Return of the Republicans
POSTED BY: Kirkules
UPDATED: Friday, August 2, 2024 19:53
VIEWED: 2320
PAGE 1 of 2
"For just the second time in more than five years of daily or weekly tracking, Republicans now lead Democrats in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. " http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_americ
a/congressional_ballot/generic_congressional_ballot
Seems speculation about the demise of the Republican Party is premature. This bodes well for the Republicans regaining seats in the House in 2010.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I'm trying to keep my hopes up, but I'm not going to count my chickens before they're hatched.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
As I posted on the "Downfall of the Right" thread...
Quote:
Republicans AS THEY EXIST TODAY might be done at the national level, but they'll adapt and evolve. The Republican party that elected Reagan is long gone, and the one that backed Bush just ran out of D.C. with its tail between its legs. But don't for a minute think that any of that cedes all power to the Democrats. Don't think it, and don't hope for it.
The Democratic "machine" does indeed have an off switch. It's called time and events. Time and events - some of his own making, some beyond his control - caught up to Bush and the NeoCons and cost them the seemingly insurmountable level of control they had back in 2002-2004. The same will happen to the Democrats in power today. That's a GOOD THING - you don't EVER want anything approachinig a "permanent majority"; it just leads nowhere good.
People wanted something different than what Bush and the Republicans were offering last year. In three years, or seven, they'll likely want something different again. Who knows? Maybe they'll look back with nostalgia on the good old days of Bush, the way so many seem to do with Reagan today.
The Republican party will likely change everything but their name - or, if they're fully convinced that their party is dead and gone, they'll change NOTHING about their party BUT the name, and they'll come back as The Patriot Party, or some other "all-American" kind of name. The one thing you can count on, though, is that people will want change - even from "Change". :)
Hell, *I* know they're not done and gone, and I'm one of the ones who should be happiest if they WERE.
They'll be back. It's one of the few things that will help keep the other side in check.
Mike
Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Dump the chumps.
Come back when you've cleaned house of all the paranoid neocons and fascists. Then MAYBE you'll be a better party than the Dems.
----------------------
We should have strapped him into a glider, filled it nose heavy w/ explosives, and dropped his Allah lovin' ass into a large, empty field. After which, release wild boars into the area so they could make good use of his remains. Now THAT's justice.- rappy
Yeah, that's what Sheikh Issa said. Seems you both have a lot in common.- signy
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
And you guys could dump all the looney moonbats. 
Zoe: "Get it running again."
Mal: "Yeah"
Zoe: "So not running now"
Mal: "Not so much"
- Out of Gas
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
The Republican party will likely change everything but their name - or, if they're fully convinced that their party is dead and gone, they'll change NOTHING about their party BUT the name, and they'll come back as The Patriot Party, or some other "all-American" kind of name. The one thing you can count on, though, is that people will want change - even from "Change". :)
Really, given that the Democrats and Republicans have all but written themselves into the constitution as permanent "branches", the only way real change can happen is by changing one or the other of the existing parties. This is what Ron Paul realized after his Libertarian run in '88. The cards were heavily stacked against third party candidates then, and it's only become worse since.
SergeantX
"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SergeantX:Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
The Republican party will likely change everything but their name - or, if they're fully convinced that their party is dead and gone, they'll change NOTHING about their party BUT the name, and they'll come back as The Patriot Party, or some other "all-American" kind of name. The one thing you can count on, though, is that people will want change - even from "Change". :)
Really, given that the Democrats and Republicans have all but written themselves into the constitution as permanent "branches", the only way real change can happen is by changing one or the other of the existing parties. This is what Ron Paul realized after his Libertarian run in '88. The cards were heavily stacked against third party candidates then, and it's only become worse since.
SergeantX
And that, my dear Sarge, is why the time is ripe for pouncing NOW. The Republican party is in disarray, and it's being re-imagined and re-imaged as we speak. The libertarians actually have a (small) chance to take over the party and remake it in its former CONSERVATIVE image.
You have factions trying to yank the party HARD RIGHT, and you have factions trying to yank it even harder to evangelism, while a few moderates try to steer the party back toward the center. All are in a weakened state, and many of their followers wonder why they're even bothering, since the party seems all but dead and gone to so many of them.
But a few enterprising souls could rebrand some libertarian ideals, call themselves Republicans, and overthrow the old guard from within.
Just a few things to ponder.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering (Rip, I'm lookin' at you!), I fully advocate this same approach to remaking the Democratic party as well, once they're sufficiently beaten down and out of favor with the hoi-polloi.
Mike
Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by RIPWash:
And you guys could dump all the looney moonbats.
Zoe: "Get it running again."
Mal: "Yeah"
Zoe: "So not running now"
Mal: "Not so much"
- Out of Gas
Abso-freakin'-lutely. You both have very valid points, Rip, you and Signy.
Mike
Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I personally think that in order for this government to work in this day and age, there will be a need for a Left party, a Right Party and Center Party. Not that this will ever happen, but honestly I think it's the moderates who have to "chose sides" that are inadvertently causing a ruckus. Take Specter, for example. He can choose to be a Republican, but I guessing his views are more on the liberal side, so at this point it IS best for him to switch parties. He may not have always been that way, he may have been a moderate guy who leaned right at one point. So he decides to switch, but that has the potential now to really botch things up in Congress by giving ONE side the ability to have complete rule the Hill with an iron fist (so to speak). Not good, I hope many of us can agree. But that is essentially why Republicans are upset with him right now. He's about to give the other side practical absolute control. And I think he said only a few weeks ago that Republicans should stay faithful to their party to avoid such a thing from happening (in fact I think he said it on Hannity's show).
I dunno for sure. Are Libertarians considered more center? Are they really a viable third party?
Zoe: "Get it running again."
Mal: "Yeah"
Zoe: "So not running now"
Mal: "Not so much"
- Out of Gas
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by RIPWash:
So he decides to switch, but that has the potential now to really botch things up in Congress by giving ONE side the ability to have complete rule the Hill with an iron fist (so to speak). Not good, I hope many of us can agree. But that is essentially why Republicans are upset with him right now. He's about to give the other side practical absolute control.
Seems maybe his former party should have listened to him a bit more, maybe tried to work with him a bit. Instead, his last election run, he had to face heat from hard-right "conservative" special interest groups who tried to trash him. Could be he's still bitter about that, and about being labeled a "RINO". Maybe he decided that if his party didn't want him, he didn't really need them either.
Quote:
I dunno for sure. Are Libertarians considered more center? Are they really a viable third party?
Libertarians certainly seem to be closer to the center than the most recent leaders of the Republican party. Are they a viable third party? I don't know. At this point, you have to ask yourself if they're a viable SECOND party - and if the Republican party is a viable third party!
Mike
Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...
Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME