Alone among the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination Newt Gingrich, like Ronald Reagan in 1980 (and 1976 for that matter), has already made a significant contribution to the conservative movement.  As the Gipper helped articulate an upbeat conservative vision long before launching a bid for the White House, so did Gingrich make the 1994 mid-term elections turn, in large part on that small-government ideal, helping elect the first Republican Congress in forty years.

Not just that, he became in the 105th Congress the first Republican Speaker to serve consecutive terms since Theodore Roosevelt’s Cincinnati son-in-law relinquished the gavel to Democrat John Nance Garner in 1931.

Having once interned for Newt, I didn’t take him too seriously as a presidential candidate.  He seems more a man of ideas than a leader of men.  And more often than not, he’ll articulate any idea which pops into his head, even those to which he has given little thought.  He didn’t often seem to have the focus necesary to serve as chief executive.  He didn’t have a desk in office when I worked for him .  Sometimes, he seemed he couldn’t sit still.

Maybe age has mellowed him.

I haven’t been following the debates, but have read (in posts by bloggers and pundits I respect) that he has acquitted himself quite well.  Well, last night, as I was preparing to watch Captain America (should have seen it on the big screen), I caught the former Speaker on Greta van Susteren’s On the Record.  I found him so compelling, I delayed staring the movie.

True to what I’d read in the blogs, he didn’t attack his fellow competitors for the party’s nod, critiquing Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, to be sure, but praising the businessman for his boldness in penning such a proposal.  And he faulted Romney’s plan for not being bold enough.  (In fact, I’m pretty sure I heard him praise the quality of the debate he and his fellows were conducting, raising real issues of substance related to the current crisis.)

What impressed me the most was the same thing which impressed me when, as a college freshman, I first heard Newt speak.  Like the Gipper, this guy can see the big picture. (more…)

Common sense solutions from my candidate for President….

Herman Cain in Wall Street Journal: “My Plan to Revive Economic Growth”
Published: Thursday, September 15, 2011

Last week, President Obama unveiled his eagerly anticipated jobs plan. After 43 minutes of his speechifying, Americans were left wondering: We waited 30 months for this?
Indeed, it seems Mr. Obama’s first term has been spent advancing a legislative agenda that pays no mind to our ailing economy and the Americans whose sufferings are casualties in his ideological war. After a failed stimulus package, preferential industry bailouts, and the disastrous government overhaul of the health-care industry, it seems the plight of the American worker has remained an afterthought.

This is the worst jobs recovery since the Great Depression. If the Obama administration’s aim was to merely tie for last place with the previous worst recovery, it would have created eight million more jobs, based on comparative data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If our recovery were more typical of the postwar era, as former Sen. Phil Gramm reported on this page in April, we would have 14 million more jobs today.

As a longtime leader in the business community, I know firsthand that government does not create jobs. It can only create the conditions in which businesses operate. These conditions can spur growth, or they can suppress it. The conditions imposed by the current administration have suppressed growth.

Still, there is hope. That hope begins with economic certainty, a sort of assurance the president seems unwilling to provide. I, on the other hand, have proposed a plan that would stabilize and grow our economy:

“Cain’s Vision for Economic Growth,” also known as the 9-9-9 Plan, is founded upon three guiding economic principles: Production drives the economy. Risk-taking creates growth. Units of measurement must be dependable.

The plan begins with restructuring the tax code to include the broadest possible base at the lowest possible rate. The elements are:

• A 9% corporate flat tax. Businesses would deduct purchases from other businesses and all capital investment. The resulting gross income is taxed at 9%.

• A 9% personal flat tax. Individuals would deduct charitable contributions, then pay 9% on the rest of their income. Capital gains are excluded.

• A 9% national sales tax. This levy would be placed on the consumption of all new goods. Used goods purchased would be excluded.

My plan would also permanently eliminate taxes on repatriated profits, as well as payroll taxes and the estate tax.

All of these measures would free up capital, spur production, and incentivize risk-taking, thereby fueling the economy and creating jobs. The plan has been designed to be revenue neutral initially, and then revenues would grow in line with the economy.

But these policies must be coupled with sound money. A dollar must be worth the same tomorrow as it is today. Stabilizing the dollar’s value starts with the federal government taking significant measures to rein in its spending and pay down the national debt. Americans must be assured that the federal government will live within its means and get serious about eliminating our crippling debt. Repealing ObamaCare, Sarbanes-Oxley and the Dodd-Frank bank-regulation bill would be critical steps.

Finally, my plan promotes enterprise zones, also known as “empowerment zones.” Coupled with tax reform and monetary stabilization, empowerment zones would revitalize inner cities by providing tax credits to businesses that hire workers living and working in underprivileged areas.

Some of the most tragic unemployment numbers can be found in minority communities and in urban centers around the country. Empowerment zones would create a whole new generation of wage-earners providing for their families. The late Jack Kemp, a secretary of the department of Housing and Urban Development and a dear friend, was one of the first lawmakers to propose empowerment zones. He understood the tremendous economic benefits they would provide.

Each job lost today is not merely a statistic. Americans are struggling to determine whether to pay their mortgages or buy groceries, whether to buy school uniforms or pay the electric bill.

Such despair is unfitting for the greatest nation the world has ever known. After all, it is inherently American to work, to risk and to dream. Our government’s policies should encourage that, not stifle it.

Mr. Cain, a Republican, is running for president of the United States. He is a former chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and a former chairman of the board of directors to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

I am proud this morning to announce my support for Herman Cain for President.

This is a personal decision by me and does not reflect the views of my co-bloggers nor should be construed as an official endorsement by GOPROUD of which I am a board member.

Now that I’m done with that disclaimer….let me shout this from sea to shining sea — AMERICA NEEDS HERMAN CAIN!!!! I have been flirting with the Cain candidacy for over a year now. I had the pleasure to meet him at CPAC and I have been closely following his campaign long before most people knew his name.

I felt it was important to declare my preference publicly today as I have decided to become actively involved in Team Cain to assist in the South Carolina primary and beyond. I owe my readers the transparency of knowing why I am writing about certain things and not to be confused by my intent.

Why Herman Cain? Well, haven’t been this excited about a Presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984 (the first year I was old enough to truly know anything and make a difference).

Some will now say, “now Bruce….there will never be another Ronald Reagan!” And that is true. And I am NOT equating Mr. Cain to Mr. Reagan. What I am saying is that Mr. Cain excites me with his common sense ideas, love of country, and ability to connect to the American psyche. Choosing a President has always been a “gut feeling” thing for America. I have a great feeling about Herman Cain.

Herman Cain has been plucked by destiny to arrive at America’s electoral doorstep at just the right time. He has a solid business background, is an inspirational leader of people, and understands the complexities of the world economy. He wasn’t a community organizer, he is a jobs and growth creator. He wasn’t a concocted creation of America’s radical left and academic centers of power, he is a true child of the American Experience. He has never scoffed at American values, he embraces our nation’s special place in the history of mankind and knows we are teetering on the edge.

Mr. Cain is familiar with rescuing failing enterprises, which to me is his most important qualification. In a sheer coincidence to the timing of my announcement, Daniel Henninger wrote this yesterday in the Wall Street Journal:

Does a résumé like Herman Cain’s add up to an American presidency? I used to think not. But after watching the American Idol system we’ve fallen into for discovering a president—with opinion polls, tongue slips and media caprice deciding front-runners and even presidents—I’m rewriting my presidential-selection software. [Emphasis added.]

Conventional wisdom holds that this week’s Chris Christie boomlet means the GOP is desperate for a savior. The reality is that, at some point, Republicans will have to start drilling deeper on their own into the candidates they’ve got.

Put it this way: The GOP nominee is running against the incumbent president. Unlike the incumbent, Herman Cain has at least twice identified the causes of a large failing enterprise, designed goals, achieved them, and by all accounts inspired the people he was supposed to lead. Not least, Mr. Cain’s life experience suggests that, unlike the incumbent, he will adjust his ideas to reality.

No other GOP candidate can bring the fight to Obama over the sorry state of the American economy than Herman Cain. Our other choices are, I’m sad to say, more of the same old thing — career professional politicians. Yes, even Ron Paul, folks.

So there you have it. My big announcement. Herman Cain is the first Presidential candidate I will actively and ENTHUSIASTICALLY campaign for through blood, sweat, money & tears since Ronald Reagan in 1984. That’s a long time of being unmoved by GOP nominees, don’t you think?

There will be more to say about Herman Cain and the issues. But I wanted to stand up today and proudly declare my support for the 45th President of the United States of America and the next true heir of the American Experience — Mr. Herman Cain.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

I remember this footage like it was yesterday. It is vintage Reagan, vintage 80s, and vintage America.

Happy Birthday USA!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)>

If Jon Huntsman was good for anything, his speech if front of the Statue of Liberty this week has many of us Reagan Revolution kids yearning for the leadership, values and strength of Our President.

This clip comes courtesy of PatriotMom!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

The Carter record is a litany of despair, of broken promises, of sacred trusts abandoned and forgotten. Eight million — eight million out of work. Inflation running at 18 percent in the first quarter of this year. Black unemployment at 14 percent, higher than any single year since the government began keeping separate statistics. Four straight major deficits run up by Carter and his friends in Congress. The highest interest rates since the Civil War, reaching at times close to 20 percent, lately they’re down to more than 11 percent but now they’ve begun to go up again. Productivity falling for six straight quarters among the most productive people in the world.Through his inflation he has raised taxes on the American people by 30 percent, while their real income has risen only 20 percent. The Lady standing there in the harbor has never betrayed us once. But this Administration in Washington has betrayed the working men and women of this country.
The President promised that he would not increase taxes for the low and middle-income people, the workers of America. Then he imposed on American families the largest single tax increase in our nation’s history. His answer to all this misery? He tries to tell us that we’re “only” in a recession, not a depression, as if definitions, words, relieve our suffering.
Let it show on the record that when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary. Well if it’s a definition — if it’s a definition he wants, I’ll give him one. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.  A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.

I would point out that there are now over 16 million Americans unemployed, many for the longest duration since WWII.  And African-American unemployment is close to 17%, higher than when Reagan gave this speech.

Substitute “Jimmy Carter” for “Barack Obama” in Reagan’s speech and it still measures up today.  I hope we make it to November 2012 when we can show Obama the definition of true recovery.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

I am underwhelmed with the GOP Presidential Candidates so far. Except for one… The Herminator.

Check out this interview with ABC News on their web program “Topline”.

And here is the Herman Cain Train video put out by his campaign.  How can you NOT like this guy?!?

I met Herman Cain at CPAC and I continue to be impressed every time I see or hear him.  I’m not endorsing anyone yet… but at least Herman Cain has a lot of Americans EXCITED about a potential leader for our great nation.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

It seems that all too often when Democrats criticize Republican policies, a good number of my fellow partisans run for cover. But, in the wake of attacks on the Ryan reform, Republicans are fighting back against a mendacious opposition whose leaders are misrepresenting their plans to reform Medicare in light of its looming bankruptcy.

Last week, we saw Republicans rising to defend the Ryan budget in the wake of the Republican loss in NY-26. Senator Marco Rubio cut a powerful video. “Ryan,” Glenn Thrush and Abby Phillip reported in Politico, “directly confronted President Barack Obama over Democratic ridicule of Ryan’s controversial Medicare overhaul plan – while other GOP leaders accused the president for “demagoguery” during a chilly bipartisan White House meeting.”

“The ability of the Republicans,” Jennifer Rubin writes, “to push back, and to begin to get the facts out is impressive“:

Michael Steel, spokesman for Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) told me this morning: “We’re making progress, and we know the truth is on our side — but everyone is going to have to keep working hard to make sure the American people know that we have a plan to preserve and protect Medicare, while Democrats’ insistence on the status quo will mean bankruptcy and steep benefit cuts.”

We’re not acting like Republicans of the past and sitting on our hands, hoping the merits of our ideas will sell themselves. We know we need to aggressively defend them in the fact of determined opposition.

This bright blogress suggests “Lincoln-Douglas style” debates with Ryan as “the standard-bearer for the Republicans.” At the same time, Rubin wonders “which Democrat would be willing to take him on”, hinting that there would be few takers “since their talking points have shriveled after only a few days of intense scrutiny.”

NB: Sometimes our critics do have a a point. And in response to PeeJ’s criticism below (comments 4 & 6), I changed the introduction to this post as the original was incidental to the post (and actually distracted from my meaning).

Do you think the GOP will win if its strategy is to apologize for every media-manufactured “right-wing” outrage?  It will not.  We will win the day by using all the tools in our arsenal to fight the tyranny of these totalitarian ideologies that have been visited upon us from overseas, where those same ideologies caused only chronic human misery.  We will win by using the New Media to expose the bankruptcy of their beliefs and tactics.  And ultimately we’ll win, because their ideas simply don’t work.  No amount of media spin can change that.

–Andrew Breitbart, Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!

Picked up Andrew Breitbart’s Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World! while browsing in the Barnes and Noble at the Grove on Saturday and have found it hard to put the book down.  The book provides much food for thought and perhaps some fodder for future blog posts. In defining the “Coulter Threshold,” the author provides some sound advice for conservatives, a recommendation which rings particularly true for gay conservatives:

I had passed what I call the Coulter Threshold: the point where you understand that Ann Coulter and those like her are standing up for what they believe in, feeling the righteousness of living without fear of missing a dinner invite from Tina Brown or fundraisers with Steve Capus or Ben Sherwood or Steven Spielberg or Jeffrey Katzenberg–or worse, the agony of being excoriated by those conservatives who fret that their liberal overlords will start admonishing them for keeping company with you. Feeling the thrill of sending a message to these people that we reject their worldview for the way they reject ours.

More on this anon. In the meanwhile, buy Breitbart’s book. It’s a great read, a great read.

That makes two of us….

From HotAir.com:

Rush Limbaugh offered that off-hand endorsement of Marco Rubio after Florida’s newest Senator announced that he would oppose any more short-term spending bills in Congress.

Meanwhile, Rubio has a few other ideas as well, notably to cut off the EPA’s efforts to expand its regulatory reach. His office announced earlier today that Rubio would attach an amendment to “every major bill” in the Senate to cut off funding for EPA enforcement of “job-destroying numeric nutrients regulations,” as well as rescind authority for spending of any unused stimulus funding.

One could argue that Rubio is too “inexperienced” to be a serious Presidential contender.  Well, I don’t recall the current Oval Office occupant sticking in any job longer than two years.  Rubio has him up on that by a mile.  And, Rubio was the Speaker of the House in the Florida Legislature.  Those two facts are just off the top of my head.

I’ve been wondering when Rubio would begin to flex his leadership muscles in the Senate.  Mark this week as the beginning of the rise of Marco Rubio.

[RELATED:  House Budget Chmn. Paul Ryan explains how America is screwed by our debt problem.]

-Bruce (GayPatriot) 

Well, well, well…. (h/t – Instapundit)

Even Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, who made battling earmarks a cornerstone of his Congressional career since his election in 1990, said he would not have predicted that Congress could kick the habit.

“Think of this fight we have had for 20 years,” Mr. Boehner said in a recent interview. “If somebody would have asked me, ‘Will you ever get there?’ I would have had my doubts.”

But through a confluence of events, Mr. Boehner and the rest of the anti-earmark crowd did get there; the impact of the decision by leaders of the House and the Senate to ban earmarks for at least the next two years is already being felt.

When House Republicans were searching for cuts to offer Senate Democrats as part of a temporary spending plan to avert a government shutdown, they were able to reach into accounts set aside for earmarks and find nearly $2.8 billion that would have previously gone to water projects, transit programs and construction programs. No earmarks, no need for that money, and the threat of an imminent shutdown was eased.

Lawmakers said the absence of earmarks also allowed for a more freewheeling debate on the House floor during consideration of the Republican plan to slash $61 billion from this year’s budget since Democrats and Republicans were not caught up in protecting the special provisions they had worked so hard to tuck into the spending bill.

ACTUAL change you can believe in.  Boehner’s Congress has already shown to be a better steward of our money than every Congress in a generation before.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Yes…. THAT Adam Baldwin, folks!

Tonight’s special guest for the first segment is TV/film actor and conservative author Adam Baldwin. Most of you know Adam for his work on NBC’s spy/comedy show “Chuck”. He’s had a successful Hollywood career for over 30 years including the role of “Animal Mother” in Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War classic “Full Metal Jacket.” I first remember Adam when I was a kid and I saw the movie “My Bodyguard”. A classic!

Our second half-hour features fellow North Carolinian blogger Lorie Byrd. She was one of the original center-right bloggers back in the day.  Lorie was featured on PoliPundit, started Wizbang, and writes at her own blog Byrd Droppings. We’ll talk about the state of play in the crucial NC Congressional races.
 

RELATED LINKS FROM TONIGHT’S SHOW

Adam Baldwin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Baldwin
Adam Baldwin on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/adamsbaldwin

Lorie Byrd on Twitter: www.twitter.com/loriebyrd
Renee Ellmers for Congress: www.ReneeforCongress.com

Election Projection (The Blogging Caesar): http://electionprojection.com/index.php

WSJ: Congressional Staffers Gain from Insider Trading

FOX News: Military/Overseas Americans May Be Disenfranchised on Election Day

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Ilario Pantano is a combat veteran of two wars, a small business owner, an author and a constitional conservative. He is running for Congress to retire an entrenched politician who votes with Nancy Pelosi over 90% of the time in a district that has not elected a Republican since the 1800s. This race was recently upgraded from “Safely Democrat” to “Toss Up” because polls show that Ilario can win, and momentum is building on his side.

Pantano has another distinction in this race.  He was viciously attacked by the anti-war, anti-American Left as the result of his service to our nation in Iraq.

Ilario Pantano is a respected combat veteran, and bestselling author who has worked in both global markets and small business. The “born again Southerner” is a 38 year-old conservative committed to promoting job creation and revitalizing the economy, protecting the homeland and preserving our conservative values.

On his way to a meeting in Manhattan, he witnessed the Twin Towers burning in the attacks of September 11, 2001.   Friends and colleagues were killed in the attacks.

Pantano rushed to a recruiter’s office and began the lengthy process of returning to service in the Marines, this time as an officer.  

Pantano graduated Marine officer training in the top 2 percentile and was selected by his peers to lead their Infantry Officer Class. Upon graduation, 2^nd Lt Pantano and his family were assigned to Camp Lejeune North Carolina, where he took command of an Infantry Platoon with the 2^nd Battalion of the 2^nd Marine Regiment, the WARLORDS.  The WARLORDS deployed to the “Triangle of Death” Region in Iraq where they conducted combat operations in Latafiyah, Yusufiyah and Falluja.

After months of insurgent violence triggered by the infamous ambush and grisly hanging of Americans in Fallujah (2004), Pantano was investigated for actions in killing two terrorists after a disgruntled Marine that Pantano had publicly demoted filed a complaint. The case took on national attention. Media outlets from dozens of national networks and newspapers overflowed the courtroom.  After a lengthy and very public hearing of the facts, Pantano was cleared of all charges and given a new command, but death threats from jihadists and fear for his family ultimately led Pantano to resign his commission. 

Pantano was the subject of faux outrage from the MoveOn.org wing of the Democrat Party (the only wing at this point).  He was falsely accused of murder and the anti-war loons went all Jack Murtha on him.  LINK: http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/story?id=760785&page=1

Now, it is true that Pantano doesn’t think “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should be repealed at this time.  Having never served in the military, I have to completely respect his perspective.  However, I also believe that someone like Pantano (a Gen-X’er who grew up under Reagan and responded to his nation’s call after 9/11/01) will have a completely different perspective on gay issues than many who currently sit in Congress (GOP & Dem alike).  What is that perspective?  An open mind. 

Pantano is a true American hero.  He’s a hard-working, hard-charging candidate and I believe he will be the new Congressman from NC-07.  If Pantano wins this seat, Nancy Pelosi has a very hard path to retaining her Speaker’s gavel. Please join me in supporting the candidacy of Ilario Pantano.  DONATE NOW!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

It speaks for itself.  I’m honored that John Schwarzman, the artist, emailed me to make me aware of his work!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

After promising to be a “moderate Democrat” (and we all know that term is a lie), US Rep. John Spratt has voted lock-step with the Socialist policies of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

Luckily for the residents of the 5th District in South Carolina — they have a great Republican candidate in Mick Mulvaney who will splat Spratt on November 2nd.  (Full disclosure:  I have personally donated to Mulvaney’s campaign.)

Mick was elected to the SC House in 2006, his first foray into politics, becoming the first Republican ever elected to that position in his District. In 2008 an unexpected retirement created a vacancy in the SC Senate, and Mick ran for and won that office in what was widely regarded to be the hardest fought legislative race in South Carolina that year.

Mick serves on the Judiciary, Labor/Commerce/Industry, Medical Affairs, Agriculture/Natural Resources, and Corrections Committee. He was identified as the Freshman Legislator of the Year in 2006 by the Palmetto Family Council for his work on the South Carolina ultrasound bill. In 2010 he was named Legislator of the Year for his work in support of the State’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS). He has received one of only a handful of A+ ratings in the entire legislature. His previous endorsements for office include the NRA and NFIB.

Mick’s view of the proper role of the Federal Government:

I believe in the United States Constitution. I believe in the concept of a limited federal government. I believe that the federal government’s primary duty is to safeguard our personal freedoms so that we can reach our highest potential as individuals.

Somehow our government has forgotten that. In just a generation Washington has gone from “Ask not what your country can do for you….” to “We will guarantee your GM warranty.”

It also strikes me that Washington has better things to do than to tell us how to live our lives. I don’t want to live in a nanny state or under a government that thinks it should be Big Brother. Generally speaking I believe what you do in your own home or in your private life is your business. At the same time neither is it the government’s job to institutionalize the corruption of American culture and history, or to legislate the wholesale destruction of our traditional community values.

The best balance comes in recognizing and honoring the limitations on the federal government – and the primacy of the people and the states – set forth in the Constitution.

PLEASE DONATE TO MICK MULVANEY TODAY. 

If John Spratt loses, Nancy Pelosi won’t be the Speaker of the House.  It is THAT important.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

I’d vote for  him!

CLICK HERE if you want to learn more about Sean Duffy, contribute or volunteer for his campaign.  He’s another Gen X’er out to slay liberal dinosaurs in Congress this year.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

The trailer.  The website.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Ben Howe confronts a Progressive protesting the “Restoring Honor” rally yesterday.  Funny how the event was at the Lincoln Memorial…. but the misguided protestor was lamely hanging out by himself at the Washington Monument.  Heh.

This  is three minutes of pure fun as Ben rips this guy apart and demonstrates the sheer lack of principles of the Progressive movement.  At the end, the poor fool stammers and shouts “Well, you’re a RACIST and an IDIOT.”  Yup, when their intellectual argument breaks down after three minutes — Progressives pull the race card out as their last gasp of hope. 

This is why I don’t associate with the Gay Left — straight, gay or whatever — this protestor exemplifies the Progressive movement; and the Gay Rights crowd are a keystone of the American Progressive movement.

It IS all about redistribution of wealth.  But that isn’t “social justice” folks; it’s Marxist-Communism.

UPDATE: Ben Howe will be my guest tomorrow night on my BlogTalkRadio show, “GayPatriot’s America” at 8:30PM Eastern Time.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Well, duh.

Reviewing poll numbers which show that even as Republicans leads in generic matchups against Democrats, the GOP has still failed to regain the positive image it enjoyed frequently in the mid-1990s and occasionally in the early 2000s, I realize that our party still has not recovered to the damage the “brand” suffered in the concluding years of the Bush Administration.

At the same time, polls have shown that the ideas which undergirded the Reagan Revolution have gained greater favor among the American people.

In other words, people like the basic Republican ideas, but don’t yet trust the GOP to promote them and enact legislation consistent with them once in office.  It’s why I believe my party needs a new Contract with America, not the same as that successful document from 1994 — one that helped the GOP regain (after a 40-year hiatus) a congressional majority and whose planks the Democratic President of the United States cited as his accomplishments when he accepted his party’s nomination in 1996.

In a renewed contract, Republicans could acknowledge its failures in recent years and say something like “We understand that you [the American people] held us to the ideas behind that Contract and when we abandoned them, you voted us out.  We know that should we again stray from the small-government policies, you can — and likely will — do the same.”

Just such a Contract would go a long way to showing that Republicans recognize that they made errors in the past and could help improve their standing with the American people.