Much has been written here and elsewhere about the need for the Republican Party to renew itself and become more competitive in national politics. It'll be a tough road in that the electorate is getting less white, less rural, less Christian — in short, less demographically Republican.

I thought I'd try to do a little research on what's being said about the GOP, including what the Republican National Committee (RNC) itself is saying, in an effort to figure out what the GOP can do to re-establish itself as a competitive political alternative.

Here are statements made by leading members of the party, the RNC itself, or analysis published in national media...

-- John McCain's campaign manager recently described his party as basically extinct on the West Coast, nearly extinct in the Northeast and endangered in the Mountain West and Southwest.

-- "(The GOP espouses) extremely conservative ideas tarred by association with the unpopular George W. Bush, who helped downsize the party to its extremely conservative base. A hard-right agenda of slashing taxes for the investor class, protecting marriage from gays, blocking universal health insurance, dogmatically defending the pro-life thesis in the most fundamental religious way, and extolling the glories of waterboarding produces terrific ratings for Rush Limbaugh, but it's not a majority agenda." (TIME magazine)

-- FDR's New Deal made the Depression worse, carbon emissions don't really hurt the environment and tax cuts actually boost revenues — even though the vast majority of historians, scientists and economists disagree. (unknown national coumnist)

-- "We're excluding the young, minorities, environmentalists, pro-choice — the list goes on," says Olympia Snowe of Maine.

-- "The far right wing has highjacked the Republican party." (Senator Arlen Specter)

-- 200,000 Republicans have re-registered as Democrats in the past year. (Philadelphia Enquirer)

-- "(The GOP) is starting to look like the Federalists of the early 19th century: an embittered, over-the-top, out-of-touch regional party en route to extinction, doubling down on dogma the electorate has already rejected." (TIME)

-- The RNC published an alternative to President Obama's proposed budget in early April. John Boehner, the House minority leader, presented the alternative budget at a press conference on April 1, but with no numbers attached. Many in the press thought it was simply an April Fool's joke. When finally published in a revised version, it included the following proposals...

• Make President Bush's tax cuts permanent while adding about $3 trillion in new tax cuts skewed toward the rich.
• Replace almost all the stimulus — including tax cuts for workers as well as spending on schools, infrastructure and clean energy — with a capital gains–tax holiday for investors.
• Replace Medicare with vouchers, and eliminate Medicaid in favor of block grants to the states.
• Freeze all government spending except defense and veterans' spending for five years at the 2008 level, examining programs for food safety, financial regulation, flu vaccines and many others for complete elimination.
• Means test Social Security payments.

-- Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party.

-- Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a conservative who keeps a bust of Reagan on his desk, declared that the Reagan era is over. "Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all our party can talk about is tax cuts," he said. "The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set."

-- "To the average American who's struggling, we're in some other stratosphere. We're the party of Big Business and Big Oil and the rich. In the Bush era, the party routinely sided with corporate lobbyists — promoting tax breaks, subsidies and earmarks for well-wired industries — against ordinary taxpayers as well as basic principles of fiscal restraint." (Senator Olympia Snowe, R-ME)

-- "The Democrats talk about fiscal restraint, but they've got an atrocious record, and they've got even more atrocious fiscal plans," says Robert Bixby, executive director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, a government finance watchdog group.

-- RNC chairman Michael Steele said on recent a TV appearance, that there's "absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions." He went on to why the Republican message is so unbelievable by citing statements by previous GOP leaders who claimed that President Clinton's tax hikes would destroy the economy, that GOP rule would mean smaller government, that the GOP would govern in a fiscally conservative manner, and that Bush's tax cuts would usher in a new era of prosperity--none of which claims has proven accurate.

-- John Boehner, the House minority leader says it's "comical" to think carbon dioxide could be harmful, and RNC chairman Steele says the earth is cooling, not warming.

-- Only five states currently have more registered Republicans than Democrats. (CNN)

-----------

I think everyone wants our government to be run by a two-party system--that the electorate be given the clear choice between candidates and parties with well-enunciated and believable core values. I know I sure do. But we don't have that now, and that condition doesn't seem to be on the horizon. You can't have a center-right coalition--a "bigger tent" to attract new members to the party--when you've said good riddance to the center. The GOP has little chance of winning elections if by it's dogma, it turns away anyone with thoughts different from it's ultra-conservative base. The continued decline in the numbers of those that call themselves Republicans seems assured. The chance that Republican candidates can win on a national basis is becoming less and less probable.

How do the Republicans return to a position where they have a reasonable chance at getting 50% of the vote plus 1? How do we return our democracy to a system with a legitimate two-party choice?

If you want to read a disturbing (to Republicans anyway) analysis of the state of the GOP, read the cover article from a recent issue of TIME at http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...896588,00.html

Start planning for 2016.


.

I think a better way to have a discussion is to just ask the question instead of summarizing quotes that in itself are biased, barely credible and slants the discussion from the get go. Specter and Snowe are / were Republications in name only. They are not Conservatives by any stretch of the imagination.

I give TIME magazine about a much credibility as MSNBC or CNN, both have ratings dropping through the floor including some large liberal mainstream newspapers. Many in the liberal media love to quote sound bites and talking points and espouse the demise of the Republican party. I’m sure they would love nothing more. It’s again pure propaganda. Same old talking points. Tax cuts for the evil rich. Republications that don’t want to give health care to poor children, etc.

Remember when the Republications were accused of wanting to starve children by taking their school lunches away? When in fact their budget for school lunches actually increased but just not as much as the Democrats proposed? They called it “cutting the school lunch program.”

Interesting how conservative radio flourishes. Where’s all the liberal talk shows? Maybe a few out there but as you know most are never talked about or even known at all. Why? Because no one advertises on them. Why? Because no one listens.

The Republican party has to a degree lost their way. That doesn’t mean the millions and millions of Conservatives all of a sudden are going to vote Democrat. I think the better question is have the Democrats lost their way?.. or maybe a better way to put it hijacked by the radical left.

Of course now Conservatives who want to keep more of what THEY EARN are now considered the far right and somehow rich people are no longer entitled to keep what they earn even though they already pay the vast majority of the federal tax bill.

“As if school kids didn't get enough liberal propaganda. Whether parents know it or not, millions of students across the country have been receiving biased news magazines in the classroom. Without adult guidance, children are at risk to take as fact the consistently liberal views of Time magazine.”

“Given the state of public education, students that saw the Time environmental issue cover on April 21 2008 may not have understood why veterans were outraged by the magazine's doctoring of the iconic Joe Rosenthal photograph to show the Marines at Iwo Jima raising a tree instead of the original American flag. And students would have no way of knowing that Time's managing editor last year dismissed as "fantasy" the notion that journalism should be objective.”

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

Much has been written here and elsewhere about the need for the Republican Party to renew itself and become more competitive in national politics. It'll be a tough road in that the electorate is getting less white, less rural, less Christian — in short, less demographically Republican.

I thought I'd try to do a little research on what's being said about the GOP, including what the Republican National Committee (RNC) itself is saying, in an effort to figure out what the GOP can do to re-establish itself as a competitive political alternative.

Here are statements made by leading members of the party, the RNC itself, or analysis published in national media...

-- John McCain's campaign manager recently described his party as basically extinct on the West Coast, nearly extinct in the Northeast and endangered in the Mountain West and Southwest.

-- "(The GOP espouses) extremely conservative ideas tarred by association with the unpopular George W. Bush, who helped downsize the party to its extremely conservative base. A hard-right agenda of slashing taxes for the investor class, protecting marriage from gays, blocking universal health insurance, dogmatically defending the pro-life thesis in the most fundamental religious way, and extolling the glories of waterboarding produces terrific ratings for Rush Limbaugh, but it's not a majority agenda." (TIME magazine)

-- FDR's New Deal made the Depression worse, carbon emissions don't really hurt the environment and tax cuts actually boost revenues — even though the vast majority of historians, scientists and economists disagree. (unknown national coumnist)

-- "We're excluding the young, minorities, environmentalists, pro-choice — the list goes on," says Olympia Snowe of Maine.

-- "The far right wing has highjacked the Republican party." (Senator Arlen Specter)

-- 200,000 Republicans have re-registered as Democrats in the past year. (Philadelphia Enquirer)

-- "(The GOP) is starting to look like the Federalists of the early 19th century: an embittered, over-the-top, out-of-touch regional party en route to extinction, doubling down on dogma the electorate has already rejected." (TIME)

-- The RNC published an alternative to President Obama's proposed budget in early April. John Boehner, the House minority leader, presented the alternative budget at a press conference on April 1, but with no numbers attached. Many in the press thought it was simply an April Fool's joke. When finally published in a revised version, it included the following proposals...

• Make President Bush's tax cuts permanent while adding about $3 trillion in new tax cuts skewed toward the rich.
• Replace almost all the stimulus — including tax cuts for workers as well as spending on schools, infrastructure and clean energy — with a capital gains–tax holiday for investors.
• Replace Medicare with vouchers, and eliminate Medicaid in favor of block grants to the states.
• Freeze all government spending except defense and veterans' spending for five years at the 2008 level, examining programs for food safety, financial regulation, flu vaccines and many others for complete elimination.
• Means test Social Security payments.

-- Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party.

-- Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a conservative who keeps a bust of Reagan on his desk, declared that the Reagan era is over. "Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all our party can talk about is tax cuts," he said. "The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set."

-- "To the average American who's struggling, we're in some other stratosphere. We're the party of Big Business and Big Oil and the rich. In the Bush era, the party routinely sided with corporate lobbyists — promoting tax breaks, subsidies and earmarks for well-wired industries — against ordinary taxpayers as well as basic principles of fiscal restraint." (Senator Olympia Snowe, R-ME)

-- "The Democrats talk about fiscal restraint, but they've got an atrocious record, and they've got even more atrocious fiscal plans," says Robert Bixby, executive director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, a government finance watchdog group.

-- RNC chairman Michael Steele said on recent a TV appearance, that there's "absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions." He actually went on to say that Republicans had proclaimed that President Clinton's tax hikes would destroy the economy, that GOP rule would mean smaller government, that Bush's tax cuts would usher in a new era of prosperity, none of which has proven accurate.

-- John Boehner, the House minority leader says it's "comical" to think carbon dioxide could be harmful, and RNC chairman Steele says the earth is cooling, not warming.

-- Only five states currently have more registered Republicans than Democrats. (CNN)

-----------

I think everyone wants our government to be run by a two-party system--that the electorate be given the clear choice between candidates and parties with well-enunciated and believable core values. I know I sure do. But we don't have that now, and that condition doesn't seem to be on the horizon. You can't have a center-right coalition when you've said good riddance to the center. The GOP has little chance of winning elections if by it's dogma, it turns away anyone with thoughts different from it's ultra-conservative base. The continued decline those that call themselves Republicans seems assured. The chance that Republican candidates can win on a national basis is becoming less and less probable.

How do the Republicans return to a position where they have a reasonable chance at getting 50% of the vote plus 1? How do we return our democracy to a system with a legitimate two-party choice?

If you want to read a disturbing (to Republicans anyway) analysis of the state of the GOP, read the cover article from a recent issue of TIME at http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...896588,00.html

Are you going to believe the media? They seriously abuse their protections provided by the constitution.

The democrat party never moves closer to the center, why should republicans.

Everything listed here was for the most part IMHO, babble. What is important is the fact that Obama did not win by a large majority of voters. (Insert liberal scream of Obamas land slide win in the electoral college. "It was a mandate for change.")

-Many people voted for Obama because they hated Bush. Bush is gone.

-Many voted for Obama because he promised change. After 2 years of his "change" there will be more added to the disillusioned group than added to the enthusiastic group. In 4 years?

-Resentment over tax cuts comes from those who resent the fact that in order to get a tax cut, one should have paid taxes. Republicans did not lose this group. They never had them and never will. A lot has been made that by building a group of 50% of the people in the U.S. who do not pay taxes, the liberals have guaranteed themselves a win in future races. That presumes that all 50% do not want to better themselves.

-Many voted for Obama because he is the perfect black candidate. Black but not too black. No ghetto baggage. Raised by white folks. That will never change.

Republicans only need a few percentage points in order to win. I think that there are more than enough people who voted for Obama who may re-examine their reasoning, to change the balance of votes. That combined with potential dissatisfaction with his performance will help the Republicans.

Just my opinion

Yoda

A member of the loyal opposition

We've seen Ronald Reagan - can Oprah be too far behind?


.

the coomentary about the Republican Party and that is no matter what the Dems do....NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO OR CAUSE.....will always be more acceptable than what the Republicans may or may not advocate.

Seems to me in the past the pendulum was the other way. Enough voters were fed up enough with the direction and status of the Dems to elect Republicans.

So the pendulum has swung in the Dems favor. And one thing is certain about pendulums...they are predictable.....so are the Dems as well as the Republicans.

We'll see where this country is at 2010 election time. What's (and who is) working or not. The election winner for Obama...THE ECONOMY...what does it look like..and all the rest you know. A lot is going to happen in the next 18 months...most of it unpredictable...like a GOD for bid terrorist attack.

I don't rule out a Republican revival of some sort and I most certainly do not believe we will be so satisfied with Obama that the Dems in 2010 or he in 2012 are any more certain than the Republicans.

The Dems did not win by a landslide in 2008. The advantage they have is the media...that got him elected and will do what ever it takes to keep him there.

Just watch for example how our friend Pelosi slides of the hook she is on with out so much as a bruise.

BTK

Out of the past forty years, twenty-eight have had a Republican in the White House. Congress was in Democrat control a vast majority of those years, giving Republicans a true majority in Washington only six years in the last 40. Who's really been running the country?

According to recent Rasmussen polls Republicans are beginning to gain more trust back from the populace, as well as leading the generic congressional ballot for the first time in years. Even with Obama in the white house, it also appears that Americans are also against almost every position Obama & the Democrat Congress have taken.

I think 2010 is going to be very interesting.

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

Much has been written here and elsewhere about the need for the Republican Party to renew itself and become more competitive in national politics. It'll be a tough road in that the electorate is getting less white, less rural, less Christian — in short, less demographically Republican.

I thought I'd try to do a little research on what's being said about the GOP, including what the Republican National Committee (RNC) itself is saying, in an effort to figure out what the GOP can do to re-establish itself as a competitive political alternative.

Here are statements made by leading members of the party, the RNC itself, or analysis published in national media...

-- John McCain's campaign manager recently described his party as basically extinct on the West Coast, nearly extinct in the Northeast and endangered in the Mountain West and Southwest.

-- "(The GOP espouses) extremely conservative ideas tarred by association with the unpopular George W. Bush, who helped downsize the party to its extremely conservative base. A hard-right agenda of slashing taxes for the investor class, protecting marriage from gays, blocking universal health insurance, dogmatically defending the pro-life thesis in the most fundamental religious way, and extolling the glories of waterboarding produces terrific ratings for Rush Limbaugh, but it's not a majority agenda." (TIME magazine)

-- FDR's New Deal made the Depression worse, carbon emissions don't really hurt the environment and tax cuts actually boost revenues — even though the vast majority of historians, scientists and economists disagree. (unknown national coumnist)

-- "We're excluding the young, minorities, environmentalists, pro-choice — the list goes on," says Olympia Snowe of Maine.

-- "The far right wing has highjacked the Republican party." (Senator Arlen Specter)

-- 200,000 Republicans have re-registered as Democrats in the past year. (Philadelphia Enquirer)

-- "(The GOP) is starting to look like the Federalists of the early 19th century: an embittered, over-the-top, out-of-touch regional party en route to extinction, doubling down on dogma the electorate has already rejected." (TIME)

-- The RNC published an alternative to President Obama's proposed budget in early April. John Boehner, the House minority leader, presented the alternative budget at a press conference on April 1, but with no numbers attached. Many in the press thought it was simply an April Fool's joke. When finally published in a revised version, it included the following proposals...

• Make President Bush's tax cuts permanent while adding about $3 trillion in new tax cuts skewed toward the rich.
• Replace almost all the stimulus — including tax cuts for workers as well as spending on schools, infrastructure and clean energy — with a capital gains–tax holiday for investors.
• Replace Medicare with vouchers, and eliminate Medicaid in favor of block grants to the states.
• Freeze all government spending except defense and veterans' spending for five years at the 2008 level, examining programs for food safety, financial regulation, flu vaccines and many others for complete elimination.
• Means test Social Security payments.

-- Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending, he's quitting the party.

-- Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a conservative who keeps a bust of Reagan on his desk, declared that the Reagan era is over. "Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all our party can talk about is tax cuts," he said. "The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set."

-- "To the average American who's struggling, we're in some other stratosphere. We're the party of Big Business and Big Oil and the rich. In the Bush era, the party routinely sided with corporate lobbyists — promoting tax breaks, subsidies and earmarks for well-wired industries — against ordinary taxpayers as well as basic principles of fiscal restraint." (Senator Olympia Snowe, R-ME)

-- "The Democrats talk about fiscal restraint, but they've got an atrocious record, and they've got even more atrocious fiscal plans," says Robert Bixby, executive director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, a government finance watchdog group.

-- RNC chairman Michael Steele said on recent a TV appearance, that there's "absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions." He went on to why the Republican message is so unbelievable by citing statements by previous GOP leaders who claimed that President Clinton's tax hikes would destroy the economy, that GOP rule would mean smaller government, that the GOP would govern in a fiscally conservative manner, and that Bush's tax cuts would usher in a new era of prosperity--none of which claims has proven accurate.

-- John Boehner, the House minority leader says it's "comical" to think carbon dioxide could be harmful, and RNC chairman Steele says the earth is cooling, not warming.

-- Only five states currently have more registered Republicans than Democrats. (CNN)

-----------

I think everyone wants our government to be run by a two-party system--that the electorate be given the clear choice between candidates and parties with well-enunciated and believable core values. I know I sure do. But we don't have that now, and that condition doesn't seem to be on the horizon. You can't have a center-right coalition--a "bigger tent" to attract new members to the party--when you've said good riddance to the center. The GOP has little chance of winning elections if by it's dogma, it turns away anyone with thoughts different from it's ultra-conservative base. The continued decline in the numbers of those that call themselves Republicans seems assured. The chance that Republican candidates can win on a national basis is becoming less and less probable.

How do the Republicans return to a position where they have a reasonable chance at getting 50% of the vote plus 1? How do we return our democracy to a system with a legitimate two-party choice?

If you want to read a disturbing (to Republicans anyway) analysis of the state of the GOP, read the cover article from a recent issue of TIME at http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...896588,00.html

I am not sure a bunch of pasted together clips mean anything at all.

I ASSURE you that I can equal these clips of yours with those from 2001 AND 2004 where all the pundits declared the Democratic party dead !!!

The Republicans lost congress 3 short years ago, mainly because of the way the country was going, the various scandals and lets be honest...Iraq.

They lost the WH in 2008, in my opinion because of a poor candidate (In my opinion Romney may have won); and because of themselves not taking care of business that they were elected do.

Yes, the party has no REAL leader at present, but I think a few will emerge, and hopefully there will be a voice to insure the alternatives to what is going on are heard. This country was hungry for change from what they had...and that is what the Democratic candidate promised, BUT in my opinion the country did not know for sure what that change would be and they are now finding out. Imagine Romney had to defend strongly and the media never let up on his change of position on abortion and his religion...NOTHING compared to what we have in the WH right now !!

The Republican party is the fun thing to kick around now on the media but I have no doubt, maybe not as early as 2010, but it will be back and to respond to your question...YES they can get 51% of the vote !

While I'm not sure I agree with everything that Kahuna's post quoted, much of it is spot-on concerning the republic party. When I was young, the republicans had room for Nelson Rockefeller, Barry Goldwater, Lowell Weicker, and dozens of others who today, by your own words you condemn as "not" really of the republic party.

So yes, your party- what's left of it- has swung so far to the right that it's taking its ideology like a drug addict. You hold up heroes who are just the opposite of that, and wonder why the majority of people react against them. You claim to have the corner on "righteousness"- patriotic, financial, religious and family- yet your heroes are the ones who continually are hoisted on their own petard. Then you condemn those who might point this out to you as being RINOS or Democrats or whatever name seems the most insulting at the time, as long as you don't have to self-examine yourselves.

I think of Matthew 27: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.

Family men condemning the downfall of the family? Newt Gingrich, Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, Tom Vittner. It's not that there aren't just as many Democrats who behave as poorly (or worse), but they don't stand there like paragons of virtue. Anti drug? One of the loudest voices was Rush Limbaugh. Patriotic? Oliver North, selling the very missiles to Iran that kill our own soldiers. Bush's war cabinet-multiple draft deferrments-no combat experience whatsoever, yet those with real combat experience were ignored. Financial? How many businesses did George Bush and his co-CEO's run into the ground? Yet like lemmings, the republic party followed him into the sea. Advisors? Ken Lay and a host of corporate crooks. Environmental advisors? CEO's of oil companies & Halliburton.

How long did you think enough (not all, just enough) Americans would wake up and see that the emperors had no clothes?

The Democrats will undoubtedly screw up in time, and the pendulum will swing back the other way. But if the republic party doesn't look to catch that pendulum because it has backed so far away from anything near the center of gravity, it will never catch that pendulum before it moves back to the left again.

We need a two party system, but if one of those parties is simply "the republic party of "no," don't blame voters for not seeing the alternatives to the DemocratIC Party.

Originally Posted by ptownrob

While I'm not sure I agree with everything that Kahuna's post quoted, much of it is spot-on concerning the republic party. When I was young, the republicans had room for Nelson Rockefeller, Barry Goldwater, Lowell Weicker, and dozens of others who today, by your own words you condemn as "not" really of the republic party.

So yes, your party- what's left of it- has swung so far to the right that it's taking its ideology like a drug addict. You hold up heroes who are just the opposite of that, and wonder why the majority of people react against them. You claim to have the corner on "righteousness"- patriotic, financial, religious and family- yet your heroes are the ones who continually are hoisted on their own petard. Then you condemn those who might point this out to you as being RINOS or Democrats or whatever name seems the most insulting at the time, as long as you don't have to self-examine yourselves.

I think of Matthew 27: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.

Family men condemning the downfall of the family? Newt Gingrich, Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, Tom Vittner. It's not that there aren't just as many Democrats who behave as poorly (or worse), but they don't stand there like paragons of virtue. Anti drug? One of the loudest voices was Rush Limbaugh. Patriotic? Oliver North, selling the very missiles to Iran that kill our own soldiers. Bush's war cabinet-multiple draft deferrments-no combat experience whatsoever, yet those with real combat experience were ignored. Financial? How many businesses did George Bush and his co-CEO's run into the ground? Yet like lemmings, the republic party followed him into the sea. Advisors? Ken Lay and a host of corporate crooks. Environmental advisors? CEO's of oil companies & Halliburton.

How long did you think enough (not all, just enough) Americans would wake up and see that the emperors had no clothes?

The Democrats will undoubtedly screw up in time, and the pendulum will swing back the other way. But if the republic party doesn't look to catch that pendulum because it has backed so far away from anything near the center of gravity, it will never catch that pendulum before it moves back to the left again.

We need a two party system, but if one of those parties is simply "the republic party of "no," don't blame voters for not seeing the alternatives to the DemocratIC Party.

Rob, you're on the money with most of the above.

I'm not in full agreement with the "need for a two party system" because I see nothing wrong with the "several party system." The Constitution does not limit the number of political parties, and the last election had 13 on the ballot. Alliances and coalitions among the smaller parties to get their messages and wants are historic, and they show more honor and commitment to their principles than the two "major" parties.

The Reps and the Dems have been acting like two unions fighting over a factory's workforce. The party leadership in both have demonstrated their goal is only numbers, and we have seen how fast any politician can change his/her political spots in the quest for re-election.

While we're quoting Bible verses, here's a coupe I like.

For the entitlement crowd.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

2 Thessalonians 3:10

For Obama and the current congress.

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

Proverbs 21:20

So yes, your party- what's left of it- has swung so far to the right that it's taking its ideology like a drug addict.

That's just a bunch of left wing horse poop.

Rob, you're on the money with most of the above.

I'm not in full agreement with the "need for a two party system" because I see nothing wrong with the "several party system." The Constitution does not limit the number of political parties, and the last election had 13 on the ballot. Alliances and coalitions among the smaller parties to get their messages and wants are historic, and they show more honor and commitment to their principles than the two "major" parties.

Thanks Steve- I would love to see a multi-party sytem, because with a 2 party system everything is either/or with no option for power if you are in the "or" party. Occasionally we get a dynamic third-party person, but even then, they take away from the majority party and skew results. Clinton would not have won without Ross Perot, & W. would not have won without Nader in the race. How couldl we ever switch to a parliamentary system while still having a strong executive? It would require a total rewite of the Constitution. I for one would be terrified of that!

Coalitions would more greatly reflect the diversity of opinions of this nation. As it happens now, the coalitions must be formed under a single party's tent. The Reps. did it in 2000, and the Dems. did it this election. The thing I fear (or actually enjoy seeing, if I were to be honest!) is that the radical Republicans have simply amputated entire portions of what should be, and have in the past been, Republican constituencies. Pro-choice but free-market. No thanks. Anti-war but conservative family values- no thanks. Moderately in favor of social spending for infrastructure or S.S. or Medicare, but pro-defense, no thanks.

There is this seeemingly self-destructive need for every Republican to be in lockstep with Grover Norquist or Tony Perkins, or you're not wanted to be a part of the GOP. Not so Grand anymore. At least in the Reagan coalitions, there was room for other views. I don't think Ronald Reagan of 1988 would be welcome in the GOP today, just as I see George Bush senior keeping his distance as well. These men were conservatives, but they were also tolerant in many ways that the fringe in control today will not stomach.

Forgot about heralding G.Gordon Liddy for writing about what good citizenship is today also!

Originally Posted by dklassen

That's just a bunch of left wing horse poop.

Now there's a well-reasoned, intelligent response, and a good example of how intolerance loses elections.

BTW, why is it ok to insult the Democratic Party by referring to it as the "democrat" party. Would you call your neighbor by a name which is not his? If your name is Rick, is it acceptabnle to just call you Dick, over and over? Seems pretty infantile to me. Started by Mr Gingrich or Mr DeLay- two apragons of decency in the political arena I believe, and followed on quickly by dittoheads. Hmmmm. May be that's why they call themselves dittoheads.

Originally Posted by dklassen

While we're quoting Bible verses, here's a coupe I like. For the entitlement crowd.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

2 Thessalonians 3:10

Theologians rule # 1- Never quote scripture out of context
.
Thess 3:12-15 " We order and encourage such people by the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13Brothers, do not get tired of doing what is right.

14If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of him. Have nothing to do with him so that he will feel ashamed. 15 Yet, don't treat him like an enemy, but warn him like a brother

Originally Posted by dklassen

While we're quoting Bible verses, here's a coupe I like.

For the entitlement crowd.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

2 Thessalonians 3:10

For Obama and the current congress.

In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

Proverbs 21:20



That's just a bunch of left wing horse poop.

I would have said horse poop instead of babble. I didn't know I could say "poop."

Yoda

A member of the loyal opposition