Some House Republicans apparently blew off the recent warning from former Speaker Newt Gingrich that the GOP needs to get its act together to avoid a debacle in the general election. One could nitpick Newt’s piece.  For example, he places great weight on the loss of former Speaker Dennis Hastert’s seat in a special election without recognizing that calling the Republican Party in Illinois a train wreck would be unfair to train wrecks. Moreover, while party ID has shifted significantly to the Democrats, the GOP’s generic disadvantages on issues like taxes are likely to largely evaporate in most races by November. Nevertheless, Gingrich offered a number of useful suggestions to his party’s current leadership to help rebuild the GOP brand.
Apparently, more GOP House members are paying attention now that National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) has told them that the NRCC doesn’t have enough cash to “save themâ€Â if they don’t raise enough money or run strong campaigns themselves:
…Cole’s overall message was clear, said members who sat through the meeting: “If you’re not out doing your own work, and you’re waiting for the NRCC to come in at the last minute and save you, it ain’t gonna happen.†That’s how one lawmaker characterized Cole’s talk, adding that the NRCC is “not going to have the resources†to help all members “and Democrats will have a lot more money.â€Â
Although some may fear a “Republicans in disarray” scenario that the establishment media would love to promote, recognizing a problem is the first step to fixing it. Moreover, while it is unobjectionable that GOP House members should kick in to the NRCC to help their allies, GOP candidates ought to be the first to recognize the value of self-reliance.
And if that does not work out? The Politico’s Patrick O’Connor looks at the “young guns” who might replace Cole, House Minority Leader John Boehner and GOP Whip Roy Blunt if Republican losses break into the double digits.
(h/t Memeorandum, HotAir headlines.)
O’Connor’s article is noteworthy I think in the repeated references of fund raising ability as a sign of leadership. They have restricted campaign finance to the point that if you are one of the few that are good at it, you can buy your way right to the top. Funny how these things work, huh?
I’d much rather being hearing advice from Tom DeLay than Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich is one of them climate change scam artist people. He’s kind of an embarrassment now I think. For sure he’s not much of a thinker.
The GOP would raise lots more money from all those mythical rich conservatives if they actually, you know, acted like conservatives.
First step would be to not allow Iowa to be the first Primary stop all the time. This is how we got into the Ethanol mess.
If it were mine to decide, I would propose the following:
• Five primary election days, one a month from January to May, ten states in each round
• The states would be chosen out of a hat to decide their place, and they’d be different every year
• The primaries would be actual primaries, not stupid caucuses, and no open primaries
That’s where I would start. That way, the candidates would have to change their emphases every year instead of always pandering to the farm subsidy vote and letting the chips fall from there.
Too bad I’m not in charge.
I like your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Tom Delay is the “thinker” over Newt Gingrich?
Yes. DeLay had smartness in his head. Look what happened after he left. Pitiful, really.
Obama’s campaign is trumpeting its having an unprecedented!!!! 1.5 million “individual donors.” What percentage of the potentially donating population is that? And, since you can’t compete for them, who are they not? Who could you get? Seems kinda obvious.
The old Bombin’ Libertarians “GOP brand” worked well. I recall some landslides, some enraged network talking heads. You’d think the Party would have noticed — Gingrich, especially, since he was the last to prosper under that “brand” (however falsely). Since it’s the only one that ever won them anything by more than an accidental margin, you’d think they’d try it again, maybe.
Sure, you’d lose “big business” and the “professions” that are legally insulated from competition, but hey look — you already have, because they’re not stupid, and they know what policies keep them safer: the other guys’.
And losing the married half of the temperance hags and anti-sex leaguers wouldn’t be a loss. The Huckabots belong on the other side — where they always were, until very recently. They must be keeping out more money than they bring in, because y’alls is broke.
And, of course, allowing “independents” to choose a nominee everyone else hates before the huge majority of your people got a chance to vote hasn’t exactly made the cash fly RNCward, has it?
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(Realizing how long this comment could go on.)
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The Party needs to die.
At least Chuck Grassley for sure needs to. And that prissy John Warner. He’s so gross.
OK, as usual, VDH wins the articulation of ideas contest. I gladly defer to his expertise.
Smirky? You can’t handle my newsletter. Only the virtuous can see it.
To everyone else, it appears as if no newsletter had ever arrived.
Arlen is well on his way. This is cheering I think.
Here’s a daring idea. How about a platform of:
Reduced taxation, reduced federal spending, reduced regulation?
I seem to remember when that was what the GOP stood for..
The Party needs to die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJBxGsCJD3I
“• The primaries would be actual primaries, not stupid caucuses, and no open primaries”
pfft As long as the state is paying for the primaries, they should be open as a rule. If the parties want closed primaries, they can foot the bill.
To be fair, Gingrich didn’t do Global Warming in his advice to the GOP.
Please note also: Gingrich gives warning, makes idea suggestions, is ignored. Cole gives warning, says there’s no money, GOP members pay attention. Might be a lesson for the GOP there. Like that they have it backwards at the moment.
Well, there’s thinking and then there’s thinking. Gingrich ran into trouble because he would think things through, and then forget to stop thinking. DeLay is a doer.
Well I mean he was last seen babbling about global warming. It sort of blows his credibility I think.
DeLay was good at smacking a lot of the more limp-wristed Rs upside their feckless little heads. What Rs need is discipline, and Tom was a lot good at that. Rs in Congress don’t do well in unstructured environments.
happy,
Newt is right about addressing Global Warming or Climate Change or Whateverthefuck, as he told Hannity (or someone I was listening to sometime not too long ago). If we don’t embrace discussion of some ideas, with the ultimate goal of changing the entire debate and the “current wisdom,” then we risk not fully participating in our great democracy.
Besides, why not celebrate another chance to kick the dipshits in the balls?
I received a DVD from The Idea Channel about “Unstoppable Global Warming.”
It was about the middle ages, and very short (ten minutes) and entertaining.
This is the type of thing (discussion) Newt is attempting to mainstream, and he’s correct try and do so. It’s a shame he’s no Bill Buckley and can’t associate himself with a charming public persona to go with his (Newt’s) prodigious intellect, but no one is (Billy Frank).
I can’t youtube at work cause of it’s blocked, but did you see the ad he did with Pelosi? Newt is not trying to be subversive and clever. He’s just a goofball I think. Oh. Here. He makes me sick.
Jeff said not long ago that he liked a lot of his ideas. I think I remember that. So there’s probably room for disagreement. My feeling is lots of people have ideas. We need the kind that don’t screw around on their wives during impeachments and lose their seats and become largely irrelevant and impotent.
With John McCain as the Repulican nominee, Newt’s faults are very minor.
We need more Newts and less McCains.
Both of em are afraid of air though. Weirdos.
Well of all the things I dislike about John McCain, his fear of air is not one of them.
Maybe a lack of air from broken ribs and torture and whatnot, or falling through the air at a high rate of speed after being shot down in a bombing mission, or perhaps even McCain’s fear of air could be due to (speculation here) his superb musical taste and several uncomfortable Air Supply tribute bands he has personally witnessed.
Oh. McCain is heroic. Got that. Don’t care. Cause it won’t bring Pat Tilman back, and I’m just gonna have to learn to live with that.
was his mom making the rounds today? it’s just, I was just telling RTO about hearing her on the Mark Davis show this morning.
I was in the eighth grade in 1964. A Goldwater supporter. The party crashed and burned and disintegrated and its ashes were scattered over the face of the earth by the winds of pre-post-modernist liberalism. There was weeping and gnashing of teeth and renting of garments and all was very dark and foreboding. The party was dead. The future was going to be all-liberal-Democrat-all-the-time.
The Republican Party needs a disaster once in a while to awaken the ones who can save conservativism.
Yes – Momma Tilman was in my head all day yesterday. Can’t remember why. I’m sure it was an NPR thing though.
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I have given money to the GOP in the past, but I have refused lately because they have moved to the left, spent too much money, and too many of them support amnesty for illegals (there are more reasons, but this list will suffice).
They have called me every single night for months asking for cash and I tell them that I will only give to individual campaigns and not to the national party for the reasons I listed above. There are some good folks worthy of support in the house and senate, but there are far too many that are not.
They don’t call me, but the send me crap in the mail every single week at a minimum. Feets is totally right about Gingrich, he is a sleazeball and we really oughta have better people than that. Democrats can get away with that shit, republicans can’t. That’s what you get for moralizing, then not being able to back it up.