GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

Democrats to Repeat GOP’s Winning ’06 Strategy This Fall

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In just nine days, we’ll be commemorating the first anniversary of an event long awaited on the left side of the political aisle:  the return of George W. Bush to Texas.  This departure, however, has not prevented Democrats from bringing up their all-purpose bogeyman every time our nation faces a crisis, his successor makes an error or when they just plain need something to complain about.

Obama may say the buck stops with him, but for the better part of his first year in office, he’s been blaming Bush for the toughness of the challenges he fought so hard to face.

Well, our friend Sonicfrog, perhaps in anticipation of his fifth blogiversary, points out that Democrats are making this obsession their electoral strategy, linking John Fund’s piece on how Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen plans to “attack Republicans for wanting to restore the discredited Bush era.”  Funny, our friend notes, quoting the Washington Post how similar that strategy is to the Republican strategy in 2006 :

The message that Bush and others are sending to alienated supporters is that, no matter how upset they have been about various policies or political missteps over the past couple of years, life would be far worse under the Democrats. They name liberal lawmakers who would take charge of key committees and warn conservatives that taxes would go up and protection against terrorists would go down.

We all know how well that strategy worked out.  But, “even more damning,” Sonic writes, “many on the right will now be able to say they were right.” [Read more…]

What a Difference Two Elections Make

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The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.

Nancy Pelosi, November 7, 2008

Democrats defeat GOP attempt to remove Rangel.

Glenn Reynolds, Today.

RELATED: GALLUP: Approval of Congress Falls to 21%.

A short summary of Mr. Rangel’s personal culture of corruption.  Defending Rangel, Rep Maxine Waters says “Many members” of Congress suffer from the same disclosure issues as Rangel.  Guess that culture is not just personal to Mr. Rangel.

Why the Left Can’t Let Go of W

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Ok, now to address the point I had meant to address in my previous post.  Many on the left can’t let go of their hatred of the immediate past president of the United States because trashing him has been their ticket to electoral success in the two most recent national elections (2006 and 2008).

To be sure, there’s more to it than that, but that gets at the nub of their obsession; trashing W is fare easier than having to defend their own ideas or addressing the arguments of those opposed to them.

In commenting on a Gallup poll showing the Democratic advantage in party affiliation shrinking rapidly, Jim Geraghty finds a “Strange Resurgence of the Bush-Free GOP“:

What happened? Well, the utopia of hope and change did not take hold immediately, and hopes for a moderate course have been dashed. But also worth noting is how dramatically the political landscape has changed since George W. Bush rode off into the sunset. Perhaps while he was front and center, and the dominant voice of the GOP, many Americans tired of Iraq, tired of his Texas twang, tired of everything they had seen and heard for the past eight years; they would hear nothing else from the GOP, and could overlook a multitude of flaws in the Democratic-party option.

With W out of office, people are paying attention to the policies of the one-time opposition, that is, the current governing party.  

And there’s another reason for the Republican resurgence that Gergahty left out. In  the post I was looking for while crafting my last post, written the day after last fall’s election, I pointed out that with Bush gone, the party of small government was no longer defined by incumbent Republican presidents pushing big government:

It had been tough to be conservative during the first (and only) term of the first President Bush as it has during the second term of the second.  Each man was the titular head of the supposedly conservative party, but neither governed, at least on domestic issues, as a conservative.

Neither held the line on domestic spending.  Both increased the size and scope of the federal government.

Democrats need W in order to demonize the opposition.  Note, how often they bring up his spending record whenever we criticize Obama’s.  They don’t want the GOP to be seen as the party of small government.

For, as recent polls indicate, that Reaganite idea continues to resonate.

UPDATE:  Byron York confirms my thesis:   “But Gallup also points out that the Democratic rise of 2008-2009 had much more to do with George W. Bush than with anything the Democrats themselves were doing.”

The Democrats’ Rangel Test

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Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is not the only congressional Democrat with ethics issues.  Indeed, the list of corrupt Democrats in 2009 rivals that of corrupt Republicans three years previously when the-then minority party ousted the then-majority on the basis of the Republicans’ (supposed) “culture of corruption.”

Upon her party’s winning the 2006 elections, the then-soon-to-be Speaker of the House promised to lead “the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.”  Shortly after taking the gavel, she seems to have forgotten that vow.

Now, she has a chance to show that she meant what she said–that things really have changed in Washington since Democrats too over.  As each new day seems to bring with it new revelations about Rangel’s misdeeds, Pelosi would do well to force Rangel to step aside as Ways and Means chairman pending the results of an ethics committee investigation.

This is her test–and that of her party–to see if they intend to crack down on the questionable ethics their fellow Democrats.  And if she refuses to demand that her New York colleague step aside, then other leading Democrats should step up to the plate and demand his dismissal.

FROM THE COMMENTS:  Sean A links a New York Post article:

Even as he fends off accusations about his own failure to pay taxes and fully disclose his financial dealings, Rep. Charles Rangel had quietly slipped into the health-care bill broad new provisions cracking down on taxpayers in proceedings with the IRS, The Post has learned.

Ethically challenged and a hypocrite?!?!?

UPDATE:  Looks like Speaker Pelosi is failing the test:

THE HILL: Pelosi will let Rangel hold post despite latest allegations. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will let Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) keep his chairmanship despite his failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets on federal disclosure forms, according to Democratic aides.” Of course she will. This makes him vulnerable, and thus easier to control.

If Only Democrats Used Their Rhetoric to Guide their Governing

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In the course of the debate on health care, we should bear in mind these three public comments made by the two Democrats holding two of the (three) highest constitutional offices in the United States of America.

First, the President:

But there is no doubt that we’ve been living beyond our means and we’re going to have to make some adjustments.

Now, what I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.

Third Presidential Debate, October 15, 2008

UPS and FedEx are doing just fine . . . . it’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 11, 2009

Now, the Speaker of the House:

The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.

November 8, 2006

The Hard Choices the Obama Team Refuses to Make

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Both Glenn and Michelle (in her Buzzworthy column) linked posts addressing comments Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made recently about the budget.

Suggesting that the government may have to raise taxes on the middle class, Geithner contended that to “bring these deficits down” requires “some very hard choices.”  Why can’t the Administration make such hard choices by cutting government spending even if that means defying the various interest groups which helped secure the President’s election last fall.

As “Jefferson,” commenting to Michael Silence’s blog (linked by Glenn) wrote:   “if I want to lower my annual widescreen plasma TV outlays, I don’t negotiate a volume deal with my local electronics retailer, I just stop buying them.”

Congressional Republicans lost their majority, in large part, because they refused to make the hard choices voters elected them to make, to stand up to interest groups and lobbyists and hold the line on government spending.  Democrats did well these past two election cycles in large measure because the people had lost confidence in Republicans’ abilities to make such choices.

Now, we see Democrats refusing to make such choices and contending that their only “choice” is to make a very hard choice, Obama’s campaign promise notwithstanding, and raise taxes on the middle class.

Will we ever elect politicians who choose to cut spending?

Posts* Where We Criticized GOP on Spending in Bush Era

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Given that Bruce and I (as well as John and Nick) have been faulting Republicans, including former President George W. Bush, for not holding the line on federal spending for almost as long as we’ve been blogging, I find it most amusing to read snarky comments from liberal readers who ask why didn’t we protest the then-President’s bloated budgets.  Well, we didn’t take to the streets as we did on Wednesday.  And maybe we should have organized such protests.  But, we did take Republicans to task for losing sight of their conservative fiscal principles.

So, I thought I’d offer a few posts with their dates of publication to show that we’ve been doing just that–even when our party was in power.

2008 Elections: The Republicans’ DUI (November 17, 2008)

DeLay’s 1994 Election as House GOP Whip: Harbinger of GOP’s 2006 Defeat (November 14, 2006)

2006 Elections — Ronald Reagan’s Vindication (November 10, 2006)

GOP’s Failure to Hold True to Conservative Principles Cost Party Its Majorities
 (November 8, 2006)

Conservatism Still Ascendant even if Democrats Prevail (October 30, 2006)

2006; An Election, not a Realignment (October 23, 2006)

Wall Street Journal Blasts GOP (October 2, 2006)

Reagan on My Mind (August 3, 2006)

George W. Bush: Moderate (May 15, 2006)

Grading the President on Reagan’s Legacy (March 20, 2006)

*Partial listing.

Nutshell Explanation for GOP’s Recent Failures

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Last week, I linked Jay Cost’s Weekly Standard piece where he urged “Republicans to use their principles creatively—to generate new and compelling solutions to public problems.”

Today, Glenn Reynolds identifies the reason my party has failed in recent years, “THE PROBLEM ISN’T REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES — it’s unprincipled Republicans. ‘Because Republicans didn’t stick, we got stuck.’”

UPDATE:  In an excellent post showing how recent polling numbers show that while Democrats are doing worse, Republicans aren’t doing much better, Michael Barone offers what the GOP must do to take advantage of this potential reversal of political fortune:

That instability worked to Democrats’ advantage in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Now it seems to be working against them—I was going to write to Republicans’ advantage, but I think what we are seeing is more disillusionment toward Democrats than any positive feeling toward Republicans. In the short run, Republicans can benefit from this. In the longer run, they need to offer voters a better vision for the future, or they risk losing once again if there is a revival of enthusiasm among Democrats and warm feeling toward them among independents.

Read the whole thing.

Will Democrats’ Extravagence Lead to their Collapse?

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As I was reading the epilogue to Joseph J. Ellis’s Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams, I chanced on something that great man said in 1812 (in a letter to Benjamin Rush) which could well apply to the Democrats’ spendthrift “stimulus” and its impact on American politics.

“When a party grows Strong and feels its power, it becomes intoxicated, grows presumptuous and extravagant and breaks to pieces.”

The more people know about the “stimulus,” the more they will see the Democrats for what they are, using this “crisis” as an excuse to enact their agenda, expanding the size and scope federal government even when there is no popular support for their statist endeavors.

Of course that expression could be used to describe Republicans in 2005.  And look what happened the following year.

The Opportunity Bush & DeLay Gave Obama

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For the past few days, I have been contemplating a few posts offering a kind of retrospective on the Administration of George W. Bush.  The more I think about this project, the more I realize how complicated it is.  The incumbent is hardly the caricature his opponents paint, yet he has blundered badly on a number of issues, particularly on domestic issues in his second term.

On the issue which will (likely) most define his term, particularly in the years immediately after he leaves office, he exhibited characteristics which reveal his greatest weaknesses and greatest strengths.  He stubbornly adhered to a failing strategy from 2004 through the end of 2006, then against widespread opposition from the political class (and even the military brass), shifted course, showing incredibly resolve in adopting a new –and ultimately successful–strategy.

And while I commend the president from learning from his father’s mistake and refusing to raise taxes, that’s all he learned from his father’s domestic record.  He didn’t fully understand that Ronald Reagan’s Vice President betrayed his predecessor’s legacy not merely by increasing taxes, but also by not holding the line of domestic spending.

It seems George Bushes don’t value fiscal discipline; domestic spending increased at a rapid clip during each man’s tenure in the White House.

And with a Republican Congress under Tom DeLay committed more to preserving political power than to promoting conservative policies, the party departed from the fiscal principles which led the GOP to electoral success in the 1980s on the presidential level and in the 1990s on the legislative level.  Our political fortunes would surely have improved had the principled Bob Walker defeated the opportunistic Tom DeLay in the 1994 election for House Majority Whip.

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