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From here. My feelings exactly.

Anti-Outsourcing Bill Dies

Yes, I know it is a transparent attempt to manufacture an issue right before a hostile election, but... why exactly is it a bad idea to pass a bill to limit outsourcing? After all, in an economy with millions unable to find work and thousands having given up on even looking for work, don't we want to encourage companies to keep jobs in America?

The bill included a payroll tax holiday for companies that bring jobs back from overseas, ended tax breaks for plants that shut down to go elsewhere, and blocked companies from deferring their tax bill year to year by keeping money out of the U.S.

I have no doubt that overseas workers can do good work. But this seems to be one of those rare cases where a little protectionism might go a long way.

Will Republicans be a "minor party" in Colorado?

Sometimes a bad candidate is just a bad candidate. But sometimes, it can be deadly to the future of a political party. Colorado may be teaching a hard and costly lesson.

But if Maes fails to get 10 percent of the vote on election day, his legacy won't be the U.N. bike plot warning or the tall tale of working undercover as a cop in Kansas. It will be leaving Republicans with minor party status in Colorado until 2014.

After weeks of declines in the polls, the TPM Poll Average now shows Maes coming in at 9.3%.

As The Denver Post reported back in September, minor party status means that Republicans wouldn't appear at the top of the ballot with the Democrats in 2012 and 2014. Instead, they'll be listed down with the Libertarian, Green Party and other third-party candidates.

On the upside, it would be a golden opportunity for the Constitution Party whose candidate, Tom Tancredo, could give then Major Party status.

Arlen Specter goes to the Dems

Some may remember in 2001 when Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords switched from the Republican to the Democratic party in an attempt to create a clear majority for the Democrats. They may also remember it did not amount to much in the end. Well, Republican Senator Arlen Specter - famous for breaking ranks with the Republican party on the stimulus package - has decided to follow the same path and will be switching to the Democratic Party.

Much will be made of this - some will likely say it is the "death knell for the GOP". But the fact is that Specter already made the choice when he supported the stimulus package. He is now looking at his district, and see there are no Republicans willing to support him for another term - he will lose in the primary. So he is rolling the dice by jumping ship. Likely, he will still lose and wind up a man without a party.

Still, who knows? I have been wrong before. Maybe the real change will be the GP convincing Senator oe Lieberman to come over to the GOP. After all, he has allegedly been informed by party leaders that they will NOT support him in his next reelection bid.

Georgia ensures no filibuster-proof majority for the Democrats

Losing the presidency was like a nightmare for the Republican Party. Losing both houses of Congress was like their worst nightmare. The prospect of the Democrats also having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate - effectively denying the minority party ANY vote - would have been the end of their world. But it had seemed possible with Georgia and Minnesota in the midst of runoffs and recounts respectively. But the win of Republican Saxby Chambliss has ensured that the GOP can still have a voice in the upcoming Congress. A small tiny, whiny voice. But a voice nonetheless

n the end, Martin, a 63-year-old former state lawmaker from Atlanta, wasn't able to get Obama voters back to the polls in large enough numbers to overcome the Republican advantage in Georgia, which has become an increasingly a reliable red state since 2002.
Turnout was light throughout the state Tuesday. A spokesman for Secretary of State Karen Handel predicted between 18 and 20 percent of the state's 5.75 million registered voters would cast ballots - far less than the 65 percent who voted in last month's general election.
The runoff between the former University of Georgia fraternity brothers was necessary after a three-way general election prevented any of the candidates from getting the necessary 50 percent.

Rebuildtheparty.com

The national college republicans have up a new site calling for fundamental changes to the GOP, to begin recovering from the huge losses suffered this Fall. It is worth a look, if you feel the same way Ward does.

A Humble Proposal

Okay, Barack Obama is now president-elect. We are looking at a Democrat-dominated House and Senate. The age of Republican dominance is officially ended. But let's not look on this as an entirely negative development. Every revolution eventually becomes the entrenched bureaucracy - and thus requires a revolution of its own to correct its flaws. The beauty of he American system is that these "revolutions" can occur thru elections and an orderly transition of power.

The Republicans lost for mostly one reason: Americans no longer understand what it means to be a "Republican" or "Conservative." Conservatives came to power preaching small government, low taxes, a strong defense, and strong commitment to Life. They ost power when their President brought about the largest government in history, stopped talking about Life, and over-extended our defensive forces in two wars. As of now, the only ideal that voters associate with Republicans is "low taxes". How can one trust that one ideal to build a government around?

Let me propose 5 points around which to center a rebuilding of the Republican Party. And yes, I am arguing for keeping the Republican Party as a Conservative Party. The order of these points is NOT by priority, but simply by what order they came to my mind.

1. Taxation drives the economy. High taxes will always slow it, low taxes will always stimulate it.

Please note, this is NOT a one-note "Always lower taxes" mantra. It is a statement about how the system works. This allows the raising of taxes in time of War or crisis, with the understanding that the economy will be slowed. But it also points out that when we can lower taxes, we should because it will create jobs and wealth.

2. Human life is precious. From conception to expiration, life should only be taken after due process of law.

This covers being anti-abortion (though allowing for rape, incest, life-of-mother cases, potentially, given due process and analysis), being careful about application of the Death Penalty, and being careful about sending our soldiers to war without a true casus belli and endorsement by the branches of government.

3. In America, political power is distributed between State and Federal hands and given fundamentally by the People. Each should have their own sphere of influence, and stay out of the spheres of influence of the others.

This means a rollback of so many Federal mandates over non-Federal issues. It reinforces that all Rights lie fundamentally with individuals, and that the Nation has no inherent right to take any right away. It is all by social compact. Let the States run education, morality laws, etc. Let the Federal government run defense, manage interstate business, etc. Let the people live their lives. Stop trying to solve all problems with whatever office your party happens to own at that moment.

4. The primary role of the Federal Government is to provide for a common defense and ensure domestic tranquility.

Maintain a strong army, which does not merely mean a large army. Take care of our soldiers. Do not expend American lives in discretionary wars (i.e. no preemptive wars). Be slow to join battle, but once joined the battle must be fully-funded and supported.

Focus also on rebuilding and strengthening such shops as FEMA and the Treasury Department. These are critical to getting thru crises and for maintaining an even keel for the country.

All other priorities for the Federal government should be secondary to these two. That includes such hot-button issues as Social Security, Health Care, Education, etc.

5. Checks and balances are essentially to the operation of our government. We should look to strengthen these checks, not weaken them, at all times.

Forget the insanity about invoking Executive Privilege to avoid Congressional inquiries and invoking Congressional Privelege to avoid Judicial inquiries, Mr. Vice President. States should be actively checking Federal power. Congress should be actively checking Executive power. The Courts should be actively checking Congressional power. The Press should be actively checking ALL power. The People should be actively checking the Press and its own representatives. We are a nation OF the People, and should never let any one man/woman/office become the be-all, end-all. We should consider such moves as more term limits and not allowing any office-holder to vote on their own compensation as ways to keep these checks and balances working.

There is my list. What do Mod-Bloggers think? Did I go too far? Did I miss anything? How would you rebuild the Republican party?

Adventures in political marketing

A week or two ago I posed the question "Why are Republicans uncool?".  Almost on cue the GOP launches a website that could make them more cool.  The GOP is looking for input on policy proposals.  This could be a really great people to discuss issues - even if it does end up being only Republicans on the site. As we have seen, even here on Mod-Blog where most of us are Republicans we have a fairly wide diversity of beliefs and focuses when it comes to politics.  As the article says:

The site itself has a stodgy charm to it. But at least the GOP is creating an online forum for citizens to engage with policy makers before they make policy. This could just be an empty effort whose real purposes is to collect e-mail addresses from party members to hit them up for donations. And if that’s the case, the site will soon die. But if the GOP can create an active community of people truly interested and informed about different policy options, and feed that into their platform, it could give them a real competitive advantage over the Democrats.

Here's hoping that this one works out in the positive for the GOP.

On the other side of the aisle, the Obama campaign marketers are either geniuses or nuts, I tend to favor the former rather than the latter.  The campaign is sponsoring a NASCAR car in an upcoming race.  Since it's widely known that NASCAR is most popular among red necks state voters, this could be a good way of garnering a positive look from that voting block. Again, Obama is trying to bring states and blocks into contention that have traditionally be foregone conclusions.  As much as I don't like that a Democrat is doing this, it is good that people are now being forced to think about their vote rather than simply voting for a party.

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McCain vs McCain

I have never been a big fan of John McCain. While I do think he is firm in his beliefs, we have seen over and over again that his beliefs are not quite the same as the average American or even the average Republican. I would rather have had more an idealist and a statesman.

Now that the Clinton/Obama contest is for all intents over, attention will turn toward the weaknesses of Senator McCain. This video is one such attempt, by a clearly anti-McCain website. Get ready. This is only the beginning.

Is the GOP's only hope an anti-establishment revolution within the party?

As the Republican Party is reeling from a major loss in Mississippi - once considered the reddest of red states - the party is facing the obvious: it is going to be a bad year to be a Republican running for office. Interestingly, however, I do not get the sense it is a bad year to be a Conservative. As I poll the people around me, most are still open to traditionally Conservative values - family, freedom of religion, pro-life, fiscal restraint, etc. - but disenchanted with the part of George W. Bush, specifically.

This raises the obvious question: IS IT TIME FOR ANOTHER REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION? The first in my lifetime was the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan lead a transformation in the party that has become legend. The second revolution was the Contract With America which swept Republicans into a majority status in Congress where they had been the minority for over 20 years. There is a common strain to both of these revolutions was: fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, smaller government, and government accountability. Guess what has been undermined since 9/11 transformed the GWB White House: fiscal responsibility, smaller government, and government accountability.

It is time for someone - probably NOT John McCain - to start the third revolution of my lifetime dedicated to Conservative principles, and not just the Republican party. Problem is, I have no idea who has the credibility and appeal to do so. Not Ron Paul. But it is exactly this need driving his candidacy.

Has Ron Paul dropped out?

Ron Paul's "revolution" has been money-rich, but delegate-poor in this election cycle. Dr. Paul has cast himself as the "true conservative" of the G.O.P, and has suffered for standing against many of the ideas that the so-called "neoconservatives". He had pledged to fight to the very end, but recently sent a letter to his supporters that appears to indicate he is ending his presidential bid in order to defend his Congressional seat.

But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter. Of course, I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no third party run. I do not denigrate third parties — just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them. But I am a Republican, and I will remain a Republican.

I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen.

Of course, with Dr. Paul winning only 14 delegates nationally, one must wonder if that itself was not a rejection of his ideas on some level. Or at least a rejection of his personality. Then again, it was nice having someone on the platform forcing the other candidates to defend the Iraq War. It sharpened and clarified their differences. And that was a useful thing to everyone.

Why are Republicans facing minority status in all branches of government?

George Will believes it all comes back to ethics and earmarks, and the fact that the Republican majority failed to control its more pork-hungry impulses.

In his State of the Union address, the president vowed to veto any appropriation bill "that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half." Coburn tartly notes that although Congress hardly needs 5,500 earmarks -- half of last year's total -- the president's goal would be met if Republicans themselves quit earmarking. That fact goes far to explain the Republicans' current and future minority status.

McCain Wins Florida, Guiliani Prepares to Quit

Despite trends showing a jump in support for Mitt Romney, John McCain has been projected as the winner of Florida's primary. The big news here is not that McCain beat Romney, however, but that Mayor Rudolph Guiliani came in last. This after Guiliani had placed all of his hopes on winning Florida to provide momentum coming into Super Tuesday.

Now there are multiple reports that Guiliani will bail out on the race later this week... and endorse John McCain. Is this the end of the Republican race? Or just one more "Silver" medal for Romney?

Huckabee's cash is going the way of Fred Thompson

It is being widely reported now that Mike Huckabee's campaign is critically short of funds with many workers accepting no salary or simply quitting for lack of payment. With Florida coming, which requires expensive television advertising, and Tsunami Tuesday after that with multiple states to cover in a very short time period, questions are being raised as to whether Huckabee can go the distance.

Campaign contributions continue to come in, he said. But he acknowledged that Huckabee is stretched thin as he tries to compete in Florida's primary and many of the two dozen states holding contests Feb. 5.
Huckabee's campaign has stopped arranging charter flights, hotel reservations and other means of helping journalists keep up with his movements. News organizations pay their own expenses, but empty seats on charter planes were costing the campaign money.
"We are running our campaign in a very frugal manner," Huckabee said. "We have operated in the black. If we don't have it, we don't expend it."

This, of course raises the question of whether Social Conservatives will have a horse left in the race for Tsunami Tuesday. Could the race be transformed if they are forced to embrace Mitt Romney, to avoid voting for Rudy Guiliani or John McCain? Or will one of them be able to make the argument and re-form the Reagan coalition? Or will Mike Huckabee see a miraculous comeback?

And I have to wonder, if not for McCain-Feingold, would Huckabee be able to stay in the race longer?

Analysis of Fred Thompson's Fall

This is the best analysis I have seen of the pros and cons of Fred Thompson's run for the Presidency.

He was NOT lazy; his command of policy equaled or exceeded that of his rivals, and he was, as he said, pretty clearly a consistent conservative for his public life. But his staff was poorly managed; it started much too late; his campaign was riven by internal fueds and suspicions: one faction accused the other of leaking to reporters.

Here's hoping Fred makes a return in some form, perhaps as VP.

Duncan Hunter says bye-bye

The champion of border security has finally left the GOP race, after losing convincingly to "uncommitted" in Nevada.

WHAT IF: Will the GOP need a compromise candidate?

Not for the first time, political analysts are raising the specter of a Republican convention with no clear nominee which would require political wheeling and dealing in order to come up with a candidate for president. The pundits are mostly pointing back to the convention that nominated Dewey, who lost to the Democrat Truman. But I am starting to wonder if they should be looking back to the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln - arguably one of the greatest presidents and UNarguably the greatest Republican president. (I think even Reagan himself would agree to that.)

It is too soon to really think this is a certainty, but it is not too soon to see that we may be a Lincoln-esque juncture in American history. Like Lincoln, we have a highly polarized America (him: slave/free, us: red/blue). Like Lincoln, we face a time of unique pressures and the war (him: civil war, us: War on Terror). Like Lincoln, we see a Republican party desperate to define itself and to resolve the splinters within (him: abolitionism vs states rights, us: religious values vs economic conservatism).

Does the Republican Party have a Lincoln this time around? Do we have a compromise candidate who can both be the standard-bearer, and re-unify the party? Lincoln used the Civil War as a means to reforge the party by recruiting his former rivals to his cabinet. Do we have anyone running now who can do that? Or is there anyone waiting in the wings who could do so?

I am interested to see the opinions of Mod-Bloggers on this topic. I have my own thoughts about who has the potential to do this, and who does not. But I want to ready your opinions first.

Fred Thompson: I don't care if I am president

I have said for a long time that the reason Fred Thompson will lose the nomination is that he simply doesn't want the job. It turns out he agrees with my analysis and claims he'd be just as happy to NOT be nominated.

"I am not consumed by personal ambition. I will not be devastated if I don't do it," he said. "I'm not particularly interested in running for president."

But he said others convinced him to run.

"I approached it from a standpoint ... of kind of a marriage. You know if one side of the marriage has to be really talked into the marriage, you know it probably ain't going to be a good deal for either one of them. But if you mutually think that this is a good thing -- in this case you think it's a good thing for the country -- then you have an opportunity to do some wonderful things together," he said.

I guess this makes Thompson into the Steven Forbes of this campaign. He is not there to win, but to ensure that his issues are given a voice. Then again, it would not be the worst thing in the world to have a man in power, who is not a power seeker. Assuming, of course, that you believe he means what he says.

Gingrich finalls says "No Prez"

Newt Gingrich has been flirting with the idea of running for the nomination and the presidency for some time. He has been thirsting for it at least since he was elected Speaker of the House, and likely much, much longer. He has been claiming that he would run "if no other candidate truly represented the American people", and claimed to hold out hope that Fred Thompson was the guy. Recently, he told his supporters he would run if he could raise $30 million in pledges by Oct 21. But now, his spokesman is claiming he has decided NOT to run, citing his conflicting responsibilities as head of a non-profit think-tank.

My own thoughts? He is reading the tea leaves and has finally realized a run at this point would be merely an exercise of his own vanity. He is valuable as a source of ideas for the Right, but is only a liability as an actual candidate.

Romney Wins Iowa Straw Poll

It remains to be seen if this is significant, since neither Guiliani nor McCain (nor Thompson) showed up, but CRChair's favorite candidate Mitt Romney won the Iowa straw poll this weekend. It is unclear if the non-appearance of the other candidates was strategic (i.e. Iowa doesn't matter) or tactical (i.e. they knew they couldn't win). But congrats to Mitt.

Romney's win in the nonbinding Ames contest, sealed by his appeals to the party's conservative base and generous spending all around the state, underscored his attempt to concentrate time and resources on the opening states of Iowa and New Hampshire, believing that early victories will propel him to the nomination...Romney's victory came against a relatively weak field that did not include Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona or former senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee, and after he heavily outspent those who did compete. Still, the result, with Romney easily outpacing his rivals with 32 percent of the vote, helps elevate him from relative obscurity six months ago to the top tier of the GOP field -- despite his relatively low standing in national polls.

"I think today, the way it worked out, is this is really the defining moment for the base candidate," Romney adviser Tom Rath said. "With Giuliani, McCain and Thompson not here, I would make the argument that this was very definitely a test of who was strong with the base. . . . We think we can expand on that base as the conservative candidate going forward. That keeps us in this game a long time."

As for me, I still do not see a Republican that I know I can vote for, since Guiliani, Gingrich, and McCain have disqualified themselves in my mind.