Posts

Boehner Orchestrating the GOP’s Demise

/25 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: donkeyhotey

It’s a contest of wills and guess who is winning? President Obama, of course. And that’s because the president is up against the GOP’s equivalent of Churchill’s “Boneless Wonder,” Speaker John Boehner. Matched against the president, Boehner is making Ned Beatty’s hapless character from the classic movie Deliverance look downright gritty.

Boehner the Boneless Wonder’s beta dog routine is doing much to deep-six the Party of Lincoln. Hyperbole? Don’t grumpy grassroots conservatives grouse incessantly that establishment Republicans are screwing the — well, putting it more politely, screwing it up and that the Grand Old Party will go the way of the pterodactyl?

For the insulated tin-eared prowlers of the halls of Congress (Boehner being chief), hear this: The times, they have a-changed — radically so. The context is dramatically different today than America before the Hugo Chavez-in-chief wanna-be in the White House, the august and empurpled Barack Hussein Obama, took the nation’s reins (“On Dancer, on Comet, on Boehner!)

As of this writing, there’s been no stout opposition — no bold proclamation of principles, no declaration of a fight for limited government and liberty — from the speaker in the teeth of the president’s insistence to tax the lights out of “rich” Americans (and, shhh!, every other working American, too, eventually). Boehner and his lackey GOP colleagues remind the history-minded of the French in the face of the Nazi blitzkrieg: throw up those white flags before the speaker’s perfect hair is mussed.

As Dana Milbank opines in The Washington Post: “One of Boehner’s lieutenants, Pete Roskam of Illinois, stepped to the microphones, essentially pleading for the president to show mercy. ‘President Obama has an unbelievable opportunity to be a transformational president — that is, to bring the country together,’ he said. ‘Or he can devolve into zero-sum-game politics, where he wins and other people lose.'”

Read more from this article HERE.

Palin to GOP: ‘This Won’t Be Forgotten Come 2014’

/14 Comments/in , /by

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Tuesday that she thinks House Speaker John Boehner’s purge of conservatives from powerful committees is a sign the GOP establishment is out of touch with America.

“We send good conservatives to D.C. to fulfill the promises they made to the electorate, and yet when they stay true to their word the permanent political class in their own party punishes them,” Palin said in a Facebook comment. “This won’t be forgotten come 2014. Right now the GOP establishment is more concerned about the opinion of the media and the Georgetown cocktail circuit than they are ‘we the people’ who hired them. For all this new talk of how the GOP needs a ‘populist movement,’ it would do them good to remember they already have one; it’s called the Tea Party movement, and it won for them the majority they now enjoy in the House.”

On Monday, Boehner pulled conservative GOP Reps. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan from the House Budget Committee. The Speaker also removed conservative Republican Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona and Walter Jones of North Carolina from the House Financial Services Committee.

The members believe they were pulled from those committee assignments – from which they would be able to influence fiscal policy – because they have solid conservative voting records.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Activists Target Priebus, Party Split On Re-Election Bid

/9 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: gage skidmore

A postelection civil war is brewing among Republicans, with some conservative activists angry over the party’s poor performance this cycle gunning for party Chairman Reince Priebus and planning demonstrations at the Republican National Committee’s annual winter meeting in Charlotte, N.C.

The protesting activists adamantly oppose the re-election of Mr. Priebus to a second two-year term and say they have a suitcase full of gripes about him. Some are blaming Mr. Priebus and other top party officials for the misspending of GOP donors’ money in President Obama’s clear victory over GOP nominee Mitt Romney Nov. 6 and also for the Republicans’ badly outclassed get-out-the-vote efforts.

“Republicans want a change. They have had it with Priebus,” said Mike Karem, a Kentucky GOP strategist who has been involved in Republican presidential campaigns since Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election victory. “We lost the presidency; we lost House seats, Senate seats; we picked up only one governor; and we had 3 million fewer Republicans turn out for Romney and other Republican candidates than turned out in 2008.”

“If [Mr. Priebus] worked for you, would you keep him based on his record?” Mr. Karem added. “The answer is, ‘Hell, no!’”

Mr. Priebus, a former Wisconsin GOP chairman who won strong early reviews after taking over a dispirited and financially troubled RNC in 2011, is not without a strong base of support. Most of the RNC’s 168 voting members have pledged to support him for a second two-year term. He also has the support of SenateGOP leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John A. Boehner and is preparing a counterattack against his detractors for as early as Friday, a Republican close to the chairman’s office said privately.

Read more from this story HERE.

Questions the RINO Party Establishment Won’t Be Asked (and Can’t Answer)

/14 Comments/in /by

Somehow both the Left and the Republican Party establishment are allowed to each go through life tip-toeing through the raindrops, with each rarely compelled to defend their indefensibles.

That has again been apparent on the Ruling Class news shows following the election, as RINO after RINO and Republicrat after Republicrat strolled in front of the cameras to say that unless Republicans become more like Democrats they just can’t win elections. Of course, all of this propaganda begs several follow-up questions that almost never get asked, which is why I will ask them here.

Questions like:

• John McCain, if it’s true that Republicans need to move left on issues in order to win elections as you have (repeatedly) suggested, then why weren’t you running for re-election last month? Why did you lose in 2008?

• How come Republicans did very well in the 2010 elections and not as well in the 2012 elections? If it’s because we were too conservative, what evidence do you have that the failed campaign Republicans waged in 2012 was to the right of the successful campaign of 2010?

• If elections are all about winning over those supposedly crucial independents, then why didn’t Mitt Romney win the election? He won independents in Ohio, Virginia, and Colorado – all states McCain lost independents to Obama in 2008 – and did six points better with independents in Florida than McCain did in 2008. If you flip all those states to Romney he wins the Electoral College, yet he did what he was supposed to do with independents in those states and still lost them all. How do you explain that?

• If elections are only about the independents, should conservatives then en masse abandon their party affiliation and re-register as independents as a means of actually getting you to care about what they think for a change?

• If it’s true we’re alienating voters because of our stance in defense of marriage, then how do you explain the fact marriage out-performed Romney in every state it was on the ballot? For example, marriage performed 10 points better than Romney did in Maryland, even though it lost as well. Romney did better with evangelical turnout in Minnesota, where there was also a marriage initiative on the ballot, than McCain did four years ago. Instead of abandoning these issues, wouldn’t the smarter, more pragmatic political play be to try and link your candidates to issues more popular than your candidates? For instance, there is legitimate concern about the GOP’s status with minority voters. Yet those same minority voters are also very pro-life and very pro-marriage. If you really want to reach out to those voters, why not start with issues they already agree with you on?

• If we have to completely abandon the sanctity of life to win female voters, then how do you explain that Romney won white women by 14 points and still lost the election?

• If you’re going to abandon the sanctity of life, the defense of marriage, limited taxation, small government, out-of-control spending, and the rule of law, then what exactly makes you a Republican? Why not become a Democrat where the ideas you believe in are more popular?

• The most energized that pro-freedom and pro-liberty voters were this year was during the rally to defend Chick-fil-a prior to the Republican Convention. Did you make sure all those people were registered to vote, and ready to vote Republican for the same reasons they were standing in line for hours to get a chicken sandwich? Did you go out of your way to let that grassroots uprising of everyday Americans know which party stood with them, or did you shun them to curry favor with your ruling class friends?

• If Romney’s problems with the Republican base were just as simple as evangelicals not wanting to vote for a Mormon, then why did fewer Catholics vote in 2012 compared to 2008 despite the presence of Paul Ryan on the ticket? Furthermore, why did Romney do worse with Mormon voters than George W. Bush did in 2004?

• Why did you go scorched earth to shove Romney down our throats in the primary, only to then abandon him several times in the general election? Didn’t you tell all of us Romney was the only candidate running this time that could win?

• This week the Gallup Poll said for the first time since 2000 a majority of the American people don’t believe it’s the government’s role to provide healthcare for everybody. So then instead of funding Obamacare why aren’t you doing everything possible can to stop it?

• Do you have a plan to recover the 7 million white voters who voted in 2008 that didn’t vote in 2012? Do you know who those people are? Do you know why they didn’t vote?

Wouldn’t you love to see someone in the ruling class media ask these people these questions? Is there anyone in the “Republican media” that will ask them these questions when they get the chance?

Nah.

I mean, it’s not as if the republic is at stake or anything. Besides, it’s two-for-one martinis at the beltway’s newest trendy hangout, and Karl Rove is there laying out his latest master plan to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Gotta roll. Ta-ta.

_____________________________________________________

You can friend “Steve Deace” on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter @SteveDeaceShow.

GOP Civil War Brewing Over Abortion; Pro-Life Leader Warns of Third Party

/15 Comments/in , /by

If the Republican Party closes itself to passing pro-life legislation, it will signal the end of the GOP and the formation of a new, pro-life third party, a leader in one of the fastest growing pro-life ministries has warned.

“There is a Civil War brewing in the GOP, and it’s not pretty,” said Jennifer Mason, communications director of Personhood USA.

Over the weekend, 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain said pro-life conservatives should state their position on abortion, then “leave the issue alone.” Elected officials, he indicated, should enact no new legislation to protect the unborn.

He and a host of GOP consultants have suggested the party downplay or abandon social issues in light of the 2012 electoral loss.

Mason said his comments “made me wonder: instead of dropping the abortion issue, why not drop John McCain?”

“If McCain and his ilk are successful, we are looking at a major defection to a third party, and the ultimate death of the Republican Party,” she added.

Read more from this story HERE.

Republican Kelsey Grammer Blames Politics for His Show’s Cancellation

/1 Comment/in , /by

He has made no secret of his political leanings and Kelsey Grammer believes that his support for the Republican party may have led to the failure of his latest television series.

The Starz television network announced on Tuesday that it would not give the Frasier star another term as mayor of Chicago and was canceling the drama Boss after two seasons. The show, which premiered to critical acclaim last year, stars Grammer as tyrannical Chicago mayor Tom Kane.

Earlier this year, the 57-year-old complained to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show that his Republican party leanings were the reason the show was not nominated for an Emmy. ‘Now explain something to me, you get a Golden Globe for ‘Boss,’ but you don’t even get an Emmy nomination, Leno asked. ‘Yeah, its hard to figure,’ Grammer said. ‘It may have to do with several things, honestly, but I think it’s possible, I mean, I am a, I’m a declared out of the closet Republican in Hollywood.’

‘Do I believe it’s possible that some young person, young voting actor, or even older voting member for the Emmys, would sit there and go, ‘Yeah, that’s a great performance, but oooooh, I just hate everything he stands for?’ Grammer asked, before answering sarcastically: ‘I don’t believe that’s possible.’

The Frasier star is a member of the Republican Party and has expressed an interest in politics saying he may someday run for United States Congress. An active campaigner for the GOP, Grammer was a guest at President George W. Bush’s first inauguration, campaigned for John McCain in the 2008 general election and endorsed Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hey GOP, Take the Palin Cure: She’s hot, she’s blue collar, she’s electable.

/12 Comments/in , /by

The Republican Party has been doing a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing since the presidential election. Half the conservative columnists and bloggers say the GOP lost because it overemphasized social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. The other half says the party didn’t emphasize them enough. And everyone denounces Project ORCA, the campaign’s attempt to turn out voters via technology.

But I’ve got a suggestion for cutting short the GOP angst: Sarah Palin for president in 2016.

You think I’m joking? Think again.

In 2008, Palin, running as my party’s vice presidential candidate, was widely supposed to have cost John McCain the election. But that wasn’t so. A national exit poll conducted by CNN asked voters whether Palin was a factor in their voting. Of those who said yes, 56% voted for McCain versus 43% for Barack Obama.

Furthermore, Mitt Romney, the GOP’s anointed contender this year, got almost a million fewer votes than McCain did in 2008. (Meanwhile, President Obama, although winning reelection, lost far more voters than the Republicans, with nearly 7 million fewer voters checking his name on their ballots than did in 2008).

Read more from this story HERE.

Hispanic Female GOP Governor Says Romney “Set Us Back as a Party”

/14 Comments/in , /by

After two days of meetings at the Republican Governors Association conference this week, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez heard a lot about the party’s need to reach new constituencies–particularly women and ethnic minorities–but few specifics about how.

As a Republican governor of Mexican descent who won all but four counties in a Democratic state, Martinez has ideas for how the party can reach voters who traditionally support Democrats. But it’s going to take some work–and a touch of humility–from her colleagues.

“Republicans need to stop making assumptions, and they need to start talking to younger people, people of color, and ask them–not talk to them–ask them, What is it that we can do better? How do we earn your vote? How do we earn the ability for you to see that we can be the party that will make your life better and that of your children?” Martinez said in an interview after the conference here. “But we can’t be the ones that come and tell them how things are going to be and how we have all the solutions.”

President Barack Obama in 2012 expanded his lead among Hispanics, black voters, Asians and women, according to exit polling, leaving many Republicans wondering what they need do to adapt to the nation’s rapidly shifting demographics.

The topic has dominated much of the party’s post-election soul searching. Some have placed part of the blame on the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, who wrote off nearly half the electorate as inevitable Obama voters when he told donors at a closed-door fundraiser last spring that 47 percent of the population would support Obama “no matter what.” Martinez criticized Romney’s comments when they were reported in September, and on Wednesday reiterated that she found them “ridiculous.”

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Civil War: Karl Rove to be the First Casualty?

/26 Comments/in , /by

Grassroots Republican operatives and Movement conservatives are quickly turning against the GOP Establishment in the wake of the party’s expensive defeat this election cycle.

Republicans we spoke to this week voiced a near-universal disgust with the national Republican Party leaders and Washington political class, who are seen as having put their personal financial interest above winning the election.

As this internecine struggle gathers steam, the first target appears to be Karl Rove, the former Bush campaign mastermind who has dictated much of the GOP’s strategy over the past decade.

In the wake of the party’s 2012 losses, however, Rove and his well-funded American Crossroads super PAC have become a symbol of misguided Establishment strategy, party cronyism, and Beltway bloat. The fall from grace is perhaps unsurprising, given his group’s disastrous performance this cycle. According to a new report, American Crossroads got a mere 1% return on its $104 million investment in 2012 races.

For social conservatives, Rove’s treason began long before election day, when the Fox News contributor led the party’s tar-and-feathering of Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, who came under fire for his now infamous “legitimate rape” comments. The party’s perceived betrayal of Akin confirmed what many grassroots conservative activists had long suspected: That the Republican Establishment was willing to throw the base under the bus to serve the interests of deep-pocketed donors.

Read more from this story HERE.

Time to Throw Social Conservatives Out of the GOP?

/23 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: wht_wolf9653It is time to throw the social conservatives out of the GOP. Look at what they got us — Barack Obama. It was the social conservatives who did it. They insisted the GOP support real marriage and children. To hell with that.

I’m getting this, in various forms, from lots of tea party activists. The GOP establishment in Washington is whispering it to each other. They look at Todd Aiken and Richard Mourdock and conclude that they, not Tommy Thompson, Heather Wilson, George Allen, Scott Brown, etc. are the problem.

It is time to get rid of the social conservatives.

What’s really going on here is that the people who voted Republican, but who disagree with pro-lifers and defenders of marriage, have decided it must be those issues. They can’t see how what happened actually happened unless it happened because the issues on which they disagree with the base played a role.

This is a psychological avoidance of larger issues and does not stack up to the data.

Mitt Romney won about a quarter of the hispanic vote and a tenth of the black vote.

Read more from this article HERE.