There aren’t too many good things happening for Republicans these days. Saxby Chambliss held onto his Senate seat in Georgia in his Dec 2 runoff… and they have a few appointments to the Obama cabinet… but overall their leaders look, well, non existent.
The partisan side of me kinda wants to see Sarah Palin run in 2012 because it wouldn’t be too tough to beat her and it would further discredit the party. But I’m not really a partisan and would like to see at least 2 national parties to have a healthy debate. Nate Silver of 538.com recently analyzed the numbers from the recent election and the conclusions should sober any Republican.
His conclusion:
Although the Republicans face an arduous task in crafting a path to 270 electoral votes, finding 218 viable seats in the Congress might represent the more difficult challenge.
Rather than having the Republicans surge back with their current policies of social conservative driven discrimination, I’d rather see another party come and challenge both Democrats and Republicans. A more progressive party that represents a new American ideal!
justin
PS: Mark McKinnon of the Daily Beast puts it really well:
The problem with the Republican Party is there are too many wooly mammoths like me wandering around. It’s time to kill us off. Just slaughter us all. Drive us into the tar pits and move on.
He’s right. And it’s going to take a long time for the Republican message to resonate with the American people again.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Justin,
This is my first time posting to your blog but not my first time reading it. Let me start by saying that having you ask the question, “How will Republicans come back?” is an obvious rouse. You have no great desire to see the Republicans come back, in fact I would wager that you want them so sink further into disarray and defeat. So don’t make a ploy to your conservative readers about your “concern” for their beliefs.
It can be easily argued that most of the problems we find ourselves in can be laid at the feet of the Democrat controlled Congress, not the Republican controlled White House. And now you have control of the White House and both houses of Congress. Let’s see what your party does with it, and sooner or later the “Its Bush’s fault” argument will not stand up anymore. In his first week in office The President has taken steps to weaken tradition marriage, put terrorists back in the fight and forced American taxpayers to fund abortions against their will. One week! I am horrified to think that your party has four years in power. But it was the “will of the American people” and now we have to swallow this pill and hope for the best.
I am no fortune teller, but in four years I hope I get to ask you, “How will the Democrats come back?”
Give my best to Joel and thanks for sharing your views and letting us share ours.
- Gene
Touché, Gene. Thanks for the comment.
I understand being suspicious of my interest in the post-Bush Republican party… but let me insist that it is genuine. The stated purpose of this blog is to give a voice to both sides and respect our differences… and through the process of debating with Joel, I have gained respect for certain conservative values. I’m not saying I’m ready to join in and help the Republican party come back, but I am acutely interested in what their plan will be. If that plan involves Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin… well it will be fun to watch the party go up in flames and something else eventually take its place. But if that plan centers around true conservative values and gets away from the religious demagoguery of today’s “right”… then I’m all for it!
This country needs (and I welcome) a healthy debate over the substance of policy, so on that note let me take issue with your attempt to blame the Democratic congress for today’s situation: Considering that Democrats only took charge of congress in 2006, and Republicans controlled it since (I think) 1994 and the White House since 2000, the sheer timetable blows smoke in your attempt to blame the Democrats. Even if they’d wanted to pass terrible legislation to take down the economy, Bush would have had veto power until now… so c’mon…
And those things you say that President Obama has done so far? They could just as easily be described as “taking steps to ensure equal rights for all Americans, re-establish our democratic ideals and rule of law, and providing safe and humane ways to end unwanted pregnancies.”
I especially take issue with your alarmist and misleading statement about “putting terrorists back in the fight”. There is no such thing being discussed. Guantanimo Bay is a place where illegal interrogations have been taking place for years on sometimes innocent people. Bush’s Administration has repeatedly broken American and International law to detain and torture prisoners there with no respect for Habeas Corpus, and in doing so they’ve not only lost support from the International community, they’ve created the best recruitment tool Al Quaeda could ever have! Plus, it’s not like the prisoners are just going to be let go… they’ll just be given a fair hearing! imagine that.
Change? YES! We’re getting change, thank God! In just one week MANY dormant segments of American life have been given hope that they will no longer be marginalized by the Federal Government! (but that’s a discussion for a full blog post)
Thanks again for the comment! I hope you see you back here to give Joel some much needed help on his arguments
justin
Oh, I forgot to post this link from my favorite conservative blogger and christian: Andrew Sullivan. He thinks Obama is a conservative at heart : http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/01/obamas-conserva.html