Lessons from Tuesday
Tuesday did not turn out well, for Republicans. After some quiet retrospection and reflection, I think I understand why.
Republicans in power did not practice their own principles and morals. Oh sure, we ousted Mark Foley and Tom DeLay (unlike the Dems who when faced with their own scandals kept Gerry Studds in a position of power) but what about all of the times where they acted like they were more concerned with keeping power, than doing the right thing? There were many times when it seemed like Republican leadership was willing to sweep principle aside for political expedience.
Republicans didn't spend like conservatives. They spent money like.....like Democrats! If they are going to spend like Democrats, why not have Democrats in power?
Republican candidates - for the most part - did not run to win. They were continuously on the defense, rather than offense and while defense can HELP you win (a la the Chicago Bears) it is not enough to have a stellar defense - you have to have a decent offense to match up with the "D". Republican candidates did not do that. Do not confuse "attack" ads with offense. While offensive (to a lot of people) those ads on their own can not do the trick as we saw in Minnesota this year. The candidates that tried to do nothing but tar their opponent with slime via attack ad (Mark Kennedy and Patty Wetterling) lost! Michele Bachman won by telling people what she was about - not how horrible her opponent was!
Republican leadership ignored the base. This was apparent from the White House on down. Now many conservatives (myself included) say that the Democrats cater too much to the far left, which is probably true, but the Republicans have practiced the inverse. The base was basically told to sit down, shut up and vote on Election Day. Rather than doing that, the Republican Party needed to explain to the base what they were doing and try to get the base engaged in the basic decision process. I know that there were times during the last year or two that if I asked one of my representatives about an issue that I was concerned about and the rep took the time to explain the decision process (thankfully I have a wonderful rep in St. Paul and an equally wonderful rep in DC who will do that) I understood why the decision was made in the manner it was made. The electorate is (by and large) an intelligent, understanding lot - TALK TO US!
Conservatives have a choice to make and we need to make it now! We can either sulk and accuse the other side of cheating (as the Democrats did in 2000 and 2004) or we can pull ourselves off of the floor and try to do better in 2008. What's it gonna be guys????
Republicans in power did not practice their own principles and morals. Oh sure, we ousted Mark Foley and Tom DeLay (unlike the Dems who when faced with their own scandals kept Gerry Studds in a position of power) but what about all of the times where they acted like they were more concerned with keeping power, than doing the right thing? There were many times when it seemed like Republican leadership was willing to sweep principle aside for political expedience.
Republicans didn't spend like conservatives. They spent money like.....like Democrats! If they are going to spend like Democrats, why not have Democrats in power?
Republican candidates - for the most part - did not run to win. They were continuously on the defense, rather than offense and while defense can HELP you win (a la the Chicago Bears) it is not enough to have a stellar defense - you have to have a decent offense to match up with the "D". Republican candidates did not do that. Do not confuse "attack" ads with offense. While offensive (to a lot of people) those ads on their own can not do the trick as we saw in Minnesota this year. The candidates that tried to do nothing but tar their opponent with slime via attack ad (Mark Kennedy and Patty Wetterling) lost! Michele Bachman won by telling people what she was about - not how horrible her opponent was!
Republican leadership ignored the base. This was apparent from the White House on down. Now many conservatives (myself included) say that the Democrats cater too much to the far left, which is probably true, but the Republicans have practiced the inverse. The base was basically told to sit down, shut up and vote on Election Day. Rather than doing that, the Republican Party needed to explain to the base what they were doing and try to get the base engaged in the basic decision process. I know that there were times during the last year or two that if I asked one of my representatives about an issue that I was concerned about and the rep took the time to explain the decision process (thankfully I have a wonderful rep in St. Paul and an equally wonderful rep in DC who will do that) I understood why the decision was made in the manner it was made. The electorate is (by and large) an intelligent, understanding lot - TALK TO US!
Conservatives have a choice to make and we need to make it now! We can either sulk and accuse the other side of cheating (as the Democrats did in 2000 and 2004) or we can pull ourselves off of the floor and try to do better in 2008. What's it gonna be guys????
posted by The Lady Logician at
7:09 AM
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