Note to GOP: Join or die
Fact No. 1 is to realize a political party isn’t a church nor a cult but a mechanism to get diverse people who share some things in common to work toward a common position of power that none could achieve on their own. Fact No. 2 is that unless you can convert your principles into actual policies, standing upon them does no one a favor. If you believe in your principles but can’t convert others, you are not an asset. If you antagonize them, you and your principles are a real liability, and perhaps you should shut the hell up.
Fact No. 2 is that because no coalition big enough to win power can ever be pure or completely united, and no pure wing or segment can be big enough to win or rule on its own, it is in everyone’s interest to cherish the mavericks. Each party needs members who vote with them sometimes. Conservatives dreamed of the day they could rid themselves of the Snowes, Lugars and Castles; that day has come, and they and their party are weaker than ever. Many conservatives would kill now to have those seats back.
Blowback
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Get off my lawn!
OldEnglish on January 10, 2013 at 7:06 PM
FOAD, moron.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 10, 2013 at 7:13 PM
Confession: I did not click on the article because the excerpts made zero sense.
Dingbat63 on January 10, 2013 at 7:14 PM
And what if you antagonize the people with principles, then what?
Stoic Patriot on January 10, 2013 at 7:14 PM
@OldEnglish: That’s how Judge Hardy/Lewis Stone died in real life – chasing teenagers off his lawn.
I miss Judge Hardy.
Seth Halpern on January 10, 2013 at 7:15 PM
Not me. I’m glad they’re gone. If the people of those states want Democrats, then let them vote for Democrats.
Stoic Patriot on January 10, 2013 at 7:15 PM
Yeah, she’s nuts and obnoxious.
Blake on January 10, 2013 at 7:16 PM
Noemie, what you are calling “facts” are really opinions; ie., judgments or generalized evaluations.
onlineanalyst on January 10, 2013 at 7:16 PM
Heck, thanks for the warning!
OldEnglish on January 10, 2013 at 7:20 PM
get off my party!
nathor on January 10, 2013 at 7:26 PM
I like it when all I have to do is type “fact” and then my opinion and observations magically become above reproach.
Fact No 1: Juicy strawberries can only be harvested by migrant workers from El Salvador. Conservatives have longed for the days of tighter immigration enforcement. Conservatives would now k1ll to rid themselves of tart strawberry pastry strudels. Don’t question my syllogism.
Weight of Glory on January 10, 2013 at 7:27 PM
Gladly!
OldEnglish on January 10, 2013 at 7:27 PM
I like tarts!
OldEnglish on January 10, 2013 at 7:28 PM
How many Fact No. 2s do we need? And this thing is too full of fallacy to even attempt to address. I started to do it, but I got bored so I deleted it.
besser tot als rot on January 10, 2013 at 7:31 PM
Heh
Weight of Glory on January 10, 2013 at 7:32 PM
This woman reminds me of Miss Hicks/Patricia Dane, the bad girl who tries to seduce Andy in Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941). Miss Hicks tells Andy his father is just a hypocritical old fuddy-duddy, but Andy doesn’t fall for it!
Seth Halpern on January 10, 2013 at 7:36 PM
Noemie, you’re wasting your breath. The TruCons know everything. They possess principles that mere humans couldn’t possibly understand, let alone live up to. Of course these conservative geniuses know nothing about politics and scoff at the idea that they have to be able to influence people and processes to accomplish anything, but gosh, they do so enjoy tilting at their windmills!
Many of the usual braindead suspects are here, predictably persisting in their delusions. They won’t even consider the possibility that they might be so inflexible and obnoxious that they are hurting rather than helping the country. And they certainly won’t accept the fact they are fast becoming irrelevant.
They are every bit as bad as Obama, with their “my way or the highway” attitude.
Meredith on January 10, 2013 at 7:58 PM
Errr… wasn’t it the TruCons who were predicting that Romney would go down in flames from the outset?
They seemed to know something the establishment didn’t know.
Stoic Patriot on January 10, 2013 at 8:02 PM
She’s the one declaring as “fact” what she believes.
Weight of Glory on January 10, 2013 at 8:02 PM
Nah. Anyone but the hopelessly deluded and the RomBots knew that he was Obama in a white suit and with a milder flavor of socialism, but since 3rd party was just ‘too crazy’, here we are.
MelonCollie on January 10, 2013 at 8:19 PM
I’d have more patience with the argument if it weren’t always suspiciously a one-way street.
As in, “all you conservatives need to accept, support, and promte any RINO politician that comes along,” but the so-called moderates can feel free to vote for Democrats rather than someone in their own party who has a hint of standing on principle.
If they really want the support of conservative Republicans, then the liberal RINOs need to support conservatives in their party.
It’s just like calling for a “truce on social issues,” when what you really mean is, “shut up you social conservatives! You’re embarrassing us!”
Have you ever noticed that the Big Tent always seems to do all its driving on the left side of the road?
tom on January 10, 2013 at 8:21 PM
funny this only applies to conservatives. pelosi, schumer. frank, warren et al are unaffected by this “fact”.
newrouter on January 10, 2013 at 8:21 PM
Yet another in a long line of “the GOP has to become more like the democrat party or it’s doomed” nonsense.
Let the GOP be the party for conservatives, let the democrat party be for liberals. The DNC has already chased all it’s conservatives out, we’re just getting started purging the RINOs from ours.
Then let the people have a real choice.
Rebar on January 10, 2013 at 8:22 PM
Yeah, running moderates has worked so well for us. Your incredible inability to learn that conservative values work is part of the problem.
tom on January 10, 2013 at 8:23 PM
How about the RINOS join with Conservatives for once in opposing Obama?
They never do.
In fact, that premise is never even mentioned. It’s always “why can’t those damn conservatives join with the RINOS in supporting Obama”.
wildcat72 on January 10, 2013 at 8:28 PM
We ran a moderate in 2008 and lost badly. We ran a slightly less moderate in 2012 and lost slightly less badly.
In 2010 we ran conservatives and won the House.
The RINOS have gotten their way in both cycles we had our butts handed to us. Time for them to join with us in supporting conservatives or else time for them to go become democrats so they can be with others like them.
wildcat72 on January 10, 2013 at 8:30 PM
As a matter of fact, this is exactly false – they AREN’T gone. After a very brief surge by conservatives in 2010, those people stormed back and utterly crushed us in 2012. The only “purging” taking place is the purging of conservatives from the Republican Party. The social cons have been run out on a rail, and now the fiscal conservatives are under the gun.
I only wish we’d managed to purge these guys. If we want to have a voice in politics, we’re going to have to get started on forming a new party. The Republican Party is dissolving in the same way the Whigs did after the defeat of Winfield Scott.
And really, we shouldn’t feel too bad about it. A lot of RINOs would obviously be more comfortable voting straight up Democrat and seem to be with the Republicans more out of a sense of inertia than anything else.
Doomberg on January 10, 2013 at 8:41 PM
wrong!!! the party that take the center wins! and you are voluntarily voiding the center and letting the dems occupy it!
nathor on January 10, 2013 at 8:46 PM
Nope. Right now you win by being the party that promises to give out “free stuff” plundered from others, or bought with borrowed money from China.
Won’t be too much longer at the rate of a TRILLION in debt a year before this is no longer possible regardless of which party is in power.
wildcat72 on January 10, 2013 at 8:56 PM
One suspects that if this Meredith didn’t need the support of those she calls “TruCons” to advance the agenda she wants to advance, she wouldn’t be so pathetically bitter and condescending towards them. But as someone who so obviously orients her life around political horse races, she can’t come to grips with the fact that while she needs us, we don’t need…nor are we interested in…her.
Here’s a tip, Meredith: this “my way or the highway” thing cuts both ways. You precious “moderates” are every bit as unreasonable as you claim the “TruCons” are, only you’re not willing to accept the highway. And you’re not getting anyone going your way the way you talk to them. So keep marinating in your misery while those of us with lives will get on with ours.
fitzfong on January 10, 2013 at 9:31 PM
Sometimes I wonder what some of those folks at The Weekly Standard are thinking.
EastofEden on January 10, 2013 at 10:23 PM