Tell me this. If you were picking a Republican to lead their party (it could be for the RNC, the House, or the Senate) who would you think the most capable of steering the party back to a majority?
The reason I ask is because I can’t think of anyone on the Republican side that I fear. To a one, they seem to have their heads shoved so far up their asses that they have no idea how to change course and do something that might be popular with the American people.
The question seems to imply that among the people in a position to make such a decision, there exists a significantly influential person or bloc that is even capable of taking a long-term, objective strategic view of what is good for the party as a whole. I seriously doubt this is the case.
Erm…
Erm…
Erm…
Chuck Hagel, Mayor Bloomberg, Newt Gingrich? Mebbee? A li’l?
I know it wasn’t the question, but certainly the most capable of returning the GOP to power are Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.
You are exactly right. Right now they both scare me a hell of a lot more than any Republican.
Especially, Harry Reid. Why, oh, why does he have to be the majority leader?
You shouldn’t have to wait for long….the Rethug Handlers will no doubt come up with some unknown who will appear, carrying impeccable ‘credentials’ and have the necessary ‘lineage’ to satisfy the neo-monarchists of his (and yes, he‘ll be male, and white)”right” to ascend to the Nomination….whether it be for Congress, Senate, or the next Presidential run.
Never mind the poor fool will be essentially an empty suit. Bush was an archetype–it’s not the man, it’s the presentation.
I’m probably wrong, but my fear throughout the last part of this electoral cycle was that Rove’s people would drive out enough of the McCain people, to finally get their presentation and message straight. Had that happened, the election might have been a lot closer than it turned out.
Thank my left pinky toe for small favours……
you can’t get there from here.
Who you pick would depend on the type of coalition you are trying to build. If you intend on rebuilding Reagan’s coalition then you’ll have to spend a Weekend at Ronnie’s because nobody else can put that scrambled egg back together again. Starting from scratch, you would have to start in the South since that’s all that’s left of the current GOP and branch out. A populist social conservative could solidify that base, but it would have to be someone who doesn’t get Wall Street’s panties in a wad and who doesn’t alienate the somewhat secular suburbanites. Mike Huckabee could be the GOP point person, but he couldn’t be the candidate – that will naturally flow from any Obama missteps. Until Obama screws up the shape of the opposition will be in flux, necessarily, so we won’t know how the GOP should proceed until then. In the meantime, Huckabee probably gives them the best chance to position themselves to take advantage of any opportunity that Obama gives them.
Who does Obama piss off? That’ll show you how to oppose him. If Obama is smart, when he has to make a hard choice, he’ll piss off those who are least likely to coexist with the xenophobic GOP base. Obama being who he is, he’ll probably end up making the choice that works best and letting the electoral consequences fall where they may.
That’s us, the progressive Democratic base. He knows we would never vote for a winger. Prepare for some deep wounds in the back.
Can you say “Rev. Rick?”
Let’s hope that Obama at least uses a little lube while he screws us.
Newt Gingrich. Not necessarily as a candidate, but as a strategist.
Wether you ‘fear’ him is unimportant. He can lie and deceive enough to fool the public into believing Republicans can govern. The Republicans need someone just like him.
The fact is that balanced budgets and lower taxes are still an argument that can resonate with a large amount of people. Throw in just the right amount of sanctimonious blather about the moral decline of America (coupled with economic hard times), then sprinkle a certain level of racial ‘they are taking over’, and they can win the White House back.
The trick that the Republicans have of wrecking the country while in power and then blaming the following Democratic administration WORKS.
However, none of it will matter if Obama can have even a mediocre term in office. But I have my doubts he can even reach that level. Obama is stuck with Pelosi and Reid, and he has appointed a slue of ‘go along to get along’ Senators and House members who have very little incentive to rock the boat in the way it needs to be rocked.
As long as Obama keeps them in the game, the Republicans can win again. And Obama has lead me to believe that he not only wants them in the game, he wants them to be handling the ball.
nalbar
Sheesh! I should have just written ‘What Digby said’:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/return-of-zombies-by-digby.html
They can come back EASILY.
nalbar
Blaming it on the Democratic Congress works too. Hell, they’ve got ME convinced!
LOL!
Judging by my posts, they have convinced me also!
The country is run by wankers. We are SOOOO fucked.
nalbar
when i first read the question i thought my head would explode.
now that i have that back under control
i think you are right about newt….he is kind of wonky and some people will go for that and ignore the divorces etc.
i think crist and jeb have a very good chance of being leaders of their party. and we should fear that happening.
if jindal does a good job as gov he could be a real leader to a large swath of repubs. i dont think thats going to happen.
i wouldnt count palin out…we dont know what she would be like without mccain chains around her…it could go either way….she might be a firebrand who inspires a lot of people no matter how dumb she really is. she could be the female version of reagan. she could fool a lot of people. republicans love them some sparkles.
im interested to see how dems do when they dont have obama at the top of the ticket bringing people out in droves.
Alan Simpson. He ain’t dead yet.
Maybe Arnold
The only one that made me worry in the primaries was Huckabee.
I know his positions on just about everything are evil, but you can’t help but like the guy. And he’s funny, appears to listen to people and seems to care about the poor, etc. He didn’t come off as the usual corporate crook, you know.
I don’t understand why Wall street was against him. He wanted to end all income taxes. Maybe they just felt more comfortable with Mitt, he was one of them.
watch that Rep. Cantor fella.
She most accurately represents Republican morals, honesty, vision, priorities, and values.
God, that reads funny.
…and level of intelligence.
Bobby Jindal. Just take a look at his website. A campaign website that’s being regularly updated in the month after an election is the website of somebody who’s planning to move up the foodchain.
I attended an extremely creepy discussion last summer in SF with a panel of hardcore Republican ideologues discussing how the GOP could reclaim its standing. They, of course, blamed the party’s woes on a failure to adhere strongly enough to conservative principles, and they bitched mightily about W and Arnold and other RINOs. Their take was that the future of the conservative movement lies with committed conservatives like Tom McClintock (who just edged out Carlie Brown in CA-04) and Bobby Jindal. Of the two, I think Jindal is by far the more appealing on almost every level. I don’t think he’ll make a move in 2012 unless something very bad happens to Democrats, but I think he’s poised to be very strong in ’16. He’s going to sound and look reasonable, he’s not going to carry any baggage from the Bush Administration, and he’s going to be a fresh and attractive face with “new” ideas. I think he’s pretty damn scary.
Speaking of Jindal, we were driving behind a car with a 2012 sticker on it…we got close enough to read the rest of it, and it said “Palin Jindal”.
Scary thought.
I thinking of contributing to Palin… if I could only be sure that she’d choose SC Gov. Mark Sanford. Campaign motto: “The Stupid Leading the Blind.”
If they had brains, and that’s a big if, they’d pursue someone like Governor Jodi Rell, despite her lack of name recognition.
I’d like to see them double down on GW Bush.
Give the country four years of depression and GOP obstructionism. The voters will lose Bush fatigue and Jeb will look pretty attractive.