GOP vs. GOP

[CrimsonWhite]

Republicans going after Republicans. Did we not learn anything from Lieberman?

(CNN) - Pictures can speak a thousand words.

At least that's what former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio hopes.

The conservative Republican battling Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP Senate nomination in that state has unveiled a new Web site showing a single full-page image of Crist with President Obama at a rally for the president's stimulus package last February.

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Rubio hopes Crist-Obama picture speaks volumes « - Blogs from CNN.com

 

[KMAN]

It's amazing that the majority of the country admits to being conservative yet the damn Republican party is trying to become Democrats....

 

[Oddball]

Let the mushy squish republicans join the Democrat Party if they want to appease and enable them.

I'm sick of douchy republicans who campaign like libertarians and govern like Fabian socialists.

 

[CrimsonWhite]

It's amazing that the majority of the country admits to being conservative yet the damn Republican party is trying to become Democrats....

Or more, the Republican Party is turning away those moderates who are becoming democrats. When the GOP runs out of middle ground, how much power will it be able to yield? The GOP's base is in the Christian Coalition, but its power has always come from the middle.

 

[Oddball]

What if they attract more people who've been staying home than they lose to the other party?

 

[PoliticalChic]

Let the mushy squish republicans join the Democrat Party if they want to appease and enable them.

I'm sick of douchy republicans who campaign like libertarians and govern like Fabian socialists.

Speaking of "mushy squish republicans," this is what Limbaugh said of Dede Scozzafava:he accused her of bestiality 'cause she screwed every RINO in the country.

 

[Tech_Esq]

The last thing the country needs is a Democrat party and a Democrat Lite party.

Given a choice between those two, people will choose the real Democrat every time. (Which might just be why every Democrat is happy to tell Republicans how the only "smart" thing to do is to become more "moderate."

 

[Oddball]

Let the mushy squish republicans join the Democrat Party if they want to appease and enable them.

I'm sick of douchy republicans who campaign like libertarians and govern like Fabian socialists.

Speaking of "mushy squish republicans," this is what Limbaugh said of Dede Scozzafava:he accused her of bestiality 'cause she screwed every RINO in the country.

Baaaaad visual.

 

[CrimsonWhite]

What if they attract more people who've been staying home than they lose to the other party?

What if Santa Clause came on Easter? It just isn't happening. The apathetic will stay apathetic.

 

[kwc57]

If the Republican party purges moderates, they will end up marginalizing themselves into a regional party instead of a national party. They may never be able to recover. Neal Boortz (conservative libertarian) puts it best when he says that the Republican party has to drop the abortion issue as a litmus test or they will destroy themselves. Boortz calls the pro-life crowd anti-choice. He personally doesn't like abortion, but he doesn't believe a man has a right to tell a woman what she can and can't do with her body. In short, the Republicans could get a lot more support if they stuck to conservative politics and dropped the social conservatism side of things that divide many conservatives.

 

[Oddball]

What if they attract more people who've been staying home than they lose to the other party?

What if Santa Clause came on Easter? It just isn't happening. The apathetic will stay apathetic.

You don't know that.

I can't pretend to speak for the person sitting next to me at a ball game, let alone 1/2 the electorate.

 

[Darkwind]

I'm not a Republican. The GOP quite My party a long time ago.

Until such time as they start governing from a conservative position, I won't be going back.

 

[CrimsonWhite]

I'm not a Republican. The GOP quite My party a long time ago.

Until such time as they start governing from a conservative position, I won't be going back.

Social conservatism or political conservatism?

 

[CrimsonWhite]

What if they attract more people who've been staying home than they lose to the other party?

What if Santa Clause came on Easter? It just isn't happening. The apathetic will stay apathetic.

You don't know that.

I can't pretend to speak for the person sitting next to me at a ball game, let alone 1/2 the electorate.

It would take a rock star. Apathetic members of the electorate responded to Obama. The GOP simply does not have anyone that can compare to the popular appeal.

 

[Tech_Esq]

If the Republican party purges moderates, they will end up marginalizing themselves into a regional party instead of a national party. They may never be able to recover. Neal Boortz (conservative libertarian) puts it best when he says that the Republican party has to drop the abortion issue as a litmus test or they will destroy themselves. Boortz calls the pro-life crowd anti-choice. He personally doesn't like abortion, but he doesn't believe a man has a right to tell a woman what she can and can't do with her body. In short, the Republicans could get a lot more support if they stuck to conservative politics and dropped the social conservatism side of things that divide many conservatives.

If Boortz said that, he's not completely wrong. The problem with the GOP is that the conservative message got twisted around the axle in the last 30 years. The message was much as McDonnell in VA has been stating it in his campaign: Mostly fiscal conservatism, strong defense, firm Real Politick unflinching foreign policy, law and order, pro-family.

In the past 15 years that message was flipped around and became mostly about social issues and almost completely lacking in fiscal restraint. Unflinching foreign policy became interventionist. Having a strong military is different than USING a strong military. If the GOP de-emphasizes the social issues and increases the small government and fiscal restraint message, it will resonate just fine in every part of the country.

 

[kwc57]

I'm not a Republican. The GOP quite My party a long time ago.

Until such time as they start governing from a conservative position, I won't be going back.

Social conservatism or political conservatism?

That is the true divide. Social conservatism is just the flip side of social liberalism, but they won't admit it. Both sides have their litmus tests and want the government to dictate to the citizens.

 

[CrimsonWhite]

The biggest problem that I see is the skewing of definitions. Today, a moderate Republican is any member that is pro-choice and pro gay marriage. That simply isn't the case, but those are the people that the GOP is driving away.

 

[saveliberty]

I see more of a working relationship between Republicans and a Conservative party. Together they would represent a majority in Congress.

 

[Oddball]

It would take a rock star. Apathetic members of the electorate responded to Obama. The GOP simply does not have anyone that can compare to the popular appeal.

Maybe, maybe not. In any case, going that route has a lot broader buyers pool, so to speak, than trying to get the few percent of "centrist" voters, who have no real principled approach and that you could knock over with a feather.

 

[Oscar Wao]

If the Republican party purges moderates, they will end up marginalizing themselves into a regional party instead of a national party. They may never be able to recover. Neal Boortz (conservative libertarian) puts it best when he says that the Republican party has to drop the abortion issue as a litmus test or they will destroy themselves. Boortz calls the pro-life crowd anti-choice. He personally doesn't like abortion, but he doesn't believe a man has a right to tell a woman what she can and can't do with her body. In short, the Republicans could get a lot more support if they stuck to conservative politics and dropped the social conservatism side of things that divide many conservatives.

There were reasons other than the social issues that caused her ultimate downfall...