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Beware GOP, Tuesday's elections not about Republicans
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RNC Chairman Michael Steele
"Me, me, me--it's all about me!"
True to form, the GOP believes that Tuesday's elections are all about the Republican Party. RNC Chairman Michael Steele took the attitude that Americans are turning back to the GOP in the wake of the election of Republican Governors in New Jersey and Virginia. "We're not crowing, we're just smiling," Steele said in a nationally broadcast interview. "I think it's a bellwether for the party ... You look at where we were nine months ago."
And, granted, the Democratic Party has done nothing in those 9 months to sway this backlash. Gitmo is still open, two wars still rage on, record budget deficits and bailouts were replaced with...record budget deficits and pork-barrel stimulus packages. Same old, same old Washington politics-as-usual from what I can see!
New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie (right, Politick New Jersey)
That begs the question: How much of what transpired yesterday is actually about the Republican Party? And I say, not terribly much. Here is what I mean.
Yesterday was not about the Republican Party coming out with a new strategy or bold, new initiative proposals. They have not. The loyal opposition in the Republican caucus in Congress has done a fairly decent job of opposing everything the Obama Administration has initiated, but we hear nothing new coming from the RNC or Congressional Republicans.
Social Security is still in a $50 trillion pit of unfunded liability. Health care legislation is still pending with the public option as its centerpiece. Deficits continue to expand. And many of the same faces responsible for 2006 and 2008 are still in office. Namely, U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, just to list one.
The question becomes, then, if Americans hand control of Congress--or even just the House--to Republicans, how will it look any different than anything of the last 17 to 30 years? What new initiatives will Republicans propose? And I don't mean smoke-and-mirrors "Contract(s) With American" nobody intends on passing. I mean substantive proposals that will actually achieve the cliche' line regarding "Smaller Government, Lower Taxes."
Virginia Governor-elect Bob McDonnell (right, News Roanoke)
Please hear me correctly--Republicans have the right message, the right ideology and--this may surprise many in the audience!--the Constitution in our corner! We must simply express that message adequately.
It doesn't even require the next Reagan--just adequately will do! It's not about the messenger, believe it or not. It is still about the message.
I am a big believer in the Republican Party of Texas Platform. It is far superior to the watered-down version Minneapolis sent back to us last year. And wouldn't you know it, California, Michigan and Massachusetts have their way with our largely market-based Platform and everyone starts questioning Republican principles and values. It would seem a hard shift to the Left is the wrong strategy, just as I have been saying for over a year. It didn't work with the Legislature this spring, it hasn't worked in Washington. Conservative principles win again.
But don't mistake a win for conservatives as a victory for the GOP. There are still dusty, old skeletons in that closet that need to be exposed to the light of day. It is far better to have a Republican in any particular seat than a Democrat, but to say that victories in New Jersey and Virginia Tuesday were due to the Republican Party is to completely blow off the influence of the Tea Party movement and conservative Independents.
And that is one lesson that Democrats should take away from yesterday's returns. Michael Steele, the RNC, rank-and-file Republicans (including you Establishment sorts!) and even Rep. Sessions had better learn that lesson real quick.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091104/ap_on_el_ge/us_election_reax
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