Yeah, I know I'm in Political. I know the territory.

I am a moderate. I am fiscally conservative. I registered Republican many years ago. But now, I am furious with the Republican party on so many levels.

And it looks like I will never send them $25.00 again. Not unless something changes drastically. Nope. No more $25.00 checks from me.

Even if I did get that picture in the mail of the happy couple dancing at the 2000 inaugural ball. Even if I did use my computer to put my own face over top of Laura's in that picture. Even if I did have that picture in my office. Nope. We're over. Unless something changes. A lot. But the problem is -- I'm a moderate.

This article is from Time magazine.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...896588,00.html

Boomer

Originally Posted by Boomer

Yeah, I know I'm in Political. I know the territory.

I am a moderate. I am fiscally conservative. I registered Republican many years ago. But now, I am furious with the Republican party on so many levels.

And it looks like I will never send them $25.00 again. Not unless something changes drastically. Nope. No more $25.00 checks from me.

Even if I did get that picture in the mail of the happy couple dancing at the 2000 inaugural ball. Even if I did use my computer to put my own face over top of Laura's in that picture. Even if I did have that picture in my office. Nope. We're over. Unless something changes. A lot. But the problem is -- I'm a moderate.

This article is from Time magazine.


!

http://www.time.com/time/politics/ar...896588,00.html

Boomer

Boomer, we share quite a bit !! First, we have lots of nerve coming to political with opinions and risking the flight of so many others !!

Second, I fit the same catagory and offer this advice ! Forget the R or D beside their name...we need those who will come to the center...that is my game plan......that and to rail against anyone I consider too far left OR right

media would have as many as possible believe, the Republican Party will survive.

Remember the Dems DID NOT win the election by a landslide....funny how that never gets pointed out by the supposedly sharp media cats....yes I am being sarcastic! There is no percentage in them presenting the facts for intelligent people to reach their own conclusion.

As much could be written about whether the Dems will survive, but that isn't a likely speculation as it is not consistent with the administratios or the medias intents.

Another example of selective reporting? Obama first day in office his ratings were around 80%. The ratings after 100 days are around 60%. Has anybody seen that in the media? Of course not. It is presented that his 60% are so far superior to the previous administration. Borderline (or maybe not) mis-information and managing the masses beliefs.

Ther I feel better already.

I do support the earlier comments that whether and R or D or what ever beside a persons name doesn't mean anymotre tha what religion they are...eh?

BTK

Originally Posted by billethkid

media would have as many as possible believe, the Republican Party will survive.

Remember the Dems DID NOT win the election by a landslide....funny how that never gets pointed out by the supposedly sharp media cats....yes I am being sarcastic! There is no percentage in them presenting the facts for intelligent people to reach their own conclusion.

As much could be written about whether the Dems will survive, but that isn't a likely speculation as it is not consistent with the administratios or the medias intents.

Another example of selective reporting? Obama first day in office his ratings were around 80%. The ratings after 100 days are around 60%. Has anybody seen that in the media? Of course not. It is presented that his 60% are so far superior to the previous administration. Borderline (or maybe not) mis-information and managing the masses beliefs.

Ther I feel better already.

I do support the earlier comments that whether and R or D or what ever beside a persons name doesn't mean anymotre tha what religion they are...eh?

BTK

Oh, let me agree whole heartedly with your comments on the media.

I will predict, and I am sure I am not the first, that the media WILL be called on what they have done in the last year.

My comments also BOOMER relate to the Time article you posted although there is a bit of disehelvement in the Rep Party as with the Dems a few years ago.

Seems like I heard something the other day, as I was passing by my television, about how the Republicans are going to set up something like town meetings where they ask what people want from the party. (I think I heard that. I hope I am not making it up. It sounds like a really good idea.)

So what do you think you would say if you got the chance?

Boomer

Originally Posted by Boomer

Seems like I heard something the other day, as I was passing by my television, about how the Republicans are going to set up something like town meetings where they ask what people want from the party. (I think I heard that. I hope I am not making it up. It sounds like a really good idea.)

So what do you think you would say if you got the chance?

Boomer

1. Get back to the basics...conservative fiscally

2. Insure that the party stays in the middle...not the extremism. Certainly listen to folks like the religious right but find common ground WITHIN the party.

3. Work very hard on who gets the nomination and the VP nod.

I too saw this report on one of the cable news channels. I think it's a great idea and just what is needed. Step back, take a deep breath and get some input from a wide variety of party members. Whoever came up with the idea should be commended.

Boomer, I feel exactly the same as you. I don't know if the Republicans moved away from me, or I've move away from them. Probably a little of both. I registered as a Republican when I was 21, and never changed over the next (nearly) 40 years. But I am so furious at the Bush Administration for so many things, that I'm seriously thinking about re-registering this year. Probably as an Independent, but I could go so far as to become a Demo. The two biggest things keeping me from doing that are Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I suppose as long as those two bozos are in charge, I'll not be joining their party. Anyway, I can no longer associate myself with the Republicans. I think they will come back at some point, but I'm guessing it will be two or three presidential elections before they can completely come to their senses. And I'm likely to be dead and gone by then. Thanks for your post.

leaving the party...any party? Either party?
They are gone...and life is supposed to go on. Joining the opposition does not neccesarily assure satisfaction....or you would have done it years ago.
Help it get back to where ever you think it was before you got mad at somebody.
I personally have a hard time with the number of folks who would do or have done something other than they would normally do because they don't like Bush. That means y'all for the opposition...your just against Bush....he is gone for cryin' out loud!!!! If the pound of flesh needs to be gotten, that is the beauty of our system...you are entitled to do so.....for now!!

BTK

Why do you think conservatives need to move to the center and what is it that makes people think the right is so extreme these days?

Seems to me when the Republicans make a clear distinction and stick to pure conservatism they win. Soon as they move to the center they loose. i.e John McCenter.

IMO the left is a lot farther left right now than the right is right. Obama, Pelosi and Reid are a disgrace to their party and this country. These clowns make JFK look like a right winger.

There's no doubt that whenever we get a strong "real" conservative the media rips them to shreds unmercifully no matter who they are. You know why don't you? See my second paragraph. This whole moving to the center is just more media propaganda to keep conservatives loosing.

They also love to demonize Christians as being extremists as well. It's pure left wing media propaganda. You saw what they did to Sara Palin. Like her or not I really don't care but that was the most viscous personal attack campaign I've ever seen, even against her family. She didn't deserve that.

How obvious does it have to get?

I'm kind of shocked seeing the majority of posts to this thread- but it also bothers me. America functions best as a two party system. We're not really able to sustain a three part or more coalition system, so two it is.

But we lose our vibrancy without the duality. I thing much of it is Karma or a pendulum. When one party gets so entrenched into governing dishonorably, the public swings the other way. Then the "out" party works that much harder to get into power.

I see two major problems though:

1.) The revolution of the "Right," which started thirty years ago with Christians being told they should "infiltrate" locally and work their way up the system, and politically, as that power began to indiscriminately exclude anyone other than the narrow "moral" platform of the so called "values voters."

I grew up (in NY) with the age of Rockefeller, I campaigned for Lowell Weicker, and I remember many moderate-conservative Republicans who ran for and won office because they were concerned about taxes, government and providing government services as "leanly" as possible.

It was only after Reagan, and I certainly place the blame squarely on men like Newt Gingrich, Oliver North, Rush Limbaugh and the like, who began to preach that up is down, fact is fiction. You are with us or with the terrorists. Republicans really had no place to go, and the right extremist wing just kept building up its power.

2.) The rejection of the powers that be in the Republican party to accept any one, or any idea, that does not fit into the ideological purity of the extremists who now control the party. Why was government sticking its nose into Terry Schiavo's life? Why couldn't conservatives be Republicans and still support environmental responsibility (Drill Baby Drill!)?

Why couldn't some accommodation for a mother's life be included in an anti-abortion platform. Are Republicans aware that, in its extremism, pro-life positions in the Catholic Church and the Baptist conventions require the doctor to sacrifice the life of the mother to save the baby- EVEN if the baby has little chance of viability? Talk about goverment intrusion into private lives.

My point: even as the regular guy or gal realizes the horrible pickle that the Republicans are in right now, the top influences of the Republican party are so out of touch with America that they genuinely believe that people just don't understand their call for extreme fiscal and social conservatism. "If we only could become MORE Ideological then people would follow us!"

It's time for Republicans to re-open their tent to allow other opinions and deep-felt convictions to have a say in the party's platforms and actions. "Regular" people, who may have voted Democratic, will undoubtedly become weary and even scared of all the expenses-fiscal and cultural- involved of the Obama goals. Personally, as a Democrat, and a strong believer in Obama and the platform of the Democratic Party, I hope that doesn't happen. But it will, it always does. And Democrats will invariably become arrogant.

I do believe, as I said, that this government needs the balance of powers- not only by branch but by political party to function best. Until Republicans powers-that-be begin to realize that moving even further right will cause damage to themselves even more, I fear that we may be in for one-party rule for a long time.

Originally Posted by billethkid

leaving the party...any party? Either party?
They are gone...and life is supposed to go on. Joining the opposition does not neccesarily assure satisfaction....or you would have done it years ago.
Help it get back to where ever you think it was before you got mad at somebody.
I personally have a hard time with the number of folks who would do or have done something other than they would normally do because they don't like Bush. That means y'all for the opposition...your just against Bush....he is gone for cryin' out loud!!!! If the pound of flesh needs to be gotten, that is the beauty of our system...you are entitled to do so.....for now!!

BTK

BTK,

Bush is not the issue here, not for me anyway. (I was just having a little fun telling about my picture.) My purpose in starting this thread had nothing to do with Bush bashing. I was hoping for a discussion of the future of the Republican party and whether or not there is any hope for moderate Republicans.

I am furious about the tone of the extreme right who claim to speak for the party. They make it clear that the Republican party going forward has no room for moderates. And, btw, Nancy Pelosi terrifies me. Seriously. That look in her eye scares me a lot. She is every bit as out there as the extreme right.

Even so, I have to wonder if we are going to end up with Democrats who are more moderate than Republicans.

Boomer

All of your posts accurately reflect my feelings and political experience exactly. While like you all I am a fiscal conservative, I am probably also a social moderate. In my mind that means that the federal government can and should exert its power in improving many of the basic needs and rights of U.S. citizens. Our national security and maintaining sound economic and social relationships with the world of nations are fundamental responsibilities of governance, as is an excellent education for our children and affordable healthcare for all, in my opinion. Of course, using every fiscal and financial tool available to assure that our economy remains competitive and our citizens employed are also pretty fundamental.

Like everyone who has posted to this thread so far, political party designation means little to me. Over the last couple of decades those elected to federal positions have performed far differently from their campaign promises, what their political parties are supposed to represent, and the political objectives I espouse. I'll pay a lot less attention to which party future candidates choose to belong to than their campaign promises and how they have fulfilled their previous campaign promises.

Other than sound character, I will have no specific standards which I feel would disqualify a candidate I might vote for--no litmus tests as it were. Certainly, I'll apply no standards that are based on particular religious beliefs. Our country was founded to escape any such influences. I think I'm realistic in knowing that no candidate will ever perform in a way that satisfies me 100% of the time. Was it Ronald Reagan who said, "A member of Congress who supports me 80% of the time is my friend"? If I can find a candidate that I can be sure will govern in a way that I agree with 80% of the time, I'd be ecstatic!

If there are lots more people out there who believe in the same way as those who have posted to this thread, there is hope. As I've said many times before, the ship of state changes direction very slowly, but in time it will turn to meet the desires of most Americans.

DKlassen. I am "Un-enrolled". In Massachusetts, some clown created an "Independent" party, thus denying the rest of us enrollment as "Independents."

I am a conservative as 60%+ Americans claim to be. I am a fiscal conservative and a social conservative. I am not a right wing radical.

I am pro life and pro choice . I do not want to pay for abortions. I am against partial birth abortion except for the immediate need to save the mothers life. I would take no action to outlaw abortion no mater how disgusting I may find it because I can envision conditions in which a woman may believe with all her heart that abortion is the only option. I am a conservative.

I believe in the constitution as our founders presented it. I like that it can be changed but for good cause and with a lot of effort. I am a conservative.

I believe in equality for all, not preference for some. I am a conservative.

I believe in guaranteed equal opportunity not guaranteed results. I am a conservative.

Some have said that the Republican party is dead. Perhaps is is in trouble but remember Obama won with 52% or 53% of the vote. Every where that there was a conservative issue on the ballot, it won. Conservatives are the base of the Republican party, don't knock them, we need them. There is such a thing as the religious right. It is not evil, just zealous.

Moderates in my opinion are just people with no fire in their gut.

Democrats never move to the right but everyone thinks Republicans should move to the left. Whatever happened to principles?

On the question of a third party: That will guarantee a loss for the Republicans.

What is the solution? I don't know. I think that we have to let the RNC know that they should follow the conservative principles that most Americans believe in.

Thank you for your time.

Yoda

A member of the loyal opposition.

Yeah Yoda. Correct on every issue.