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Title: Kondracke: Fire Limbaugh, Hannity, et al
Source:
republican-leadership.com
URL Source: http://www.republican-leadership.com/node/679
Published: Nov 22, 2008
Author: Mort Kondracke
Post Date: 2008-11-22 14:26:08 by Jhoffa_
Keywords: None
Views: 516
Comments: 33
First Steps to GOP Recovery By Mort Kondracke How can the Republican Party rebound? The first step would be to quit letting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham set its agenda. A second step would be for Congressional Republicans to actually try to help President-elect Barack Obama succeed in addressing the country's dire problems -- offering better ideas where appropriate and opposing just when necessary, not reflexively. And the third -- maybe the biggest one -- would be for GOP governors to use their posts to show the country how conservatives can solve problems, especially the dismal state of American education and its menacing cousin, lagging American competitiveness. If one governor would fully implement a widely circulated proposal to transform U.S. education -- based on having most children graduate after 10th grade and using the savings to pay teachers like professionals -- it could serve as a model for the nation and bring the United States back to world standards. But Step One is to fire Rush Limbaugh and his ilk as the intellectual bosses of the GOP. They shouldn't be muzzled, as some liberals want to do by reviving the "fairness doctrine" in broadcasting, just ignored more frequently. In recent years, Republicans have let right-wing talk show hosts whip the GOP base into frenzies -- over immigration, brain-damage victim Terry Schiavo and same-sex marriage -- that have branded the party as troglodyte. The result is that the demographic groups representing the future of American politics shifted decisively to the Democratic Party in 2008 -- Latinos, young people, the well-educated, moderates, working women, first-time voters, suburbanites and "seculars." As former White House political guru Karl Rove observed last week, "the GOP will find it hard to regain the majority" if it keeps losing Latinos. Immigration scarcely was an issue during the fall campaign. But the damage was done over the past two years as the radio screamers roused the rabble, who then beat on GOP Members of Congress, presidential candidates and even the Bush administration not just to control the border but treat undocumented residents as felons. At a briefing last week jointly sponsored by the "New Democrat" Progressive Policy Institute and Web site Democratic Strategist, author Ruy Teixeira said that the gist of his widely doubted 2002 book, "The Emerging Democratic Majority," is now becoming reality. "Democrats are going where they're growing," he said, while Republicans are isolating themselves in a fading portion of the population -- old, white, less-educated, highly religious Southerners. Others at the briefing, notably Bill Galston, a former Clinton White House aide now at the Brookings Institution, cautioned that the country has not taken a sharp left turn, a re-alignment has not yet occurred and that Democrats should beware of overreaching. Which brings us to Step 2 for Republicans: Be positive and pragmatic, not negative and fundamentalist. If Democrats go off the left end, following their Rush Limbaughs in the blogosphere, the GOP may only need to sit and wait until the inevitable reaction occurs. But Obama appears to be a pragmatist and is hiring pragmatists -- Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) in the lead -- to run his administration. So Republicans should follow the advice of Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.): "if [Obama] governs from the center, we'll support him and suggest better ways of doing things. If he goes too far left, we'll object." Part of the problem, of course, lies in deciding what's "center" and "too left." Right now, Republicans are merely saying "No" to a new economic stimulus and rescues for auto companies and homeowners, rather than devising alternatives. Conservative economist Martin Feldstein of Harvard University, for instance, contends that the government should prevent a cascade of mortgage foreclosures by lending "underwater" homeowners part of the difference between their home's value and what they owe -- but on terms that allow garnishment of their wages if they don't pay the debt. Longer range, as Alexander says, Republicans can't simply dust off 20-year-old mantras of the Reagan era, but have to devise 21st century solutions for America's problems like health care, entitlements, energy and transportation. And GOP Members of Congress should do everything possible to assist GOP governors in addressing their problems -- and also learn from what they are doing to solve them. Which brings us to Step 3. Governors like Sarah Palin (Alaska), Tim Pawlenty (Minn.), Bobby Jindal (La.), Haley Barbour (Miss.), Charlie Crist (Fla.) and others actually have responsibility for implementing health care programs, building infrastructure, saving energy, developing economies and balancing budgets. Three governors -- Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. (Utah) and Democrats Deval Patrick (Mass.) and John Lynch (N.H.) -- have set up pilot projects partially implementing proposals of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, issued last year. Significantly, their initiatives have been blessed by leaders of the National Education Association, though its rival, the American Federation of Teachers, opposes them. Under the proposal, states would take over schools from local boards, teachers would form corporations to run schools on contract and hire principals, salaries would go up significantly to attract first-rate teachers and standards would be set to international norms. Most students would graduate after 10th grade and go on to upgraded trade or tech schools, while others stayed and took college-level courses. And money saved would also fund preschool for needy kids. If one governor fully implemented the proposal, his or her state could be a competitiveness juggernaut, set a model for the nation -- and begin solving America's biggest long-term problem. Actually solving big problems -- not pandering to a shrinking demographic base -- is the key to Republican success. Good luck.
Poster Comment: Credit to Mekons5 for finding this, I copied it from tpf where it was posted. I've got my own feelings about what is said here, but I'm interested in what others think about it. This is a shot across the bow in the much ballyhooed "Battle for the party"
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#1. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
The Republican and Democrat parties are on life support, needing a Constitution transplant. A Party dedicated to true Constitutional government might have a chance. This would force big government to die and allow freedom to resurrect. The Big brother government is eating its self.
Where's your birth certificate Barack ?
Both political parties have to stop listening to Zionists and to Wall Street. If at least one party stops being a tool of Wall Street America will very soon cease to exist as a sovereign nation.
The Truth of 911 Shall Set You Free From The Lie
You should know better than to post editorials, comments etc on here that make sense. Please refrain from doing so.
This Big Jew is called a conservative?????????????????????? ROFLMFAO "So give me the money!" ~BigJew
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition SILENT RUNNING People aganst these core issues are the enemy. THE FUCKING ENEMY. Mort is for baby killing and he can go suck on Fred Barnes shriveled up neck.
Why is the constitution important? I am not being facetious but I am afraid that the constitution is exploited by just about every politician and it's used to justify everything from slavery to torture to taking sides in world conflicts to invading other countries, to killing out own people, to arbitrarily tax everyone and everything, to irresponsible fiscal policies. It's like the Bible. You got a million churches and explanations for all and every single horror in the world. The hope that 'only if the constitution was followed' seems to be on the same level to the hopes that 'only if the 'good' communists were in power' or 'only if our good, beloved, caring Tsar knew want was being done to us on his behalf' or 'only if the GOP went back to its roots'. It's all crap, don't you agree?
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
And step two is to quit watching any program that has Mort Kondracke, his idiot buddy, Fred Barnes, and any of the Faux "All Stars" on it. Neocon mofos wouldn't know a real conservative if one walked up to them and knocked them out. Which they should do and often.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Sort of like cheerleading for Obama. That's all crap too but then some people seem determined to do it.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. You are officially nominated and the winner of the stupidest question of the day. SHeesh.
No, the Constitution is the highest law in the land and its protections are part of the reason we can all sit here and call George Bush a stupid monkey without a black van rolling up a hour later to haul us away. It has been subverted and lawyered, there's no question. The need to restore and follow it is vitally important to our future and indeed, is our children's birthright. Were we to replace it, or simply disregard it, the same problems would quickly arise as this is the nature of things and the nature of men. Unfortunately for all of us, corruption is a human trait which develops on its own. Virtue however, requires hard work and diligence.
~ Your failure to be informed, does not make me a wacko.
Again, I am not facetious. What do you think gives the media some leeway and allows us to keep some largely-harmless fire weapons in our possession? Is it the constitution or is it the national consensus and the energetic work of the media organizations and of gun owners organizations? Keep in mind that the constitution did not prevent the passing of 'hate crime/hate speech' laws and it did not prevent the bans on the so-called 'assault weapons'. Under the exact same constitution, no amendments added or removed, the abortion was a national concern and allowed or a state matter, schools were segregated by statue or amalgamated by law and so on. It is apparently constitutional to treat anyone 'caught' with more than $10,000 in their possession as dangerous criminals and it is constitutional to prevent people from smoking certain herbs or taking certain pills - until there is some consensus (see California) that maybe it is not. Tell me why is the constitution meaningful?
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
It provides a basis in law which restrains the federal government and enumerates our basic rights. You are correct to say, it is only as good as the people defending it. Of course it can be disregarded, if there were a consensus on the matter. If it's not the law of the land, then it's just a piece of paper. At the end of the day, all political power comes from the barrel of a gun. This is what it took to write our Constitution in the first place.
~ Your failure to be informed, does not make me a wacko.
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory" Dies ist gut Dear Mort; All the public school funding on the planet won't correct the student-product of a fatherless home and a mother who expects and demands generational welfare. I wouldn't waste a plug nickle on a child who demonstrates a zero desire to learn. Keep dreaming you steaming pile of dung.
~ Your failure to be informed, does not make me a wacko.
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory" Dies ist gut All Obama voters get a free Obama Caricature dildo paid for by the upper class' tax dollars.
~ Your failure to be informed, does not make me a wacko.
Suppose Americans were aware of the limitations the framers imposed on Congress through Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution? Suppose our kids were taught that permitting taxing and spending only for national defense, coinage of money, establishment of post offices and a few other things was all congress should do for the people? Suppose Americans knew the IOth Amendment says, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people"? God, the nation would be different, no? If Americans knew about these limitations, how could we possibly accept Congress's spending billions of taxpayer money on education, health care or midnight basketball? The answer is they couldn't and wouldn't and those are the issues most here on 4um discuss. At the least we can say to ourselves we're true to the spirit of the Founders, however imperfect. As for you and the Os, you've tossed in the towel. You've accepted unconstitutional laws and politicians as inevitable. As I said yesterday Obama has been a good experience. He has helped to shuck off the fakes and the afraid. We don't need you and yours in whatever comes our way. Less is more in that respect.
HA HA HA HA!
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory" Dies ist gut Die Os sind krank. Verdorben bis ganz durch. The Os are sick. Ruined until very through.
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory" Dies ist gut Pubbies have strutted, shouted, demagogued and accomplished little on these issues (an exception being Sensenbrenner on immigration). Incidentally, abortions have trended slowly, slightly, but steadily since about 1992 ... small comfort I know, but true. RP was right on abortion, as with so much else, in saying that the only productive place to fight the plague is at the state level. The sheeple have suffered their shearing of the last eight years by falling for this crap. That and the phony (money making) demagoguery and divisiveness of Lamebaugh whose legacy is hate your neighbor. IMO, Kondracke is a moderate conservative of the type that pre-Rushbo was comfortable enough in the "big tent" and with its platform plank on abortion.
BULLETIN! The election is over. We're up to our armpits in Bushshit. Howsbout we declare a moratorium on partisan sniping and address the crises that America faces? Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things. T. S. Eliot Excellent post Jh and good comment carrot. Of course I still favor annihilation and replacement.
BULLETIN! The election is over. We're up to our armpits in Bushshit. Howsbout we declare a moratorium on partisan sniping and address the crises that America faces? Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things. T. S. Eliot I'm elated the political left practices abortion. Why would anyone want to stand in the way of the enemy as they choose not to raise a new army of socialists? The less of them around the better, IMO. That said, how can we on the local level 'fight the plague'?
We're having one success after another with same-sex marriage.
Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things. T. S. Eliot
Too much GWB koolaid vrc? At least, to my knowledge, no dim has called it a "Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper".(GWB, 12/10/05)
Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things. T. S. Eliot
If you get rid of the Limbaugh/Hannity/Savage wing of the GOP, you will have gotten rid of the yahoos who are its core constituency. In fact, you won't have a GOP left. These are people who are motivated not by love of "liberty" or "their country" (no matter how much they talk about it), but by fear and hatred of imaginary enemies. They love Big Brother, who promises to protect them from the monsters under their bed. Get rid of these guys, and what do you have left? Some lost libertarians who haven't had the sense to jump ship yet?
iconoclast: We're having one success after another with same-sex marriage. You are quite correct - at least at this point until the black crows overturn the people's vote. Same -sex marriage brought out common-sense and timeless family values in voters that caused them to make a non-partisan vote - mainly it was the centrist Dems who left their progressive socialist pals and crossed over to vote with the conservatives. But what other issue is there to cause voters to vote for what is right as opposed to voting along party affiliation?
At least, to my knowledge, no dim has called it a "Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper".(GWB, 12/10/05) No, vrc has drunk from the progressive far left jug. MSM revealed what GWB said. Do you think MSM would reveal what Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said? Judge what progressives like SCJ DO not what clown W said. Ginsburg has the power from the bench to twist and turn the Constitution - or as progressives like to say..."infer". Presidents do not have that power.
I seems to me that you drunk the coolaid, my friend. What power does Ruth have? Can she tax? Can she make war? Can she count the votes? Can she arrest anyone or get anyone tortured or killed? Can she seize other people's property? I don't think so. She has no power.
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
I don't think so. She has no power. Ruth Bader Ginsburg can interpret, twist, spin, infer things into the Constitution. And it's judges like Ginsburg that have treated the intent of the Founding Fathers' Constitution as a roll of toilet paper. Progressive judges are not elected and they cannot be replaced except by impeachment which happens as often as hell freezes over. These black crows of evil have power for life. They rule from the bench by their whim and rule they do. The President has far less power to re-shape society than progressive crows like Ginsburg. The President needs to work with the people's representatives and vice versa. Black crows only need to please themselves and their agenda. It's you who have it wrong about what branch of government wields "supreme" and unchecked power.
Significantly, their initiatives have been blessed by leaders of the National Education Association, though its rival, the American Federation of Teachers, opposes them. Under the proposal, states would take over schools from local boards, teachers would form corporations to run schools on contract and hire principals, salaries would go up significantly to attract first-rate teachers and standards would be set to international norms. I was thinking, 'maybe Mort is asking the right question, i.e., what would it take?", until I got to this part about education. Now, he is just another dumb shitz. 1) First off, here we go with yet ANOTHER program set up who knows, but is surely an 'expert'. 2) Using the NEA as being positive IS EXACTLY WHY IT SHOULD BE OPPOSED! The NEA also doens't have problems with letting kindergartners celebrate queers and their lifestyles! They also don't have a problem with not telling a kids' parents that she's gonna have an abortion, but won't let a parent send a kid to school with an aspirin or any other medicine for a headache or whatever ails them. 3)Isn't 'letting states take over local school boards' like letting 'government take over school boards"? 4) I damn near wet my pants laughing at the thought of teachers forming corporations to run schools on contracts, and how the salaries would increase to get FIRST RATE teachers! What a hoot! 4-a) First off, what exactly is the definition of FIRST RATE? The slop that passes for teachers today is enough to make a maggot throw up. While I cannot say at this very moment what is going on, it was but a few short years ago that at least one university in one state (which happens to have a large number of Rhodes schoolars) had teachers graduation based on classes which were graded as "pass" or "do not pass"!!!! I refuse to believe that this was not and is not a common occurrence today......we still graduate ill qualified people to teach those 'minds of mush'. 5) international norms to be the standards: Yeah......'which' international.......the bushmen of the african continent? European standards? Asian standards? Muslim standards? South American standards? With something like 200 nations in the world, and our ranking perhaps in the top 25, it would seem we could go a whole lot lower in this 'international standards norm' crap. I rate Mort and his article a -5 on a scale of 1 to 10!!
Dear Vast; This beast belongs at a toasty 375 degrees, not on the bench.
Ruth and the supreme court can do and say whatever they want and the 'commander in chief' (the Caesar) will do as he pleases. Did you count how many times the SCOTUS told the prez to stop doing those kangaroo courts at Gitmo and give those people justice? And, did you notice what the prez did? He simply replaced one kangaroo court with another as years came and went and, in the end, he did as he pleased and anyone he wanted at Gitmo is still there. The SCOTUS is relevant only to the degree that it can slightly tilt the balance one way or another when there is no clear consensus in the society. And, that's about it.
Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'
#2. To: noone222, Jhoffa (#1)
#3. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
#4. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
Conservative economist Martin Feldstein of Harvard University, for instance, contends that the government should prevent a cascade of mortgage foreclosures by lending "underwater" homeowners part of the difference between their home's value and what they owe -- but on terms that allow garnishment of their wages if they don't pay the debt.
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#5. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
In recent years, Republicans have let right-wing talk show hosts whip the GOP base into frenzies -- over immigration, brain-damage victim Terry Schiavo and same-sex marriage -- that have branded the party as troglodyte.
#6. To: noone222 (#1)
#7. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
But Step One is to fire Rush Limbaugh and his ilk as the intellectual bosses of the GOP. They shouldn't be muzzled, as some liberals want to do by reviving the "fairness doctrine" in broadcasting, just ignored more frequently.
Lord Acton
#8. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#6)
The hope that 'only if the constitution was followed' seems to be on the same level to the hopes that 'only if the 'good' communists were in power' or 'only if our good, beloved, caring Tsar knew want was being done to us on his behalf' or 'only if the GOP went back to its roots'. It's all crap, don't you agree?
Lord Acton
#9. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#6)
Why is the constitution important?
#10. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#6)
It's all crap, don't you agree?
#11. To: Jhoffa_ (#10)
(Edited)
#12. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#11)
Tell me why is the constitution meaningful?
#13. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#6)
Why is the constitution important? I am not being facetious but I am afraid that the constitution is exploited by just about every politician and it's used to justify everything from slavery to torture to taking sides in world conflicts to invading other countries, to killing out own people, to arbitrarily tax everyone and everything, to irresponsible fiscal policies.
#14. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
If one governor would fully implement a widely circulated proposal to transform U.S. education -- based on having most children graduate after 10th grade and using the savings to pay teachers like professionals -- it could serve as a model for the nation and bring the United States back to world standards.
#15. To: Beendigen Sie die Kommunisten (#13)
#16. To: Jhoffa_ (#15)
#17. To: Beendigen Sie die Kommunisten (#16)
#18. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#11)
Keep in mind that the constitution did not prevent the passing of 'hate crime/hate speech' laws and it did not prevent the bans on the so-called 'assault weapons'.
#19. To: Jhoffa_ (#17)
#20. To: Jethro Tull (#18)
At the least we can say to ourselves we're true to the spirit of the Founders, however imperfect. As for you and the Os, you've tossed in the towel. You've accepted unconstitutional laws and politicians as inevitable. As I said yesterday Obama has been a good experience. He has helped to shuck off the fakes and the afraid. We don't need you and yours in whatever comes our way. Less is more in that respect.
#21. To: Old Friend (#5)
People aganst these core issues are the enemy.
#22. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
This is a shot across the bow in the much ballyhooed "Battle for the party"
#23. To: iconoclast (#21)
RP was right on abortion, as with so much else, in saying that the only productive place to fight the plague is at the state level.
#24. To: Jethro Tull (#23)
That said, how can we on the local level 'fight the plague'?
#25. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#6)
Why is the constitution important?
#26. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
#27. To: iconoclast, Jethro Tull (#24)
JT: That said, how can we on the local level 'fight the plague'?
#28. To: iconoclast, a vast rightwing conspirator (#25)
Too much GWB koolaid vrc?
#29. To: scrapper2 (#28)
#30. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#29)
I seems to me that you drunk the coolaid, my friend. What power does Ruth have? Can she tax? Can she make war? Can she count the votes? Can she arrest anyone or get anyone tortured or killed? Can she seize other people's property?
#31. To: Jhoffa_ (#0)
Three governors -- Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. (Utah) and Democrats Deval Patrick (Mass.) and John Lynch (N.H.) -- have set up pilot projects partially implementing proposals of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, issued last year.
#32. To: a vast rightwing conspirator (#29)
#33. To: scrapper2 (#30)
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