The way to build credibility for the GOP
posted at 4:00 pm on November 24, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
If the Republican Party wants to rebuild itself into a competitive national party, it has to accomplish three tasks. First, it has to focus on a positive agenda for change that will unite the disparate conservative factions around core principles everyone supports. Second, it has to build an infrastructure to communicate that message in every precinct in the country, using 21st-century technology in order to catch up to the Democrats. And lastly and most importantly, the GOP has to rebuild its credibility after squandering it in an orgy of big-government programs and pork-barrel spending.
How can the GOP recover its credibility? Pat Toomey says that putting fiscal conservatives in key Congressional committees would be a great start, and has two suggestions:
Senator Mitch McConnell and Rep. John Boehner have a tough two years ahead of them. For the second election cycle in a row, conservative-leaning voters gave the Republican party an ultimatum: Shape up or ship out. And now the leaders of the GOP better deliver if they want 2010 to go any differently. They can start by changing business as usual in the House and Senate.
In the House of Representatives, John Boehner should use his influence and leadership position to appoint Rep. Jeff Flake to the Appropriations Committee. Flake fans may recall the Arizona representative’s pursuit of an appropriations seat nearly a year ago. Though conservatives rallied to Flake’s cause, the House Republican Steering Committee rejected his bid. …
In the same vein, Senator Mitch McConnell should appoint Senator Jim DeMint to the Senate Finance Committee — one of the most powerful committees with jurisdiction over all tax issues and entitlement programs. … With no disrespect to Sens. Enzi and Voinovich, Senator DeMint is exactly the kind of leader the GOP could use at this low point in its history. Not only does DeMint have a business background, he has demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of the country’s tax and entitlement problems. He is one of the few members of Congress to think creatively about solving these problems in a manner that increases personal freedom and prosperity.
The House GOP made a key mistake in leaving Flake off of Appropriations in 2007. They had an opportunity to show that they would take action to limit the kind of pork-barrel spending that greases the wheels of massive appropriations requests. Instead, they chose to avoid confrontation by selecting someone more comfortable with the earmark process — and surrendered an opportunity to cast themselves as a clear choice to the business-as-usual Democrats.
Jim DeMint has less seniority than his competitors for the slot on Finance, but McConnell would be making the same mistake if he passes DeMint over for that reason. The GOP needs to establish itself on fiscal responsibility after years of destroying their credibility on that issue. They can only do that by elevating fiscal conservatives to the most critical committee assignments regarding spending and taxes.
Hopefully, Republican leadership will take Toomey’s advice. Eventually, they will run out of these opportunities to show voters that they learned their lesson — and that Republicans take fiscal responsibility seriously.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
Absolutely.
forest on November 24, 2008 at 4:04 PM
“And lastly and most importantly, the GOP has to rebuild its credibility after squandering it in an orgy of big-government programs and pork-barrel spending”.
Amen.
portlandon on November 24, 2008 at 4:08 PM
That’s what’s great about America. You can fail miserably and get up tomorrow and show that you want to try again.
But I have to say – for me personally – this is the GOP’s last shot to be serious about limited government.
beatcanvas on November 24, 2008 at 4:08 PM
As time goes on and America is never attacked again most people will recognize how victory for the Iraqi people in the heart of the Middle East was key to their security, that is half the equation and that will happen over time, the other part is a true reform agenda that focuses on fighting waste and corruption in government, and the expansion of business choice as a way to strengthen the economy. Finally energy production must be a central part of a gop revival. Oh and any attempt to win by going on dem issues (Warming, etc) will result in total defeat, that is that.
rob verdi on November 24, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Spending huge gobs of other people’s money is addictive. It will be very hard to get Republicans to go cold turkey. If they don’t, they consign themselves to a long term in the wilderness. These two appointments by themselves would be a good show, but only that. If there is no follow through, it means nothing.
Buford Gooch on November 24, 2008 at 4:15 PM
No – they have to return to the basic principles of fiscal and social conservatism and strong national security and not shop around to find principles everyone supports. Go back to 1986, use those principles and get rid of all the RINO’s that don’t like them.
dpierson on November 24, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I find it very hard to identify myself as a Republican these days, as rotten a job as some of these morons on capitol hill have done. We need to put forward folks like DeMint, Flake, Sessions, Rogers and others who haven’t chosen to take a bath in the taxpayers’ money. Those folks have to be seen as the leadership.
AubieJon on November 24, 2008 at 4:20 PM
One way to establish credibility is to not meekly take the blame when DEMOCRATS FUBAR the economy and when DEMOCRATS
President Bush tried to reform Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, but was blocked by corrupt incompetents Barney “Buttplug” Frank and Chris Dodd.
Maybe the Republicans would have more credibility if they had thoroughly denounced the fecal matter encrusted Rep. Frank and the thieving Chris Dodd and called them what they are – criminal incompetents.
Instead, the Republicans decided to play nice and now the DNC-MSM left the Republicans holding the bag.
NoDonkey on November 24, 2008 at 4:22 PM
The GOP needs to develop an urban policy based on Conservative principles. We can’t continue to concede the urban vote to the Democrats. Major cities are drowning in debt, handcuffed by union contracts, and mired in inefficiencies. So putting together a Conservative plan to revitalize cities should be a piece of cake.
We also need representatives that will take on the Democrats on Conservative principles. Congress is more responsible for the Big 3 problems than are the auto manufacturers. Who destroyed the economy by allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy bad mortgages? Who regulated the auto manufacturers almost out of business via cafe standards? Who is demanding green technology to be implemented before it actually exists? Who is forcing the Big 3 to make cars that there may not be a market for? Who failed to implement an energy policy? Who prevented off shore drilling?
McConnell and Boehner need to “get in the face” of Pelosi and Reid and tell it like it is. The Big 3 need less regulation – not more. Relax cafe standards and let them sell the same cars here they sell in Europe. get the Democrats to force the united autoworkers to make concessions.
The House and Senate GOP are simply rolling over. We need some people with brains that can also communicate. McConnell and Boehner are terrible on the Sunday shows. Get someone out front that can sell our side of the argument.
huckleberryfriend on November 24, 2008 at 4:24 PM
We don’t like to think or talk about it, but until pork loving GOP voters quit rewarding politicians who bring home the goodies, the balance of power on committees won’t change. The grassroots movement which will make the most difference is voting incumbents out after some amount of time in office. It can’t just be limited to those we don’t like or those we deem not conservative enough,..it has to be a complete turnover to keep seniority levels down. Distasteful, but it is reality. Otherwise, we continue the present circus. GOP leadership voted down a moratorium on pork for a reason, and pork is at the center of corruption and leverage.
a capella on November 24, 2008 at 4:25 PM
They are not losing their seats because they are doing what their constituents don’t want them to do.
They are losing their seats because their constituents are stupid.
Anyone taking any bets on the number of Districts with stupid constituents in 2010?
Helloyawl on November 24, 2008 at 4:28 PM
The first step towards credibility is for the RNC to proudly and publicly purge the liberals from the party. Let the rinos join the Democrat party and if they are truly saner than the Democrats they are joining, they will make that party more conservative. This is how you make the politcal landscape more conservative, by making both parties more conservative. The reverse of this has brought about the radical left political landscape we are currently suffering.
Buddahpundit on November 24, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Not thirdly, and even if they do everything else, if they don’t start treating our money like it was earned by us before being stolen by the government, then they will go the way of the Whigs.
Wino on November 24, 2008 at 4:31 PM
A Republican party without strong fiscal conservatism is useless and should be discarded.
pedestrian on November 24, 2008 at 4:33 PM
There are so many different ways your statement could be taken that I’ll refrain from discussing it with you until you clarify or back it up.
AubieJon on November 24, 2008 at 4:34 PM
Finance is major but they will not regain the trust of conservatives until they establish a pattern of not trying to trick and cheat the base by sneaking RINO packages through on holiday weekends and setting their MSM attack dogs out to mock and scorn the average Republican voter for having contrary opinion
They can’t have leaders who state that Americans will not pick lettuce, not even for $50 an hour and
They can’t have leaders who state “I have never met a man who lost his job to an illegal”
They cannot re cycle the same leaders who ran the primary like a military attack instead of a referendum
They cannot spend more ammo killing off viable conservative candidates who challenge RINO’s like Specter who was preserved in office because he would be useful in the strategy to force amnesty through against the wishes of the constituency
They cannot pretend to vote for funding the fence and then pretend not to notice it hasn’t been built
They cannot pretend not to be involved in protecting some of the stinking corrupt pervs they have maintained in office in return for the loyalty that comes from being essentially blackmailed for being a perv
They cannot keep blaming election failures on the voter’s stupidity
They either have to change the platform to represent their true agenda and get it over with, or concede they are in a fool’s mission to control the votes of people who despise their agenda
They have to stop yanking the money chain with promises to help the conservative goals of the party, and then using the money to betray the promise
They have to understand that the game of passing out vouchers to vote against a bill to fool constituents makes them twice the fool when the betrayals surface
These are people without a party who are too chicken stuff to create a new party bacause no one will come if they tell the truth
entagor on November 24, 2008 at 4:43 PM
I agree completely that there is no credibility right now in the GOP in terms of small government. But I disagree with the idea that the GOP has to get back to Fiscal AND Social conservatism, we cant do both with credibility since only one of those involves limited government.
Much like the drunk who has wanted your help and your money but burned you, and then comes back again, of course you ask for proof they have changed. And with the drunk, and the GOP party, their response of “Oh just believe me, I have changed and learned” will mean nothing without proof.
GOP is going to have to outline concrete ways they will do things differently, before they get any money from me.
firepilot on November 24, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Actually, I would be more apt to follow Reagan’s 1977: “The New Republican Party” versus your philosophy. Never once did he suggest kicking anyone out, but in fact, made room for more people…
Pam on November 24, 2008 at 4:58 PM
I’m sick of the seniority crap. We just end up with lepers like Dole, McDole, McConnell and Boehner.
lodge on November 24, 2008 at 5:03 PM
This is a darned good suggestion.
What does the GOP need? In order:
Principles
Policies
Message
njcommuter on November 24, 2008 at 5:09 PM
According to that logic the Republican party should water down its ideology until includes enough people to get a majority. If it does that what does the party actually end up standing for?
I understand the big tent philosophy but at some point you have to principled in what you stand for and if enough people (i.e., a majority) agree with your principles you win an election otherwise you don’t.
dpierson on November 24, 2008 at 5:10 PM
“First, it has to focus on a positive agenda for change that will unite the disparate conservative factions around core principles everyone supports.”
Thank you for phrasing it this way. My great fear is that the base will circle their wagons and tell everyone else to screw off, assuring loses for-freaking-ever. I vote center-right but am not the base, and I don’t care if the base wants to push their agenda, but we have to win for anything to happen on our side.
We also have to agree, without paranoia and bitterness, that the MSM is biased beyond repair, and act accordingly by demanding fairness and putting out clear, simple messages in every way possible. There’s too much political-speak and not enough clear, persuasive points and positions.
emerson7 on November 24, 2008 at 5:16 PM
Once again I don’t really follow the logic.
According to you it would be OK for the “base” to water down the party platform until enough people are encompassed to ensure a win.
So let’s take the Right to Live issue: Should the Republican party abandon that stance if it were likely that enough people would then vote Republican to ensure electoral wins for the next elections?
dpierson on November 24, 2008 at 5:27 PM
Where do you come up with that? Never once did he say anything about that..I wasn’t aware that there was a limited number of seats in the party…
Pam on November 24, 2008 at 5:28 PM
I am talking about attracting enough people voting for the party to get a majority and win a seat, or the presidency for that matter.
dpierson on November 24, 2008 at 5:32 PM
Until the GOP learns how to politically out-Machiavelli Obama and the Democrats to the chagrin of their religious base and moral values voters the Democrats, I fear, will continue to win every Presidential election for the next 20 years with the blueprint that Obama has established: massive voter fraud through Acorn, Alinsky’s and Hitler’s prescription never to apologize or admit to any wrong, the MSM, Hollywood, late-night comedians and SNL continually being in the tank for the lefties in their ridicule to any threat to Obama, and the eventual repeal of the 22nd Amendment (limiting Presidents to 2 terms), thus making Obama, who is now only 47,’Emperor for life.’
technopeasant on November 24, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Obama won because people voted against the establishment in power as much as they voted for Obama. If he had won by 20% I would agree with you but since he only won by 4% there is no real reason to panic. With a better candidate on our side and better organization the election could have gone the other way.
dpierson on November 24, 2008 at 5:45 PM
The two questions that nobody is asking in surveys is how many Obama supporters favor a one-party system and how many would favor Obama being President for life by repealing the 22nd Amendment? I think the answers would shock complacent Republicans but I also unfortunately think the GOP is still stuck in the ‘two term stability’ of the latter half of the 20c and won’t wake up until it is too late.
technopeasant on November 24, 2008 at 5:47 PM
dpierson: Obama won by 6.9% as of the latest results of Wikipedia.
technopeasant on November 24, 2008 at 5:48 PM
If needs be, we should prepare primary challengers against wayward GOP spenders. If they won’t learn their lesson, then it’s entirely appropriate for We The People to teach them that lesson.
LFRGary on November 24, 2008 at 5:51 PM
OK I stand corrected, but still no reason to panic.
dpierson on November 24, 2008 at 5:59 PM
This is a straw man argument. Since no survey like that has taken place you cannot draw a conclusion from it.
dpierson on November 24, 2008 at 6:00 PM
I can’t think of a person’s advice I’d take less than Pat Toomey. I become a Republican just to vote against the man in the Republican Senate primary. Since Toomey lost that race, he has expended much energy to get Democrats elected where moderate Republicans were doing a fine job. For instance, in the First Congressional District of Maryland, Toomey’s Club for Growth helped defeat Congressman Gilcrist in the primary. As far as I can tell, Gilchrist biggest “RINO” sin was supporting gay rights–which I don’t get a economic conservative caring about one way or another. The end result of this anti-RINO activity was the unexpected pick up of a Congressional seat by the Democrats in a heavily Republican district.
While I’d be the first to admit that most moderate votes aren’t as well informed as I am, I’d also point out that most moderates don’t like angry fanatics. I haven’t come up with a way to prove the point, but it sure seems to me that many of the losing Republicans in heavily Republican districts have been angry fanatics.
On the other hand, I do agree with the other poster’s overall idea here that getting rid of the GOP pork mongers would help. It’s the second biggest argument I hear against the GOP, and it differs from the biggest argument against the GOP in that there is something that the GOP could do about it.
thuja on November 24, 2008 at 6:18 PM
I’ll believe it when I see it. On second thought, I’ll see it when I believe it.
FalseProfit on November 24, 2008 at 6:59 PM
I know that there’s a bunch of you who won’t like this, but how about a return to First Principles, as stated in the Republican Party Platform of 1860:
Note that this doesn’t necessarily talk about illegal aliens or amnesty, but the intent is clear — that true Republicans are pro-immigrant. Google Abraham Lincoln “Know Nothings” for more.
Another First Principle:
The Administration in power at that point was the Democratic Buchanan Administration. Sadly, it will be a Republican Administration, this time around, with the traditional full aid of the Democrats.
unclesmrgol on November 24, 2008 at 7:13 PM
The M&B Congressional GOP show seems unlikely to respond to the need to get conservatives in key positions. For them, too much with committee appointments is about seniority rather talent. My 2 cents…
droofus on November 24, 2008 at 7:34 PM
If Reagan would be opposed to purging liberals from the Republican Party, that would mean he wanted two liberal parties in the US. That would make him an idiot but I don’t think that’s the case.
If Pelosi, Frank, Kennedy, Kerry, Obama and the most leftist members of the Democrat Party decided to change parties tomorrow and become Republicans so that they could always run against other liberals in elections therefore ensuring that no conservatives would ever hold that seat, should we accept them with open arms?
Buddahpundit on November 24, 2008 at 7:36 PM
What, have you joined the MSM and academia?
njcommuter on November 24, 2008 at 8:04 PM
Not only that. The GOP faces the real possibility of a new Conservative Party if they don’t get their act together.
I can actually imagine a new party with Ron Paul, Palin, Jindal, and others in it.
Sapwolf on November 25, 2008 at 12:02 AM
Comment pages: