Republicans Lose Third Congressional Seat of the Year
Written by Sam on May 14th, 2008The loss has already shaken establishment Republicans in Washington. After losing special elections in Illinois and Louisiana, the House GOP conference already expects a bad year for their party. But those two districts voted for President Bush by eleven and nineteen points, respectively, not by a whopping twenety five points. “People are going to want change,” said a top aide to a leading House Republican. “The excuses, that [Davis] didn’t have the resources or that he wasn’t from the right part of the district, that’s just not going to hold up.”RealClearPolitics
The problem isn’t that we lost Hastert’s old seat, or the Louisiana seat, or the seat in Mississippi last night. The problem is that the Republican establishment is actually shocked about it. You can’t fix a problem you don’t acknowledge. Talk radio, conservative pundits, the blogosphere, we have all been warning the GOP in Washington what is coming and they’ve plugged their ears with their fingers.
No one, though, is likely to try to force leadership changes before November.
And that’s the other problem. Conservatives don’t take the party seriously anymore and there is no reason to. Their actions haven’t done anything to signal a lesson learned from 2006. They have made no effort whatsoever to renew their contract with America. The party is in dire need of new leadership immediately and a complete break from the big government, big spending, neo-conservatism that the Bush administration has wrought on us all. Until they do we are going to lose and keep losing. 2008 will be 2006 the Sequel.
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If only we had Leader Shadegg.
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This was a real victory for both Howard Dean and the “netroots” people. DKos and some lesser known blogs were heavily involved in this race both on the ground and funding-wise. One day, a conservative will figure out that the DKos activism model is a good one, and start a conservative equivalent. Apparently, that day is not today.
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RedState is attempting to do so with their new site due soon.
Conservatives are independent by nature so it is kind of like herding cats.
Liberals will protest the wind. Its what they do.
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The Netroots definitely played a role here, but I think some of the people in their dislike of the establishment, whatever that is, fail to notice how populism played a role in our defeat in another rural southern district. The people in these districts never truly became conservative Republicans, but remained conservative Southern Democrats. This means they will go our way when cultural issues are supposedly on the table, but when their wallets are getting squeazed, they are going to run to whoever plays the populist card the most, which usually means the Democrats. Essentially we got an ideological contradiction in American politics trying to work itself out. The poorer, less educated, and less established in society you are, the more you are likely to fall for this populist tripe. This district definitely falls into the column of areas where populism has some appeal.
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“Conservatives don’t take the party seriously anymore and there is no reason to. Their actions haven’t done anything to signal a lesson learned from 2006. They have made no effort whatsoever to renew their contract with America. The party is in dire need of new leadership immediately and a complete break from the big government, big spending, neo-conservatism that the Bush administration has wrought on us all…”
McCain’s speech yesterday is further evidence that he, for one, has no intention of taking us in a different direction. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point the Straight Talk Express became the Sellout Express. As part of his ongoing attempts to pander for votes, he delivered a message that has to rank as one of the most nonsensical of all time. It was a long list of inconsistencies and non sequiturs set in the framework of one large-scale contradiction.
Actually, now that I think about it, in a twisted and somewhat ignominious sense, it was truly an impressive piece of work.
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Yep. McCain is not the solution to the GOP’s problems, and will only further damage the party.
Some people are starting to take note, though, beyond the conservative blogosphere. One guy in my office, a fellow conservative, recently told me he’s on the fence about whether to give McCain his vote or not. Another colleague, who is the father of a good friend of mine from high school, told me last night he’s made up his mind not to vote for McCain, but rather for Barr come November.
Luckily for McCain plenty of Democrats are ticked off at one another, and he is liberal enough for plenty of them to vote for him, so I expect him to win the election against Hillary or Barack. But it will be interesting to see how much of the vote Barr gets, and how much of the GOP base either stays home or votes for all offices but President or writes-in/votes third party.
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I disagree, I think McCain is exactly what the Republican party needs right now.
On a different note, one of the big problems is that Democrats are recruiting better candidates. I didn’t pay much attention to the Mississippi race but I think most people can agree that was the case in Illinois. Foster was a way better candidate then Oberweis.
Another problem is the way the NRCC tries to attack Democrats. Attempting to link them to Pelosi or Obama is a stupid line of attack. Most people don’t know enough about Pelosi for that to effective. The ads with that type of message are laughable and a waste of money.
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McCain will give us more of the same; Liberalism, and continued election losses, and they will be well deserved, sadly.
The Republican leadership will listen to anyone except their base, it seems.
John Boehner saying naive things like we must let McCain lead us in a new agenda for the Party.
How about an old, time tested agenda that would make Reagan proud, and actually do something to lessen the impact of government on our daily lives?
How about standing up for the principles of individual freedom instead of assisting the Democrats in their attempts to centralize all power in Washington, DC?
How about standing up for the rights of ALL Americans to have life, rather than acting as if we who have been born already have more right to life than those who have not ?
How about listening to those of us whose votes they want, instead of pretending we will let them lie to us forever, like the Dem’s have been doing to certain people groups for so long. Or will we?? Think about it
The nations is not becoming more Democrat, or moving to the left; The Republican Party is.
If they don’t stop it, and fast, November will vindicate what we have been trying to tell them yet again, though I hold out only marginal hope that the Party will see it this time, as they apparently still don’t get ‘06, and ‘07
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I’d say a serious look also has to be given to the upper level Republican operatives and consultants who run these congressional races (and the other high-level races).
This is a blanket statement but here’s my take:
The ass-kissing and “conventional wisdom” echo chamber bs that it takes to get these jobs gets us a group of people who are not willing to make quick adjustments in the “net roots” environment.
Independent-thinking, brash, younger Republican operatives don’t easily get invited into this club. And, in 2008, I think this type is what we need running the campaigns.