The Fresh Principle of Rancho del Cielo
MOURNING IN AMERICA NO MORE
Dick Cheney welcomes Kotter back, and Rush Limbaugh has resigned and made Powell the “titular head” of the Republican Party. Happy now, Furrowed-Brow Media?
Of course not.
Powell endorsed the Democrat candidate at the precise moment calculated to do the most damage to the Republican nominee, even though McCain was the party’s most liberal nominee since Gerald Ford.
If you think John McCain is some arch-conservative and Barack Obama has a much better grasp on keeping this country safe, then you’re not somebody who should set party policy, despite the Crocodile Tear Media.
Powell served his country well, but politically speaking, he is today functioning essentially as a glorified concern troll.
Disloyalty is anathema to a soldier, and it seems like Powell was ashamed of being disloyal to Republican presidents who promoted him. Instead of admitting he got caught up in the “First Black President!”-hoopla, it was easier to blame John McCain for being some far-right ideologue. Yeah, right. If only.
Powell says he’s waiting for his Republican party to “emerge”, but it already has; in Arnold Schwarzenneggar’s California. Even after tax increases and federal bailouts, Powell’s Paradise is still 24 billion dollars in the hole just for this year. It would have been better to leave Grey Davis in place rather than let Arnold put a Republican face on that massive failure.
Anyway, the real question is not about personalities. It is this: “How do we win elections again?”
Do we go Democrat-Lite like Powell suggests, or do we stay in a sqiushy Bush-mode as others suggest, or perhaps we veer wildly into a Buchananite Paleo-Missing Link conservatism?
Or should we…no–I’m not even going to say it out loud; it’s just too crazy to even contemplate such an outlandish idea:
Gallup found, when Democrats control the Oval Office, loyalty to the Republican party increases and vice versa. Republicans gained one point during Harry Truman’s presidential years, 11 points during LBJ’s tenure, 3 points during the Carter administration, and 2 points under Clinton. Politically, Kennedy (who in many ways governed from the center-right) was a wash.
Likewise, when Republicans have been in power, Democrats have gained, as they did during the tenures of Eisenhower (+3), Nixon (+7), Ford (+2), and Bushes I (+3) and II (+6).
But, wait, what about the Gipper?
Alone among post-War presidents, Ronald Reagan’s Republican party actually gained ground during his two terms in office, gaining 9 full percentage points between 1981 and 1989.
But that’s not all. As the Pew study points out:
“This [9-point Republican gain] probably understates Reagan’s overall legacy, as GOP identification had already spiked four points (and Democratic identification fallen four points) between 1980 and 1981.”
If one attributes the dramatic movement toward the Republican party during the election year of 1980 to Reagan, then we’re talking about a net Republican gain of 17 points on the Gipper’s watch.
If you’ll tell me why we should win, then I’ll tell you how–because the “why” is the “how”.
The best way to win elections is to deserve to.
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