November 9th, 2006 • 1:34 pmMoving Forward, Part I
Last night, I vented. Tonight, I offer a plan to move conservatism forward. I’ve been up and down the blogosphere today and I’ve seen alot of posts using the term first principles. That’s a good place to start but I’ll attempt to put some meat on that framework.
1. We can’t move forward until ‘We The Activists’ tell RINO’s that we’re fine with a big tent but we won’t tolerate their compromising away the most important issues of the conservative movement, specifically judges, national security, taxes, fiscal sanity and reform.
When John McCain and John Warner ‘negotiated’ (gave away is more accurate) away the hammer of the Constitutional Option with Robert Byrd’s band of liberals, they essentially told those of us who’ve fought the good fight for originalist judges that we weren’t important. McCain’s main considerations were the media’s adoration. Of course, he officially said that senatorial comity was the reason. Instead of victory, McCain ‘delivered’ a single day’s positive press from the Fossilized Media. Big deal.
Unlike showboats like McCain and Graham, we don’t live for the media’s adoration. We’d rather do what’s right than compromise our core principles. By contrast, McCain and Graham treat true conservatism like it’s the plague. Certainly, they’re free to make that choice. That said, it’s our choice to end McCain’s and Graham’s careers before they ruin the GOP further. Their actions sent the message that they weren’t interested in a famous Reaganism, that “It’s amazing what can be accomplished if we don’t care who gets the credit.” These showboats’ actions said that it was every man for themselves.
McCain threw the Constitution under the proverbial bus when he pushed BCRA through. That’s unforgiveable and unpardonable by itself. It got worse when he put together the Gang of 14. Again, he said that the Constitution didn’t mean what it said. (Keep that in mind when McCain announces his presidential bid. Does anyone think that he’d nominate true conservatives like Alito and Roberts? Don’t bet on it.) Instead, McCain’s actions essentially said that the minority party had the right to do the unconstitutional.
Another RINO that needs to ‘get religion’ immediately is Chuck Hagel. He’s acted like the Democrats’ foreign policy pronouncements were words from God’s mouth. By voting with them on the Phase II Intelligence report’s headlines, he gave the Democrats all the ammo they needed in terms of political cover. The headlines, you’ll recall, said one thing; the key findings another thing entirely.
2. It’s vital that we regain a sense of teamwork based on a coherent, appealing vision of where America needs to go next. An important part of that means a House and Senate leadership team that are unabashed conservatives who will fight for the things that made our movement the dominant force in American politics. Another important part to the leadership puzzle must be installing people who can clearly communicate why we believe what we believe. It isn’t good enough to say “I’m for this” or “I’m against that.” If someone vying for a Senate or House leadership position can’t clearly answer the why questions that the media will throw at them, then they aren’t leadership material.
One person that I’d strongly recommend for a leadership position is Michele Bachmann. She’s a great communicator and she’s unapologetically conservative. She also has the rare gift of answering questions on point, not in some roundabout, evasive way. That’s why she’s got such a strong connection with voters.
3. We need to pick some fights on the most important issues of the day.
The first fight I’d pick is on national security. I’m hearing that the Democrats are thinking of ways of gutting the Patriot Act. It’s important that President Bush knows that ‘We the Activists’ will fight with him if the Pelosi puppets attempt to gut the Patriot Act. It’s important that conservatives everywhere bone up on who’s behind the gutting of this crucial anti-terrorism tool. It’s time that we exposed CAIR’s and like-minded terrorist-supporting groups’ agendas. Most conservatives know what CAIR and UFPJ, the Tides Center and other far left groups are about. When that debate starts, conservatives everywhere must get the facts out to everyone.
That means calling into radio talk shows. That means writing letters to the editor. That means telling friends and co-workers what CAIR and other subversive groups don’t want the public to know. That means using every means possible, not just the blogosphere, to get that information out.
Technorati: National Security, Gang of 14, Reform, Supreme Court, CAIR, Patriot Act
Cross-posted at California Conservative
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[...] Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Pingback by California Conservative » Moving Forward, Part I • 09Nov2006 @ 1:35 pm
[...] Right after the election, I said that the President needed to pick a fight with Democrats. My choice was to pick a fight with them on terrorism but the President didn’t take my advice, choosing instead to pick a fight with Democrats on Iraq. That’s fine with me because Democrats don’t have a coherent strategy for Iraq, the GWOT or foreign policy of any sort. Frankly, President Bush doesn’t even need a clearcut victory over Democrats on this. Picking a fight with Democrats will help get the GOP base back with him. Bush’s aides note tartly that if that’s all Baker is suggesting, he won’t be able to live up to the expectations surrounding his report. Dealing with Baker’s report may be relatively easy if Syria and Iran are the big new ideas, these aides say. [...]
Pingback by Let Freedom Ring » Blog Archive » President Bush Isn’t Going Wobbly • 30Nov2006 @ 4:23 am
[...] Right after the election, I said that the President needed to pick a fight with Democrats. My choice was to pick a fight with them on terrorism but the President didn’t take my advice, choosing instead to pick a fight with Democrats on Iraq. That’s fine with me because Democrats don’t have a coherent strategy for Iraq, the GWOT or foreign policy of any sort. Frankly, President Bush doesn’t even need a clearcut victory over Democrats on this. Picking a fight with Democrats will help get the GOP base back with him. Bush’s aides note tartly that if that’s all Baker is suggesting, he won’t be able to live up to the expectations surrounding his report. Dealing with Baker’s report may be relatively easy if Syria and Iran are the big new ideas, these aides say. [...]
Pingback by California Conservative » President Bush Isn’t Going Wobbly • 30Nov2006 @ 4:24 am
Excellent article. I agree 100% and will do all I can and get all of my conservative friends to do likewise.
Melinda Wilson
Comment by Melinwy • 09Dec2006 @ 12:55 am
[...] February 3rd, 2007 • 4:36 pmThey’reTaking My Advice According to this Politico article that Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay are advocates for the advice I gave after November’s humiliating defeat. Here’s what the Politico is reporting: Gingrich told fellow Republicans they have a choice: They can either fight to upend the current majority, or be members of a permanent minority. And he encouraged lawmakers to use parliamentary procedures to slow action on the House floor. [...]
Pingback by Let Freedom Ring » Blog Archive » They’reTaking My Advice • 03Feb2007 @ 4:36 pm
[...] Filed Under: Election 2008, Author: Gary Gross, Taxes According to this Politico article that Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay are advocates for the advice I gave after November’s humiliating defeat. Here’s what the Politico is reporting: Gingrich told fellow Republicans they have a choice: They can either fight to upend the current majority, or be members of a permanent minority. And he encouraged lawmakers to use parliamentary procedures to slow action on the House floor. [...]
Pingback by California Conservative » They’re Taking My Advice • 03Feb2007 @ 4:37 pm
[...] It’s about time. No…It’s long past time for this White House to pick a fight with these liberal nincompoops. In fact, the day after the election massacre, I said that President Bush should pick some fights with Democrats. I said it then and I mean it more now. Look what pushing back did for the Minnesota House GOP and Gov. Pawlenty. [...]
Pingback by Let Freedom Ring » Blog Archive » White House Pushes Back • 05Jul2007 @ 10:53 pm
[...] It’s about time. No…It’s long past time for this White House to pick a fight with these liberal nincompoops. In fact, the day after the election massacre, I said that President Bush should pick some fights with Democrats. I said it then and I mean it more now. Look what pushing back did for the Minnesota House GOP and Gov. Pawlenty. [...]
Pingback by California Conservative » White House Pushes Back • 05Jul2007 @ 10:54 pm
[...] The "Waist Time" Congress I hate meetings, i think the Corp. world leadership has meetings just to look busy and keep themselves feeling important. Seems that the Dems have learned a think of two from our Corp. bosses. Gary Gross gives us this at CaliforniaConservative.com: Based on this article, it’s obvious that the White House is about to go on the offensive against all the ‘oversight hearings’ that the Democrats keep running. My only question is “What took you so long”? Here’s the best shot they took at Democrats: “They’ve launched over 300 investigations, had over 350 requests for documents and interviews, and they have had over 600 oversight hearings in just about 100 days,” Stanzel said. “So that’s about six oversight hearings a day.” It’s about time. No…It’s long past time for this White House to pick a fight with these liberal nincompoops. In fact, the day after the election massacre, I said that President Bush should pick some fights with Democrats. I said it then and I mean it more now. Look what pushing back did for the Minnesota House GOP and Gov. Pawlenty. It works because activists want to have something to believe in and a cause to fight for. I’ve said many times that I don’t mind being sent out into battle. My only expectation is that they send me out with enough ammunition. Simply telling the American people how investigation-driven this Democratic Congress isn’t enough by itself, though. This is another way of putting Democrats in a defensive position: Stanzel said of Congress, “I would say they have a lot to show in terms of activity and requests and letter-writing, and that sort of thing, but not much to show in the way of real legislation—whether it’s legislation on health care, education, comprehensive immigration reform. All of those things are important issues that we think the American people care about and would like to see Congress move forward on.” Talk about a shot across Reid’s and Pelosi’s bow. I’ve written about the Do Almost Nothing Congress before. There’s a reason why their approval ratings have hit rock bottom: They’ve done virtually nothing to tell people that their first priority is making life better for the average voter. Frankly, I’m glad they haven’t because it means less of a mess to straighten out. If Pelosi’s and Reid’s stewardship of House and Senate Democrats doesn’t improve, they’ll be a single term majority. They’ve worried more about investigations than about legislation. The only legislation that they’ve tried passing was the immigration plan that eighty percent of the people hated. That isn’t the way political parties build their base. That’s the way they destroy their base. Let’s hope that the White House vetoes a few spending bills like Rob Portman promised. If President Bush vetoes a bunch of spending bills, fiscal conservatives will go on the offensive. Similarly, liberals will be pushed into a fetal position defensive posture. That’s right where they deserve to be. Published Monday, July 09, 2007 1:47 PM by Splittfinger [...]
Pingback by From the Mind of Splittfinger : The "Waist Time" Congress • 09Jul2007 @ 2:51 pm
[...] took awhile but Republicans started taking the advice I gave the day after the 2006 disaster: 3. We need to pick some fights on the most important issues of the [...]
Pingback by Let Freedom Ring » Blog Archive » None of the Above • 24Aug2009 @ 7:41 am
[...] took awhile but Republicans started taking the advice I gave the day after the 2006 disaster: 3. We need to pick some fights on the most important issues of the [...]
Pingback by California Conservative » Blog Archive » None of the above: What derailed Obamacare? • 24Aug2009 @ 8:52 am