Shaken Republicans Look To McCain As Savior
The real issue is why did the Party get “shaken?” But that’s a whole essay I ain’t writin’ right now.
Soul searching Republicans are turning to an unlikely savior, one-time party heretic and now presumptive White House nominee John McCain, as they try to stave off an electoral disaster.
Stung by the Democratic seizure of three staunch conservative seats in Congress, Republican lawmakers fear a shellacking in November’s general election, after losing control of both chambers of Congress in 2006.
The rise of McCain as their champion is not without irony, since the 71-year-old Arizona senator has quarreled with his own party for years on issues as diverse as immigration, campaign finance reform and global warming.
But it is precisely that independent streak that is drawing Republicans to his coattails, hoping he can cleanse them of the stain of gridlocked Washington.
Eric Cantor, Republican chief deputy whip in the House of Representatives, told reporters that the McCain brand was healthier than that of his party.
“John McCain is a demonstrated vote getter among independents, and his message and what he will be able to do in this election is extremely important.”
House Republican minority leader John Boehner told Fox News that with McCain at the top of the ticket, his demoralized party might spring a surprise in November.
“I think that we’re going to do a lot better than people think,” Boehner said.
“John McCain appeals to almost all Republicans. He also appeals to a wide array of independents and conservative Democrats.”
Democrat Travis Childers on Tuesday won Mississippi’s first congressional district, one of the safest Republican seats in the country, following his party’s recent special election wins in Illinois and Louisiana.
The win was another triumph for the strategy of matching socially conservative Democrats, who often oppose abortion and back gun rights, to conservative districts, where Republicans would normally ease to victory.
As they surveyed the damage Wednesday, Republican House leaders rolled out the first elements of a new agenda, dubbed “The Change You Deserve,” pinpointing the struggles of working families.
Significantly, a key player in their press conference was Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief who is now one of McCain’s most visible economic advisors.
Democrats see their win streak as a referendum on the unpopular president and dream of an electoral landslide after a Washington Post/ABC poll this week found eight in ten Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
Tom Cole, who heads Republican congressional campaign efforts, delivered an unusually stark warning, telling his party’s candidates “to take stock of their campaigns and position themselves for challenging campaigns this fall.”
But Adam Putnam, chairman of the House Republican conference, suggested Republicans could prosper without their president up for reelection.
“The President is not on the ballot,” he said.
Top Democrats will not let them creep silently out of Bush’s shadow.
“What happened in Mississippi was a day for reckoning for the failed policies of the Bush administration,” said Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the House Democratic campaign committee.
And he said McCain, who recorded a message for the defeated Republican candidate in Mississippi, had failed to save his party.
“They thought he would be a life preserver, he wasn’t — he was an anchor.”
Democratic House majority leader Steny Hoyer meanwhile mocked the new Republican slogan, “The Change You Deserve,” saying it had already been used to market an anti-depressant medicine.
Democrats, who seized control of both chambers of Congress in 2006, are looking to expand their 37-seat majority in the House, and increase their tally in the 100-seat Senate from the current 51.
Republicans are particularly bracing for losses in the Senate, since in what was already shaping up as a bad year they have 23 seats up for reelection compared to only 12 for the Democrats.
(AP)
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I wasn’t aware I was shaken…someone needs to send me a memo on that.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:11 amThere they go with the Liberal Psy-ops again.
What they conveniently leave out of the news is that a traditional Liberal Democrat would have lost as usual. They did mention that the candidate was professing conservatism (I don’t really believe it), and that was why he won.
What does that mean for the Liberal agenda in Congress if only pro-gun rights, pro-life Democrats can win? I think it doesn’t harm them much at all, since I think these “conservative” democrats are not truly pro-life or pro-gun. I think those were only meaningless slogans that were used to dupe the average conservative Joe into voting for a party that would normally be radioactive to him. I will believe that they are pro-gun and pro-life when I see actual votes by these folks that back up their claims. The democrats are so desperate to get back in real control of Congress and the WH that they will say anything to get there.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:35 amMississippi voters voted for the two candidates FOUR times before one of them got a majority–in what may go down in history as one of the nastiest campaigns in political advertising in the state. Wouldn’t say the win was much to brag about.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:48 amI am going to say this once and it is the truth for any real Conservative who has the guts to admit it. I base my believe on the parallels from Jewish history in which the Jewish people believed they had come to the end of their rope and either felt hopeless, desperate, lost, exasperated. And if you’re a real Conservative, that is the way you feel about our illustrious goverment and our country right now. I’ll assure you I am neither a prude or a fool. It does explain why I am such a proponent of you military types, though I am not one. Because contrary to popular opinion and our so-called “intellectual elites” who tacitly scorn you types as simpletons, I think most of you the few who actually “get it.”
For the last 20 years, Conservatives have chosen the wrong strategy by not standing firm under the guise that the only thing that counts is winning the next election. It’s always the “most important election of our lifetime.” We allow these candidates we elect to compromise our principles in the hope our next feckless candidate will turn out better than we expect.
Right now, real Conservatives probably do not have the votes to win national elections. But that is not to say we won’t. We have allowed ourselves to become so marginalized that we deserve to have our butts kicked this November. We have provided a bumper crop of crappy candidates with cliche slogans, most calling themselves Conservative, when in reality they are not much different than the worthless RINOs. The first time they’re called neocon, or Bible thumper, or racist, or mean spirited, or warmonger, most of them run and hide in the weeds - and worse cave on the very principles of why we elected them and become…well, a politician.
I like George Bush, voted for George Bush, think he is a decent human being (unlike his predecessor), and appreciate the two fine SCOTUS he gave us. But I’ll be the first to admit, his namby-pamby domestic policies have killed us. He is incredibly naive about Islam. Our strategy of appeasement on everything from the war to public education has proven to be a fiasco and plays right into the godless liberal’s hands.
If we really want to improve our land, then I suggest we take a backwards step and admit that we have done a poor job of holding our own to the fire. Worse, many of these so called Conservative politicians are as immoral and stupid as the Dimocrats. I disdain them more than I do progressives.
A Conservative of worth knows in his or her heart that our guide is the only one that will work. And that might require a little patience and a little faith. I admit that and consider myself a part of the problem, fearful one election might swallow me and my family. I aim to rectify that:
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:54 amHopefully this is a wake-up call (as if one was needed after the 2006 election) that RINOs are an endangered species. However, I don’t think the message is getting through — witness McCain’s recent environmental position statement. Want to win the election and the hearts and minds of the voters?
1. Get back to (conservative) basics. Secure the border, cut and keep taxes low; reduce federal spending; and enforce the laws now on the books.
2. Articulate your position - clearly, calmly, and often. Tell people what you stand for - not what you oppose. It’s easy to be against something. It takes courage to be ‘for’ something.
3. Radiate hope. Don’t fall into the doom-and-gloom camp. Tell people what is right about our country
May 15th, 2008 at 8:59 amLeave it to the Pubs to go left while their base is screaming “Go Right”
Total morons…
May 15th, 2008 at 9:47 am“Hopefully this is a wake-up call (as if one was needed after the 2006 election) that RINOs are an endangered species.”
I was not aware that it was only the RINO losing seats in 2006. Can’t recall em all but I don’t think Santorum would be called a RINO. Lost 59 - 41 IIRC.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:18 amRepublicans in the House and Senate, as many showed last year when the Senate switchboard was crashed, are absolutely out of touch with what their constituents want from them. They need to stop looking down their noses at the voters, and open their eyes and ears and just do what the pwopl tell them too. Elected officials need to stop thinking of the electorate as rubes and read the 9th Amendment of the Constitution, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” That’s right “We the People” cannot be legislated out of the process, so suck on it Ted Kennedy, and the rest of you vermin!
All I ask from the Republican party is this:
1. Send the Jihadis to hell from whatever rock and crevasse they hide under.
2. Secure the borders and enforce the Immigration Laws currently on the books.
3. Stop with the earmarks and subsidizing mega companies like in the farm bills.
4. Stop with these Nanny State irresponsible bailouts of companies that gave mortgages to clowns that could not spend $5 on a dictionary to figure out what and adjustable rate versus a fixed rate mortgage was. Many did not read their loan papers or have them explains. The government should not be in the business of business, they took the risk on writing this bad paper let them settle it out with their balance sheet.
5. Cut foreign aid to those home countries that refuse to accept illegal aliens being deported.
6. Increase the pay of all Active Duty military personnel by 15% immediately across the board with a minimum of 6% per year there after in definitely. Exempt them from paying any and all income taxes, federal and state, as long as they are honorably discharged, exempt them from the income tax to the grave.
7. Abolish the estate tax, regardless of the person’s income level. People have already been taxed on the assets and earnings and really it will be wasted by some crony like Barney Frank or Charlie Rangel naming something after themselves.
8. After so many years of industries developing their technologies to minimize their effects on the environment, allow industry to develop new technologies to find new energy sources and give various tax incentives to these businesses, until then ALLOW THE OIL COMPANIES TO DRILL WHEREVER THERE ARE PROVEN RESERVES, IF IT IS IN FEDERAL LANDS TAKE A PREMIUM ROYALTY SIMILAR TO WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES DO AS THEY EXTRACT IT AND APPLY IT TO THE DEFICIT AND AS A SECONDARY EFFECT WE WILL EVENTUALLY BANKRUPT THE CHAVEZAHMEDINAJADOPECSAUDI SCUMBAG CONGLOMERATES. As long as we keep subsidizing these regimes they will feel free to spew their venom and churn out jihadis and little Che Guevaras bent on our destruction instead of seeing that the real problem is not the USA but their governments. In 1973 when there were gas lines, we as a nation imported just around 30% or so in foreign oil, now that figure in 25 years has jumped to close to 70%.
9. If a university or educational institution takes federal monies but will not allow ROTC students to drill on their campuses then they revoke any federal aid along with the students attending said institution.
10. Stop with all of this coddling of criminals in this country. All death penalty cases should be verified for evidence and their were no procedural mistakes and if the conviction is verified clear them out and stop warehousing these bastards.
I could go on with more, but first we need to annihilate the enemies of this country wherever they may be. So just in case someone from the RNC is reading this looking for a clue this is my two cents worth and I would vote for the candidate that does not just promises this no some messiah type the media is hyping.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:12 pmMy apologies for my spelling errors, I think I needs to dust of my dictionary
May 15th, 2008 at 12:14 pm