Some advise for the GOP in a changing world

[kallend 2,142]

If th GOP wants to become relevant it needs to divorce the crazies on the extreme right (like the Tea Party, and the likes of Mourdock and Akin). All the while candidates have to pander to these idiots to get through the primaries, they will not be able to field a candidate acceptable to the vast majority of voters who cluster around the center of the political spectrum.

The GOP needs to return to being a center-right party.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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If th GOP wants to become relevant it needs to divorce the crazies on the extreme right (like the Tea Party, and the likes of Mourdock and Akin). All the while candidates have to pander to these idiots to get through the primaries, they will not be able to field a candidate acceptable to the vast majority of voters who cluster around the center of the political spectrum.

One of the reasons the Canadian PM has such a tight, tight leash on his Members of Parliament and most if not all communication has to go through the PM's Office. He has realized that in the past, stupid statements sank his party.

[Andrewwhyte 1]

Getting back to CanuckInUSA's point about where the GOP goes from here I think that while the GOP can really make inroads in the hispanic community, they also need to work with the Muslims, the Hindus, the Sikhs, the Chinese and Korean Christians; how many Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi ex-pats and descendants of ex-pats vote in US elections? While the inner city is always a tough sell for conservative parties, the truth is the actual voters from these communities (not to mention very socially conservative Asians) tend to live in the sub-urban districts. This is the fastest growing demographic in the country and they tend to be quite conservative. Anti-crime messages are particularly resonant. Republicans don't need to change their lower taxes/smaller government stripes to appeal to these people, they need to recognize that these groups have middle class members with middle class values and these groups are the future.
The Prime Minister of Canada visited a Sikh temple in India today for the second time in three years. Why? because several ridings (districts) in suburban Toronto and Vancouver are controlled by the Sikh vote, that's why. These ridings are not dominated by the fresh off the boat, non-eligible, low paid, trying to learn English types. They are dominated by, hard working, entrepreneurial, successful types who are worried about crime, taxes and (wait for it) the breakdown of traditional values affecting their children. These are naturally conservative voters; these are the future of the Conservative Party of Canada, of the Conservative party of UK, and if they get their shit together, the GOP.

[lawrocket 3]

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The GOP needs to return to being a center-right party.

On this I disagree. The GOP, I think, needs to move center in some issues and further out in others.

You are correct about the "Tea Party crazies." The "Tea Party" started out as something I could support - limited federal government and budgetary restraint. It then became co-opted by the crazies putting their religious and social intolerances front and center.

The GOP is center-left regarding economics. I know this because the libertarian element of financial sanity has been told by the GOP that it is not welcome and it was confirmed at the GOP convention.

The GOP is not the party of liberty. Neither is the Democratic party. The Democrats, at least, give lip service to personal liberty while going all Bush on perceived potential threats to the country. But they're in favor of equal treatment for gays in all the ways that the courts have ordered it.

I think the GOP needs to cast off tea partiers and let them know about the Constitution Party - they'd fit right in. And perhaps the GOP can take up more libertarian leanings.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[lawrocket 3]

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I think that while the GOP can really make inroads in the hispanic community

I agree here, as well. It's a tough sell, though. Even though I see more GOP hispanic elected representatives than Democrat, the GOP is legitimately seen as anti-Hispanic due to the immigration policies.

The odd thing is that the GOP is not even against immigrants. They are against immigrants who come to the US and utilize services paid by taxpayers. Meaning that they want the socialist policies for themselves to the exclusion of others.

Socialism is the root problem but it's easier to point to Mexicans as the issue.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[billvon 3,099]

>Post up some examples Bill.
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Romney Quoted by the Media 50 Percent More Than Obama This Election

By Elizabeth Flock
October 30, 2012 RSS Feed Print

Mitt Romney has been quoted by the media about 50 percent more often than Barack Obama this election, a new analysis shows.

The data from the 4th Estate Project, which creates visualizations of data relating to the media, shows that Romney was quoted more often than Obama in print, TV and radio, from June 2012 to present. The project used a sample of TV broadcast shows, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox, as well as major print papers, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, and radio data from NPR.
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www.UnSkewed.com
(Conservative website that carefully picked polls that showed Romney in the lead)

Election night:
Projections President: Romney 311, Obama 227 (New)
=================
GOP's push to suppress vote threatens democracy
By Ilyse Hogue
updated 11:10 PM EST, Sun November 4, 2012

(CNN) -- One day before the election, tensions are running high and poll numbers are being crunched every few hours. Nowhere is this truer than in Ohio -- the pathway to victory. So there was a collective gasp Friday when a last-minute directive from Ohio's secretary of state, a Republican, threatened to invalidate a number of provisional ballots.

Earlier last week the Obama campaign complained to Wisconsin's attorney general about what it said was "willful misrepresentation" by the Romney campaign in the materials used to train Election Day poll watchers. At issue was whether people in Wisconsin with felony convictions could vote. (They can, once they complete their sentences, but the Romney documents had said they can't.) Given that this fact can be Googled in less than 10 seconds, one must conclude the Romney campaign was either grossly ignorant of election law or intentionally deceiving volunteers in an effort to swing the vote.

This election year is the culmination of years of Republican efforts to foment confusion and fear to keep certain Americans from voting. That is a subplot of this election, but one that will have massive consequences. In close and bitterly fought elections, there's far more at stake than who occupies the White House: Americans' belief in the integrity of our democracy hangs in the balance.
. . .
==================

[ryoder 1,590]

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What a sad party the Democrats have become. Certainly not the party of JFK.

And the current GOP is nothing like Barry Goldwater would have recognized.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[lawrocket 3]

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Mitt Romney has been quoted by the media about 50 percent more often than Barack Obama this election, a new analysis shows.

Which quotes were provided?

For example, what is 30% of the "Romney was quoted" consisted of "there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims..." And another 25% to, "I'm not concerned about the very poor."

The whole "Romney was quoted 50% more" depends on context of the quotes, doesn't it?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[regulator 0]

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If the GOP want to survive in a ever changing world...

...they need to stop blaming the "liberal media" for all their problems.



- Dan G

For a party that is supposed to be big on personal responsibility and claims that those who haven't succeeded, just haven't worked hard enough. For a party like that, they are sure quick to blame others for their own failures.

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Get a fucking clue. Obama is STILL blaming GWB for the economy. Your rose colored glasses need a new prescription.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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In Reply To
If the GOP want to survive in a ever changing world...

...they need to stop blaming the "liberal media" for all their problems.



- Dan G

For a party that is supposed to be big on personal responsibility and claims that those who haven't succeeded, just haven't worked hard enough. For a party like that, they are sure quick to blame others for their own failures.

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Get a fucking clue. Obama is STILL blaming GWB for the economy. Your rose colored glasses need a new prescription.

Your argument is: But they do it as well?

That's a real strong display of being responsible for your OWN actions.

[airdvr 210]

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...the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism released its own report on media coverage of the campaign, finding that the coverage was as negative as any campaign in modern history. Pew also noted that neither candidate enjoyed an advantage in the media coverage, with just over 70 percent of the total campaign coverage negative for both Romney and Obama.

i guess it depends on who is doing the counting.

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Editor's note: Ilyse Hogue is co-director of Friends of Democracy, a super PAC aimed at electing candidates who champion campaign finance reform. She is the former director of political advocacy and communications for MoveOn.org and has been a senior strategist to Democratic and progressive groups, including Media Matters for America, Public Campaign and Rebuild the Dream. She is a regular contributor to The Nation magazine.

For every story you find that says it's raining, I can find one that says the sun is shining. But what you can't show me is video of conservative media wetting themselves over a candidate, or a news source (CBS) withholding parts of a news story because it would be damaging to a conservative campaign, or a moderator in a debate that was in the tank for Romney the way Candy Crowley was for Obama. Hell, he had to debate 2 people that night and did a pretty good job.

So, it's not my imagination. And it's not the reason the GOP didn't win what should have been an easy contest. We lost because the country is near the tipping point, if not already over; Bread and circuses provided by the left.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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We lost because the country is near the tipping point, if not already over;

So according to you the GOP spent billions on a race they could not win?

Not really a great example of fiscal prudence.

[DanG 1]

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We lost because the country is near the tipping point, if not already over; Bread and circuses provided by the left.

So again, here's what the GOP has learned: it's not their fault, they are blameless, it's the stupid American people not knowing what's best.

Like I said, the GOP is doomed.

- Dan G

[LyraM45 0]

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Don't you just love how these out of touch extreme left wingers feel perfectly justified to jump in here and start telling Conservative right wingers what they need to do to win elections? It's actually pretty simple. Just convince a few groups, like women, hispanics and a few other minorities that it's rich white guys causing all their pain and that you will give them some free goodies if they vote for your guy. Then add in some scare tactics such as the other guy will take this or that away from you.

What a sad party the Democrats have become. Certainly not the party of JFK.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".

I usually don't talk like this on the forum........ but get a clue! You almost sound as bad as this asshat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFcAzIWOHpU&feature=share) talking about the people just voting for Obama because 'they want things.' Sure, I'm a woman and I leaned towards Obama for 'wanting things,' like you and Bill say. Sure, I wanted things like equal rights for all, decisions for laws not being based around any one religion, etc. Sorry, I don't feel bad for wanting those things!

Sounds to me like you're going to be the part of the republican party that continues to kick and scream and cry through all of this. That it's everybody but your own faults that this is happening. While some have taken the approach that the party needs to change and realign itself with the changing society. The far right religious 'white establishment' will not win elections anymore. Especially not as more time goes by and newer generations of young Americans are more open minded and progressive.

There have been many articles on exactly this topic the past few years, and many more the last few days since the election because this was a wake up call for an issue they were afraid was going to happen. Just read this one this morn: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/07/election-results-raise-questions-about-christian-rights-influence/?hpt=hp_bn3

You can continue to kick, scream, and cry, or you can step out of the box and realize that the party needs to make changes and become a little more centrist with some social issues if they want to get the centrist or independent voters. As an independent, I hope they realize this and makes change in time for 2016. I'd love to give them consideration for my vote!

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[Gravitymaster 0]

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Don't you just love how these out of touch extreme left wingers feel perfectly justified to jump in here and start telling Conservative right wingers what they need to do to win elections? It's actually pretty simple. Just convince a few groups, like women, hispanics and a few other minorities that it's rich white guys causing all their pain and that you will give them some free goodies if they vote for your guy.

So Mourdock, Walsh, Akin, etc., are now extreme left wingers?

Romney's loss has made you delusional.

If you think Obama was re-elected for his ability to deal with any substantial issue, then you have become delusional. This was nothing more than a "this guy makes me feel good" election.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/nov/8/ron-paul-election-shows-us-far-gone/

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Rep. Ron Paul, whose maverick presidential bids shook the GOP, said in the wake of this week's elections that the country has already veered over the fiscal cliff and he sees no chance of righting ship in a country where too many people are dependent on government.

"We're so far gone. We're over the cliff," the Texas Republican told Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop" program. "We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next 5-10 years who will do wise things." The video can be seen at http://www.bloomberg.com/video/ron-paul-on-fiscal-cliff-and-vows-to-compromise-MYkAiqYBTaiHwXZL9Tvxkw.html.

Mr. Paul, who is retiring after 12 terms in the House, said voters on Tuesday rejected Mitt Romney because he had opposed the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.

"The people in the Midwest voted against him: 'Oh, we have to be taken care of!' So that vote was sort of like what we are laughing at in Greece," Mr. Paul said.

"People do not want anything cut," he said. "They want all the bailouts to come. They want the Fed to keep printing the money. And they don't believe that we've gone off the cliff or are close to going off the cliff. They think we can patch it over, that we can somehow come up with some magic solution. But you can't have a budgetary solution if you don't change what the role of government should be. As long as you think we have to police the world and run this welfare state, all we are going to argue about is who will get the loot."

[LyraM45 0]

OK. So if that is your postmortem on what happened, what can the republican party do to combat that in the future? How can they convince the middle voters to believe they are the "feel good" party with the "feel good" guy?

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[kallend 2,142]

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We lost because the country is near the tipping point, if not already over; Bread and circuses provided by the left.

Nope, you lost because you had a seriously flawed candidate and a compulsive liar for a VP candidate.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 2,142]

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www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/nov/8/ron-paul-election-shows-us-far-gone/

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[airdvr 210]

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We lost because the country is near the tipping point, if not already over; Bread and circuses provided by the left.

Nope, you lost because you had a seriously flawed candidate and a compulsive liar for a VP candidate.

Sorry John. Obama won OH and MI by using our money to buy off the unions in the auto biz with the porkulous (bread). Then they took a Romney quote totally out of context and fed it to the sheeple and the sheeple bought it (circus). Dare I say it? Goat Fuck stoopid democrats in Cleveland, Toledo, and Detroit have no clue how a bankruptcy works.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[lawrocket 3]

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Sure, I wanted things like equal rights for all, decisions for laws not being based around any one religion, etc. Sorry, I don't feel bad for wanting those things!

Then why the hell did you vote for Obama? Let’s talk about equal rights – what has he done for equal rights? Did he propose to end DOMA? What did he do when he had a rubber stamp Congress and Congress had a rubber stamp president? Ignored the issue, opting instead for strengthening the Patriot Act, going for the Defense Authorization Act, and doing nothing for equal rights of gays until the Courts made him do things.

What about his position on human rights? Equal rights for all?

I am absolutely DUMBFOUNDED that those who are in favor of rights and liberties would consider Romney to be bad when there’s a record of anti-rights actions by our sitting President and omissions by our President to do anything to rectify rights abuses.

Seriously – what has the President done in that regard that hasn’t come immediately after a federal court order? (See "Reagan put all the loonies in the streets." Yeah, after the SCOTUS said we can't just keep them there)

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[lawrocket 3]

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Nope, you lost because you had a seriously flawed candidate and a compulsive liar for a VP candidate.

Which side are you talking about?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[LyraM45 0]

He hasn't done everything that he can do for equal rights yet, but he's at least moving in the right direction. Another 'lesser of two evils,' between the two I guess. He's moving in the right direction more than the other guy. So far he's done more for gays/lesbians than any recently presidents before him. I think DOMA will eventually be tackled.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[LyraM45 0]

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Then why the hell did you vote for Obama? Let’s talk about equal rights – what has he done for equal rights? Did he propose to end DOMA? What did he do when he had a rubber stamp Congress and Congress had a rubber stamp president? Ignored the issue, opting instead for strengthening the Patriot Act, going for the Defense Authorization Act, and doing nothing for equal rights of gays until the Courts made him do things.

Do you really think Obama should have tackled gay rights as the first thing he did after stepping into office and taking over an economy that was in shambles? I didn't expect him to. My friends in the gay community didn't expect him to. What he needs to do isn't going to happen overnight, and there are other fish to fry on the plate. Saying that I, and others, should expect him to charge forth and go to town on this issue above all else would be pretty dumb.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[Andy9o8 2]

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Nope, you lost because you had a seriously flawed candidate and a compulsive liar for a VP candidate.

Which side are you talking about?

He's talking about the scary liar, not the silly plagiarist.

[Gravitymaster 0]

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www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/nov/8/ron-paul-election-shows-us-far-gone/

That's exactly the childish response I was expecting.