Ideology, Personalities and Competence

[Valin]

The Other McCain:

12/4/12

 

Last week, I was a guest on “The Rebecca Diserio Show,” and Becca Lower has been kind enough to transcribe the first half of the interview here. We were talking about Saxby Chambliss and I compared it to the situation with Charlie Crist in 2009-2010:

 

Now, I’m all in favor of electing a Republican majority in the Senate. But the idea that the way to do that is to abandon principles, to muddle the difference between Republicans and Democrats on key issues. Well . . . if that worked out so well in the past, you might think of, I don’t know, the administration of President Dole, you know… It just doesn’t work as practical politics. Never mind that it represents a cowardly abandonment of firm principle.

The problem is, if you go back to 1964, the simple title of Phyllis Schafly’s book: A Choice, Not an Echo. You have to offer the voters an alternative to the party in power, or else the opposition has no reason to exist.

 

The idea that it’s “smart” to be moderate ignores this basic reality of politics. Successful opposition politics is about highlighting the failures of the party in power and offering a principled alternative. It’s not so much about individual politicians as it is about building a movement.

 

(Snip)

 

The Republican Party has a shortage of basic competence. There is too much cliqueishness, too much Old Boy-ism, where who you know is more important than what you know, and the catastrophic failure of ORCA was the tip of the iceberg in that regard.

 

Some people have tried to isolate this to the Romney campaign, to say that Romney and his aides were uniquely unqualified, but the fact is, they were much more competent than any of their rivals for the GOP nomination and, overall, ran a pretty good campaign......(Snip)

[Casino67]

I believe the GOP should adopt the DNC motto and Lean Forward. Time to start breeding or grooming a younger crop of potential candidates. Last night's Kemp Awards dinner was a good start. Headlining Rubio and Ryan was a good move by whoever organized it.

[Valin]

I believe the GOP should adopt the DNC motto and Lean Forward. Time to start breeding or grooming a younger crop of potential candidates. Last night's Kemp Awards dinner was a good start. Headlining Rubio and Ryan was a good move by whoever organized it.

 

 

I agree...Time for some changes. Because not only was The One very beatable, but down ticket...it was real Ugly.

 

Note: by changes I Do Not mean going all wobbly.

One of the lessons IMO can be found in the way a certain former Speaker of the House dealt with the press. ie don't accept their premiss and don't be afraid to get back in their face. I mean the NY Times is going to call whoever the GOP nominee is the 2nd coming of Heinrich Himmler so why pretend otherwise.

[Argyle58]

I believe the GOP should adopt the DNC motto and Lean Forward. Time to start breeding or grooming a younger crop of potential candidates. Last night's Kemp Awards dinner was a good start. Headlining Rubio and Ryan was a good move by whoever organized it.

 

 

I agree...Time for some changes. Because not only was The One very beatable, but down ticket...it was real Ugly.

 

Note: by changes I Do Not mean going all wobbly.

One of the lessons IMO can be found in the way a certain former Speaker of the House dealt with the press. ie don't accept their premiss and don't be afraid to get back in their face. I mean the NY Times is going to call whoever the GOP nominee is the 2nd coming of Heinrich Himmler so why pretend otherwise.

 

And yet, they keep trying...........