Where does the Republican Party Go From Here?

nothinghead

MrSmith wrote:

i was listening to the rightwing radio cancers on my long drive home, and they were saying that McCain and Bush werent real republicans anyway, and that they should be even more socially conservative than ever before to win next time. i thought, "have fun in irrelevent-extremist-land, assholes".

Yeah, that's not going to help them win. Never mind how I feel about the issues, I don't see that being a productive strategy for the Republicans.

beachdweller

they come to the middle or go away, the days of the right nutjobs running the asylum are over.

hopefully we'll see a strong moderate, inclusive republican party in the future, that would be a good thing, and in many a person's opinion a pipe dream, lol

jimed14

pjalive21 wrote:

wouldnt blame him either, i would dislike being president over America...ungrateful citizens

i wonder if Obama realizes instead of acting like a president he actually has to do something other than being a rockstar?

bitter, party of one ......... now serving bitter, party of one

know1

MrSmith wrote:

the republicans have to convince me they will cut spending, and it will be pretty hard to do that, considering they had years to do it and refused.

Me too.

But even if they are not as fiscally conservative as I want them to be (they never will be) I still wouldn't vote for the other party which we KNOW won't be fiscally conservative.

And I'm not saying you did do that.

Anon

pjalive21 wrote:

wouldnt blame him either, i would dislike being president over America...ungrateful citizens

i wonder if Obama realizes instead of acting like a president he actually has to do something other than being a rockstar?

Clickity click click

digster

Pj_Gurl wrote:

Clickity click click

Very true...they should be happy. It could've been like 2000, where the results of the election were in doubt. At least here they got creamed, so there could be no such confusion.

jimed14

Pj_Gurl wrote:

Clickity click click

hee hee hee hee

blondieblue227

Where does the Republican Party Go From Here?

the party has turned to nasty tactics and if they want to come back to the Reagan glory days they need to stop.

nasty isn't even the right word.

stop the lying
stop the coverups
stop behaving like bullies on the playground.

seriously, that's one reason why mcCain lost my vote.
i'm not saying Dems don't do it too, but the Reps have taken it to a whole new level.

heartdesire

jeffbr wrote:

Look, I don't think you're going to be happy with any observations, or acknowledge their validity, but I'll add a little something to my rant.

A little over 2 decades ago I was a Republican and pretty active in the party. Then the Robertson assholes did a great job organizing at the grassroots level, and took over the party. You couldn't get traditional republicans to be delegates to the district/county/state/national conventions. They would bring in their slate of delegates, and would bring numbers. The delegates would stand, talk about being born again, talk about their pro-life stance, talk about loving Jesus, and they'd get elected. Some of us would talk about our desire for small gov't, limited spending, increasing personal liberties and would not be elected as delegates. The delegates then go on to the conventions to draft platforms and select candidates.

I said fuck that noise, and became a libertarian. I have spend the last 2 decades watching the party of my grandparents and parents implode. Republicans would put up unelectable (but pro-life!!!!) candidates and get hammered by Democrats. I voted for my first Democrat in a governor's race because the Republicans put up an inept born-again loony who got completely smoked in the election.

This year, McCain ran a pretty shitty campaign, and probably wouldn't have won anyway, but in order to try to capture the whack-a-mole religionists of the party, they selected Palin to be his running mate. She was completely unelectable, virtually unvetted, and ended up being a huge anchor being drug along the campaign trail.

So it isn't just policy that we're talking about. It is candidates, and party decisions. Again, you may not like to hear it, but that's what I lived through. Ultimately I'm glad I left a couple of decades ago, because I'd hate to have been even remotely associated with W's horrid 8 years, but I miss the old Republican party.

What a great and honest rant jeffbr. You have had a wealth of first hand experience. It would be great if a few here would take to heart and mind your wise observations.

blondieblue227

jeffbr great post!

i saw RELIGULOUS tonight and it reminded me of what has happened to the rep party.
the world has changed. they are killing themselves by not changing with it.
i'm not saying turn Dem. but their party needs a serious overhaul.

FiveB247x

In my opinion, our society is completely miscontruing this election result. This election is more a reflection of people being fed up with the Bush administrations failures, more than a specific and solid backing of the Dems or Obama. This is not the last we've seen of Reaganomics or radical-rightwing politians using fear and religion to win approval or get in power. Over the course of the last 4yrs, people wanted to go in a different direction because this current administration wasn't showing results and only digging a deeper hole. Fear politics will always have a place in our system, but this current election and these circumstances we face and the candidates didn't provide the correct or right setting or atmosphere to work in practice and win power. It's not the last of it by any means. If you think I'm wrong, just think back to the 04' election. The Bush and Republican administration was far worse off in terms of the economy, price of goods/oil, Katrina disaster and the failures in Iraq, yet still won the election. That says a lot about people's tolerance for inefficiency and lack of responsibility and their general malaise to fall back into line to buy into religious and fear politics in society.

As for the future of the Republican party, I believe the reaction to their recent standing as right-wing radicals compared to their prior basis of conservatism will shift back. Who knows who will represent that shift, but I think they will do so and if Obama and the Dems show signs of failure or inefficiency, they will use it against them and claim they're back to their original roots of conservatism and traditionalism. If they go in any other direction, they really have poor strategists and haven't learned their lessons from what wins elections - illusions of what they represent, not necessarily what you do. McCain lost because of this - he couldn't separate himself enough from Bush-like policies and politics and it cost him. It is very refreshing that our society voted in a black president and shows progress, but I think at the end of the day, we could have just as easily be sitting here discussing the first woman president in Hillary because it's more a reflection of Republican failures and lack of changing their image compared to people really loving Obama and what the Dems offer in comparison.

Just my 2 cents.

Anon

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/103108/republican-vp-nominees-2012.gif

brain of c

the g.o.p. will stay the same.

a better ticket could have won them this election.

slightofjeff

Weren't we asking these same questions about the Democratic party after the 2004 election?

Politics are like a pendulum ... one party is in charge, ultimately abuses its power and pisses people off, then the other party gets a shot.

All the Republicans generally have to do is sit around and wait for the Democrats to piss off most of middle America -- which might happen sooner, rather than later, given that the Dems also control both houses of Congress -- and then they'll be back in power again. For a while, anyway.

AmentsChick

sweet adeline wrote:

palin/hasselbeck 2012

HAHAHAHAHAHA. That's the funniest thing I've read all day! LOL!




P.S. Hi there! How are ya? Any new mishaps with mystery meds?