Who heads the GOP?

[Si modo]

If he's not the defacto leader, the El Rushbo is certainly the guy holding the big stick.

Right now, no one in the GOP will stand up to him directly and quite a few seem to adopt his rhetoric. He may not be directly issuing orders, but he's probably at the top of the list for influences in the GOP right now.

Cool. Then Olberman is the same type of leader of the Dems. Or would you like to use the "perception is reality" argument?

 

[paperview]

Michael Steele.

Who kisses Rush's Ring with big sloppy's.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

Easy to see who the libs are voting for.

 

[Si modo]

Michael Steele.

Who kisses Rush's Ring with big sloppy's.

If you already have your own answer (far from accurate, but not a surprise considering your input) in your head, why bother asking 'who heads the party'?

See, if Michael Steele is NOT the head of the GOP because of some sort of "perception is everything", be very careful of that. You'll end up looking like an idiotic hypocrit if you don't like the perceptions of your opposition.

I would say let's see if you can think that one through, but I am posting this more for the benefit of others.

 

[nodoginnafight]

No one

THAT is one of their biggest problems

No a single REAL LEADER among the lot - just a bunch of followers, sound bite soldiers, and poll-watching snivelers

 

[Wry Catcher]

IMO Steele is a figure head, apponted by the power elite of the Republican Party to suggest to the uninformed what a big tent they have.
Now, who are the power elite of the Republican Party? These, again IMO, are those who issue the talking points which we hear nearly daily, and their names can be found on the PNAC Web Site as signers of a Statement of (their) Principles, and listed below.

Elliott Abrams Gary Bauer William J. Bennett Jeb Bush

Dick Cheney Eliot A. Cohen Midge Decter Paula Dobriansky Steve Forbes

Aaron Friedberg Francis Fukuyama Frank Gaffney Fred C. Ikle

Donald Kagan Zalmay Khalilzad I. Lewis Libby Norman Podhoretz

Dan Quayle Peter W. Rodman Stephen P. Rosen Henry S. Rowen

Donald Rumsfeld Vin Weber George Weigel Paul Wolfowitz

 

[Si modo]

Spare us the racist euphemisms.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Cool. Then Olberman is the same type of leader of the Dems. Or would you like to use the "perception is reality" argument?

So do you deny the Rush is pretty influential in the Republican ranks?

 

[Si modo]

Cool. Then Olberman is the same type of leader of the Dems. Or would you like to use the "perception is reality" argument?

So do you deny the Rush is pretty influential in the Republican ranks?

Do you deny Olberman is influential in the Democratic Party ranks? It goes both ways.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Cool. Then Olberman is the same type of leader of the Dems. Or would you like to use the "perception is reality" argument?

So do you deny the Rush is pretty influential in the Republican ranks?

Do you deny Olberman is influential in the Democratic Party ranks? It goes both ways.

I don't like him, but Olbermann has viewers that do and folks that listen to him. He does have some influence. Right now, the leader of the defacto leader of the DNC is Obama. As President he has the most influence in party if he chooses to use it... just as Bush was the defacto leader of the GOP while he was President.

Nailing down who's leading the party out of power is always rough. The GOP doesn't have much in the way of leadership right now, but Rush is probably the most influential. Who else is there? Steele can barely get press and seems to have almost no pull whatsoever. Unless he's a lot stronger behind the scenes than he appears to be, he's not the guy in charge.

 

[REVxERIK]

Cool. Then Olberman is the same type of leader of the Dems. Or would you like to use the "perception is reality" argument?

So do you deny the Rush is pretty influential in the Republican ranks?

Do you deny Olberman is influential in the Democratic Party ranks? It goes both ways.

i agree with this. even though i think both are phonies their influence in the parties is not

 

[Si modo]

I agree that they are phonies. I don't listen or watch any of them...not a single one. I will not pigeon-hole an entire party based on the entertainment they tend to watch. It's not quite bright. It's rhetoric not based in fact and more importantly, it's based on sterotypes. Stereotypes are not usually logical.

It's emotional rhetoric. It torques folks up and leads to more divisiveness in this country.

 

[REVxERIK]

I agree that they are phonies. I don't listen or watch any of them...not a single one. I will not pigeon-hole an entire party based on the entertainment they tend to watch. It's not quite bright. It's rhetoric not based in fact and more importantly, it's based on sterotypes. Stereotypes are not usually logical.

It's emotional rhetoric. It torques folks up and leads to more divisiveness in this country.

wise words of wisdom

 

[Si modo]

Way cool, Rev!

 

[Nosmo King]

How did the Republicans engineer thier big 1994 comeback? Contract with America. A plan.

The rudderless ship that is the GOP is under mutiny right now. Only the most fervent Right Wingers need apply. There is no plan. Only opposition to the president. No agenda the American people can embrace and take confidence in. Status quo? Good luck! People want health care reform and the current crop of Republicans offer no such reform.

And that will set the GOP back for years to come. Letting the Righties take control means the party will go through ideological purges until only the most Conservative bona fides have a voice in policy.

A doomed strategy, but look at the disarray Bush left in his wake.

 

[REVxERIK]

How did the Republicans engineer thier big 1994 comeback? Contract with America. A plan.

The rudderless ship that is the GOP is under mutiny right now. Only the most fervent Right Wingers need apply. There is no plan. Only opposition to the president. No agenda the American people can embrace and take confidence in. Status quo? Good luck! People want health care reform and the current crop of Republicans offer no such reform.

And that will set the GOP back for years to come. Letting the Righties take control means the party will go through ideological purges until only the most Conservative bona fides have a voice in policy.

A doomed strategy, but look at the disarray Bush left in his wake.

whoah! good analogy

 

[Oddball]

How did the Republicans engineer thier big 1994 comeback? Contract with America. A plan.

That and backlash against an overreaching president and congress.

The rudderless ship that is the GOP is under mutiny right now. Only the most fervent Right Wingers need apply. There is no plan. Only opposition to the president. No agenda the American people can embrace and take confidence in. Status quo? Good luck! People want health care reform and the current crop of Republicans offer no such reform.

And that will set the GOP back for years to come. Letting the Righties take control means the party will go through ideological purges until only the most Conservative bona fides have a voice in policy.

Well, eight years of that worked out well for the dems in the end, didn't it?

 

[Nosmo King]

How did the Republicans engineer thier big 1994 comeback? Contract with America. A plan.

That and backlash against an overreaching president and congress.

The rudderless ship that is the GOP is under mutiny right now. Only the most fervent Right Wingers need apply. There is no plan. Only opposition to the president. No agenda the American people can embrace and take confidence in. Status quo? Good luck! People want health care reform and the current crop of Republicans offer no such reform.

And that will set the GOP back for years to come. Letting the Righties take control means the party will go through ideological purges until only the most Conservative bona fides have a voice in policy.

Well, eight years of that worked out well for the dems in the end, didn't it?

What 'worked out' for the Democrats was a candidate with a positive message and a dynamic leadership style. Let me repeat that: a positive message.

Anything like that coming from Republicans?

What I hear the Republicans saying is "NO!". What I hear is doom and gloom and no real solutions other than stick with the status quo. It's starting to sound as if the health care industry is writing Republican talking points. With premiums rising faster than incomes, with access being denied for any reason the insurance providers want, the people are understandably frustrated. What solutions do the Republicans propose? Not many if any at all.

Backlash will carry the Republicans to the corner. Sequestered by hate and suspicion, the Right Wing will lead the Republicans to an untenable place where only the conspiracists and the haters (natural in any free society) dwell. Unfortunately, without a viable plan, that's where the Republican party will stay unless and until a message of positive change comes from whatever is left of the Republican leadership.

 

[The Rabbi]

You hear that only because that's what the media are reporting.
Yes, they are going through a transition, trying to find their voice and get back on message. It is an evolution.
WHere are the leaders of the 94 victory? They were all subjected to ethics investigations or otherwise hounded from the national state. The GOP has an unfortunate tendency to want to appear like saints, and failing that they fall on their swords. That has to stop.

 

[Nosmo King]

You hear that only because that's what the media are reporting.
Yes, they are going through a transition, trying to find their voice and get back on message. It is an evolution.
WHere are the leaders of the 94 victory? They were all subjected to ethics investigations or otherwise hounded from the national state. The GOP has an unfortunate tendency to want to appear like saints, and failing that they fall on their swords. That has to stop.

The "media" is not the boogieman here, the lack of Republican leadership is! If that's what i hear, it's the fault of the message, not the messenger.

Ethics investigations? Keep your hands out of the cookie jar and there will be no ethics investigations! I'm looking at you too, Charlie Rangle!