Republican election losses much bigger than Bush (vote, patriots, campaign)

[mrbob]

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize Winning Economist and op-ed columnist for the NY Times, has another interesting editorial about how the 2008 election beating of Republicans was a reflection of their failed and flawed Southern Stategy, and their ideological contempt for government...

Republicans used their 'Southern Strategy' to create a racial backlash in the south and then rode that backlash to victory over the past 40 years...

However, given that the US has changed demographically and philosophically over the years, that policy has now backfired big-time - to the point where in 2008 they won the south, but lost the rest of the nation...

Their race-based strategy is still alive and kicking - evidenced by Chip Saltsman, running for the RNC chairmanship, distributing a CD to the RNC with the song 'Barrack the Magic Negro' on it...

Krugman also argues that recent Republican losses are much deeper than just Bush being incompetent and having done a horrid job as President... The problem is actually a reflection of the very core of who the Republican party is and what they stand for and how they run government (badly - on purpose). As a result, they have morphed into a party that has lost touch with the average American..

He also states that 'Republicans have become, as Phil Gramm might put it, a party of whiners'. I couldn't agree more... They blame Bush's problems on 'bad luck', or blame it on evil Democrats like Chuck Schumer or Barney Frank, but the fault really lies in their own strategy of how government should be run... The Heritage Foundation recommended in 2000 that Bush appoint people to key positions based on 'loyalty', not 'competence' - and MAN, did Bush comply!!! I've always suspected for some time that Republicans have been intentionally making government fail to prove their point that 'governement is the problem' - and to use that failure as an excuse to gut government programs. Ever hear of Karl Rove's 'starve the beast' strategy - run huge deficits via tax breaks and military spending - then use the debt buildup and resulting public outcry as an excuse that government programs, ESPECIALLY ENTITLEMENTS, have to be cut drastically.

Things didn't play out the way Republicans planned however... Americans slowly but surely came to the firm conclusion that having Conservatives in charge of all 3 branches of government is a forumla for disaster. The result - big losses in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/op...gman.html?_r=1

[saganista]

The bankruptcy of Republican politics runs deep. The legacy that they have left us is one that we did not want. It is time for them to be left in the dust of our national rear-view mirror. There is simply too much work to be done here and now for us to be bothered any longer with people who can only bleat...

[mrbob]

Here's a good article on the 'starve the beast' philosphy - which uses potential national bankruptcy as an excuse to greatly reduce the size of government... And my mistake, the theorey didn't originate with Rove, it originated with Reagan... Rove and Bush bought into it hook-line-and-sinker:

A Beast of an Idea - TIME

[cuebald]

The thrust of the article is dead on the money.

Any republican who wants to run and be considered viable is going to have to at least LOOK like a Democrat, and this will be the case for a long time to come.

A very healthy wind is blowing the Southern Stategy away.

[Swampmonster]

Originally Posted by cuebald

The thrust of the article is dead on the money.

Any republican who wants to run and be considered viable is going to have to at least LOOK like a Democrat, and this will be the case for a long time to come.

A very healthy wind is blowing the Southern Stategy away.

Which would actually make them near a Blue Dog Democrat (I do not agree with them 100%,but they are closer to my views than most)and imo would be great for this country.Any move towards the center will tickle me to death.

Blue Dog Coalition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:: Blue Dog Coalition Website

[Old Gringo]

I've Voted Republican almost exclusively, going back to Nixon. After Bush's first term, it became obvious that the GOP could no longer be trusted to govern. They talk out of one side of their mouths, while acting in a manner to dismantle America's great middle class. They've done tremendous damage to America, yet they claim to be patriots. They refused to serve in the military during their youth, yet claim to "suport or troops" while neglecting veterans' services during a time of war. A war they designed and sold to the public through a deliberate campaign of deception fashioned to manufacture public consent. They question the loyalty of all Americans who oppose them while they act in manner that is not in the national interest.

I may very well spend the rest of my life voting against every Republican candidate for every office at every level. Their greedy, incompetent, dishonest behavior cannot be forgiven or forgotten. The GOP deserves to sit on the sidelines as the minority party for at least the next two decades.

[Swampmonster]

Originally Posted by Old Gringo

I've Voted Republican almost exclusively, going back to Nixon. After Bush's first term, it became obvious that the GOP could no longer be trusted to govern. They talk out of one side of their mouths, while acting in a manner to dismantle America's great middle class. They've done tremendous damage to America, yet they claim to be patriots. They refused to serve in the military during their youth, yet claim to "suport or troops" while neglecting veterans' services during a time of war. A war they designed and sold to the public through a deliberate campaign of deception fashioned to manufacture public consent. They question the loyalty of all Americans who oppose them while they act in manner that is not in the national interest.

I may very well spend the rest of my life voting against every Republican candidate for every office at every level. Their greedy, incompetent, dishonest behavior cannot be forgiven or forgotten. The GOP deserves to sit on the sidelines as the minority party for at least the next two decades.

My repinator is outta rep for you right now,but you've got one coming

[RD5050]

Originally Posted by Old Gringo

I've Voted Republican almost exclusively, going back to Nixon. After Bush's first term, it became obvious that the GOP could no longer be trusted to govern. They talk out of one side of their mouths, while acting in a manner to dismantle America's great middle class. They've done tremendous damage to America, yet they claim to be patriots. They refused to serve in the military during their youth, yet claim to "suport or troops" while neglecting veterans' services during a time of war. A war they designed and sold to the public through a deliberate campaign of deception fashioned to manufacture public consent. They question the loyalty of all Americans who oppose them while they act in manner that is not in the national interest.

I may very well spend the rest of my life voting against every Republican candidate for every office at every level. Their greedy, incompetent, dishonest behavior cannot be forgiven or forgotten. The GOP deserves to sit on the sidelines as the minority party for at least the next two decades.

Well said !!!

[mackinac81]

Originally posted by Old Gringo
I've Voted Republican almost exclusively, going back to Nixon. After Bush's first term, it became obvious that the GOP could no longer be trusted to govern. They talk out of one side of their mouths, while acting in a manner to dismantle America's great middle class. They've done tremendous damage to America, yet they claim to be patriots. They refused to serve in the military during their youth, yet claim to "suport or troops" while neglecting veterans' services during a time of war. A war they designed and sold to the public through a deliberate campaign of deception fashioned to manufacture public consent. They question the loyalty of all Americans who oppose them while they act in manner that is not in the national interest.

I may very well spend the rest of my life voting against every Republican candidate for every office at every level. Their greedy, incompetent, dishonest behavior cannot be forgiven or forgotten. The GOP deserves to sit on the sidelines as the minority party for at least the next two decades.

I feel similar. My family was beet red (My mom's parents even voted against FDR!). My first time voting I cast it enthusiastically for Bush, by '04 he began to lose me, but I still held my nose and voted for him anyway. By 2006, I stopped calling myself a Republican, and that attitude has only become more entrenched in the past two years. This fall, I said "Not this year, but maybe in 2012" Now I don't even see THAT happening. While I'm not a Democrat, and I could see myself voting GOP at the state level, It'll be a loooooong time before I vote for them at the national level. Oh....and I'm 27, with a ton more voting years left in me

[Frankie117]

This is only the fourth topic this week that opens with the same article...

Either way, I find it interesting that you couldn't turn on a single news station in the 70's without hearing this same thing about Nixon, Watergate, and how the Republicans would never be in power again because of him.

Curiously enough, just 4 years later, a Republican was elected into office. Granted, back in those days people were smarter, and much much less partisan. It was the election of 1992 that really divided our country along party lines.

But what can you expect? Especially with the original poster being from Mars? After all, what would someone that far away know anything about politics in the real world?