Can the GOP be Saved?

Quite frankly.... YES. I was reading an encouraging article in Maclean's yesterday and it revealed some positive moves that the GOP can/should/will have to implement if they want to get back to a party of prominence. It comes from the latest CPAC. So what would those moves be?

Out of the speeches and discussions came two pressing questions: should the party get on board with attempts by a few Republicans, led by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, to work with Obama and Democrats to pass comprehensive immigration reform—including some form of legalization, if not full citizenship, for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants? And should the party take a new approach to gay rights to stop alienating young voters who see it as the civil rights issue of their time?

*snip*

The debate over immigration and gay rights at times pitted the new generation of upcoming presidential hopefuls, such as Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, against other big names in the conservative movement, such as Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, and social conservatives such as Rick Santorum.

www2.macleans.ca...

Note some of what the new guys are saying:

“If we allow the President to drone citizens, what have our brave men and women been fighting for?” said Paul, to applause. “The GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered. The new GOP will have to embrace liberty in both the economic and personal sphere.”

You'll note that when referring to these people that they are not called "illegal" immigrants but "undocumented" immigrants. A positive move but not without detractors:

Real estate mogul Donald Trump criticized the emphasis on legalizing undocumented immigrants. “If given the right to vote, every one of those 11 million people will be voting Democratic,” he told Republicans. “You are on a suicide mission. You’re just not going to get those votes.”

Not true. The Conservative gov't up here had never courted immigrant votes before but in the last election they did. They focused on family values. BINGO they get their majority gov't. It can be done. It HAS been done. Society changes and those that change with it survive. Those that don't..... Read the whole article. There is a lot there to be positive about if you are a Republican. The young guns seem to have a vision. Oh, how did things work out? The exit straw poll:

Rand won the gathering’s presidential straw poll; Rubio came a close second.

The party is saying it's time for change.

In my opinion the republican party will need to desperately to transform in order to survive. Even though a political party has different ideals and principles voters might like; the politicians themselves alienate voters. I was reading an article about Michele Bachmann on how she is causing the republican party to lose voters and make their image ugly.

It's almost as if Bachmann is a Democratic mole embedded in the Republican Party with the purpose of chasing away a wide range of voters.

Even Karl Rove realizes the republican party needs to have more diverse candidates who will bring in voters.

Only time will tell how the Americans will vote to chose their leaders and office holders. I just wish we'll vote for great leaders, than thieves and crooks.

It's not about illegal immigration, deficit, debt, etc. Just look at the candidates being put forth by the GOP. When you have these people saying things like the female body has ways of shutting down rape, you know you have a problem.

reply to post by RedShirt73


That is true but you can't ignore the other as well:

He noted that George W. Bush, who used more inclusive language, had won 44 per cent of the Hispanic vote, while Romney got only 26 per cent. “The notion that we can use harsh tones against undocumented immigrants and not offend Hispanics is delusional,” said Ayres. “We’ve got to get it right on immigration before they’ll listen to us on taxes or the economy or anything else.”

Who wants to save the GOP?

No matter what they say, what planks they have.... They are not for the American people.

We can hope that they and the other major crime syndicate(The Democrats) will be gone soon.

reply to post by intrepid


No.

The GOP as it is right now, cannot be saved.

It can be re-invented. Maybe.

But we first have to get rid of the progressives.
Then replace the old guard with real people of character and moral fiber.

We need a party that is unified in making itself an example of how to lead.

Self-imposed term limits. No graft. No compromise.

At least, that's a start.

(In my humble opinion)

I'll toss my two cents into the jar...

I think the GOP absolutely can be saved, it's just unlikely to see happen. Why? Saving it will require wholesale retiring some of the people who control it with an iron fist ..as we saw in the last election season. Specifically, people like Boehner, Mccain, Rove, Graham have GOT to go. With the sole exception of Rove, these are people who have been in Congress long enough to have literally cast votes for the very things which have now destroyed our nation in many ways.

Time has played out on those bad ideas and the people who wrote and passed them are the idiots now telling us they can fix what "someone else" broke. Well.. No... THEY broke it. They weren't alone, but we're just talking the GOP here at the moment.

Rove is a case all his own and a cheap excuse for a tinpot tyrant behind the scenes. He seems to have thought he pulled a clever one there by bailing out of the Bush admin before the crash and defeat of the replacement in 2008. Well....not everyone drank his flavor of cool-aid to miss the stunt he pulled. He helped MAKE the worst policies of the Bush admin ...and he's now a king maker within the GOP.

Until these dinosaur problem children are out of the GOP power structure? It's not a Grand Old Party. It's a Geriatric Old Party with recycled ideas proven bad at least once before in most cases ...and many times before in some.

To hell with the GOP. The way they ran there process for electing a presidential nominee should be the last nail in there coffin.

The GOP will be just fine and the absolute worse thing they could do is to morph into some weak version of a progressive democrat.

The political history in the US shows that regardless of what the other party has as their platform, they will eventually be returned to office.

This is because after a certain amount of time, the party in power begins to get the blame for every negative aspect that is happening in the country. During this time you have the guys on the other side promising how they will do better and people begin to get the "grass is greener on the other side" mentality and eventually give the other side a shot again.

This has happened consistently every since Washington was President. Currently we are coming off a fairly long run of republican control in the WH so its only natural that democrats get a shot for awhile. We may get a president who's republican for a term or so but I'd expect the current shift to liberalism to last a good 12, 16 years until it flips again.

Remember that after FDR's fourth election, the GOP was declared dead, finished...but they came roaring back with Eisenhower's election. It was so bad for the GOP at that time that IKE didn't even mention the words republican or GOP in any of his campaign ads, it had that bad of a connotation.

Obama has won only 2 elections and I find it funny how everyone is saying that the GOP had to do this or that in order to win again. The best thing they can do is tack hard to the right and present the American people with a clear, definite alternative to what the democrats are offering.

That is their best hope of getting into office quickly.

reply to post by Hopechest


That's exactly what isn't working. This isn't the 30's, 40's or 50's anymore. Society is much more complex. You can't kick back and wait for the incumbent to tire the electorate. Nor to just wait for them to screw up so that it can be pointed out. New strategies and policies have to be adopted.

reply to post by intrepid



Speaking as a life long republican, I have to say that our days are numbered.
Texas *my state* has been red for many many years but with the influx of immigrants
from Mexico, Im afraid that Obama is right (for once) and Texas will soon be a battleground sate.

Originally posted by TriForce
reply to post by intrepid

 

Speaking as a life long republican, I have to say that our days are numbered.
Texas *my state* has been red for many many years but with the influx of immigrants
from Mexico, Im afraid that Obama is right (for once) and Texas will soon be a battleground sate.

Then does it not make sense to embrace them then?

Calling Hispanics “entrepreneurial, family-oriented, and church-going,” Ayres said they are a natural constituency for Republicans—but are turned off by rhetoric such as Romney’s advocacy of “self-deportation” of undocumented immigrants.

reply to post by intrepid


I agree with you.. However, Reagan already tried that back in the 80s, giving millions of illegals amnesty..
I dont have the stats at hand but ive read that it didnt change their minds about the republicans one bit.

Originally posted by intrepid
reply to post by Hopechest

 

That's exactly what isn't working. This isn't the 30's, 40's or 50's anymore. Society is much more complex. You can't kick back and wait for the incumbent to tire the electorate. Nor to just wait for them to screw up so that it can be pointed out. New strategies and policies have to be adopted.

Incorrect. Today's society is no more complex than it ever has been. Not everyone in the early 20th century thought alike, in fact, some of the divisions back then were even more pronounced. You had the sufferage movement, civil rights, huge issues about the wars, particularly WWII and Korea, the extremely stark differences about how to deal with communism.......I'd say that today the country is much more united in their views then they were during the times you mentioned.

There is a huge portion of the country that is conservative but the political atmosphere is simply blowing to the left. Its a natural political cycle and there is absolutely nothing the GOP can do to change it. They simply need to let it run its course until people decide they want to go another way. They won't be convinced to change their way of thinking by some slick political ads or words by a politician.

Its like during the Vietnam War and the 60's in general. There was a movement in the country towards rebellion, peace and all that fun stuff. There is absolutely nothing the other side could have done or said to have changed the mood in the country and today is just the same way.

Originally posted by Hopechest
Incorrect. Today's society is no more complex than it ever has been.

Sorry, I have to disagree. Back then society was pretty much white and black, in that order. Yes there were some Chinese and Latinos but not to the degree that it is now. Secondly you have social media where EVERYTHING that one says today is dissected and spun. AND anyone can see what you've said. MUCH more complex today.

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by Hopechest
Incorrect. Today's society is no more complex than it ever has been.

Sorry, I have to disagree. Back then society was pretty much white and black, in that order. Yes there were some Chinese and Latinos but not to the degree that it is now. Secondly you have social media where EVERYTHING that one says today is dissected and spun. AND anyone can see what you've said. MUCH more complex today.

I agree with you today. Last presidential election turned out lower number of voters compared to the 2008 election. Americans do not care about the phony democrat and republican party. They can dissect anything someone says, publishes, etc. It is very complex how America has become.

Originally posted by RedShirt73
It's not about illegal immigration, deficit, debt, etc. Just look at the candidates being put forth by the GOP. When you have these people saying things like the female body has ways of shutting down rape, you know you have a problem.

Let's not forget all the new voter ID laws, the 47% remarks, their opposition to "The Violence Against Women Act," their defense of DOMA, their opposition to the "Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act," their opposition to raising the minimum wage, etc...

Not to mention the fact that they are responsible for "The Real ID Act" which happens to be a hot topic in another thread here on ATS. One where most of the conservative posters in the thread are intent on finding a way to blame Obama and the democrats.

Never mind the fact that it was a republican initiative sponsored by James Sensenbrenner (R) of Wi., pushed through congress and enacted into law in 2005. It doesn't even matter that both Obama and Janet Napolitano are opposed to the law and have asked congress to repeal it.

Oh yeah, Did I mention that the republicans have a hard time dealing with facts?

The only way I see the GOP making a comeback is if they were to completely reverse their current stances on most of the issues facing our nation today, in which case they'd have to call themselves democrats. So I guess my answer to the question in the OP would be "NO!"

It's irrelevant...

Whether the GOP, or any conservatively centric political party can be "saved"or even be viable as a majority seat holder at the national level in the U.S. It's not "the party" that is the issue... It is the rise of the zero liability voter and their teetering upon a majority of the electorate that has doomed the "Party of Lincoln." There is no way that the GOP can appeal to the ZLV and to their own base at the same time, and by virtue of the "hand to mouth crowd" soon to be majority, "democracy" will be the death knell of yet another republic.

The only consolation is that democracy, much like a malignancy is it's own undoing... The cancer that "wins" by claiming the life of it's host, also succumbs to the ravages that laid it's unfortunate victim in the grave.

Make no mistake, I haven't struck the colors or forsaken My Captain, Oh Captain! I merely realize that I am sentinel to the coming storm that in the end will provide an opportunity for new life to spring from the Tree of Liberty. May we all be blessed to see not only the sun rise upon this time of transition, but to see it set as well and enjoy more fruitful and prosperous days to come.

reply to post by Flatfish


I don't recall mentioning Democrats at all. This thread is about GOP policy and where it may be heading. I don't want this turned into partisan crap.