I know I've posted in the past, being quite unfriendly towards Dick Cheney.
All ugliness aside, I just plain disagree with him on where the Republican Party needs to go.
I have noticed that there is a war of sorts raging within the GOP. Cheney and Limbaugh are on one side, and Powell and McCain are on the other.
First of all, I believe all four individuals above do want to see the GOP remain Grand.
Second, all personal opinion aside, if Powell wants to actually succeed in helping the Republican Party become more "big tent" and moderate, he needs to take a page from the Democratic Party's handbook. No, I'm not talking about becoming more liberal. I'm talking about the DLC: The Democratic Leadership Committee, an independent entity responsible for the "New Democrats," namely the Clintons. Bill Clinton came from the DLC's leadership, which worked to counteract the negative image associated with Jesse Jackson Sr's Presidential run in '84 and '88. They feared the extreme left continuing their takeover of the Democratic Party.
What Powell needs, and I personally believe we need in the GOP, is our own DLC to balance the far-right. If Powell really believes that the Republican Party needs to start bringing in the moderates and social liberals (but fiscal conservatives), he needs to be part of the leadership of said committee. In other words, he needs to back up his words with actions.
CNN's Roland S. Martin has the same idea. From his article at CNN.com:
If such an organization was created, and all of a sudden you had chapters forming in states across the country, you would have the infrastructure to identify candidates to run in local and state races, and challenge the people Powell and others think are driving the party further into isolation as a largely southern and regional party.
It's clear the GOP has enormous problems in the Northeast part of the country, and with Obama winning a sizeable portion of the Hispanic vote, and the party's staunch opposition to illegal immigration, it is going to have a hell of a time in the Southwest and West. And with a fractured party, there is no better time to create an alternative that people can believe in and rally behind.
On CNN last week, senior analyst Gloria Borger said there clearly is a civil war raging within the GOP, and Powell and Cheney are on opposite sides. I chimed in that in any war, I'd trust the guy who put on a military uniform -- Powell -- rather than the guy who ran from serving our country -- Cheney.
In other words, the only way for Powell to prove his point that the party would be stronger if it reached out to moderates more would be to create this kind of organization. If his hypothesis is correct, then the party would grow exponentially, with strong moderate candidates to run for office. If he's wrong, then the worst would be that the party would continue to shift to the right, a path it is already taking.
Powell cannot lose unless he does nothing.
I say Jamás to Hamas!
11 months ago
9 comments:
Absolutely correct.
The GOP is now in thrall to the extremists of its membership--and it looks like the Democrats did in the tumultuous 60s and 70s--from which they are now recovering.
If the GOP doesn't allow its moderates to gain the ascendency, it will continue to be regarded as a party of wacko followers of Limbaugh and Gingrich.
It does not bode well for them.
Don't try to dictate what the Republican Party needs, Shaw.
You are not a member and, like most liberals, are always quick to judge how extreme our party is when you're own party has been long since hijacked by extremists.
James, the reason the party did so horribly last term was that they strayed from conservative values. Numbers are increasing in the anti abortion realm and the the anti closure of GITMO realm to name two.
It indicates to me that we are a center right country, and I believe it will come to fruition after taxes start to hit the people 'the one' promised not to tax.
James, this is exactly what Karl Rove called for a couple of weeks back.
He felt that if there is to be a place for more moderate voices within the GOP, then it was incumbent on them to work within the party to build that coalition.
I would be the first to agree with you that the Dems have some real issues with the extremists within the party. Specifically folks along the Code Pink, Cindy Sheehan, over the top politically correct line.
But are you saying that there are no extreme voices within the GOP?
Dave, I'm saying that I personally feel like the GOP has been hijacked by those extreme right voices, such as Rush & Cheney. If Powell really wants to talk about the moderate part being the future, he needs to do something about it.
Pitbull, I personally disagree.
I would have voted for McCain had he not chosen Palin. She was too conservative, plus the fact that he let his campaign be hijacked by the GOP when they demanded he pick someone more conservative. Had he chosen someone more moderate, or even independent, he might have stolen some of those that were wooed by Obama.
i know you disagree. People like you, and the media have hijacked our party in an attempt to get along with a liberal juggernaut that feeds faster than it's fed.
I don't think we've hijacked anything, Blue.
Even Reagan saw past a small base. Whatever happened to the whole "big tent"?
GWB and Cheney hijacked it with neo-conservative foreign policy and nothing more than lipservice to fiscal conservatism, i.e. doubling the national debt and starting the bailouts.
We need a return to fiscal conservatism and social moderates in the GOP.
In my opinion, the GOP needs a balance between the moderates and the conservatives, otherwise one side or the other takes over.
If the GOP keeps shifting right, it just may go the way of the Whigs.
James, you don't care about the Republican party. You should really go Democrat. You're beliefs contradict what the party is about.
Actually Pitbull, many of my beliefs don't. I am fiscally conservative. As I have said from the beginning, I am not a fan of these bailouts or deficit spending.
Socially, I am moderate. I am pro-gay marriage. I am pro-life, however.
Foreign policy I am more traditionally conservative. I wasn't a fan of Iraq because I didn't believe we should have gone there. But I supported Afghanistan and the search for Bin Laden.
I have been a life-long Republican from a family of Republicans. Many of my relatives have fought for this country.
So no, Pitbull, the Democratic Party is not where my views are mirrored. And you are wrong about me not caring for the Republican Party. The reason I am so critical is because I care and want to see change within the party I've always been a part of.
Those who push anyone that doesn't fit within their beliefs out of the party truly don't care about the party's future. The country has shown itself to not be hard-line conservative when the people rejected Palin. On paper at least only 20% of people support the Republican party, and many of those are the elderly and therefore not the future. If the GOP can't pull itself together and get the young IT WILL DIE. That is what I'm trying to avoid.
If Colin Powell were to run for President in 2012, he would surely win.
Powell’s vision of the GOP is much more moderate and safe for the US than any of the other crazy far-right wing neo-cons that are trying to gather control of their dying party.
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