Comments on: Lessons From The 2008 Election http://www.frumforum.com/lessons-from-the-2008-election Building a conservatism that can win again Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:50:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Neo http://www.frumforum.com/lessons-from-the-2008-election/comment-page-1#comment-38477 Neo Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:25:13 +0000 #comment-38477 If you really want to look for motives or strategies to explain the Iraq "adventure", I suggest you consider the idea that Iraq was a weeping wound on American foreign policy. Bush et al decided that instead of doing a rerun of the Soviet failure in Afghanistan, that they would make a statement in Iraq instead, by completing the Gulf War, that was in suspension, using the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 as the defining centerpiece. While this is only conjecture, it makes a lot more sense then the meme so often offered up by the progressive cascade. If you really want to look for motives or strategies to explain the Iraq “adventure”, I suggest you consider the idea that Iraq was a weeping wound on American foreign policy. Bush et al decided that instead of doing a rerun of the Soviet failure in Afghanistan, that they would make a statement in Iraq instead, by completing the Gulf War, that was in suspension, using the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 as the defining centerpiece.
While this is only conjecture, it makes a lot more sense then the meme so often offered up by the progressive cascade.

]]> By: Neo http://www.frumforum.com/lessons-from-the-2008-election/comment-page-1#comment-52229 Neo Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:13:14 +0000 #comment-52229 Aside from now-departed President Bush, I doubt most people could identify any national level Republican, save possibly John McCain. House and Senate Republicans are invisible. So invisible, in fact, that most Americans still thought they were still running the Congress this past election. Granted, the press won't help in this regard, but Republicans have to find something that they can stand together on (and not just to be negative) and then make themselves visible by holding fast and hard. It's like they have embraced the failed campaign strategy of John Kerry, who stood for .. whatever was blowing in the wind, then decided to go local .. and hide from the national press. Aside from now-departed President Bush, I doubt most people could identify any national level Republican, save possibly John McCain.

House and Senate Republicans are invisible. So invisible, in fact, that most Americans still thought they were still running the Congress this past election.
Granted, the press won’t help in this regard, but Republicans have to find something that they can stand together on (and not just to be negative) and then make themselves visible by holding fast and hard.
It’s like they have embraced the failed campaign strategy of John Kerry, who stood for .. whatever was blowing in the wind, then decided to go local .. and hide from the national press.

]]> By: petty boozshwa http://www.frumforum.com/lessons-from-the-2008-election/comment-page-1#comment-53043 petty boozshwa Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:22:28 +0000 #comment-53043 Republicans today are viewed by far too many as the new nameplate put on the Dixiecrat Party, and their pro-life Copperhead allies in the North and West. McCain probably would have had a better chance of becoming President if he and Lieberman had run on an internet-based Unity Ticket right up the middle, opposing Obama and Romney as a real change agent. I don't see how the Republicans can come back outside the South with our current disconnect from most voter's center of gravity, maybe we need to support independents on fusion tickets for awhile and wait for the Democrats to overreach. Republicans today are viewed by far too many as the new nameplate put on the Dixiecrat Party, and their pro-life Copperhead allies in the North and West. McCain probably would have had a better chance of becoming President if he and Lieberman had run on an internet-based Unity Ticket right up the middle, opposing Obama and Romney as a real change agent. I don’t see how the Republicans can come back outside the South with our current disconnect from most voter’s center of gravity, maybe we need to support independents on fusion tickets for awhile and wait for the Democrats to overreach.

]]> By: sinz54 http://www.frumforum.com/lessons-from-the-2008-election/comment-page-1#comment-40376 sinz54 Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:47:58 +0000 #comment-40376 "ConservativeMovement": You say that "conservatism works." But just what is conservatism? Aren't Phyllis Schlafly and Pat Buchanan conservatives? Both of them support protectionism, not free trade. Mike Huckabee is certainly a social conservative. But do you think the American public would have voted for a self-styled "Christian leader," if he had been nominated by the GOP? And has the American public ever voted for smaller government? They voted for Reagan in 1980 to fix the economy and restore America's standing in the world. They voted for the Contract with America in 1994 because it talked about REFORMING government, not "shrinking it down to fit in the bathtub." They voted for Bush in 2000 because he said he was a "compassionate conservative." So has "smaller government" EVER been a winning message for conservatives? What election(s) were won that way? “ConservativeMovement”:

You say that “conservatism works.” But just what is conservatism?

Aren’t Phyllis Schlafly and Pat Buchanan conservatives? Both of them support protectionism, not free trade.

Mike Huckabee is certainly a social conservative. But do you think the American public would have voted for a self-styled “Christian leader,” if he had been nominated by the GOP?

And has the American public ever voted for smaller government? They voted for Reagan in 1980 to fix the economy and restore America’s standing in the world.

They voted for the Contract with America in 1994 because it talked about REFORMING government, not “shrinking it down to fit in the bathtub.”

They voted for Bush in 2000 because he said he was a “compassionate conservative.”

So has “smaller government” EVER been a winning message for conservatives? What election(s) were won that way?

]]> By: ConservativeMovement http://www.frumforum.com/lessons-from-the-2008-election/comment-page-1#comment-49143 ConservativeMovement Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:11:26 +0000 #comment-49143 This is the same crap only a professor could write and it is killing the Republican Party. Conservatism is "what works" and the problem is that the RP could not formulate a winning argument if it tried - lawyers dont do marketing. Business stopped using focus groups ten years ago the way politics does for the very reason now in evidence - you do not let focus groups tell you what business to be in. The RP is not losing because they defend morality, they are losing because the media chased them from the stage like cowards - eight years of demonizing President Bush, eight years of trashing President Reagan - a 16 year trashing without ever firing a shot - what do you think a focus group is going to tell you? Anyone notice the RP has not won squat since Dick Morris starting helping? Anyone notice the Dems completely skated on the subprime debacle? We at the actual Conservative Movement (we own the trademarks) are proving every day that about all it takes to win is show up against the Party of OZ. It is that simple. This is the same crap only a professor could write and it is killing the Republican Party. Conservatism is “what works” and the problem is that the RP could not formulate a winning argument if it tried – lawyers dont do marketing. Business stopped using focus groups ten years ago the way politics does for the very reason now in evidence – you do not let focus groups tell you what business to be in. The RP is not losing because they defend morality, they are losing because the media chased them from the stage like cowards – eight years of demonizing President Bush, eight years of trashing President Reagan – a 16 year trashing without ever firing a shot – what do you think a focus group is going to tell you? Anyone notice the RP has not won squat since Dick Morris starting helping? Anyone notice the Dems completely skated on the subprime debacle? We at the actual Conservative Movement (we own the trademarks) are proving every day that about all it takes to win is show up against the Party of OZ. It is that simple.

]]> By: empirical http://www.frumforum.com/lessons-from-the-2008-election/comment-page-1#comment-45935 empirical Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:59:22 +0000 #comment-45935 Andrew, What does your research indicate are the common non-ideological issues, that may link a majority of Republicans and centrist Democrats together for the upcoming congressional elections? Are these issues subject to rapid change, within the parameters of an growing or declining economy, personal fortune or misfortune, or are they in part, generational, based on educational, cultural and social differences and influences? Andrew,

What does your research indicate are the common non-ideological issues, that may link a majority of Republicans and centrist Democrats together for the upcoming congressional elections? Are these issues subject to rapid change, within the parameters of an growing or declining economy, personal fortune or misfortune, or are they in part, generational, based on educational, cultural and social differences and influences?

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