May 16 2008
Conservatives Being Wooed By Both Parties, More Opportunities For Progress
Glenn Reynolds asks an interesting question today:
SO IF THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN TROUBLE, WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO HAPPY? I’m at the NRA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. I haven’t been to a big gun event in probably a decade, and the change in mood is striking: People are, well . . . not ebullient, really, but noticeably cheerful and confident. The defensive crouch of a decade ago is gone. Will that change if the Democrats take the White House?
They don’t seem to think so here. Ten years ago, gun rights were under siege. Now the two Democratic presidential candidates are bending over backward to try to paint themselves as pro-gun. It’s a lie, of course. But it’s a lie that shows where the political balance of power, er, lies on this issue. The Democrats are electing new members of Congress, too — but, again, they’re running as pro-gun. People here, I think, feel like they’ve got the momentum regardless of what happens in November.
They are happy Conservatives (and I mean the broader, more diverse, more pragmatic conservatives – not those ‘true’ conservatives who denounce compromise with the democrats, let alone voting for them) because they have choices. They are being wooed by the Democrats and GOP. And as has been shown in the Special Elections this year they are voting for Dems over the GOP in heavily conservative GOP districts.
While the ‘true’ conservatives (who come to this site and claim I am left of Hillary Clinton and a closet Democrat – supposedly as a way to woo my support!) have destroyed the GOP lock on conservatives. They chased those who believe in conservative issues – AND believe you can progress them through reasonable compromise with dems – out of the GOP. No compromise! The far right can deny this all day long, but it won’t change the reality. The GOP told the moderates there was no more common ground and called them traitors for defying the will of ‘true’ conservatives on issues such as comprehensive immigration reform.
Those nasty one-time GOP voters who would talk to dems, work with dems, compromise with dems and now – yes – vote for dems are by definition not ‘true’ conservatives. They were the cancer that had to be purged from the GOP and the right. They had become traitors to ‘the cause’. Of course these nasty people are the moderate, psuedoconservative, independent … whatever name the far right uses to try and shore up their own superior conservative ideology.
So how is it these happy centrists, being wooed by left and right, are taken as both evil and desired? I have seen all sorts of warped logic from the far right on how the moderates have destroyed the party. But it is these very moderate voters the far right needs to get back in order to win elections. Yet all they do is insult them for being so, well, moderate! (side note: I love my typos some days. My latest was “far fright” for “far right”. How ironically true was that one!).
Why are conservatives happy – they are no longer tied to one party which can take them for granted – to the point they can insult their beliefs and still expect their vote each fall. Well the last laugh is on the ones not smiling, the ones looking shell-shocked and scared because they realized they told their constituents their views were not wanted or respected. Guess what, those happy moderate conservatives now have choices because more than one party is wooing them. Well, actually only one party is wooing them now, their old party just can’t seem to find one nice thing to say about them and their ilk. Duh!
Addendum: Just finished reading Peggy Noonan stab Bush and our troops in the back again. Sshe now seems to claim we needed to surrender and run, since that would ‘break with the administration’ position to stay and win. Same old pretzel logic: ‘the GOP is not far enough to the right’, which is why the voters are electing conservatives that are to the left of center (Blue Dog Democrats). ‘The GOP is not far enough to the right’, which is why GOP voters selected McCain over a sea of far right candidates. ‘The GOP is too soft on immigration’, which is why voters in the GOP and in general elections have dumped all the hard liners out of office.
The far right talks of rebuilding by becoming more of what the voters are rejecting – call me naive but if the voters don’t like it, more of the same won’t help change their minds. What the GOP needs is to stop tearing itself apart like Noonan does. Right now no sane person would trust her to stand by them when the going got tough. She runs away saying “its all their fault!”. Yeah, if this is showing the voters what a true conservative is I am sure the voters are paying attention and taking notes. Amazing to watch a party devour itself like this.
Terrye,
You sure know a lot of people! And so many of them are conservatives who vote for Dems!..color me surprised. The libs I know primarily vote Dem and the conservatives I know primarily vote Republican. The independents I know switch back and forth.
AJ,
“But it is these very moderate voters the far right needs to get back in order to win elections. Yet all they do is insult them for being so, well, moderate!” Just like what you do to the far right! Oh, I know, yours aren’t insults, they’re just the truth!
Excuse me but some need to look at the numbers on the MS-01 election before they go off claiming Republican elected the guy.
Compare the turnout to 2004 and the Dems had just slightly greater voter count but the number of Rep voters that showed up was about 1/5th of what they had in 2004 and even less than they had in 2006.
This race was a big sit out on a wholesale scale.
Take a look at the primary that was held in MS and you will see that the total number of voters for the entire state that voted Rep was less than half of what MS-01 turned out in 04.
It’s not that Republicans are voting FOR these guys it is them sitting home and saying a pox on all your houses.
There is more to come from MS.
Look to see what is going to happen in MS(03) since Chip Pickering decided to step down.
When Wicker replaced Trent Lott from MS(01) Pickering looked to see what Thad Cochran was going to do, since Pickering was in the running to replace Lott.
Well when Cochran decided to run again Pickering announced his retirement from MS03 and it now looks like he will be replacing Haley Barbour as Gov of MS.
Currently Pickering is the only Republican Representative from MS in congress.
Good work, Merlin. An enlightened sail in a white-capped sea of dribble.
Terrye,
“A lot of conservatives are voting for those blue dogs and in the south it should be remembered that not all that long ago the Democrats were almost all conservative.”
Something apparently former Dems can’t comprehend…there are Democrats who tend to be less liberal, therefore more conservative liberals. There are Republicans who tend to be less conservative, therefore more liberal conservatives. There is no such thing as a conservative democrat in the context that you continue to speak of conservatives and liberals. They are not interchangeable in the manner that you are using.
As a rule, most conservatives would not vote for a Democrat on a matter of personal principles , beliefs and ideology. (Issues, not just because he’s a Dem.) You will have some liberal conservatives voting for more conservative Democrats because sometimes there is a blurred line between the 2 on a few issues and visa versa. But usually it is the Independents, who by nature, find themselves fitting somewhere in between the two parties on the matter of principles, beliefs and ideologies who will switch back and forth between parties.
When you and AJ speak with such disgust about conservatives…it is not the less liberal Dems you speak of or the less conservative Republicans. So don’t confuse their differences when you speak of Democrats being conservative. A conservative Democrat and a conservative Republican are entirely different animals.
AJ, Terrye…from American Thinker…
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/05/if_the_gop_wants_to_govern_lik_1.html
Whippet:
I do not speak with disgust of conservatives. I am conservative in a lot of ways myself. I just resent a small contentious faction of right wingers assuming they are what embodies all that is conservative.
And you are categorizing people too much. Do you honestly believe that when you go into some of these states where local officials can be Democrat or Republican that all these people say to themselves I can only vote one party?
How do you explain Indiana voting for Evan Bayh and George W. Bush? The same people, splitting tickets. Happens all the time.
The truth is I think that the far right has hurt the Republican party. The old fashioned conservative with is sense of self reliance and independence is being pushed out of the party by the kind of people who think George Bush would sell our ports to terrorists, as in Dubai. There was a time when no sane sensible Republican would have assumed something like that with a Republican president. It is just bizarre. It is only one example, but that kind of obnoxious paranoia has hurt the party.
Even now when some crazy person like Obama is on the way to the White House I can go to rightwing sites all over the internet where people are complaining more about McCain than Obama. It is just weird. and wrong. So do not blame me for the fact that a lot of people are being turned off by this kind of rhetoric.
You aren’t comprehending what is being written. Try the article 75 linked to. It’s a great article and very well written and it doesn’t call anyone names or mock anyone. It’s a refreshing change. You may not agree but you should understand the sentiment.
And Terrye, you’re turning me off with the same kind of rhetoric just as they did. You are amazing. You remind me of the kid who gets in trouble for getting in a fight and his excuse is “he hit me first.” Two wrongs don’t make a right and the inability of those here who are unable to see the similarities in behavior are mindboggling.
I may even find myself agreeing with many things you say but the repetitive slams against those who think differently causes one to get lost in your real message. And it’s annoying as hell.
Whippet, Terrye not only doesn’t comprehend what is written…she won’t even read it. Arrogant, ignorant, and stubborn is no way to go through life. I’m just going to take a wild stab here and assume that Terrye doesn’t represent the typical Hoosier.
Terrye,
The old fashioned conservative wouldn’t have even thought of selling our ports to any foreign entity let alone terrorists. While I thought many blew the Dubai Ports deal way out of proportion it wasn’t “obnoxious paranoia” that drove their viewpoints.
And while all muslims are not terrorists, most all terrorists are muslims. It isn’t “obnoxious paranoia” to have concerns in handing over the operations of our ports to companies who may inadvertantly employ those who want to kill Americans or use those ports to traffic in weapons or other more harmful mass killing aparatus. American companies have hired terrorists willingly and unwittingly so why would their concerns be such a stretch? That’s just common sense.
You’re allowing your hatred of a few mouthy conservatives to taint your view of all of them and it makes you no better than them.
The American Thinker article linked by 75 is a good read.
Here is some more food for thought during these troubling times for Republicans:
Ronald Reagan Tells Us How to Revitalize the Republican Party
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_051608/content/01125106.guest.html
Wither Conservtism?
http://blogsforvictory.com/2008/05/16/whither-conservatism/#comments
http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/05/the_loss_in_the_mississippi_sp.php
Great links Frogg. Conservatism is like hangover medicine in the cabinet without an expiration date. The GOP will eventually come back to it after they’ve drunk too much McCain. My worry is that GOP will drink enough to kill themselves. That’s when the left comes in and closes the bar and the medicine cabinet with it.
[…] Kentucky. I haven??t been to a big gun event in probably a decade, and the change in moodhttp://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/5432A Tale of Two Democratic Primary States NPRThe upcoming Oregon and Kentucky primaries are near […]
[…] HAVE YOU NOTICED SOMETHING? Have you seen what I see? There are ever so many organizations and so very few people. Yep, this whole tawdry affair is being manipulated by an incestuous hand-full of people. They are all the same people. The one great hallmark of them all is a total and complete, abject hatred of George W. Bush. They have one their best to undermine him, and have done a decent job at it. John McCain is their next target. Peggy Noonan is another of those on the list. She is obviously the woman scorned and hell hath nothing like her hatred of GWB. These people have manipulated. They have lied. They have positioned themselves to the point where our cowardly members of the House can’t think for themselves. They hear the word “conservative” and run to it, regardless of who is saying “conservative. Ruffini has an interesting commentary on the outlook for the GOP, as does Stratasphere. […]