Time Will Tell

A few thoughts struck me on the political Katrina which has devastated the Republican Party, and I figured I should share them with you, my loyal conservative readers (and my liberal friends as well).

First, this is George Bush`s disaster; the President has insisted on the ``new tone`` strategy of reaching out to our political enemies, and it may have worked in Texas, but Washington is the major leagues and an out-of-power Democratic Party would accept no olive branch from any Republican except to use as a club with which to beat him. Bush conceded every argument, including the WMD`s in Iraq (he opposed declassifying the documents showing we had found numerous banned items such as nerve gas, 500 lb. of uranium, etc. He backed his ``friends`` in Congress such as Arlen Specter, RINO`s who have repeatedly stabbed him in the back. He supported McCain`s Gang of 14 rather than allow the fight over judicial nominees to reach a head (will the Dems honor this agreement now?) He still wants amnesty for illegal aliens via a guest worker program, etc.

Bush set the (new) tone, and now he is promising to give the Democrats whatever they want. I suppose he thinks this will stop Impeachment, which illustrates he still doesn`t understand the nature of his political enemy. His press conference-where he threw Don Rumsfeld under the bus-was a model of appeasement which would put Neville Chamberlaine to shame. Now the chum is in the water, and the sharks will feast, but the President still hopes this will satisfy their bloodlust. He seems to understand this won`t work with the terrorist, yet he fails to grasp that his political enemies cannot be won over by bonhommie and promises. I am at the point where I have to call him a fool.

Bush set the trend, and Republicans eagerly followed his lead, and now they have been obliterated. If anything, this should illustrate the folly of the Country-Club, moderate approach to governing, yet I fear the wrong lessons will be gleaned form this. Hugh Hewitt, for example, blamed the conservative demand for a border fence for the failure:

The anti-illegal immigration absolutists got their heads handed to them. As the fence goes up, their rhetoric must go down --dramatically

He has, as I fear so many Republicans may follow, the problem 180* out of phase; insider Republicans alienated the people who wanted fences and an aggressive war, resulting in the loss of their base. No Republicans were energized, while Democrats were strictly because they believed they could win.

Republicans offered nothing better than ``be afraid`` of Pelosi and company-someone most Americans had never heard of. Of course, Democrats had nothing to offer, either, but they are a novel approach, while Republicans have been in office too long and have grown fat and lazy. Couple that with extravagant spending, insider politics, high living, and you have a recipe for disaster.

This also illustrates the power of the Mainstream Media; they are the ones who decided what would be talked about on the leadup to the elections, and such tempest-in-teapots as Mark Foley would never have been headlines had the media been even neutral, much less soundly in the Dems corner. Certainly Harry Reid`s involvement with the Mafia would have been far more relevant, yet we heard nothing from the opinion shapers. This should make it clear that our blogging and talk radio are outclassed by the declining power of the MSM; I`ve argued repeatedly that we need to take control of one of the major news outlets, so we can have some balanced reporting. Far too many people still get their news from the big three networks or the New York Times-this has to change! This election loss would never have happened had people understood the War, and understood the treason being advocated by the Democrats. Soldiers continue to die because of the anti-war crowd, who embolden the enemy. The Democrats have given the greatest gift to Al-Quada possible. Democrats did this in Vietnam, and they are longing to repeat their glory days in Iraq. We should not be surprised when we are attacked again.

This should also illustrate the importance of grassroots movements as opposed to top-down efforts. Politicians are supposed to get elected, which means they need money and attention. OF COURSE they will throw their principles aside for donations and good media coverage! The only way to hold their feet to the fire is to keep their constituents on their case-and that means we need to win hearts and minds at the local level. The Democrats gaining 5 Governorships scares me, because it means we are losing our influence at the grassroots. Success at the State level means control of redistricting, and manipulation of the arguments which will happen in each Congressional district. This means Conservatives have failed to convince their friends and neighbors of the fundamentals, have allowed them to be tricked by media propoganda and easy platitudes. We must, essentially, begin at the beginning, and re-educate the populace. This is where we win-not in the White House or the Halls of Congress. We have forgotten this.

We can easily recover from this defeat, if we use our heads and keep our courage. I`ve argued that a Speaker Pelosi may ruin a Hillary run for the Presidency, and if the Democrats do what they must-reward the Moveon.ogr people and others in their party for keeping silent-they will alienate the populace, giving Republicans a landslide in `08. Provided Republicans learn from their mistakes. Unforunately, this particular crop seems particularly slow, and they are being lead by a politically tone-deaf leader.

This could actually be a good thing-in the long haul. Time will tell.