Well, it is the day after the 11/4/08 elections in Tarrant County, and while Shelton won, Brimer and Zedler appear to have lost. I am very disappointed in the losses, but I also know that politics is an ongoing conflict with a series of battles, and that there will always be another battle/election to fight. I wish I could find each of you, get in a big group, and dissect what happened yesterday, but real life work and responsibilities demand my attention today.
So let's vent and discuss together on this blog. Please be civil. If you aren't, I will delete you.
I want to pose you some questions and ask for your thoughtful responses.
Why did Brimer lose?
Why did Zedler lose?
Why did Shelton win?
What did the GOP do well this election cycle in Tarrant County?
What issues elicited a positive response from the electorate this cycle in Tarrant County, and how can we capitalize on them in the future?
What did the GOP NOT do well this election cycle?
Which of our issues did not gain traction or were marketed to the electorate in an inadequate fashion?
How do we recruit good GOP candidates going forward, and where do we get them started?
It is possible that in the Davis/Brimer race, a lot of Davis' former FTW city council constituents voted their more intimate knowledge of who she was and what she did for them on council over their political ideology. How do we ensure GOP candidates have a closer PERSONAL connection to the residents of their district in the future?
What does the Tarrant County GOP have to do to to position itself for the future?
I am eager to hear your opinions. Let us discuss amongst ourselves (anonymously, if necessary), and aim for future success. Try to put some thought into what you say. Just being simplisitic and only saying something like "we were not conservative enough" is simplistic and does not provide enough insight into why you think what you think.
Out of these thoughts come the seeds of future success.
To leave your opinion, click on the "comments" next to the pencil graphic immediately below this post.
20 comments:
I believe that the inaction of some of the precinct chairs may have played a part in some Republicans' defeats locally.
This was my first attempt to "work" my precinct. Here is what I did and result:
I am a precinct chair who contacted every Republican in my precinct via mail and fron that recruited block captains. They, in turn, contacted the Republican-leaning voters in the precinct and voters whose Party identity is unknown.
I also gave away 55 McCain-Palin signs for free and put together packets of information for those who wanted it per the block captains. The block captains pushed straight-ticket voting.
My precinct went Republican by 2-1 or 3-1 ratio on election day, depending on the race. I am still trying to get the early voting results.
My way worked for me, but it may not work for all precincts. It was a lot of work, but it was well worth the effort.
Andrew-
Thank you for doing this. It is therapeutic as well as hopefully helpful for the future. One quick observation on the Brimer race. Was there a strong rebuttal to the dirty ads Davis ran on him on TV? Unfortunately some (conservative but not active) people commented to me with the old "there had to be some truth" to the ads. I set those people straight, but there had to be others who voted for McCain but just left that slot blank.
Hi Andy:
I read somewhere recently that "demographics are destiny." I think that is what happened to Zedler and Brimer. Their districts have had a major demographic shift over the last few years.
That being said, we need to recruit young, articulate candidates like you and perhaps Melody to represent our party.
Secondly, we need to visit the schools educating our future voters. When we explain our ideas in a logical way we can win their votes.
Right now, "it is cool" to be a Dem. Our Young Republicans club at UTA has been disbanded!! That should send shockwaves through the party.
Andy,
Good idea in setting up this blog.
The liberals have a very good grass roots effort in Tarrant Cty. They have been very effective for the last 3 cycles.
It would be interesting to know how much Acorn money has been targeted to our county. They work in primaries and in the general election to promote the most liberal candidate. I was first aware of this effort in the defeat of Glenn Lewis in the Democratic primary a two cycles ago.
We must regroup and build our own grass roots effort to counter.
That said, the bigger factor in yesterday's results was the national 'Bush Backlash' and turnout efforts to elect the first black Pres.
Zeddler and Brimer both worked very hard and were good candidates. Both the district 96 & 93 house seats in Arlingon can be won back in the future. The Western Tarrant County house seat #97 was held because of the strong Republican numbers in that district.
We can take back the district 96 and 93 seats in the very next cycle if we have good candidates. We need to start today and work towards that end.
I believe we will have a great opportunity in two years with an Obama backlash after people see just how liberal he is. Obama along with the most liberal house and senate in history will be far outside the Texas mainstream. We must take advantage of that backlash opportunity!
Your Friend
Kent G.
Andy,
I have thought for a long time that we must get back to the basics of grass roots politics. A very important element in that equation is the active involvement of our precinct chairs. Some are very effective in tbeir precincts, know their voters in that area, and show up for every TCGOP executive committee meetings. However, we have far too many that are never heard from again after agreeing to serve as a precinct chair.
As these are elected positions within the party, these folks just cannot be ousted. So, is there a way in which they can be enticed or shamed into enthusiastically fulfilling their precinct chair duties? If all else fails, we must consider recruiting others to run who are willing and able to effectively fill those PC positions.
I'm a precinct chair and I didn't do very much. I just assumed that we'd do like we always do in the suburbs. And in my precinct, it went almost 70% Zedler, as expected.
We need to look at the last cycle and see what changed.
One thing that obviously changed was the amount of early voting...upwards of 80% early voting in my precinct. I am not sure what difference that makes, however. In my precinct, very little.
I suspect we'll find that the new Dem voters just went down the line and voted for Turner, like they did everywhere. I think the liberal groups targeted Zedler in a major way....especially the teachers' unions and the trial lawyers. Hard stuff to stop.
Warren
We can't ignore the fact that the national election had a great impact locally. We knew after the primaries that Democrats were energized as never before. But we also have to consider the impact of losing Independents who had aligned with Republicans nationally since 1994 until 2006. As a party we have to consider what we need to do to get them back on our side. Obviously, part of that solution is doing what we say we'll do and being what we say we are. But it also means becoming once again the party of ideas.
That said, Republicans need to remember why we got involved in the first place and what we did to win. And that means working to get Republicans elected. The abominable sniping and searching under every bush for RINOs while the enemy camps at our door has got to stop, and the self-serving phenoms who do it to promote themselves in the party should be hung out to dry. Arlington has got to come together and organize. There are three things required to win elections: a viable candidate, money, and organization. All are vital, but it should be noted that organization can and often does beat money in politics. Self-described activist who disappear at election time are worthless. Our agenda goes no where and the platform means nothing if we dont' work to get Republicans elected. Politics is more than ideology; it's ideology in action.
I’m just going to ignore the RINO talk, as I have begun to question whether or not I might be a RINO, since the party drifts further away from the ideas of limited government every day. Who'da thunk?
I really, really didn't think Zedler was in trouble. In retrospect, with the narrow margin of victory, I'm sure there were 3k votes somewhere that we could have gotten and maybe taken him up just the bit, but really it seemed like the campaign had it covered pretty solid.
It seems to me that it was a trifecta of trial lawyers, the teacher unions, and national Obamafest that did Bill Zedler in. You can see a part of that by looking at Todd Smith and Pat Hardy, two candidates who did just fine. How does Pat Hardy get to 84%, leaving the hapless Democrat with only 16%, in a county where Obama got 43.7% of the vote? (The SBOE district lines actually help some, but not THAT much.)
The answer is pretty clear. The teachers took care of her. Look also at Todd Smith (a previous student of Pat Hardy, btw) who won with 63.75%, higher than any state rep except guess who!? Diane Patrick, also a favorite of the teachers unions. (To be fair, I have no real beef with Diane's performance thus far, and don't begrudge her status as 'favorite sister' among the teachers. Bully for her.)
Note too that Diane got 82% with a 20% undervote, Pat won with 83% with a 22% undervote, compared to the undervotes in the Brimer, Harris, Shelton, and Zedler races of less than 5%. So there were lots of people in the Patrick and Hardy race showing up that didn’t care or were not motivated to vote in those two races, whereas the undervote in the other races show that they were clearly targeted for elimination.
The happy reality for Shelton is that southwestern Fort Worth isn’t as easily swayed from the GOP as the eastern side of the county. Even with the teachers’ unions working against him, Shelton was able to shrug it off and win the day. Southwest Fort Worth has a whole slew of private schools, and a public school teachers’ union endorsement carries MUCH less weight there than it does on the other side of the county.
The moral of the story is that you have to be sure that you can afford to go toe-to-toe with the unions before you do so, and that the unions had an excellent environment for eliminating those who would question them.
Warren
Oh, so everyone needs to go out to their front yard, and get their Zedler sign, and put it in the garage. Two years from now will be a different story. (Or at least, I hope so.)
Anonymous summed it nicely. The straight ticket D's in a marginal district, coupled with teacher sentiment and huge doses of trial lawyer money led to Zedler's undoing. Bill worked as hard on his campaign as any candidate I have ever seen. My only advice to him would be to have a direct appeal to the teachers. Unfortunately, for an educated group of people, teachers seem unable to educate themselves on the realities of politics.
Brimer needed a strong response to the negative campaign against him.
Burch never had a chance. He sat in IHOP, drank coffee and talked about his campaign. Despite that, he pulled 40%. A real candidate who would work the district, raise money, and campaign hard can unseat the crook sitting in it.
Shelton won because he is a great Republican in a strong Republican area.
We cannot overlook the effect of the national election. A charming Democrat, a hard-working-but-boring-old-guy and Bush backlash brought out opposition the likes of which we have never seen. Had it been a "typical" election, Zedler and Brimer would have each won handily, and even Burch might have had a chance.
Since the unprecedented turnout for the President is not likely to be repeated in such overwhelming numbers, we need to begin identifying candidates for all three races and building campaigns. President o will give us plenty of reasons to rally our troops and to build coalitions with those who wear different labels but share our core philosophies (Libertarians, Constitutionalists, Paulers, etc).
We must also work to replace the entire leadership of the Republican Congress in D.C. and install truely conservative men and women. We need Steele, Pawlenty, Palin, Crist, Cantor and Jindal (and so many others) leading the charge on the national front.
Our conservative philosophy is the philosophy of the country. o, Reid and Pelosi will help many confused voters realize that over the coming months and years.
Most importantly, when we woke up Wednesday morning, God was still sitting on His throne.
An interesitng read, more nationally oriented, but still interesting:
So why did the Republicans lose ground? I don't agree with everything Frum writes in his book Comeback, but one of the areas I think he's on solid ground is diagnosing the different priorities between independents and Republicans. Independents are deeply anxious about their health insurance, but health care reform isn't a topic that really gets the conservative base jazzed, other than opposing HillaryCare. The Republican base is passionate and focused about the war on terror, but independents have largely forgotten that there is a war going on. (If something blows up tomorrow, this phenomenon will change in a hurry.) Independents and centrists feel great economic anxiety and a sense that their wages are not keeping pace with the costs of modern life; conservatives generally nod when a Republican says "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."
The faces of the Republican party, be it the leaders in Congress, the new RNC chairman, some future candidate or some outside voice has to be able to speak to both groups' concerns fluently. In McCain, the party had a candidate who couldn't speak to the independents' concern well (how often did he explain his health care plan in detail?) and who couldn't speak to conservatives as well as Palin. In the end, John McCain spoke most frequently and eloquently about that which stirred John McCain — i.e., the outrages of federally-funded planetarium projectors in Chicago and bear DNA research in Montana.
Besides being a precinct chair, I am also a teacher. I belong to four teacher organizations, one of which consistently sends members partisan mailings.
This organization is using membership dues to pay for these mailings, a violation of state election law. I am currently debating what I should do,if anything, about this. File a complaint?
As a group, teachers tend to be myopic and uninformed/misinformed. They often cannot tell you what a candidate stands for. They often do not read newspapers. They frequently just follow the recommendations of the teacher organization.
I have evidence of organizations presenting false information about issues and people. I have seen them give credit to Democrats on policies that were initiated by Republicans.
That being said, there are many conservative Republican teachers to be found. Unfortunately, they sometimes fall victim to the misinformation put out by the teacher organizations.
When I wrote something for the newspaper about teacher organizations blaming the wrong politicians for things, I was met with some not-so-nice comments, even from conservative teachers.
Bill Zedler can come back and win again in 2008, provided that he markets part of his campaign to teachers AND forms a teacher advisory committee. Diane Patrick has periodic education summits; Kent Grusendorf never did. It makes a difference to teachers.
I think all of the comments here have validity; however, I think that the main problem Republicans face is the lack of a united, persuasive, sound-bite oriented message. Our views are correct and based in fact & history, which makes them, by nature, very boring for most. We believe that because we are right, we shouldn't have to defend our positions--that the argument itself is so just and right that undecideds or uninformeds or plain lazies should just naturally agree with us.
With the overwhelming number of people getting their information from mass media or simply not paying any attention at all on a regular basis, we have to not only defend our positions, we have to make them sound cool and interesting. We are woefully lacking in sex appeal. We allow the other side to frame our arguments and skew them. We are portrayed as insensitive, evil, racist warmongers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our everyday policy opinions are solid and reliable and should naturally inspire hope.
Most wage earners, homeowners, taxpayers, want the same things all Republicans/conservatives want: to have a job that pays a decent wage and offers the opportunity for advancement; to build a life with family & friends; to feel safe driving down the street to work or play; and to look forward to a day when we can retire and still maintain a comfortable life. The difference between Republicans & Democrats is that we differ on how to get these things. Republicans believe that the government should not play much of a role in any of these stages or goals in life. Because with a handout comes a price, strings. And our basic freedoms start to crumble when we no longer require personal responsibility.
Liberals believe that government's job is to ensure that every person achieves, even if it means that you have to steal from the more successful to lift up those who, for whatever reason, are wallowing (which is a flawed theory in so many ways). The Declaration of Independence did not guarantee happiness (or property), only the ability to pursue it. Contrary to the comments we've been bombarded with these past few days, every American has the freedom (and has had for hundreds of years) to make choices and take advantage of (or make)opportunity.
But our side has failed to get our message out. We have failed to answer the erroneous charges thrown out for the past eight years. We have failed to create a remotely united front. We have failed to put forth charming, charismatic spokespeople (with the exception of Tony Snow on a national level, possibly) to sell our policies.
Here, we've relied on who, exactly, to speak for the party? Forgive me for being sarcastic when I ask this, but Tina Benkiser? Stephanie Klick? Phyllis Schafly? Perry, Craddick? Give me a break. They are either inexperienced or incompentent. All come across as arodies of themselves in the press and we've done NOTHING to negate those perceptions. OK, Dewhurst is pretty charismatic, but he's not in the forefront & not terribly political. He's busy actually trying to keep Texas on track. We need to put a check on some the egos we have around here (in this party/movement/ideological group) and get together to find an effective voice. Use some of the donations to hire a PR firm--not a political consultant. We need to have a responsive network of young, good-looking, articulate people at all levels of government and they need to be on call at a moment's notice to counteract any negative press or comments from the opposite side. Every single person running for office needs to have training in communication. I don't mean that we need clones out there, but you have to admit that the other side always talks the same talk and it absolutely reverberates with the public. Let's coordinate on some of the basics and start using some spin tactics. For once, let's forget our differences and concentrate on the fundamentals. Leave the hot-button issues, such as abortion, evolution, and vouchers, for individuals on the trail. Concentrate on the issues that impact us every day when we wake up and go through our lives. Don't alienate people who agree with us 85% of the time just to highlight your boutique issues. I could go on and on...
Bottom line...we have a good message. We just allow it to be crushed under the popular media's barrage of negativity and sensationalism. Let's turn the tables on them and create our own positive sensationalism. We need to create buzz with our brand and create a marketing coop for our issues, elected officials & candidates.
I would encourage you all to go look at the race summaries on Tarrant County Elections website. The Libertarian vote adversely impacted the SD 10 and CD 26 and HD 96 races.
SD 10 is not as Republican a senate District as the others in the county are. For that reason I think it would have been helpful had Brimer personally knocked on some doors. His opponent did, and she was not afraid to knock on the Republican doors either. There is no substitute for this type of contact with voters. This is retail politics. Surrogates are not as effective in closing the sale as the candidate themselves. This is something Zedler did well.
Both HD 96 and SD 10 are weakly Republican districts. With historic Democrat turnout due to the national issues,it is understandable that both of these districts would be vulnerable. The addition of Libertarian candidates
on the ballot in these races made the matter worse. Another 70 votes
per precinct on election day would have changed the outcome. This is where an active precinct chair could have made a real difference.
Both Brimer and Zedler's opponents
ran entirely negative campaigns. Some of the most vicious and misleading I have seen.
I am a retired life long Republican and have the opportunity to work Early Voting in Tarrant County. In fact, this was my seventh election at the same location. My polling location we had over 11 thousand voters. I was very surprised to see so many of the elderly vote straight Democratic tickets. Then there was the African-Americans that filled the polls. I am purely guessing when I state that, that group as a whole voted as a block fully 98% of all registered voters in the county. Then I saw the young first time voters and it is pretty clear that they voted Democratic. In fact, there was just too much voting the straight party ticket. All in all, it was one of those times in history that was set up for a change and regardless, it was going to happen.
I have talked to relatives and friends in Ohio, Arizona, Oklahoma, and East Texas and I heard much the same thing. At the top of the ticket, they voted for Palin and not for McCain. There wasn't any excitement for McCain. A good man, a great American hero, but there was no excitement for him as our candidate, and with that, the mud flowed down hill and it took out Brimer and Zedler. My wife and I worked for Bill Zedler doing mail outs, and with working Tarrant County Elections, there wasn't any my time to work.
Here is an instance of what Chris Turner did to get elected. On Sunday afternoon just before the Cowboy vs Cardinal game, the phone rang. The caller wanted to get my opinions on a political survey. Although, there were not any straight out lies, the phasing of the questions made me extremely angry. One of the questions was, "If you knew that Bill Zedler has taken illegal campaign contributions, would be more or less likely to vote for him?" We I head that I let the caller know that what she was doing was dirty politics and it was unappreciated. I asked to speak to her supervisor and that never happened. I did find out that the firm doing the calling was Issues & Answers from Houghton, Mi. That experience only confirmed that the Democrats will do anything to get elected. Sad, but true.
Many of the suggestion contained in the Blog have merit and it will work in the future. Just remember, in 2 years, Obama will not be running and if we work hard, we can come back as long as we are true to real conservative base and not try to be democrats in the name of Republicans.
I believe we need to start now getting the candidates for 2010 and begin getting them before the public in any way possible thru coffees, forums set for different groups, something that would interest them and excite them to be a part of it. I have been a Republican since I was in Young Republicans in college more than 50years ago. I am still just as proud to be a Republican as I was then and want our party to be strong and in front instead of two steps behind in every situation.
Zedler worked hard and long for his reelection and I was stunned when he did not win. We were happy to work for him and support him and am distressed about the false and incorrect info used against him by Turner to win more votes. I do not call this a victory for Turner as he was not honest and did not exhibit integrity in order to be first in line. We must be able to refute these allegations when they are made on television and in radio ads. Republicans must be out front and center standing up for our principles and ideas and naming names when necessary to demonstrate our core values and morals.
We need to know all of Acorns activities and monies contributed toward this 2008 election in Tarrant Count for sure. As others have stated, we need to get in the colleges and let them know the Republican stances on issues and not let someone else define them for us.
Begin getting Republicans together, get emails addressed or whatever means then can be contacted and keep them informed and ready to be available when we are needed for issues that affect our lives every day. We can do it, let's get to work.
Check out the article in yesterday's (11/09/08) LA Times titled "Democrats Set Sights on Texas".
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-na-assess9-2008nov09,0,1205086.story?track=rss
If ACORN can go door to door registering straight ticket voters, then the GOP can, too. Let's start now!
From FWST today:
Arlington swings to the political center, election results show
By AMAN BATHEJA
abatheja@star-telegram.com
Arlington residents may still feel vertigo from the political swing the city undertook Tuesday night.
Just four years ago, the city’s residents backed President Bush over John Kerry by 62 percent. Because of the robust GOP lean, a national study ranked Arlington the 14th most conservative large city in the country.
Last week, while Tarrant County and Texas-backed Republican John McCain, Arlington gave more votes to Barack Obama. The Democratic president-elect nabbed just over 50 percent support from Arlington, or 2,767 additional votes, than McCain. Democratic support in several local races confirms that the city went from red to solidly purple in this election cycle.
"The demographics of Arlington have changed dramatically," said Allen Saxe, University of Texas at Arlington political science professor. "It really is a swing city."
The two presidential candidates split the city nearly in half, with McCain receiving more support from the central and western parts of Arlington, and Obama winning more precincts in the southern and eastern areas.
The city of over 370,000 also played a role in three competitive legislative races this year, and the Election Day results further laid bare its partisan divide:
Central Arlington largely backed Republican state Sen. Kim Brimer over Democratic challenger Wendy Davis. Davis still managed to win the race to represent about half of Tarrant County by winning a handful of Arlington precincts and most of Fort Worth.
South Arlington turned out about 3,300 more votes for Democratic challenger Chris Turner than Republican state Rep. Bill Zedler, representing close to all of Turner’s 3,806-vote margin of victory in the race overall. The district also includes Crowley, Kennedale and parts of Fort Worth, Mansfield, Forest Hill and Burleson.
East Arlington showed its blue lean in the Senate District 9 race. Republican state Sen. Chris Harris handily won re-election against Democrat Melvin Willms and Libertarian Carl Nulsen thanks to his support from the parts of the district in Dallas and Denton counties. But in a portion of Tarrant County, mostly east Arlington and a sliver of Grand Prairie, Harris got trounced, drawing 42 percent of the vote to Willms’ 56 percent. Steve Maxwell, Tarrant County Democratic Party chairman, admitted to being floored by Willms performance in Tarrant County, given that Willms didn’t raise a dime or even bother to put up a campaign Web site.
Arlington City Councilman Gene Patrick said the Election Day results didn’t surprise him at all.
Anyone looking at the city’s shifting population could see that a partisan shift was inevitable, he said.
"I think the demographics are changing racially, income-wise and every way else," Patrick said. "I think central Arlington is shifting a great deal largely because a lot of our seniors . . . have moved out to the farther regions" outside of the city, he said.
Patrick also said many owner-occupied homes are being taken over by renters, attracting different kinds of people to the city.
The Republican hold on Arlington first began to loosen in 2006, when Republican state Rep. Toby Goodman lost to Democrat Paula Pierson in a race to represent a district that included east Arlington, Mansfield and a small part of Grand Prairie.
"I think that was a prelude to what probably took place Tuesday," Saxe said.
Former Arlington Mayor Elzie Odom first moved to the city in the late 1970s, when it and the county were shaking off years of Democratic dominance and shifting toward the GOP.
"I, like everybody else, came here because I needed to be in between the cities [Dallas and Fort Worth] and near the airport," Odom said.
Arlington became the leading GOP center for the county in the 1980s, said Tarrant County Clerk Tom Wilder, a longtime Republican.
"Arlington was where our best vote was and that moved to Northeast Tarrant," Wilder said. "Arlington’s picture is definitely changing."
An influx of young couples and minorities has been key to the city’s recent move toward the center, Odom said.
Market forces are driving them to southeast Arlington, he said.
"Most of the minorities that come to Arlington are coming with jobs or they are employable if they aren’t employed and that’s where they’re looking for homes," Odom said. "The most affordable starter homes are in the southeast part of Arlington."
Despite the demographic changes, it is unclear whether Arlington will shift back toward the Republicans or move further Democratic in the coming years.
Saxe said many Arlington voters who backed Democrats this year weren’t members of the party.
"These were people that were so disenchanted with the Republican Party, they were actually voting more against the Republicans than for Obama or the Democrats," Saxe said.
Several city watchers said that depending on the state of the economy and other issues, the political pendulum in Arlington could swing in either direction.
"What I would say to the Republicans holding office or think they’re voter-proof, start reaching out to everybody," Odom said.
Andrew, I will probably e-mail you regarding further comments but wanted to post here anyway. I don't want to seem condescending or repetitive so I apologize if anyone thinks I am telling them something they already know. That said, we need to be reminded that there are many factors that go into moving a person to a) register, b) go to the polls and c) choose a particular candidate.
Some of them have nothing to do with the particular candidate, although I am convinced that the right candidate, properly funded, can buck any trend. I did not say it is easy, just possible.
I am a former Republic precinct chair, and former candidate many moons ago, so I am not an enemy of the GOP. I am a member of the GOP. I gave several contributions to the national campaign and related entities in an attempt to prevent the Obama-nation. I worried and now still worry about the future of our nation.
The first factor in the bloodbath is, I believe, the type of party the GOP has morphed into at the national level.
The Democrats have done an effective job as the termites in the foundation, eating away at the public confidence in the Bush administration, spinning blame against the GOP, and playing lots of games.
However, even termites need food to fuel their destruction. The Republicans have given them that fuel. Here are some points I wish to make:
1. The Democrats are "tax and spend." GWB has been "cut taxes and spend." While cutting taxes helps boost revenues when the economy expands, such expansion is not unlimited, and the expansion cannot fuel unlimited spending, particularly when there is a "guns AND butter" philosophy reminiscent of the LBJ years.
GWB has expanded the federal bureaucracy and run up the deficit.
2. GWB took us into a war in Iraq that, in hindsight, was not such a good idea. When the potential war was being discussed I was very reticent to think anything more than to give the benefit of the doubt to the powers that be, in reliance on the intelligence. Even then I had a nagging doubt.
Patriotism is a virtue. Patriotism, when fueled by crisis, can also be a strong fever that drives us to make decisions that we later regret. A little skepticism is always in order.
I am not congratulating Obama on opposing the war from the safety of the Illinois state senate. He did not have access to intelligence information, so his opposition was ideological, not practical. The intelligence, however, should have been more carefully analyzed and other options considered, besides the two of either sanctions or invasion.
I have wondered how Ronald Reagan and Casper Weinberger would have handled it. They managed to utilize many tools in their toolbox to bring down the Soviet Union without firing a shot.
Where are those strategists and tacticians that we needed to isolate and counter Iraq, and need now to do the same with Iran?
We need leaders who know how to read Sun Tzu and learn from him about how to defeat the enemy without actually going into battle.
So now we have lost 3,000 American lives, not counting the wounded, some of whom will never recover fully.
3. Cronyism was too prevalent in the GWB administration.
I am not aware that Alberto Gonzalez ever did anything to evidence his qualification for the positions he held, aside from being a GWB buddy.
GWB exuded an aura of helping his friends as being a prime motivation for his decisions. Either that, or his friends just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Loyalty is important but not an excuse if it trumps more important principles in serving one's country.
Look at the Harriet Meyers nomination. Frankly I am mystified that on Alito and Roberts GWB actually got it right.
As a conservative Republican I can say that I lost all confidence in Bush that he would make the right decisions. If he got it right then he did have the tenacity to stick with it. Unfortunately I have come to view that as more a personality characteristic of stubbornness than a principled understanding of why he should remain steadfast.
It saddens me to type these words, but I can only express the way I view it.
4. Jobs going overseas and US manufacturing disappearing. There is a position between pure protectionism and unlimited free trade, a position between socialism and libertarianism, between laissez-faire and collectivist planning that will preserve our form of government and its economic prosperity, but no one seems to have advanced it.
Bush did not cause it, but he did not effectively combat it. He came across as not seeming to care. When you lose your job the last thing you want to see is your president not seem to care. Taking a "that's just the way it is" philosophy does not endear you to the voters.
People who lose jobs are not whiners. If the GOP truly believes they are then the GOP will never lead this nation effectively. We will only be the "rebound party" that voters turn to when they are sickened by the Democrats. Then they will choose the Democrats when they revulse against us.
5. Health insurance and medical care. In the insurer-doctor-patient three-legged stool the patient who pays the premiums and whose body is on the line has the least say in all of it.
In this debate the GOP offers band-aids. The Democrats offer decapitation.
The public in general wants a decent way to receive affordable health care, and are not happy with either approach.
The GOP has failed to provide another solution that will prevail over the Democrats' desire to create a government monopoly.
The upshot is that the conservatives lost confidence in GWB, the Republicans in Congress started acting like RINOs who "reached across the aisle" only to beg the Democrats for crumbs, and Americans in general did not feel he (or Republicans) understood their plight and how to deal with it.
As a starting place I think that is why we found ourselves in the position we were in going into 2008, and whatever lessons should have been learned in 2006 apparently fell on ears that could not hear and were before eyes that could not see, as the party did not effectively do much, if anything, to change the national mood or prejudice against the GOP.
I have a LOT more to say, but will stop here.
Has anyone spoken to the candidates who came out on the short end of the vote to see if they have some insight? I think it would be worthwhile.
herAs Tweeza Mo correctly wrote, we need to use soundbites instead of lengthy explanations.
"The Art of Political War<' written by David Horowitz in 2000, addresses ways to combat our communication deficiencies and others as well.
Besides communication, another of my concerns with our Party is that we tend to over-rely on the internet and cable TV. They are good but only to a point.
The largest voting block is the senior citizen, most of whom do not have the money to afford these luxuries. Consequently, missives from the state and national Party effectively "preach to the choir."
People generally do not search out information; they accept what comes to them. If what comes to them is false, but no one challenges it, ...
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