The obits on Karl Rove’s political career are starting to roll in and with that comes the predictable noise that we have heard about Republican administrations for years and years. These obits follow a pattern of crediting Rove with Bush’s Presidential victory in 2000, the stunning midterm Congressional elections in ’02 and the 2nd term victory in ’04. 
These obits explain that because of “divisiveness”, “wedge issues”, “polarizing politics” and the like, the Republicans at first succeeded in exploiting the electorate but eventually, because of it, lost control of the House and Senate in the ’06 midterms.
As sure as the Sun rises in the East, when topics or issues are brought up that people are uncomfortable dealing with in an honest fashion like race-based preferences or partial-birth abortion, the terms above start getting tossed around.
Of course, this is not what lost the Republicans control of both houses in Congress last November. The Republicans got their ass kicked because they got away from what got them there in the first place. Republicanism as defined by Reagan and later by Newt Gingrich when Republicans took control of the House in ’94 involved a belief in minimalism and fiscal restraint as practiced by government.
Of course, this is not what lost the Republicans control of both houses in Congress last November. The Republicans got their ass kicked because they got away from what got them there in the first place. Republicanism as defined by Reagan and later by Newt Gingrich when Republicans took control of the House in ’94 involved a belief in minimalism and fiscal restraint as practiced by government.
Where did that go? The last 4 or 5 years in particular has seen a Republican-controlled Congress and White House absolutely blow-out the stops when it came to spending. This was Bush’s flawed notion of you-can-have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too “Compassionate Conservatism”. Everyone was still waiting for that “Conservative” part to kick in and we will fight anyone on the block for the right to throw the first shovel-full of dirt onto the grave containing that term.
A combination of this out-of-control spending with a complete lack of attention to the border and illegal immigration (perhaps, “inattention” is the wrong word. The events of this past June and July proved that plenty of attention was paid to it... just so happens that too many Republicans were on the wrong side of the issue), resulted in a large bloc of voters comprised of the conservative base of the Party along with the independent swing voters, who formerly delivered for Bush and the Republicans, scratching their heads while looking at both the Democrats and Republicans and asking themselves, “What the hell is the difference?” Hello, ass kicking!
It is our hope that Democrat strategists take to heart what has been offered up thus far regarding those hate-filled zealots in the Republican Party and that those of the Republican Party kindly remove their craniums from their respective derrieres and get back to the basics of Conservatism.
A combination of this out-of-control spending with a complete lack of attention to the border and illegal immigration (perhaps, “inattention” is the wrong word. The events of this past June and July proved that plenty of attention was paid to it... just so happens that too many Republicans were on the wrong side of the issue), resulted in a large bloc of voters comprised of the conservative base of the Party along with the independent swing voters, who formerly delivered for Bush and the Republicans, scratching their heads while looking at both the Democrats and Republicans and asking themselves, “What the hell is the difference?” Hello, ass kicking!
It is our hope that Democrat strategists take to heart what has been offered up thus far regarding those hate-filled zealots in the Republican Party and that those of the Republican Party kindly remove their craniums from their respective derrieres and get back to the basics of Conservatism.
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