It’s Friday, November 9th, 2012….and to provide a little perspective, two quotes from America’s past, amid days far darker than those we currently face….
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
“I have not yet begun to fight!” John Paul Jones, September 23, 1779
….along with a third from far higher power:
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.“II Corinthians 4:8,9
Then, courtesy of Speed Mach, the real force behind the Republican defeat:
Now, here’s The Gouge!
Leading off the initial edition of the Next Four Years, the facts as we see them:
When not otherwise engaged in our efforts to generate enough taxable income to fund Sandra Fluke’s “free” birth control, we spent the better part of the last two days scanning a number of commentaries on the causes of Willard’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Tuesday.
We included a number of the best below; and though they’re all worth reading, it’s our opinion no one truly identifies the root causes of what we just witnessed. So we thought we’d depart from our usual format and provide our thoughts on the subject. When you finished reading ours, we’d appreciate the chance to consider yours.
We’ll preface our remarks by noting we’re not looking to assign blame; rather, we’re offering what we view as lessons-learned, or perhaps more appropriately, lessons needing to be learned if Republicans are to remain competitive for anything other than House seats. Monday-morning quarterbacking is useless, particularly when the next game involves a different opponent.
Besides, like Obama, Mitt’s run his last campaign; and while he won’t be enjoying the policy “flexibility” B. Hussein promised Putin, he’ll certainly have ample opportunity for self-reflection and recrimination. More importantly, if blames to be assessed, there’s nary a leading Republican, including a number of Conservatives, who doesn’t deserve a share.
First, a bit of history. The whirlwind Republicans reaped on Tuesday was sown not at the onset of Campaign 2012, but years ago in the Bush Administration, George H.W. Bush to be exact; even earlier if you want to examine the SCOTUS appointments of Ford (Stevens) and Reagan (O’Connor and Kennedy). But we’ll start with Bush.
“Read my lips: No new taxes!” Breaking that pledge (largely on the advice of John Sununu, the man who gave us Supreme Court Justices David Souter and Sonja Sotomayor) not only provided the impetus for Ross Perot to enter the ’92 election, steal 19% of the GOP vote and give us 8 years of the second most-accomplished liar in Oval Office history, but tarnished the tax-cutting brand established by The Dutchman. As the spending cuts Congressional Dimocrats promised in exchange for higher taxes mysteriously never materialized, his “trust without verification” offered an object lesson which was somehow lost on future generations of GOP leaders.
Next stop, the Clinton years, where Newt provided the perfect examples of pride going before a fall, absolute power corrupting absolutely and those who do not remember the past being condemned to repeat it. Newt embarrassed himself and his party and resigned his office in disgrace. And it was at this time, specifically during the Lewinsky scandal and Willy’s subsequent perjury, we saw the first real evidence of the MSM’s shift from reporting to advocacy.
No Republican President, nor frankly any prior Dimocrat, could lied under oath, let along lied straight-faced to the American people and remained in office. “What a talented liar….er,….gifted politician Bill is!” The rules of the game were changing, but Republicans seemed either unaware or not to care.
Then Bush beat Gore, fair and square; and Liberal protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, the facts support no other reasonable conclusion. But Liberals are anything but reasonable, and they never forgave Bush for defeating the only Dimocrat dumber than Joe Biden….excepting possibly Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Dubya may have meant well, but his 8 years in office were the worst thing that happened to the Republican brand since Watergate. Though a nice man, he was quite frankly a lousy President.
It should also be noted the Bush years saw the GOP enjoying a period of relatively unfettered opportunity to resolve a number of looming problems in a reasoned, Conservative fashion, including illegal immigration, healthcare and entitlements. Congressional Republicans instead busied themselves seeing how much each of them could pull from the public trough.
And his profligate spending and oxymoronic “compassionate conservatism”, coupled with a cowardly refusal to confront an increasingly corrupt and out-of-control Republican Congress and ill-conceived reaction to a banking crisis, largely the result of Liberal lending policies dating back to Jimmy Carter, destroyed what was left of the Conservative brand his father had first tarnished.
That the MSM “blamed Bush” rather than Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton was due not only to the increasing level of patent partisanship present in their reporting, but constituted payback for “stealing” the 2000 election. That it gave the current crop of Woodwards and Bernsteins the thrill they were too young to experience in the heady days of Deep Throat was icing on the cake.
Enter The Obamao:
And the MSM’s transition to the Dark Side was complete. Gone was the charade of fact-based journalism, replaced by absolute, unapologetic advocacy, absent even the faintest pretense of reporting.A candidate, now President, with no substance or experience, his history shrouded behind sealed records, shielded and protected from any serious questions or inquiry by a MSM bereft of credibility and integrity.
He could do no wrong because they’d never report it.
Which brings us back to Campaign 2012, as Republicans faced an inexplicably popular incumbent President playing with a rigged deck. Add to this a built-in 4%-5% cushion courtesy of the MSM, and the eventual GOP nominee faced a truly daunting task, even under the best of circumstances. And the less-than impressive stable of stalwarts from which Republicans had to choose were far from the best:
– Newt, having embellished his already-questionable Conservative credentials by filming a global warming spot with Nancy the Red, solidified his standing with the Religious Right by selecting, in what had become an all-too familiar pattern, the third Mrs. Gingrich before leaving the second.
– Rick Santorum, hoping to capitalize on his inability to hold onto his Senate seat leapt onto the national stage with his patented “Conscience of America” campaign….and little else but a sweater vest.
– Willard “Mitt” Romney, the unwitting architect of Obamascare, running on a platform of repealing a system he refused to repudiate.
– Ron Paul, the crazy Uncle that escaped from Ross Perot’s attic.
– Michelle Bachmann, a true, effective Conservative Congresswoman we really like; well-suited to rallying the Tea Party, but wholly unsuited by her voice alone for the national stage.
Then there were the second-string also-rans:
– Tim Pawlenty: if Honest Abe gave up as easily as Pawlenty, America would now be two countries.
– Herman Cain: whatever else he was doing, it was evidently more than just making pizzas.
– John Huntsman: I’ve got it; I’ll run for the Republican nomination as a Democrat. Then I’ve got this great idea for an all-plastic car with gull-wing doors! Did I mention I speak a little Mandarin?
– Rick Perry: The Man Who Knew Too Little; in fact almost nothing at all.
– Gary Johnson: no freakin’ clue what or who made him think he should run for President.
When Mitt finally emerged from the pack, what he faced was, like The Obamao’s view of our dead Libyan ambassador, far from optimal….due in large part to the actions of individuals from his own party.
First, when did the GOP decide to jettison The Gipper’s First Commandment, “Thou shalt never speak ill of another Republican”?!? Not only did the attacks launched by Newt and St. Santorum diminish Mitt in the eyes of his own electorate, they provided the Opposition fodder for the first three months of their campaign. This courtesy of two clowns who had no more chance in the general election than George McGovern.
Second, who was the rocket surgeon….
….who determined or agreed Liberal MSM personalities should moderate the Republican primary debates? What….Brit Hume, Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter were previously engaged?!?
And let’s not forget the invaluable assistance Rick Santorum provided the MSM in fabricating the GOP’s War on Women:
“Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”Perfectly on point….had Santorum been running for Pope. Unfortunately, not only do many nominal Catholics utilize contraceptives, but we can’t name a single Protestant denomination which prohibits them. As for the rest of America….any questions?!?
We should also recognize the small but important part Rush Limbaugh played in legitimizing the WoW. He helped fan the flames of feminine indignation by disregarding decorum (along with my mother’s admonition “If you don’t have anything good to say about someone, say nothing at all.”) and terming Sandra Fluke a “slut”. Sure, a 30-year-old woman hopping from bed to bed with the frequency of a cheap ham radio is, by any rational definition, a slut. But it’s not a term one casts about in public, particularly when it helps enable a President, with no record of his own on which to run, to falsely paint all Republicans as wanting to ban contraception….along with abortion.
Rush’s gazillion dollar salary ensures his comfort and security no matter who’s in the White House; the rest of us get to deal with the consequences of his overblown ego for the next four years.
So hey, Rick and Rush….
Next, having finally secured the nomination, Romney’s three months of radio silence in the face of Team Tick-Tock’s $100M campaign of character assassination separated a candidate already lacking charisma even further from the voters with whom he had to connect.
And then came what could….and should….have been the Romney equivalent of Hurricane Sandy, the July thunderstorms that left much of the Mid-Atlantic sweltering in the searing Summer heat without power for nearly a week. Romney failed to seize or even recognize the moment, opting to connect with the common man via a powerboat/jet-ski photo-op at the family compound on Lake Winnipesaukee rather than touring the battleground state of Virginia in his campaign bus offering cold drinks and a helping hand.
The rest, including the Romney’s remarkable performance in the first debate, his failure to effectively exploit the Benghazi Betrayal, Chris Christie’s Judas kiss and the election results proving this time the pollsters were right complete our journey through history.
As we noted at the outset, there’s plenty of blame to go around; but what do we need to learn in order to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in 2016? We’re assuming any solution must (a), be realistic, and (b), work within the current two party system.
First, the GOP needs to revamp its primary system, including the schedule as well as the methodology for choosing moderators for the various debates. Iowa and New Hampshire Republicans shouldn’t be allowed undue influence over the outcome of the primaries (See Santorum, Rick, and War on Women). And no one hostile to the Republican cause should be allowed to moderate purely Republican debates. You won’t see the Dims asking Sean Hannity to host one of their debates on FOX.
Second, particularly in light of the money at their disposal, the RNC needs to establish a scouting and farm system for young, promising GOP leaders (ethnic ex-military with private business experience preferred!). Budding Conservative prospects would be investigated, cultivated, trained and supported, ensuring Republican voters never have to settle for second-best again.
Third, a coterie of respected Conservative Republican luminaries need to be employed in an effort to educate the GOP electorate regarding the realities of picking candidates solely on the basis of conservative social views. Specifically, the impossibility of ever banning abortion and gay marriage or deporting almost 20 million illegal aliens.
No elected representative, including the President, has the power to ban abortion. And were a Conservative President and Senate ever able to confirm enough like-minded justices on the Supreme Court, overturning Roe v. Wade wouldn’t outlaw abortion, but only return the issue to the states, where it’s always belonged.
This in no way intimates the GOP should abandon its pro-life position or opposition to public abortion funding; only that the dogged pursuit of an impossible ban on abortion, coupled with the idiotic pronouncements of a Todd Akin, serves only to minimize if not eliminate any chance of winning the White House and derailing the rest of the Liberal agenda.
As for gay marriage, with the passage of voter referendums in Washington, Maine and Maryland, that horse is permanently out of the barn. Again, this is not to say Conservatives shouldn’t continue to oppose such measures on a local level; only that trying to make it a national issue is a political loser, and will in now way influence what happens on a state-by-state basis.
With regard to illegal immigration, Conservatives may yet have an opportunity to strike a grand immigration bargain; a path to legal status and eventual citizenship for law-abiding, working illegals already here in exchange for rapid deportation of the remaining criminal element and effective containment along the entire Mexican border. Hispanics share far more values with Conservatives than Liberals, and having Marco Rubio a sponsor of any Republican legislation would not only aid the GOP’s outreach to a demographic group whose support it sorely needs, but help burnish Rubio’s credentials for 2016.
Increasing support among Hispanics is critical to the GOP’s future, particularly if in fact the tipping point between givers and takers has been reached. Fuggedabout Blacks; any Black American who still cannot understand 50 years of Liberal policies and a lack of personal responsibility rather than Republican racism are to blame for the ills of their “community” is either beyond reaching or part of the race industry. The number who recognize Blacks are far worse off today than in 1964 is growing, but unfortunately statistically insignificant. And no amount of reasoning or compromise will ever serve to win the support of radical Feminists, Environmentalists or GLBTs.
Fourth, Americans are about to be hit with a veritable onslaught of added taxes and expenses, and increased costs for healthcare and every form of energy will not only be two of the biggest, but the easiest to attribute to the policies and politics of the Left. The perils of Obamacare and need for domestic fossil energy independence need to be at the forefront of a continuous GOP ad campaign from now through November 2016.
Fifth, Congressional Republicans need to clear the decks for legal action. Any number of The Obamao’s executive orders to date are not only illegal but unconstitutional; a divided Congress makes similar overreaches the only way he can continue moving his agenda forward. And the only method Conservatives can employ to stem this tide is through the courts.We don’t know why they haven’t before, but the time for merely voicing displeasure is past.
House Republicans have been tempted to compromise with Obama before, but buying into anything he has to offer now will only allow him to point to the GOP’s fingerprints on the inevitable failures to come.
Sixth, to Ronald Reagan’s 1st Commandment (Thou shalt not speak ill of your fellow Republicans), we would add Magoo’s Corollary: Neither shalt thou provide aid and comfort to the enemy….
….for personal political gain or any other reason. As Jonathan Tobin details at CommentaryMagazine.com, Christie embracing Obama didn’t cost Romney the presidency, but it certainly cost Christie any chance he had, at least as a Republican.
Lastly, Republicans must begin rebuilding a Conservative brand, and adhering to and selling Conservative principles. People emigrating to America today share the same dream that brought every generation of immigrants to her shores: a better, brighter future, if not for them then for their children.
Welfare, food stamps and permanent government dependency aren’t what they have in mind, and it certainly isn’t the future to which most of their offspring aspire. Republicans need to tap into those aspirations, and demonstrate they represent the only path to reach them.
We’ve only lost a battle; the war’s still out there to be won. And we’ve not yet begun to fight!
Oh….and did we forget to mention a significant portion of the American body politic are products of our public education monopoly; and hence….
….almost incurably ignorant?!?
Now, little light reading for your spare time; first theWSJ suggests voters opted for….
Then there’s today’s Money Quote, courtesy of the WSJ‘s Holman Jenkins:
“….Mr. Obama now can be expected to claim a mandate, one whose content he will perhaps share in his memoirs. Judging by his campaign, he expected his victory margin to come from single women frightened that their abortions and contraception would be taken away.
This is a mandate to do what? That is, besides a mandate to keep frightening women about abortion and contraception every time Democrats need to scare up a few votes in close races?“
On the Lighter Side….
Finally, we’ll close the day with a words which are about to ring true:
As Hank Murphy reminded us, remember the words of Psalm 118:8:
“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.“
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