Comments on: Having had power & lost it, has GOP learned its lesson?

By: The Livewire

The Livewire — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:38:59 +0000

14, wow, you’re EO? kind of surprised, never hear about them in my neck of the woods.

By: Peter Hughes

Peter Hughes — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:59:38 +0000

#13 – MMatt, imho, the Pope needs to repeal Vatican II and return the Church to its proper roots.

Maybe that’s why my Eastern Orthodox Church gets so many converts from Catholicism.

Regards,
Peter H.

By: Michigan-Matt

Michigan-Matt — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:22:48 +0000

BTW, inside my own church, we have the “Cancel 3rd World Debt” folks who often get a petition placed inside the Prayerful Petitions during Mass. Last week, we prayed that poverty in the Middle East would end and the medically uninsured in America would find relief… along with calling for an end to 3rd World Debt created by the greed of capitalists.

Maybe I’ve been around these types too long… but they pale in comparison with the farLeft and farRight in our political culture.

By: Michigan-Matt

Michigan-Matt — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:17:06 +0000

John, I agree with you in part –there’s a side of the religious right that is, indeed, scarey. I also agree with others here that I rarely hear a similar debate from moderates inside the Democrats saying that folks like CodePink or the anti-military nutjobs in SF or those anti-semites who support liberty for Hamas should be booted from their party. Nor do they say that about the eco-terrorists burning down suburban miniMcMansions… or the NRDC nuts who have held nuke power hostage in the Courts for years and are now attacking CleanCoal.

The truth is that each Party has it’s shady elements and attract all kinds of passionate whackjobs to the effort. I’ve met some folks at GOP natl events who literally caused me to shudder with their hatefilled and wild conspiratorial theories –or the ones who are there only because of a single issue and won’t tolerate open debate on “their” topic/issue/litmus test.

I once heard Lamar Alexander explain to a group of Gold Standard zealots at an RNC regional function in Nashville… he basically said “You know, I don’t understand you folks at all and I think your issue is the biggest non-issue if there ever was one. Flat tax, I get it. No UN commander of US troops, I get it. Cutting back on foreign aid, I get it. No tax money for PBS and NPR, I get it. You guys, I don’t get.

But I support your involvement in the Party, welcome your contribution and hope you stick around long enough so that when returning to the gold standard becomes important, we’ll be the Party set to deal with it.”

And to think that Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes got more support than Alexander for GOP Prez in ‘96 is amazing. Maybe Alexander understood you need the whacked-out folks with passion and energy inside a Party. Maybe the farLeft does that for the Democrats?

By: torabora

torabora — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:32:40 +0000

I won’t support the DemocRATS unless they get rid of the socialists/America-haters/welfare pimps.

There! I said it.

Snark!

By: John

John — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:19:39 +0000

VtheK: Did I say I wouldn’t vote for any Republicans ever? Nope. I also didn’t say that I would support a Democrat whom I believe fits your description here. Should a Republican candidate come along in any of the races I vote that I find palatible, I’ll consider them. Otherwise I won’t. What I will not do anymore is vote party-line, which actually I haven’t done for the past 2 election cycles. Call me a ticket-splitter if you like because that’s how I’m voting.

Eh, considering how I voted last November (GOP, Dem & Libertarian) I guess I can catch flak from all sides.

By: John

John — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:14:08 +0000

Love how you put quotes around words you attribute to me yet are actually your own. I couldn’t have asked for a better example of a partisan of the extreme Right mimicking the style of those from the extreme Left, thereby proving my point. You have learned well, DaveP.

By: DaveP.

DaveP. — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:05:40 +0000

V, John says that he won’t “give his vote to the haters”.

Does that mean he would refuse to vote for himself?

John, don’t complain because I called you on your hateful and unAmerican behavior. Suck it up, put your Klan hood back on, and go about your business.

By: V the K

V the K — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:42:09 +0000

DaveP, have you ever noticed you never hear anyone say, “I won’t support the Democrats unless they get rid of the socialists/America-haters/welfare pimps?”

By: John

John — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:27:35 +0000

You’ve learned well from the extreme Left, DaveP. Yet I assure you that I didn’t need any reinforcement of what I’ve experienced: many of the partisans on the extreme Right are no better than those on the extreme Left. They can be just as shrill, just as quick to play the role of victim while whining about others, and only talk about small government when THEIR pet issues aren’t involved. I have no use for any of them nand refuse to give my vote anymore to folks on either side who fit that description.

By: DaveP.

DaveP. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:28:59 +0000

Thanks for placing religous bigotry over patriotism, john. You’re a class act.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:45:16 +0000

Politicians seldom, if ever, learn anything until they’re out of office or dead–too late either way–regardless of party. The GOP has clearly demonstrated an abandonment of sound fiscal policy by their behavior and enabling of spending for the last decade. If they actually cared they’d have been consistent. I shouldn’t even have to begin to eviscerate the fiscal priorities of the Spendocrats–they speak for themselves.

We’re screwed. No matter what any of them espouse, their concerns are:

1) Their own wallets and lifestyles
2) Their progeny
3) Re-election
4) Just about everything else under the sun
5) Constituent interests

When we allow public servants–which is what they were meant to be–to carve careers out of political office, the interest of the public takes a backseat to career advancement and security. We need term limits and greater public participation on every level, from dogcatcher to POTUS.

We need the public to be informed, attentive, and interested.

Like I said: we’re screwed.

By: V the K

V the K — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:32:37 +0000

Proving my point: Democrats plan to use the economic crisis as an excuse to undo Clinton Era welfare reform.

By: V the K

V the K — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:27:34 +0000

Republicans will always be at a disadvantage because Democrats are “the government party.” Government is the Democrats’ business. And they want to grow their business. When in power, they use their power and influence to make government bigger, make more people dependent on it, and squeeze it “competition” from the private sector, charities, and religious institutions. They fight harder to control power because it’s their lifeblood.

It’s a fundamental philosophical difference that I don’t think the GOP is aware of.

Also… yeah, I’m gonna keep beating on this until someone listens… the GOP apparatus at the state level is a shambles. The state level party organizations are putting up weak candidates, and their ground game is disorganized and inferior to the Democrats. The GOP’s structural problems are worse than their ideological ones.

By: John

John — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:08:50 +0000

It’s waaaaay too soon after their last debacle to say that they’ve learned their lesson IMO. They’ve caught my interest, but that’s it for now. The most I can say is that I doubt I’ll vote GOP or Dem for VA Guv but will consider challengers to Senator Webb (D), unless of course they align themselves with the Religious Right. I’m not ready to work with that faction yet – especially those from Virginia.

By: GUS

GUS — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:44:43 +0000

Is anyone aware that 2 women who represent only 1.3 million people are the lynch pin to the OBSCENE PORK BILL we are facing?
2 liberal women from MAINE plus Arlen Col Sanders Spectacle are spending us into obvlivion and not fisxing a damn thing,

Think about that. We need to learn with the quickness.