Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Lion's Den... November 10, 2012

Hello  everyone, I'd like to invite you all into the Lion's Den to express your thoughts in this regular column. I'll be adding some of my own thoughts, ideas, & issues of concern. Please feel free to comment or expand these things, or vent a bit.  The Lion's Den is a friendly place, so let your mane down a bit and kick up your paws.
 Cubs, lionesses, and old timers are welcome, one and all. No mauling allowed!
 
I'd like to start this edition of The Lion's Den with some ideas to revitalize the GOP after the stunning defeat last Tuesday. Now is the time to get to work on this, as the memories of defeat are still strong in our minds and clear thinking begins to analyze the situation. There's an old saying that victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan. How true that is! 
 
Here are my ideas on how pick our orphaned GOP up and reinvigorate her.  Please feel free to be a "father" to this process by making a comment.
  • The GOP needs to get away from being a socially conservative party to more of a fiscally conservative party.  Getting into areas such as abortion & contraception are costing votes and loss of women voters. We must adapt to the times to get into step with the voters. Not pander to them, but stop pushing issues that cost precious votes.
  • Re-brand the GOP into a fiscally conservative party that promotes economic freedom & growth, sound money, low taxes, and incentives such as school vouchers for education versus hand outs or entitlements. No wampum, condoms, or phones for the voters. Give a hand up, not a hand out.
  • The GOP should promote strong national defense, a rebuilding of critical industries in the US that are needed in event of any war or emergency. We should never support public sector involvement in any industry or business. No fascism allowed, please, only free market capitalism.
  • The GOP needs: New Leadership, New Young Candidates, New Communications venues for contacting voters, a New Message that's focused & communicated to the party & voters alike. Candidates must be able to articulate that message clearly.
  • As part of the New Communications, we need to utilize all Social Medias, blogs, Twitter, You Tube, and traditional medias such as cable TV, broadcast TV & radio.  How about starting some new media channels for these venues that are not owned by Marxist/Socialists? Some of the entrenched commentators that are not conveying the New Message, should step aside to allow new commentators a chance to bring that message to the fore. We need clarity in the message, not dancing on the head of a pin political insider gamesmanship.
  • Last, but certainly not least, eliminate the consultants (sorry Karl Rove), prune, and cut out the "Deadwood, Insider, Management in, Washington, '!,' Team," aka "DIMWIT."
Can it be done? It must and the process needs to begin immediately.
 
 
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25 comments:

Right Wingnut said...

Getting into areas such as abortion & contraception are costing votes and loss of women voters. We must adapt to the times to get into step with the voters.

I don't advocate making abortion the center of a general election campaign, but what do you suppose would have happened had Romney announced last summer that he is pro-choice. I'll tell you what would have happened. He would have lost by an even bigger margin, because even more of the base would have stayed home.

Right Wingnut said...

Here's mu contribution to this thread....

Ronald Reagan quote from a 1975 interview with Reason magazine.

REAGAN: Well, third parties have been notoriously unsuccessful; they usually wind up dividing the very people that should be united. And then we elect the wrong kind–the side we’re out to defeat wins. I have been doing my best to try to revitalize the Republican Party groups that I’ve spoken to, on the basis that the time has come to repudiate those in our midst who would blur the Republican image by saying we should be all things to all people in order to triumph. Lately, we find that of the 26 percent of the people who didn’t vote, more than half of them now say they didn’t vote because they don’t see any difference between the parties. I’ve been urging Republicans to raise a banner and put the things we stand for on that banner and don’t compromise, but don’t try to enlarge the party by being all things to everyone when you can’t keep all the promises. Put up a banner and then count on the fact that if you’ve got the proper things on that banner the people will rally round.

Link to entire interview: http://reason.com/archives/1975/07/01/inside-ronald-reagan

Joel2012 said...

Great job Lionhead! I can't say I agree with everything, but you are on the right track on most things. I also applaud the efforts of the owner of this site to bring a fresh new purpose for keeping us connected here. Bravo!

BOSMAN said...

What Republicans have to do is to quit looking and expecting perfection in the candidates we choose.

My philosophy is this. I'd rather 75% of a pie than no pie at all.

If those A..HOLES that sat out the election had thought the same way, we might have been celebrating tonight. Instead, we're trying to rationalize and irrational act.

WHY...these folks felt that staying home or being upset that Romney didn't wine & dine them to get them to vote, when the alternative was 4 more years of Obama, will be something I will never understand....BECAUSE IT MAKES NO SENSE!

BOSMAN said...

BTW LH, ABSOLUTELY GREAT IDEA you have here.

Right Wingnut said...

It is a good idea, because the chat box has outlived its usefulness. This way, comments will be preserved as long as this site remains active.

Right Wingnut said...

In addition, the chat box doesn't work well on a mobile device, so I usually don't even bother. Let the conspiracy folks that seem to monopolize it have it to themselves.

cimbri said...

Great post Lion. I commented many times months ago about the dead ender mentality in talk radio and in other places. We need to change the gatekeepers, somehow, someway; and no offense to RW, we need to jettison the personality cults surrounding people like Palin, who is paid to be controversial. Either she's a candidate or she's a pundit. The people out here need to quit being so wrapped around the axle on what a pundit says.

I think a lot of these problems will go away now that all the haters got their way, and didn't vote for the mormon guy or the rich guy, or whatever other reason they had to not turn out. That won't be a problem next go around, so all the phonies will be able to rally around a "true conservative". At least that's my hope; surly they won't pull the same number on Perry or the next guy coming to the plate.

BOSMAN said...

RWN,

The top 3 sources of traffic to this site are:

1. Google *way out front)
2. Facebook
3. CBOX (Our chat box)

then comes twitter a distant 4th

So the chat box has been good for us.

Right Wingnut said...

Bos,

How do you know from the traffic reports that people are in the chat box?

I'm not suggesting that it should be jettisoned. I'm just saying this is a better way to communicate with each other. Especially with more and more people relying on mobile devices.

I participate in a dog forum that has an iphone app, and comments and posts generated on the iphone are labeled as such. It's probably in the neighborhood of 20%. That number will undoubtedly grow as time goes on.

Right Wingnut said...

Oh, I see....people are clicking on links to RS posts FROM the chatbox. Is that it?

BOSMAN said...

They come to the chat box first (source), then click on the links from there. Our problem is that 99% of those who read our stuff, don't comment.

Right Wingnut said...

Comments keep people coming back, but I'm sure you already know that.

Anonymous said...

Lionhead for president! I completely agree with all of your points. I personally think the GOP should fold and the Repubs should join forces with the Libertarians and create a new party.

Right Wingnut said...

LH,

Again, I love the idea of The Lions Den, but can I make just one suggestion? It would helpful if you put a date in the title of each entry. That way it makes it easier to find a specific post later on....makes it more searchable.

Anonymous said...

Everyone, thanks for all your comments & kudos! I didn't expect the response.

RW, I'll edit & insert the date so each edition can be found. Thanks for the suggestion.

Anonymous said...

Unban me from the chatbox, where are all the idiots who called me an idiot for saying Obama wins? I kept saying here day after day, but I was criticized, I am right! I said that we were gonna win Florida, you rightwingers said no that Romney will win, what egg you have all over your faces. Lionhead, Joel, GOP2012, you all seemed to have dissappeared? The middle class will always win, you the GOP will always favor the rich and well off, thats why Romney lost. 2016 will also go democrat, mark my words, GOP will pander by making sure a latino is on the ticket in 2016, Rubio will lose, fatty Christie will lose, no brains Palin definitely will lose by forgetting her name. Please give me my props, I was attacked in the chatbox for being right, that Obama wins, now Ive been banned? sore losers. Its over for the rightwingers, fearmonger,warmonger party. OVER.

OBAMA2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ohio JOE said...

Lionhead, I do not think that the GOP overplayed social issues at all. In fact, they did not overplay any issue. There was very little national GOP advertising on TV. In the end one good debate by Mr. Romney did not cut it. He articulated his economic policies in the first debate, the rest of the campaign was a different story. He failed to counter the Bain attacks and the 47% attacks. As a result, many Blue collar voters stayed home or voted for Mr. Obama instead of the GOP ticket.

Nancy Bowron said...

I think you are right on target with what needs to be done. The suggestions sound very much like the Tea Party platform - just more expanded. So if the GOP sounds like the Tea Party, some will choose Tea Party, others will choose GOP and then the base is split.

I do know I'm tired of being asked to support mediocre candidates with a blurred platform.

So do you save the GOP? Is it too entrenched in beltway politics to survive an overhaul? Or step aside for the Tea Party, since it's new and without so much "baggage"? As long as we debate this we will remain divided. I think the answer will come with which ever entity provides the best leadership, unwavering, and communicates it effectively (especially to the 18-25 age voters).

Anonymous said...

OJ, thanks for your comments. I agree with you. I think the GOP didn't overplay the social issues, but the DNC did, forcing candidates like Santorum into the rabbit hole in the primaries. The waters were pretty muddied up at the end of it going into the General Election.

Romney/Ryan were admirable candidates, but just couldn't resonate with the voters to get them off the couch like you mentioned. Hence, my suggestions to bring in some needed changes.

Nancy B. thank you. It really comes down to the basics doesn't it? Candidates, Communication, Message, and a Party that can put all this together. I'm more concerned about that than GOP or Tea Party. Call it the Orange Juice Can party, but conservatives can't win with what we have. You're spot on in trying to reach the 18-25 demagraphic. We can't be the white old man party & survive, otherwise we're dinosaurs heading into the ice age.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Anon @ 11:45pm, you sound like a very ungracious winner. Did Obama cut down the GOP or Romney? No. When you win, enjoy the victory, but remember, we'll be back.

We'll be back stronger & smarter for our defeat. We're not going anywhere. No one has left Right Speak. We're holding our ground here. You might remember one thing, the only constant is change. And change will come and your predictions might not have any relevance in 2016.

Zed said...

Jettison the social conservative and I guarentee you we stay the hell home. Romney would of lost by 20 points. We also need to get away from being so pro defense. We spend more on defense then all other countries combined. I am not saying remove soldiers and sailors but we dont need this huge military industrial complex that Ike warned us of. Other then that I agree with the rest.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to add one further comment, as no one picked up on it. Hubris. Many assumed everyone would back Romney/Ryan no matter how centrist they became, because it was them or the couch. That hubris was another thing that lost the election in that the marginalized voters chose the couch. I think many factors contributed to the loss; not any one, but the totality tipped the balance to Obama.

Perhaps there should be one additional "commandment" for the GOP; Thou shalt not run scorched earth primary campaigns lest you send voters to the couch.

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