Apr 23 2009
Conservatives Continue To Drive GOP Into Oblivion
The Democrats are being given a free ride because the ‘true conservative’ opposition is so inept and repulsive there is no respectable or credible check on the Democrats. The far right has destroyed conservatism as defined by Reagan and executed through both Bush presidencies. But it takes real ineptitude of historic proportions to destroy all that good, hard work in only a few short years of mindless madness.
The data is just too strong to dismiss anymore:
As he approaches the 100-day mark of his presidency, Barack Obama’s job approval ratings are higher than those of his most recent predecessors. However, the 44th president is even more distinguished by his strong personal popularity. Fully 73% of Americans – including as many as 46% of Republicans – hold a favorable view of Obama as a person. Fewer people held favorable impressions of George W. Bush (61%) and Bill Clinton (60%) early in their first years.Â
Obama’s job approval stands at 63%, while 26% disapprove of the way he is handling his job as president.Â
Through 100 days of a radical shift to the left the conservatives have been so hot headed and out of whack that America has turned to Obama as the preferred option. The conservative right is out of control, and now openly attacking America and Americans as they sink deeper and deeper into historical oblivion. Remember, to these people George W Bush, John McCain, John Kyl and other GOP leaders were traitors to the cause. They were moderates who created the Gang of 14 (a huge success), the prescription drug option in medicare/medicaid (a huge free market success), the Iraqi Surge (while many on the right bailed) and a chance to reform immigration and win over the most prized segment of the electorate – the rapidly growing hispanic voters (being voters they are Americans and deserve respect and a voice at the table).
After 100 days they have made Obama more popular than when he was elected!
This is how conservatives have screwed up so horribly, repulsed so many and shriveled up into a small band of angry malcontents:
A conservative faction of the Republican National Committee is urging the GOP to take a harder line against both Democrats and wayward Republicans, drafting a resolution to rename the opposition the “Democrat Socialist Party†and moving to rebuke the three Republican senators who supported the stimulus package.Â
At the rate they are going they will push Obama into becoming one of the most popular presidents of modern time. It is not Obama’s gifts pulling this off, it is the massively repulsive nature of conservatives. Obama and the Dems are not succeeding – in fact he is stumbling and failing to make any progress on anything of value. It is simply the conservatives have become so radioactively angry they simply make the Dems look good in comparison.
Gone are the level heads, reasoned policies with broad centrist support, respectful tone. Gone is the shining city on the hill, destroyed and replaced by an angry mob.
The path out of this mess is obvious to everyone not drowning in the fevered swamps of the right:Â
But before they rush to criticize Obama, they need to put their own house in order. The GOP’s moderate wing has declined in recent decades, and the size of the Republican coalition is shrinking.Â
If the Republican Party is to reestablish its dominance in American politics, it must rebuild a national coalition that includes independent and moderate voters and elected officials. In the 1950s and 1960s, Republicans had a robust centrist wing typified by President Dwight Eisenhower, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and New Jersey Sen. Clifford Case. Influential think tanks like the Ripon Society proposed moderate policy ideas that proved to be both popular and effective.Â
E.J. Dionne argues in his seminal “Why Americans Hate Politics†that Ripon’s members “were among the first in the 1960s to … show how an all-volunteer Army could work.†They sought “to turn the Republicans’ preference for state and local government into practical programs,†endorsed civil rights, proposed tax credits for the working poor and supported an opening to communist China.
…
Moderates and independent-minded Republicans tend to be harder to find in the House than they were 10 or 20 years ago — whether they support abortion rights or are pro-Big Government. A once-proud moderate tradition has been seriously weakened.Â
The decline of moderate and independent Republicans, according to historian Vincent Cannato of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, “is only part of the problem†confronting Republicans today. Still, “just as Democrats needed to reach out to Blue Dogs†to build their coalition, Cannato said, “Republicans need to find out who the moderates and independents are in the country — and try to figure out how to appeal to them.â€Â
So far the rabid far right tendency to call people traitors and wimps and getting in their face for not bowing down to their huge egos has not been attracting much support. Gee, wonder why?
Terrye,
What killed the conservatives is they also treated Bush like Hitler. The pretty much killed the coalition. It is one thing for your opponents to trash you, it is another for your so called allies to do it.
I don’t understand all of this antipathy towards conservatives. Calling BO a socialist isn’t just for conservatives alone, Dick Morris (no right winger) is saying the same thing. http://thehill.com/dick-morris/obamas-leap-to-socialism-2009-04-21.html I agree that conservatives shouldn’t fall into the same mindset as the far left did over the last 8 years but there is a point in stating the obvious to the American people weather they want to hear it or not. Maybe its semantics in the way the message is delivered but BO is certainly no moderate and the Congress is even farther left than he is at this point. What conservatives should be doing is pointing out the differences in governance philosophy in rational terms to the American people. Honesty is truly the best policy in this case.
AJ, I don’t think people pay that much attention to conservative pundits who used satire or creative names for Bush over spending or immigration. If you look at the internal polls of Bush’s favorability…..it seems to me that his support was high among “conservatives” and it was the centrist (independents) and Democrats that jumped ship and abandoned him. I don’t even remember any conservatives calling Bush “Hitler”, anyway.
Lacegrl130, your daughter is not alone. There is another poll out there showing that Obama’s biggest drop in support since election day is in the age 35 or younger group. Young people are idealistic and want a different type of government. But, they are also not so easily fooled–they pay much more attention than the generation before them did at that age. They are also results oriented. They want real change; not chump change. They will give Obama the benefit of the doubt for awhile; but, they are not blind. He must produce.
So far the rabid far right tendency to call people traitors and wimps
An interesting statement coming from a supporter of the savage invasion of Iraq. GOPers spent much of this decade attacking anyone opposed to their MidEast holocaust as traitors and America-haters. I recall blowhard Limbaugh claiming ‘neocon’ was an anti-Semitic slur. What a bonehead! The unprovoked war against the people of Iraq (another 70 killed yesterday) helped America go bankrupt and cost the GOP the White House, Senate, and House of Reps. The conservatives supported this war. They’ve only themselves to blame for their political isolation.
A party for the rest of us?
Jules, get over the invasion of Iraq. It is past. Would you rather have Saddam alive and in power still? His birthday is in a few days, why not mourn? You’re right Iraq was an unprovoked war on our part… but it wasn’t a “savage” invasion by any means. The UN wasn’t willing to enforce it’s own resolutions. Saddam was shooting at our aircraft almost daily, hoping to actually hit one. He was inciting terror against the Israelis. Heck- his regime had men on its payroll whose only job was to rape women related to his critics. That’s the only reason I supported the invasion and the war. No I believe you are wrong- any war whose objective was to remove such a ruthless tyrant is just.
The GOP DID NOT lose control of Congress because of Iraq. Don’t you remember all the talk of “culture of corruption?” If the 2006 midterms had been about Iraq, Lamont would be the junior senator from Connecticut. Especially considering all the polls for years have shown that most Americans wanted us to stay until Iraq stabilized.
A small point: When we invaded Iraq under George W. Bush, we were technically already at war with Iraq and had been since 1992. The Gulf War had never ended; it was only put on hold by a ceasefire that was conditional on Saddam Hussein cooperating with UN weapons inspectors and letting them verify that Hussein was indeed destroying whatever weapons of mass destruction he had during the Gulf War. Saddam flouted the terms of the ceasefire, but nobody did anything about it until we invaded Iraq in 2002.
We gave Saddam, all they way up to the very last minute, a peaceful way out of the situation. He could be still sitting there in power slaughtering the Shiites, his sons torturing the sports teams and raping the local chicks in their expensive cars had he simply allowed full and unfettered UN inspections.
That would have also ended the oil for food program and other sanctions if it turned out that he had no such weapons. But he, himself, decided to play a game of chicken which he lost. Apparently France and Russia were telling him we would never invade without UN approval and were assuring him they would never give such approval and so that emboldened him.
The invasion of Iraq wasn’t a sneak attack or any kind of unexpected bolt out of the blue. We were very clear in exactly how Saddam could have avoided it. HE chose invasion, not us.
It really chaps my cheeks to see people constantly failing to recognize Saddam’s responsibility in what happened. He could have avoided it, he could still be in power today, he thought we were bluffing. We weren’t, he lost, end of story.
Behold Iraq in perspective and the Democrat’s selective concern for the Iraqi people.
Back during the debate on whether to go to war or not, I had a gut feeling that the real benefit of it would be the eventual emergence of a democracy, or at least some semblance of a country controlled by the people over a dictator, and the example this would set for the rest of the Middle East/Muslim world.
This seems to be well on the way to being a reality. As Iraq grows stronger as such a country, I look for there to be more and more pressure on other dictators by their own people to attain the same thing.
If only we had been more unified in the effort. How much easier would it have been, and how many lives would have been saved?
“What killed the conservatives is they also treated Bush like Hitler. The pretty much killed the coalition. It is one thing for your opponents to trash you, it is another for your so called allies to do it.”
That sums up what happened within the blogs, talk radio and the few TV and print media that lean our way. We all disagree. Conservatives say that their ‘principles’ have to be the glue. Nope. We can’t all decide who gets to be the Decider of the Principles. Some see this as black & white. I see some gray that many can not tolerate.
I do not think it mattered that much (what we all thought) towards the end. More Hoekstra’s are what we needed and did not have. They are our only communication. They are the only ones that have the power to break through the MSM’s Silence. They failed. The Silence? We were subjected to the horrors of Joe Wilson being ignored by the White House. Yep. This one man sent the White House an opinion. We were subjected to years of horror that the White House ignored an intel memo. The Silence? Look at the 5 pictures of the intelligence men that told Obama not to release those memos and give it to the enemy. Do you hear the crickets?
President Obama is getting ready to release hundreds of photos claiming to be torture in Iraq, etc. War? What war? I hope I never read again at any blog that Obama does not really want to do these things but is being forced. Only look at his actions. This is a really bad guy. He looks like an angel. He talks out of one side and then he does the dirty. Over and over.
“President Obama is getting ready to release hundreds of photos claiming to be torture in Iraq, etc. ”
When you have done practically nothing in your own administration and times are looking pretty rough, when you have none of your own accomplishments to point to, it is better to point out the warts of the people around you in order to make yourself relatively more attractive. That is what Obama is doing. He is trying to make his administration seem better not by its accomplishments (of which there aren’t any) but by continuing to point out flaws in others.
At some point he is going to run out of these and will need to show some accomplishment of his own.
One other thing………………this angel that graces the covers of all the rags has to be the most ungracious human that ever lived. He is nothing without the MSM covering his azz. Remember how Bush let him start his administration early because we were at war? Pure class in action. Obama is exactly the opposite. If you followed what Rev Wright was preaching and then follow Obama’s ACTIONS, you will notice they are in full agreement.
We need the same thing we have needed from the start of Bush’s term. We need communication to the masses. We need Hoekstras. We need an army of them. We need to kill the MSM that is more deadly to this country than the terrorists.
IMHO, you need to embrace the word “probably†in your prose.
Predictive, definitive statements are often subject to being wrong … in the case of this post; I believe you are possibly correct, but, probably wrong.
The series of polls that makes your screed [IMHO] less than believable is that polling regarding the direction of the country has only gotten more and more positive since Nov’08 … to the point that it is now more positive than negative.
If I were polled about Obama’s “performance†as Pres today, I would be “undecided†regarding his performance. I will probably be undecided until the mid-term elections in 2010.
Changes in policy and direction regarding the largest economy in the history of the world take time … I will give him the benefit of a doubt for 20 more months [or so].
If I were polled about Obama’s “presence†as Pres today, I would be “favorableâ€. He exudes a measure of competency that far exceeds his predecessor.
As a centrist, I adore and support [with my vote] competency in government. Both parties are shite [IMHO] … as are radicals on all sides of the debate. I want smart, rational, pragmatic and educated people representing us in our government … Obama appears to be trying to deliver all these characteristics.
All that said, given the economic circumstances Obama inherited, and how he has tried to mediate them [which are not – IMHO – sufficient], I think he will fail [economically].
The scariest thing is that the Right is going so “wing-nut†to combat their loss of power, that elements of this “wing-nut-ism†may gain mainstream support.
If the economy collapses and the Repubs take over in 2010 or 2012 based on their current rhetoric, [IMHO] one should be VERY afraid about the current world order and this republic.
Heck, I knew you were in the middle when you gave him a favorable. Actually I agree 100% that he is extremely competent if you are looking for a full blown, UN loving socialist. Darn near perfect.
I belive it is correct to call this socialism when “nationalization of 17 percent of our economy in health care, 8 percent of the economy in energy, and the largest tax increase in history”…http://hotair.com/archives/2009/04/24/deadline-dems-will-nuke-filibuster-if-health-care-reform-doesnt-pass-by-october-15/i.e. cap and trade. I am not even talking about the banks for Gods sake. The old Soviet Union would be proud for sure.
AJ,
I don’t think average people are flocking to Obama because of conservatives being, well, conservatives.
You see, in 2006, the MSM got over their learning curve, and learned just how biased they needed to be to get 51% of voting Americans to side with their team. Today, you see a continuation and progression of this collective effort.
It doesn’t matter what a Republican or Conservative says or does. It will be cast in a bad light. Doesn’t matter how conservative they are, or how “non-conservative” they are. You should know this, as you write about it all the time with respect to George.
The problem is not with how average people view conservatives, it’s how the MSM portrays them. All of them. Heck, I hear you complain about some Republicans being too conservative, and then the next day I read one of your posts, and I swear you were referring to yourself!
Owl: I agree that the UN is shite … and that Obama is moving us more socialists then we may have been before.
But, let’s be honest about where we where before Obama:
Medicare is socialism.
Social Security is socialism.
The Hoover dam was a socialist project.
All of our highways are [actually] a socialist project.
The levies in and around New Orleans are socialist.
The relief efforts for the people in Galveston [after the hurricane] were socialist.
WTF, the best economies in the world are a blend of capitalism and socialism.
IMHO, all this shite from the Right regarding socialism, fascism and marxism is all about regret.
Someone lost an election, to a BLACK man … and now … many people are losing their minds.
No, we’re quite sane.
The insane (or is it more accurate to say “audacious”?) are those who would attempt to use an economic decline as a mandate NOT to encourage and facilitate private free-market capitalism, but to expand the reach, power and influence of an inefficient, slow moving federal government. Not just for funding bridges, dams and dikes, which has been its accepted and traditional function, but for controlling private banks, the American auto industry, the American health care industry and most recently even carbon dioxide production. (i.e. freedom)
And the very LAST thing on ANY of our minds is someone’s skin color. That obsession is owned by the left side of the crowd, and they’re loath to let it properly fade into history.
you’re reading alone in these comments feeling gloomy, then you read this by Jules Roy. Finally something to smile about, or laugh. Jules, you’re funny.
Savage invasion of Iraq? So we’re to think there are now more dead Iraqi’s than there would have been with Saddam still in there raping, murdering, torturing? Belly roll laughter.
Limbaugh was right ‘neocon’ is a synonym for anti-semite slur.
more laughter.
helped America go bankrupt? Obama has increased the debt of the US more in his first 100 days than 43 presidents combined preceding him. Well, that’s not really funny. Obama’s debt, I mean
At least Obama’s boneheadedness, along with Pelosi and Reid will begin the handover back to the Repubs with the 2010 election. More belly roll laughter.
Jules, don’t give up your day job, stand up is not your forte’.