Amy Otto at Pocketful of Liberty explains some of the less obvious disadvantages to being a Republican (apart from the obvious disadvantage of having 99% of media and academia engaged in Total War against you 24/7/365).

For one thing, Republicans and people inclined to vote for them do not live consumed with politics their leftist rivals are, and less forgiving of… personnel issues.

Registered Republicans often rate character, principle and values above politics. … This often makes a Republican less attuned to doing what needs to be done to win because they’re too busy managing their own lives  to worry about politics.

Republicans kicked Mark Foley to the curb for sending creepy text messages to interns. Democrats re-elected Gerry Studds 9 times after he molested an undererage intern. Sometimes, having standards is a big political disadvantage.

For another, the RNC is always asking for money, but never giving you anything in return.

Just so we have this straight: You want my money so some person in Congress can draw a salary at a minimum of $179,000 /yr for life (also my money) and in return they might fight for a smaller increase in the amount of spending (again, my money).

Sounds like a smart investment! Here’s a check!

The Democrats have a slick value proposition, “Vote for us and we’ll take money away from other people and spend it on you,” that is easy to understand and, for a significant portion of the electorate, impossible to resist. The Republican alternative value proposition is, “We’ll do the same thing, just not as much,” it doesn’t really inspire anybody. Then, the GOP Establishment calls you a “purist nutjob” for actually expecting them to fight for the principles they ran on.

There’s four or five other things in there: The Republican belief in fair play that’s a huge electoral disadvantage when Democrat machines are turning out 120% of registered voters and finding hundreds of votes for Al Franken in the trunk of a car. The way Republicans get blamed for Democrat failures. (e.g. Even though Obamacare was passed without a single Republican vote, it’s still Republicans’ fault it doesn’t work). It’s worth a read.

Christy Waters at the Conservative Report Online makes a compelling case that Karl Rove is doing more to advance the progressive agenda than the entire evening line-up at MSDNC.

• Under George W. Bush, undertook a massive expansion of the regulatory and welfare state in the name of “Compassionate Conservatism.”
• Used Republican Party resources to support Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chaffee, and Charlie Crist against more conservative primary challengers; all three of those gents left the party, two becoming Democrats.
• Advised Republicans to support another unpopular foreign war (Syria).
• Supports an Amnesty plan that will drive down the wages of American workers and flood elections with 10-20 million new Democrat voters.
• Is actively seeking to drive a third to a half of the Republican base (Tea Party conservatives) out of the party.

If Karl Rove and the Republican Establishment have their way, the party will be diminished to what it was in the pre-Reagan Era: a permanent minority of ineffectual moderates content with whatever crumbs the Democrats toss them.

They are perfectly fine with this, as long as the crumbs are big enough.

Granted, this is only a burning question to the “Whackobird” wing of the electorate that really cares about controlling unsustainable Government spending and getting the Government out of where it has no business being.

Jeffrey Lord at the American Spectator makes the case that the Anti-Tea Party, Establishment wing of the GOP (e.g. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, John Boehner, Karl Rove, Chris Christie) are just pale blue Marxists who don’t really care about all that freedom, liberty, and free enterprise stuff.

The Republican Party can control every last seat in Congress after 2014 and the White House in 2016 — and it will not make a lick of difference. Because just as occurred when Rove was a man with clout in the White House and John Boehner was on an earlier ladder of the GOP House leadership passing No Child Left Behind with Teddy Kennedy — the Washington GOP Establishment will do everything they can to fight efforts to limit the size and growth of the federal government.

You have to read the whole thing to get to his conclusion, but he makes a compelling argument: What’s the point in electing Republicans if all we can get is a slightly watered-down Democrat Agenda? Did Republicans reduce Government *at all* when Bush was President and they held both Houses of Congress? Did even one Department’s budget get cut?

It feels as though the USA, with our monstrous debt and out-of-control Government is the Titanic, and a few alert passengers and crewmen have spotted the iceberg ahead. But the Captain and his officers insist that changing course is “too radical,” and “too extreme.” The Democrat officers are oblivious to the iceberg and want to pour more coal into the boilers. The Republicans officers are aware that some of the crew are concerned about the iceberg, but are only willing to negotiate with the Democrat officers for a 2% reduction in the amount of additional coal shoveled into the because that’s “realistic.”

This is why I have a “Let.It.Burn” bumper-sticker in the rear window of my car.

So, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner (and Paul Ryan) have declared War on the Tea Party because they say that people concerned about Big Government represent a crazy, ‘whackobird’ fringe and supporting fiscal restraint and limited Government will lead to electoral oblivion because Big Government is, like, uber-popular (the New York Times says so and Rachel Maddow agrees) and what Americans really want is $63Billion in new spending, a replacement for Obamacare that still puts the Government in charge of health care, more NSA surveillance, and Amnesty.

According to Gallup, however, the ‘Whackobird’ fringe is now 72% of the population. i.e. 72% of Americans say Big Government is the biggest threat the USA faces.

That’s a big fringe.

And yet John Boehner, after his victory in blowing up the Sequester, has now turned his sights on Amnesty. Because that’s what Big Business wants. By the way, Big Business, who the Republicans are jumping into bed with, was ranked as the Biggest Threat by 21% of Americans. The GOP establishment is going against 93% of the public.

The Stupid Party, indeed.

After months of deranged demonization from the left, a Rasmussen poll finds Ted Cruz to be, after the Pope and SCOAMF McChoomwagon, the third most powerful political figure on the planet.

No wonder John McCain and John Boehner-McCain hate him so much. (Me, I’m just trying to figure out why supporting the Constitution and fiscal responsibility makes you a Right Wing Nut Job.)

On a related note, angry New York DIABLO Peter King has launched a Political Action Committee explicit aimed at destroying Ted Cruz and other fiscally responsible, Constitutionalist Republicans.

And Mitch McConnell is telling lobbyists they better back moderate, establishment Republicans if they want to keep that sweet, sweet Federal pork coming.

You get kind of tired of hearing Establishment Republicans whine that those of us who support the Tea Party over the Establishment are putting purity before pragmatism. Not at all. We just don’t trust the Establishment GOP because, time and time again, they’ve shown that they define pragmatism as stabbing the base in the back and helping the Democrat Left advance its agenda.

Marco Rubio won his senate seat promising to oppose Amnesty, and by his admission, a “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants was Amnesty. Once in office, Rubio quickly betrayed his voters and signed onto the Gang of 8 Immigration Bill, that contained not only a path to citizenship, but gives the President almost unlimited authority to waive any of the bill’s requirements. (As if Obama would never do anything like that.) Pat Toomey also betrayed conservative who supported him by signing onto gun control. It’s Republican Standard Operating Procedure: Get Elected as a Conservative, Betray the Base, then lie about it . Meanwhile, someone like Ted Cruz actually does what he promised to do … fight Obamacare tooth and nail … and gets Cruzified.

You can follow the old, “someone who agrees with me 70% of the time is my 70% friend, not my 30% enemy” chestnut… and broadly that is valid. Sometimes you have to accept half a loaf. But not every compromise is worth making. There have to be some deal-breakers attached to that:

• Amnesty – The importation of millions of unskilled foreign workers at a time when millions of Americans can’t find work is a crime against the working class.
• Gun Control – The Second Amendment is Sacrosanct. And we know even the most benign-sounding gun control law is just part of the “just the tip” incrementalism the left uses to lead to eventual gun confiscation. They have admitted it. Repeatedly. And openly.
• Fiscal Responsibility – Wasting money is a thing up with which we should not put. And especially no sucker deals where Democrats promise cuts later for tax increases now and the cuts never, ever happen.

You could probably add abortion-on-demand to that list as well. But the key point is, there is something very important that the Establishment GOP political insiders and their highly paid consultants (not to mention the left) don’t get and that is this:

Conservative voters don’t care about party affiliation, and we don’t care about personalities; we don’t base our votes on whom we would prefer to have a beer with or who has the nicest crease in their pants. (We further think people who vote on those criteria are idiots.) We vote based on principles, and we expect those whom we vote for to uphold those principles once elected. And when they don’t uphold them, we get pretty pissed off about that.

Update: Remember John McCain’s Gang of 14, that classic case of bipartisan compromise, where 7 Democrats and 7 Republicans ganged up to save the filibuster, prevent the nuclear option, and s-can most of Bush 43′s judicial appointment? Today, the Democrats showed their gratitude.

Interesting piece from Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner, Tea party loosens K Street’s stranglehold on the GOP.

…the Tea Party smashed K Street’s monopoly on Republican fundraising. The Club for Growth was founded in the late 1990s, and early last decade, it began targeting liberal Republicans in primaries…
In 2009, Sen. Jim DeMint founded the Senate Conservatives Fund…

While GOP leaders backed candidates like Charlie Crist (Fla.) and Trey Grayson (Ky.) in 2010 primaries, the SCF backed Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. K Street and the National Republican Senatorial Committee worked hand-in-hand — but for a change, there was a countervailing force.

Which led to Rubio’s and Paul’s victories:

The Club for Growth was Paul’s biggest source of funds, giving him $105,000…[SCF] kicked in $36,685. These two groups, together with FreedomWorks, also spent big on independent expenditures for Paul.

Ted Cruz also came to Washington by defeating K Street. The Club for Growth spent more than $2.5 million helping Cruz in the Texas GOP primary, while the SCF spent about $800,000. K Street was backing Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst — he got $500,000 from business PACs (33 times Cruz’s take), and GOP lobbyists hosted a fundraiser for him at the Capitol Hill townhouse of Democratic superlobbyist Tony Podesta.

As Cruz put it, “Everyone who makes their living from continuing the government-spending gravy train is supporting Dewhurst.”

[...]

“I don’t think there’s a way for Wall Street to punish the 25 to 50 hardcore House Republicans,” one Wall Street lobbyist told Politico in the first couple days of the shutdown. Referring to an anti-establishment libertarian freshman congressman, the lobbyist said, “I don’t think Justin Amash cares if Bank of America gives to him or not.”

A Republican who doesn’t care about Bank of America checks wasn’t possible before the Tea Party.

“Follow the money.”

All this may tie in with President Obama’s demand that the GOP reject the Tea Party. He said (8:46 in Beck’s clip):

I’m not going to [negotiate] until the more extreme parts of the Republican Party stop forcing John Boehner to issue threats about our economy.

First, remember that Obama is the one issuing threats about our economy. But his comments reflect that the Tea Party, because they want to actually halt the growth of government spending and change the Washington spending game, are an existential threat to Obama’s “Big Government” brand of politics.

And so, Obama wants the GOP to expel them and go back to Washington’s business-as-usual. They’re all in it together. The Democrats are 100% Big Government; the GOP are less so, but nonetheless have an establishment (K Street) which is fairly Big Government and 100% dedicated to playing the Washington game.

Our freedom is at stake. Ted Cruz and the GOP so-called “bomb throwers” protect it.

Hat tip, DrewM at Ace for airing Carney’s article.

Democrats and their allies in the legacy media keep telling us that the GOP is in dire straits.  And I’ll grant that my party has work to do.  But, I do wonder if the president’s party is not in straits even more dire than that of is political rival, its problems papered over by the strong support Barack Obama enjoys in some segments of society (especially in the various newsrooms that dot America’s coasts).

If the Democrats have such an appeal with the American people — and are so confident in their message, why must they regularly resort to dishonest demagoguery, misrepresenting Republican stands on issues and regularly calling their partisan rivals “extreme.” Bear in mind that Barack Obama did not win reelection running on his record but by demonizing Mitt Romney, airing over a quarter-billion dollars of attacks ads — before the party conventions.

Saw two examples of this yesterday on Facebook:

Ms. Gillibrand is trying to advance her own cause by misrepresenting her partisan rivals — and stirring up fears among African-Americans.

Look  likes Ms. Gillibrand’s dishonest, mean-spirited rhetoric has earned her an interesting admirer: (more…)

Earlier this morning, caught a good piece from Byron York on why winning the Hispanic vote would not be enough to secure a GOP presidential victory.  Here’s the crucial paragraph:

But here is the real solution. Romney lost because he did not appeal to the millions of Americans who have seen their standard of living decline over the past decades. They’re nervous about the future. When Romney did not address their concerns, they either voted for Obama or didn’t vote at all. If the next Republican candidate can address their concerns effectively, he will win. And, amazingly enough, he’ll win a lot more Hispanic votes in the process. A lot from other groups, too.

Read the whole thing.  Did recall reading something about a year ago on Mitt Romney’s failure to appeal to working class votes disaffected from the incumbent administration.  York is right; the next Republican candidate needs to effectively address their concerns.

Part of the answer, ironically enough (given the premise of York’s piece), lies in a piece Jill Lawrence published last week in the National Journal, a piece on Republicans’ challenges with Hispanic voters.  Lawrence cited a focus group whose participants . . .

liked what they heard about Medicaid, immigration, economics, and education in clips from speeches by some prominent party figures. But the people they listened to—New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush—are unusual in how they talk about these issues and seemed like anomalies to the focus-group participants. (more…)

In a piece on the immigration bill, Stanley Kurtz offers a nutshell version of the real problem facing Republicans today:

Republicans have been in a funk ever since Obama’s re-election. I’m the first to agree that there’s a deeper problem, but it’s got more to do with under-thirties and what education and the culture are doing to them than with anything a path to citizenship will fix.

When I listen to my non-Republican twentysomething friends talking about the GOP, I hear an image of a party drawn from Democratic talking points and college professors’ prejudices. Few are aware of the ideals of liberty and civil society that have stood as the guideposts for the conservative and libertarian thinkers who have defined the basic philosophy of the Republican Party since Reagan.

Many, as Arthur Brooks sagely observed last month in the Wall Street Journal believe Republicans are indifferent to the poor.  Republicans need to change that faulty perception.  They have to show the “under-thirties”, as Kurtz described this demographic suffering the most under Obama’s policies, that conservatives are aware of — and sympathetic to — their plight and will, if elected, put into place policies which will make it easier for them to find jobs commensurate with their talents and their training, allowing them to prosper as did young people in the Reagan Era.

FROM THE COMMENTS:  Cactus Bill gets it:

There has been a bastardization of the language for some now. When compassion is defined by how much government can provide instead of what you can provide for yourself the notion of pursuing your own happiness is turned on it’s head. Real compassion is allowing an environment where a business of any type can actually HIRE someone. A real job is more compassionate and rewarding to the soul than all the government provided resources have ever been able to give. (more…)

From the Shark Tank:

This past weekend, Congressman Trey Radel was the latest to joined the growing choir of Republican supporters for inclusion of gays into the Republican fold. Radel stated that he did not care what sexual orientation a person was, as long as they stood by conservative values and principles…

Although I do not confuse outreach to gays with support for gay marriage (and neither should you), this news is interesting for coming on the heels of shifts in public Republican support for gay marriage, such as Senator Portman’s. Also, Radel’s outreach fits well with the founding principles of GOProud.

(Note to Gay Left commentors: This post is Jeff talking, not Bruce or Dan. I’m a current Independent and former Democrat; never been a Republican, though I have some Republican friends. The tired remarks about gay Republicans that some of you may now want to utter will not hurt me; only make me roll my eyes. )

GayPatriot.org has been given the full list of the Republicans and Conservatives who have signed onto the amicus brief on the Prop 8 case pending before the US Supreme Court.

This list has been provided to me by a highly-placed Republican source familiar with the Prop 8 issue.

Clint Eastwood, Producer, Director, Actor, Mayor
Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank Group (2005-2007) and Deputy Secretary of Defense (2001-2005)
Cliff S. Asness, Businessman, Philanthropist, and Author
Charlie Bass, Member of Congress, 1995-2007 and 2011-2013
Thomas J. Christensen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 2006-2008
Jeffrey Cook-McCormac, Senior Advisor, American Unity PAC
S.E. Cupp, Author and Political Commentator
Michele Davis, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Director of Policy Planning, Department of the Treasury, 2006-2009
Janet Duprey, New York State Assemblywoman, 2007-Present
Tyler Deaton, Secretary, New Hampshire Young Republicans, 2011-Present
Chris Edwards, Special Assistant to the President and Director of Press Advance, 2005-2007
Mark J. Ellis, State Chairman, Maine Republican Party, 2005-2006 and 2007-2009
Juleanna Glover, Press Secretary to the Vice President, 2001-2002
John Goodwin, Chief of Staff to Raul Labrador, Member of Congress,2011-2013
Mark Grisanti, New York State Senator, 2011-Present
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director, Congressional Budget Office, 2003-2005
Cyrus Krohn, Digital Director, Republican National Committee, 2007-2009
Kathryn Lehman, Chief of Staff, House Republican Conference, 2003-2005
Alex Lundry, Director of Data Science, Romney for President, 2012
Beth Myers, Romney for President Campaign Manager, 2007-2008 and Senior Advisor, 2011-2012
B.J. Nikkel, Colorado State Representative and Majority Whip, 2009-2012 and District Director for Congresswoman Marylyn Musgrave, 2002-2006
Richard Painter, Associate Counsel to the President, 2005-2007
Ruth Ann Petroff, Wyoming State Representative, 2011-Present
Gregg Pitts, Director, White House Travel Office, 2006-2009
J. Stanley Pottinger, Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Civil Rights Division), 1973-1977
John Reagan, New Hampshire State Senator, 2012-Present
Adam Schroadter, New Hampshire State Representative, 2010-Present
Richard Tisei, Massachusetts State Senator and Senate Minority Leader, 1991-2011
John Ullyot, Communications Director, U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, 2003-2007
Sally A. Vastola, Executive Director, National Republican Congressional Committee, 2003-2006
Jacob P. Wagner, Chairman, New Hampshire Federation of College
Republicans, 2012-Present
Dan Zwonitzer, Wyoming State Representative, 2005-present
Frances Fragos Townsend, Homeland Security Advisor to the President, 2004-2008
Brian Roehrkasse, Director of Public Affairs, Department of Justice, 2007-2009
Larry Pressler, U.S. Senator from South Dakota, 1979-1997
Neel Kashkari, Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability, 2008-2009
Aaron Mclean, Press Secretary to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2007-2011
Luis Reyes, Special Assistant to the President, 2006-2008 [or Deputy Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, 2005-2006]
Josh Ginsberg, Deputy Political Director, Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor, 2006
Meghan O’Sullivan, Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004-2007
Jill Hazelbaker, Communications Director, John McCain for President, 2007-2008
Corry Schiermeyer, Director Global Communications, National Security Council, 2005-2007
Alicia Davis Downs, Associate Political Director, White House, 2001-2003
Ken Mehlman, Chairman, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
Tim Adams, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, 2005-2007
David D. Aufhauser, General Counsel, Department of Treasury, 2001-2003
Cliff S. Asness, Businessman, Philanthropist, and Author
John B. Bellinger III, Legal Adviser to the Department of State, 2005-2009
Katie Biber, General Counsel, Romney for President, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012
Mary Bono Mack, Member of Congress, 1998-2013
William A. Burck, Deputy Staff Secretary, Special Counsel and Deputy Counsel to the President, 2005-2009
Alex Castellanos, Republican Media Advisor
Paul Cellucci, Governor of Massachusetts, 1997-2001, and Ambassador to Canada, 2001-2005
Mary Cheney, Director of Vice Presidential Operations, Bush-Cheney 2004
Jim Cicconi, Assistant to the President & Deputy to the Chief of Staff, 1989-1990
James B. Comey, United States Deputy Attorney General, 2003-2005
R. Clarke Cooper, U.S. Alternative Representative, United Nations Security Council, 2007-2009
Julie Cram, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director White House Office of Public Liaison, 2007-2009
Michele Davis, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Director of Policy Planning, Department of the Treasury, 2006-2009
Kenneth M. Duberstein, White House Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President, 1981-1984 and 1987-1989
Lew Eisenberg, Finance Chairman, Republican National Committee, 2002-2004
Elizabeth Noyer Feld, Public Affairs Specialist, White House Office of Management and Budget, 1984-1987
David Frum, Special Assistant to the President, 2001-2002
Richard Galen, Communications Director, Speaker’s Political Office, 1996-1997
Mark Gerson, Chairman, Gerson Lehrman Group and Author of The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to the Culture Wars and In the Classroom: Dispatches from an Inner-City School that Works
Benjamin Ginsberg, General Counsel, Bush-Cheney 2000 & 2004
Adrian Gray, Director of Strategy, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
Richard Grenell, Spokesman, U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations, 2001-2008
Patrick Guerriero, Mayor, Melrose Massachusetts and member of Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1993-2001
Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce, 2005-2009
Stephen Hadley, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor, 2005-2009
Richard Hanna, Member of Congress, 2011-Present
Israel Hernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, 2005-2009
Margaret Hoover, Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, 2005-2006
Michael Huffington, Member of Congress, 1993-1995
Jon Huntsman, Governor of Utah, 2005-2009
David A. Javdan, General Counsel, United States Small Business Administration, 2002-2006
Reuben Jeffery, Undersecretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs, 2007-2009
Greg Jenkins, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Advance, 2003-2004
Coddy Johnson, National Field Director, Bush-Cheney 2004
Gary Johnson, Governor of New Mexico, 1995-2003
Robert Kabel, Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, 1982-1985
Theodore W. Kassinger, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, 2004-2005
Jonathan Kislak, Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for Small Community and Rural Development, 1989-1991
David Kochel, Senior Advisor to Mitt Romney’s Iowa Campaign, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012
James Kolbe, Member of Congress, 1985-2007
Jeffrey Kupfer, Acting Deputy Secretary of Energy, 2008-2009
Kathryn Lehman, Chief of Staff, House Republican Conference, 2003-2005
Daniel Loeb, Businessman and Philanthropist
Alex Lundry, Director of Data Science, Romney for President, 2012
Greg Mankiw, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, 2003-2005
Catherine Martin, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communications Director for Policy & Planning, 2005-2007
Kevin Martin, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 2005-2009
David McCormick, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, 2007-2009
Mark McKinnon, Republican Media Advisor
Bruce P. Mehlman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, 2001-2003
Connie Morella, Member of Congress, 1987-2003 and U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003-2007
Michael E. Murphy, Republican Political Consultant
Michael Napolitano, White House Office of Political Affairs, 2001-2003
Ana Navarro, National Hispanic Co-Chair for Senator John McCain’s Presidential Campaign, 2008
Noam Neusner, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Speechwriting, 2002-2005
Nancy Pfotenhauer, Economist, Presidential Transition Team, 1988 and President’s Council on Competitiveness, 1990
J. Stanley Pottinger, Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Civil Rights Division), 1973-1977
Michael Powell, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 2001-2005
Deborah Pryce, Member of Congress, 1993-2009
Kelley Robertson, Chief of Staff, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Member of Congress, 1989-Present
Harvey S. Rosen, Member and Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, 2003-2005
Lee Rudofsky, Deputy General Counsel, Romney for President, 2012
Patrick Ruffini, eCampaign Director, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
Steve Schmidt, Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor to the Vice President, 2004-2006
Ken Spain, Communications Director, National Republican Congressional Committee, 2009-2010
Robert Steel, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, 2006-2008
David Stockman, Director, Office of Management and Budget, 1981-1985
Jane Swift, Governor of Massachusetts, 2001-2003
Michael E. Toner, Chairman and Commissioner, Federal Election Commission, 2002-2007
Michael Turk, eCampaign Director for Bush-Cheney 2004
Mark Wallace, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Representative for UN Management and Reform, 2006-2008
Nicolle Wallace, Assistant to the President and White House Communications Director, 2005-2008
William F. Weld, Governor of Massachusetts, 1991-1997, and Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Criminal Division), 1986-1988
Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey, 1994-2001, and Administrator of the EPA, 2001-2003
Meg Whitman, Republican Nominee for Governor of California, 2010
Robert Wickers, Republican Political Consultant
Dan Zwonitzer, Wyoming State Representative, 2005-present

I know Dan and I agree that we prefer Gay Marriage, Domestic Partnerships and/or Civil Unions happen in the context of “the marketplace” (aka – The States) than by judicial fiat through the courts.

Therefore, I philosophically believe that the Prop 8 voters should be respected by the Supreme Court, though that would mean a further struggle in the marketplace in California to see gay marriage. Other states have accomplished it; quite quickly in fact.

That being said, there seems to be a cultural earthquake happening in the Republican Party and the Conservative movement aligned with the SCOTUS’ review of Prop 8 and DOMA.

Breitbart News has learned exclusively that Clint Eastwood has signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry. The brief, which will be released later this evening, has signatures from more than 100 Republican and conservative activists. It involves the case before the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn CA’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state.

Eastwood isn’t the story, folks. He’s probably always been pro-gay marriage — if not vocally. No, it is the names that previously opposed SSM, but will appear on this amicus brief.

Something is happening. The marketplace is working.

-Bruce (@GayPatriot)

One of the panels today at the National Review Institute’s Summit was “Solutions from the States.” The topics ranged from the transfer of income from high-tax to low-tax states, the impact of pop culture on conservatism and how to change it, and the broad wins at the state level that the Republican Party has had over the past several election cycles.

To that last point, John Hood – President of the John Locke Foundation – spent a few moments with me talking about how the strength of the state-based Republican Party can be translated to national prominence.

-Bruce (@GayPatriot)

Charles Krauthammer suggests that the GOP House play it small:

Can you govern from one house of Congress…shrink government, restrain spending, bring a modicum of fiscal sanity to the country when the president and a blocking Senate have no intention of doing so?

…The more prudent course would be to find some offer that cannot be refused, a short-term trade-off utterly unassailable and straightforward. For example, offer to extend the debt ceiling through, say, May 1, in exchange for the Senate delivering a budget by that date — after four years of lawlessly refusing to produce one.

Not much. But it would (a) highlight the Democrats’ fiscal recklessness, (b) force Senate Democrats to make public their fiscal choices and (c) keep the debt ceiling alive as an ongoing pressure point for future incremental demands.

Read the whole thing. Agree/disagree?

Contending that Republicans “have a rhetoric and practical wisdom problem”, a young correspondent of The Weekly Standard’s William Kristol, considering New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s popularity, addressed the GOP’s image problem:

So I wonder, are Christie’s recent negative comments about Republicans something like Xenophon’s frequent sacrifices and invocations of the gods throughout the Anabasis? Might Republicans learn something from this? The vast majority of people are liberal today not because they have reasoned their way to that position, but because they believe in it as the average person used to believe in god. Authority—in schools, on TV and in print—tells them that the Republicans are evil. Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to say that hating Republicans is the Last Man’s god. (I believe it was Allan Bloom who said that “anti-bourgeois ire is the opiate of the last man…”). So Christie makes sacrifices, as he must, to that hateful god. He invokes that god. He publicly embraces that god.

Via Powerline Picks.  Emphasis added.  Read the whole thing.  This guy is onto something.  My only quibble is that I would add “who are” between the word, “people,” and phrase, “are liberal”,  and add “arrive are this ‘designation’” after “liberal today” in the italicized portion

I do find that, in interactions with many who call themselves liberal or who support President Obama have not, as Kristol’s correspondent put it, “reasoned their way” there, but have accepted the designation or come to the support because that is what they believe “good” people do.  They talk more in abstractions than details, often preferring clichés to arguments.  Many seem oblivious when you point out details of Obama’s policies.

And some seem dumbfounded when they learn that ideas for change that they support are similar to policy reforms Republicans have put forward.

At present, I don’t have a solution to this problem Republicans face.  But, we need at least recognize the GOP’s image problem, especially among the chattering classes and consumers of popular culture. (more…)

Kudos to the folks at Yahoo! for linking this article, Larry Elder to the GOP: ‘Stop talking to blacks like they are children’, on their home page, though, I daresay, their intention was not to promote the GOP but to critique Republican for patronizing African-Americans.

The Sage of South Central reminds Republicans that although “Democrats have convinced blacks otherwise [,] Racism is no longer a major issue in this country.”  Elder, my favorite talk show host when I listened regularly to the radio, has just published a new book, Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives… Eight Hours, contends “that the greatest threat to the black community is . . . the scourge of absentee fathers.”

Republicans, he argues,

. . . need to explain how the welfare state has undermined the formation of traditional two-parent families. . . that the Democratic Party’s allegiance to teachers unions means urban parents are forced to send their children to schools the parents don’t like; that policies like minimum wage hikes destroy jobs for the unskilled; and admitting students under ‘race-based preferences’ means a higher drop-out rate for the ‘affirmative action student’; that raising taxes on the rich threatens the prosperity of all.

Would it that Mitt Romney, like his running mate Paul Ryan, were better able to articulate those arguments.  Had he fully understood them, he would never have said that he wasn’t concerned about the very poor for he would have known how the safety net often destroys families and undermines the social fabric.

And had Romney known, what Larry Elder knows, how the welfare state hurts those who depend upon it for their well-being, he would have been able to articulate how conservative reforms help not just the rich, but also the very poor — and everyone in between.

Kudos to Larry Elder for speaking out so forcefully.  We could use more voices like his in the GOP.  Just added his book to my amazon wish list.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter narrowly edged Ronald Reagan among voters under 30, with the Gipper scoring just 44% of the twentysomething vote. Four years later, the Gipper ]increased his share of the youth vote to nearly 60%.

And while Barack Obama did just as well among young voters last month as the Gipper did in 1984, his share of the young vote has declined since his initial election.  Young voters grew to appreciate Reagan for his accomplishments; they seem more enchanted with Mr. Obama’s image.

Some seem to think that that the Republican’s current poor showing among young voters suggests the party could lose an “entire generation”  to Democrats.  But, this notion assumes that voters party identification remains fixed.  And that is hardly the case.  How will these young voters feel about Mr. Obama and his Democratic policies when the job market for their generation continues as it has these past for years?  Come 2016 (even 2014), they could be quite open to a Republican message expressed in terms similar to those offered by Reagan in the 1980s.

That said, the GOP today doesn’t so much have a youth vote problem as it has an ethnic problem.  Ben Domenech reminds us that

Mitt Romney won white voters under 30, even winning white women under 30. The youth voter barrier to the Republican Party is really the same barrier as it is for all age demographics: an ethnic barrier which concedes black, Hispanic, and Asian voters to Democrats.

(Read the whole thing even as the piece’s focus is on a different issue than this piece.)  If Mitt Romney could have made, as Ronald Reagan did, a pitch to all Americans, he likely would have done much better among young voter of all backgrounds.

And that must be the task of future Republican contenders.

. . . , as this report suggests, than he did nationally, we need figure out why that is so and figure out a means to transfer that success to other states.

Grateful to Glenn who links and offers, “Remember, they want you to be depressed, and to respond stupidly and impulsively.“

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Treebeard said that his motto was, “Dont’ be hasty.”

In the wake of last Tuesday’s debacle, Ace, aware that “the entire movement is depressed — almost suicidally” offers similar counsel because

. . . it’s never a good time to make important decisions with far-reaching consequences when you’re in such a state. I think we need to get some perspective on things before committing ourselves to wholesale changes. We need some data, and we need some thinking.

It strikes me that the public made a similar impulsive decision under emotional stress.

Maybe we shouldn’t be as hasty.

He’s right; we shouldn’t be hasty in deciding the way forward.  That said, we’re already beginning the process of considering the way forward.  Now is perhaps the time for consideration, to put ideas out there.  Later will come the time for action, choosing which ideas to adopt and determining the best ways to put them into practice.

UPDATE:  In  a similar vein, Peter Wehner believes . . .

. . . we should use this moment to encourage fresh thinking and not vilify those who engage in it. At the same time, it seems to me that trying to fully understand the consequences of this election and what it means for conservatism 72 hours or so after the vote is probably unwise. We have plenty of time to sort through the exit polling data and think things through in a prudent manner.

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