8 Simple Rules For Reviving A Dying Elephant

I did not write this, but I wanted to post it on my blog from the first moment I read it. I offered for the author to post this as a guest blogger, but they preferred to remain anonymous. Please feel free to join in and leave your observations concerning how we can work to make the Republican Party relevantly conservative once again.

1. 1. Ditch the old guard! If Tuesday showed us anything it told us it is time to move on. Goodbye to the Doles, Bushes, and McCain’s. Thank you but you are the past. We need new leadership NOW. We need fresh ideas yesterday. We need young faces of tomorrow. The GOP MUST abandon its addiction to establishment candidates.
   2. Sweep out the dust! State GOP chairs who have blindly and stupidly marched lock step with Bush and his party leadership need to suffer the consequences and be voted out of office or resign in shame. Two years ago they had a unique opportunity to correct course and they made matters worse by giving Bush a leadership that split the party over immigration. In the words of one of their own “It is time, it is time for them to go.”
   3. Clean house! The house leadership team MUST be replaced with younger conservatives who will reassure the base. The leadership needs to also intentionally consider that it reflect the face of America: Eric Cantor, Marsha Blackburn would be good places to start. As few old establishment guys who smoke as possible PLEASE!
   4. Embrace who you are! Be conservative or not but figure it out and stop apologizing for whatever the heck it is you believe. If you are social conservative, economic conservative, and a federalist – do your homework for goodness sake and know how to defend yourself. Other wise you look like a phony who has faked it so you can have power.
   5. Vote in some minorities and women for crying out loud! Hello! The reason McCain picked Palin was because he needed an executive who was a woman and could solidify his base (particularly social conservatives) – it’s not his fault the party only has one out there you bone heads have elected. How many times do you think quality African American candidates will put them selves up for election knowing they will suffer the scorn of their own race just to have the party only halfheartily support them? Crawl on your knees to Lynn Swan, Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele, and J. C. Watts and tell them you will do whatever it takes.
   6. Develop an in depth deliberate media strategy to overcome the UNBELIEVABLE media bias advantage for the donkeys. It needs to reveal relentless exposure and an all out war against the main stream elite media. It needs to include the development of alternative media and strengthening of talk radio and conservative Internet.
   7. The senate is our only line of legislative defense – get nasty and never, never, never give in. How many times are your donkey friends in the senate going to have to kick you before you realize they have no intention of playing nice?
   8. OK guys its time some of you got a reality check – elite country club republicanism and Washington insider establishment republicanism does not win elections. IT NEVER HAS. Stop trying to run off the guys who put you in power and belittle our leaders such as Huckabee and Palin. We are your party. Get used to it or chose to keep losing.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Republican Party obviously really lost on every level on Tuesday. However, In the midst of all the political pity that I’ve been feeling, I think it’s important to get beyond the inevitable political demoralization that conservatives are feeling, and start looking at the real consequences of this election, and where we are to go from here as conservatives.

Of all the places to find it, my first post election inspiration came from Ralph Nader. At the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr. “Full-Time Citizen” rightfully pointed out that no political party is the real loser in this election. The real losers, according to Mr. Nader, are the American people. (He then proceeded to ruin this profound moment by spewing his usual socialist, anti- capitalism jargon, but that’s besides the point.)

Mr. Nader’s words, when applied to a conservative ideology, are very true. Republicans have lost nothing compared to what the American people have lost. In the next 2-4 years, the American people will feel the burden of electing someone with an extremely liberal ideology to the highest office in the land. Steven M. Nielson at The New Conservative had a great post about what to expect in the new socialist administration.

Mr. Nader, (Who actually managed to say two profound things in one day.), also pointed out that there are two kinds of people who react to failed elections. Firstly, there are those who react to political failure with a recessive trait. These people allow themselves to be demoralized by failure, which leads to a compromise in principle, which in turn will ensure continued failure. Secondly, there are those who react to political failure with a civic trait. These people realize that their failings had nothing to do with their message, but rather in the way that their message was delivered.

In order to rebuild the Republican Party, we must return to the principles that we improved America with in the 1980’s and in 1994. The media seems to think that the only effective way for Republicans to regain power is to shift farther to the left ideologically. This is completely wrong. As Barry Goldwater pointed out, conservatives faced the same problem in 1960.

“We are daily cosigned by “enlightened” commentators to political oblivion: Conservatism, we are told, is out of date. The charge is preposterous and we ought boldly to say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. The principles on which the Conservative political position is based have been established by a process that has nothing to do with social, economic, and political landscape that changes from decade to decade and from century to century. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. Circumstances do change. So do the problems that are shaped by circumstances. But the principles that govern the solution of the problems do not. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle’s Politics are out of date. The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today. The challenge is not to find new or different truths, but to learn how to apply established truths to the problems of the contemporary world.”

We ought to realize that the American people are attracted to authenticity, that’s why Reagan was the only successful Republican president in the last 50 years.  Reagan didn’t feel the need to shift to the left, and we shouldn’t either.  In the words of Mike Huckabee, “We will never compromise our principles for anyone else’s politics.” Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

My Final Case For John McCain

In the next few hours, I will be one of the millions of voters who will cast their vote for Senator John McCain as the next President of the United States. I am glad to say that I am doing this in accordance with my own convictions, and with an unwavering belief that my decision is the best decision for the future of this country.

John McCain is the kind of man that we need to lead us to meet the challenges that this nation will face in the next four years. In these dangerous times, our nation can not afford to experiment an unproven leader, and we can’t afford to test leftist ideologies in the daily governance of this nation. Unlike Barack Obama, Sen. McCain is not lacking in the qualities of a good leader. Simply put, Sen. McCain has the character, judgment, and passion that will be required of our next president.

Senator McCain’s character has been evident in his extensive service of the country that he loves. From enduring the torture of a North Vietnamese prison, to his fight to restore the publics trust in their elected officials, John McCain’s service has been rooted in his love of this country, and of the noble ideals which it so proudly represents. I believe that John McCain will restore the respect that has been lacking in the office of the presidency for the past 20 years. In John McCain, we will not only have a leader that we can believe in, but we will have a leader that has earned our respect.

John McCain has also displayed the judgment that is necessary of a President of the United States. In matters concerning foreign policy, Sen. McCain has shown the wisdom that is required of the next commander in chief. In 1983, then Congressman McCain was one of the few elected officials who had the foresight to see that sending American troops into Lebanon would bring disastrous results. Also, Sen. McCain was the only senator to denounce our failed strategy in Iraq early on, and he was the first elected official to advocate the strategy that is currently bringing about victory in Iraq.

Unlike Senator Obama, John McCain has shown an ability and willingness to put aside divisive partisanship in order to get things done for this country. In several instances that have alienated him from his own party, Sen. McCain has shown an ability to follow through with what he believes is right.

I also believe that John McCain will bring change to Washington. Senator McCain shares the hight standards that Americans have for their elected officials. Sen. McCain is obsessed with rooting out corruption and restoring the publics trust in their government.

Hopefully, you understand why I am voting for Senator John McCain as the 44th President Of The United States. To anyone who might be reading this today, on November 4th, I urge you strongly to get out and vote for Senator John McCain.

Obama Nation

John McCain’s chances of being the 44th President Of The United States are looking dimmer and dimmer. As of today, October 28th, Barack Obama leads Sen. McCain in all nine of the major national tracking polls, of which the slimmest lead is projecting Sen. Obama ahead by four points. Additionally, most pollsters project Sen. Obama’s electorate count to be somewhere in the mid 300’s, while Sen. McCain is dwindling in the high to mid 100’s.

I don’t think that John McCain’s campaign can be blamed for losing this election. Granted, they haven’t been perfect, but they haven’t screwed up nearly as bad as they could have.

Republicans, (especially conservatives) always knew that 2008 wouldn’t be easy. Conservatism’s main vehicle has been without a steering wheel for the past eight years. Conservatives have elected an administration that is more concerned about governing by power than by principle, and we are now looking at the possibility of paying dearly for our mistakes by electing an extremely liberal president.

The way things are going, it looks like we will not only have a liberal president, but a liberal congress as well.  If Republicans fail to defend their senate seats in New Mexico, Virginia, New Hampshire, Alaska, or Mississippi, we could be looking at a Democratic filibuster-proof majority.  We are essentially looking at a Pelosi, Reid, Obama triumvate for at least the next two years.

Unfortunately, this is our legacy to inherit.  This is our consequence for electing George W. Bush.

The Final Debate

I think that everyone can agree that last night’s final presidential debate was the most entertaining general election debate that we’ve seen in years. As I’ve said before, however, most people have already made up their mind about who to vote for, and naturally their preconceived notions will determine their opinion as to who actually won the debate. Most Republicans will say that John McCain beat Barack Obama to a pulp, while most Democrats will say that John McCain was desperately attacking Obama, and that Obama withstood it.

Being a Republican, I am obviously one of those people who think that McCain clearly won. I honestly wish that Sen. McCain went into the first debate with the same mindset that he had last night. If he had, then Republicans would have a clear lead in the polls right now.

I thought that Sen. McCain ’s most effective line was when he said, “Sen. Obama, I’m not President Bush, if you want to run against President Bush, than you should have ran four years ago.”

In my opinion, Sen. McCain touched on everything that is wrong with the prospect of an Obama presidency. McCain got the final word in this last debate, time will only tell if it will matter.

Winners & Losers

How does a candidate “win” a presidential debate? On Friday, Sept. 26, John McCain and Barack Obama met for their first presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi. The debate was supposedly to be focused on foreign policy, where John McCain would have a natural advantage over Barack Obama. However, the debate didn’t turn out as anyone would have expected. Firstly, Obama didn’t embarrass himself, and secondly, over half of the debate was focused on the economic crisis.

The general verdict from the media was that the two candidates battled to a draw, with Barack Obama emerging as the winner by default. I, however, came away with an entirely different impression. It seemed to me that Sen. Obama was on the defensive for most of the ninety minute debate. He had to withdraw some of his arguments, and used the lame debate tactics of agreeing with his opponent, ( “Sen. McCain is absolutely correct.), and countering his opponents attacks with a simple, “that’s not true.” Initially, I couldn’t understand how anyone who watched the debate could think that Barack Obama won.

Last Thursday night, Sarah Palin completely discredited my prior judgement. This time, it was my candidate who was emphathizing with the audience. My candidate was looking good on T.V, and my candidate was effectively communicating to the audience. Once again, I thought my candidate had won the debate.

It wasn’t until the post debate analysis on T.V that I began to notice a double standard. All three political correspondants on the major networks declared Joe Biden the winner, apparently using the same standard that I had judged the first debate by. In this race’s debates, the nature of the candidates running has ensured that there will be no clear winners or losers. In the remaining debates, I think that it is safe to predict that Barack Obama will be more effective at communicating, and John McCain will prove more effective at actually debating.

On the Saturday Night Live post debate analysis, I think that Amy Poehler was right when she said that “whoever you already liked” won the VP debate.

A Review Of Last Night’s Debate

Last night’s presidential debate was one of the most polite and civil debates that I have ever seen.  I commend both Sens. McCain and Obama for being able to balance healthy competition and civility.  Likewise, Jim lehrer should be commended for moderating such a great debate.

I think that Sen. McCain won the debate by default, but Sen. Obama certainly didn’t lose.  You can’t fault McCain’s performance at all, and the only thing that Obama did wrong was agree with McCain about ten times.  In a debate, that tatic causes you to lose credibility.  Sen. McCain didn’t yield to Obama’s arguments at all, and that is the only reason why he won the debate.

The debate, although being very professional, was for the most part uneventful.  Everyone knew what each candidate was going to say before they said it.  That’s the problem with good debates, they don’t give much to write about.