, will want some distance.
You don’t have to print what I’m saying here, but you’re welcome to if you like - if you want to blog it, that’s your call, cut and paste as you see fit.. grab what you need. If you’re re-printing, just include the statement from myself that I try to live, act and comment from a neutral position – I’ll hear out both sides then make my own judgement. I don’t comment from the left, right, or center, nor do I subscribe to their mailers – only what I personally believe, regardless of political fanboi-ism.
I’ve wavered on my (very ‘not matters much at all considering I don’t have a US citizenship’) opinion of the whole US firearms debacle. I don’t believe that civilians have a “need” for firearms like the “civilian” modified AR-15. I’m highly aware that 70-odd% of firearms violence is caused by hand-guns, not Assault Rifles. I’m well aware that considering it’s political and historical ramifications, the 2nd Amendment must be upheld.
But what exactly are the ramifications of that 2nd Amendment; what did those founding fathers mean; and what do those sacrosanct passages really entitle a gun owner to?
The full debate between Alex and Piers uncovers a lot – and it’s not the conspiracy about serotonin re uptake inhibitors.. or any other crackpot idea that Jones can make some money off now that Ron Paul isn’t being fucked over for his financial benefit.
In case you missed it.. “INFOWARS DOT COM!!!”
Alex Jones is the Alexei/Lucia Maria of US Gun Politics. He’s the example of the absolute worst of the argument, that level that Colbert doesn’t even reach in his satire. The problem is that one side uses reason, the other froths at the mouth- and because the former engages the latter, the latter is enabled.
I’ve spent time among the Ron Paul crowd, arguably the most Republican of the GOP. I’ve spent time among the Obama people, who are the Clinton people, who are the Carter people. And to look at both of their arguments, I see the flaws in both.
The Democrats are reacting, which they should, but in the wrong areas: I personally think they’re on the right track with universal background checks, particularly in the area of mental health, and closing loopholes like the “Gun Show Loophole”. But they’re reacting too late, to political footballs that are simply a hot topic to earn a vote.
The Republicans are reacting, which is, I guess, all they can do.. defend the 2nd Amendment, and manoeuvre around that basic premise. The problem is that their current argument (see Wayne LaPierre’s comments and their notorious press release) falls apart when they compare themselves to other countries – ie: video game consumption per capita.
I think the issue, that nobody wants to address as a potential political landmine, is the question of “Why are Americans so much more prone to deciding to go out in a ‘Blaze of Glory’ by shooting up a school before they top themselves? Is our national culture a bit… ‘fucked’?”
“There is only one group to blame,” Christie said. “The House Majority and John Boehner.”
“Last night, the House Majority failed the basic test of leadership and they did so with callous disregard to the people of my state,” he said. “It was disappointing and disgusting to watch.”
“Shame on you, shame on Congress.”
Following his remarks, Christie doubled down on his criticism in a lengthy — and incredibly candid — press conference in which he laid into House Republicans for putting “palace intrigue” ahead of their actual jobs.
Newt Gingrich blames Mitt Romney for being a bad candidate.
More than that, he blames the Republican party for fostering a corrosive culture that produced Romney as its candidate. The former House Speaker argued that the GOP has grown stale and introverted, putting itself on the wrong side of history on issues like immigration and painting itself into a corner on others, like gay marriage.
Romney’s failed candidacy was just the latest illustration of this, the 69-year-old Gingrich said in hour-long interview that dealt, in large part, with the GOP’s problems and what he hopes to contribute to their solution.
Gingrich, whose staying power in the Republican primary has surprised many observers, was Romney’s most acerbic critic during that intraparty contest. He would go on to play the role of dutiful soldier during the general election, only to revert back to form a month and a half after the national contest ended with Romney losing handily.
“I think either [Texas Gov. Rick] Perry or I would have probably done better [against Obama],” said the former speaker, exhibiting a bit of his trademark braggadocio.
Gingrich didn’t go so far as to say he would have won outright as the Republican nominee. But even as he walked himself back momentarily, he couldn’t help but offer another boast.
“[I]f Obama had pounded on my weaknesses as intensely as Romney, who knows what would have happened. So I don’t want to be arrogant and say I would have done better,” said Gingrich. “I would say my impression is that, from the Obama team’s standpoint, the two candidates they found the hardest to cope with were Perry and me.”
Having given the GOP a good hiding in the last election, Obama is using his organisation to promote his solutions to the Fiscal Cliff. Unfortunately this has put the Republicans noses out of joint.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker John A. Boehner ripped into President Barack Obama on Tuesday for planning to take his fiscal cliff message on the road.
The White House announced early Tuesday a schedule of events for Obama this week aimed at bolstering his position on averting an income tax hike on the middle class. He’ll meet with small-business owners Tuesday and middle-class Americans and business leaders Wednesday. On Friday, Obama will head to Pennsylvania to for an event at a manufacturing facility that could be affected by the cliff.
The showmanship didn’t go over well with GOP leaders.
“Rather than sitting down with lawmakers of both parties and working out an agreement, he’s back on the campaign trail, presumably with the same old talking points that we’re all quite familiar with,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on the Senate floor, a day after declaring the fiscal cliff talks at an “impasse.”
The GOP may have failed to notice but blocking anything and everything Obama tried to do means he probably cant see much point in talking to them. Political negotiations require concessions on both sides, not just saying No new taxes and refusing to negotiate.
Leighton Smith would do well to read these wise words about the recent US elections. And before anyone whinges that a left-winger wrote them, they come from The American Conservative site and true fiscal conservative Bruce Bartlett.
At least a few conservatives now recognize that Republicans suffer for epistemic closure. They were genuinely shocked at Romney’s loss because they ignored every poll not produced by a right-wing pollster such as Rasmussen or approved by right-wing pundits such as the perpetually wrong Dick Morris. Living in the Fox News cocoon, most Republicans had no clue that they were losing or that their ideas were both stupid and politically unpopular.
Commenters will not doubt exclaim that no one cares about the gay vote, but then they would by myopic bigoted fools who don’t understand that gay voters are motivated enough to turn out and they also have similarly motivated straight friends and family they carry with them into the voting stations:
While President Obama’s lopsided support among Latino and other minority voters has been a focus of postelection analysis, the overwhelming support he received from another growing demographic group — Americans who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual — has received much less attention.
But the backing Mr. Obama received from gay voters also has a claim on having been decisive. Mitt Romney and Mr. Obama won roughly an equal number of votes among straight voters nationwide, exit polls showed. And, a new study argues, Mr. Romney appears to have won a narrow victory among straight voters in the swing states Ohio and Florida.
Mr. Obama’s more than three-to-one edge in exit polls among the 5 percent of voters who identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual was more than enough to give him the ultimate advantage, according to the study, by Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, in conjunction with Gallup.
[T]here were times in the campaign when I saw Karl Rove on Fox make quite a mature and compelling argument about how – despite the evidence of the polls – Romney was well placed to win. But then a few hours later I’d see Dick Morris making the same arguments in his cartoonish way. And as soon as I saw Dick Morris peddling the line, I knew for certain Rove was bluffing.
Perhaps most damaging of all was the way Fox prevented Romney and the Republicans from properly stress-testing their arguments. Time and again, a Romney surrogate would be taken apart on an issue like their economic policy or stance on abortion. But an hour later they’d be back in the Fox studio, being lobbed softballs and given a soft ride. And it lulled them and their campaign into thinking the earlier car-crash had been an aberration, just one more example of the venality of the MSM.
Obviously Fox are influential. They reach a wide audience, and are a major, well-resourced and professionally run national broadcast outlet. But I’m not so sure they’re as damaging to Democrats as Democrats fear, or as helpful to Republicans as Republicans like to think.
And as the GOP begins the process of sifting through the wreckage of its latest election defeat, it needs to learn a lesson. Just because you’re winning around Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, it doesn’t mean you’re winning around America.
