@NJ Hendo: I cry B.S. Hendo.

B.S.

About the only place you will find any historic evidence of EFFECTIVE fiscal responsibility and small government conservatism is withing the GOP.

A lot of these third party and fringe groups do a LOT of talking and that’s about it. Since NONE of them will ever get elected, they simply enable the Democrats to keep on getting away with murder.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Republican Party is just as Socialistic as the Democrats. Cultural Conservatism is the business of the mainstream Right – fiscal conservatism will never be their forte. Any Ron Paulbot who “comes home” should never have left to begin with. The word non-interventionism are in no way part of the Left or Right policy, as Obama/Clinton make clear. WHAT IT IS TIME FOR IS: Democrats and Republican to “come together” and accept how much they both get off on Big Government across the board.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

@Mike’s America

*snif* Thanks dood. I’ll sleep a little better tonight, remembering the Great “C”.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

@Wordsmith

Since I posted that Republicans had low turnout, I guess your request for a link is at least partially directed towards me. Actually, I believe that you are correct that registered Republicans showed up in similar numbers to ’04. I should have posted that right leaning moderates and independents that would normally vote Republican grew disenchanted because the Rs had “lost their way”, which led to lower support. The way I worded it was misleading.

It seems to me that the moderate hordes, being somewhat conflicted over their personal political direction, are prone to supporting whichever side shows the greatest conviction in a clear cut strategy. Nevermind that Obama’s strategy was much more radical than most moderates would have normally supported. He showed confidence and consistency, and his words painted a moderate veneer over his true intentions which was more than enough to satisfy the vague and shallow attention that all too many moderates pay towards politics. McCain might have had the conviction part of the equation, but his ideas kept fluttering from right to center and back again. Unfortunately, this fluttering mirrored the Bush administration and Republican Congress and their on again/off again conservative behavior of recent years. Mix in a healthy dose of media spin to highlight such similarities, and even Palin’s more steadfast demeanor was not enough to turn the trick.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Can someone link me to stats that indicate conservatives sat on their hands in ’08? Because from what I recall, it wasn’t true. If they didn’t come out for McCain, they came out against Obama, and were energized, for the most part, by Palin. Didn’t almost the same number of Republicans come out for McCain that came out for Bush in ’04? And that McCain lost because Obama attracted the ever-valuable moderates/independents/centrists?

Some self-identified Republicans were probably lured by the siren song of the transracial/post-ethnic glass-ceiling breaking elegant, teleprompter-speaking Radiant One.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

@Patvann: Glad you have decided to come off “hover” mode and jump in the pool with the rest of us. I’ll try and be gentle.

I’ve been having one of my periodic bouts of Reagan nostalgia too. And to welcome you to the deep end of the pool I have prepared a selection of my favorite Reagan audio clips. Some of his great words and some great jokes too:

And my favorite photo that I took in 1984:

More of my favorite Reagan photos here.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

I think it’s important to separate “Paulistinians” (love that term) from the Libertarians. When I was a member during the 90′s, the only REAL difference I had with them was treaties, and projection of our military. Most of the time we had long discussions about the Federalist papers, and the shredding of the Constitution by Clinton.

I voted with them instead of Bush for his first term.

These creatures that came out of the woodwork this last time around were something never seen before, and in the end I firmly believe they were nothing more than Obama supporters who only recently learned how to spell “Constitution”, but wanted (needed) more attention than the Obamabots were willing to give them.

The Repubs can and should go after the “old-school” Libertarians, who do indeed lean to the right, but stayed home this last go-around. (As did many Repubs.)

We should be a bit Borg-like, and look carefully at what we can use from their stated platform to bring them in.

Ron Paul may be right 50% of the time, but that other 50% would doom the Repubs. Libertarians might be right 75% of the time, and the remaining 25% can be downplayed as necessary.

We need to be careful what we want from them. There are overlapping “beliefs”, and only those should be sought after because thats where the Repubs went bad.

Gawd how I hated being a Repub for these past 4 years…I WANT MY RONNIE BACK!!!

P.S. I been hovering around here for a few months, and think this is one of the best sites around, with some of the best poster/commentators. I hope not to embarrass myself.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

@ChipD: @ChipD: Is waterboarding torture?

I say no.

Is the mass murder of civilians a crime?

I say yes.

Waterboarding JUST THREE TERRORISTS put a stop to terrorism that could have claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Get some perspective.

P.S. Obama will thank you for enabling his anti-constitutional effort.

Like or Dislike: 0  0

“The Supremacy Clause in the United States Constitution, article VI, paragraph 2 states that treaties are the “supreme law of the land” and yet Obama is violating the North American Free Trade Agreement with his unilateral decision to ban Mexican trucks from American highways as a favor to the Teamsters Union. ”

Um, there are treaties aplenty that make torture a crime, and compel all signing nations, of which we are one, to actively prosecute it. Great Britain, at this very moment, is debating opening criminal investigations into whether or not their government officials participated in torture when they cooperated with our government. Our government has preferred to ignore the issue.

The previous Executive Branch legal thorists professed that the President has unlimited power to do anything he wished, provided he stated that it was in the name of national security. The previous Chief Executive, AND THE PRESENT ONE, have acted along the lines of this theory, which has not yet been tested in any court.

And Mexican trucks is what gets George Will all up in a lather?

Seriously?

Like or Dislike: 0  0

Some of us are. But we aren’t sitting in the back and we aren’t being quiet. We’re showing up for conventions, picking candidates to support for various GOP positions, fielding some of our own, and introducing resolutions. Getting our way on a lot of it, too.

Personally, I’m now a precinct chair, and on the county executive committee. One of our guys just got vice chair for his county. We’re getting state sovereignty resolutions passed in a lot of counties, and we’re planning to bring that up at districts and state.

The GOP is where it is because they screwed up the last eight years, badly. We’re here to fix it, not to just join up with the same old team that screwed up before.

Like or Dislike: 0  0