On the necessity of Tea Partys

Our own local Tea Party seems to be getting smaller and smaller, this is no time for letting up on the pressure of the conservatives on the "business as usual" politicians.

It’s no time for a ‘party’
by Frank Miele

If you are a fan of this weekly column, you probably don’t think Democrats are the solution to this country’s problems. But if you think Republicans are the solution, think again.

George W. Bush is a Republican. John McCain is a Republican. Strange as it may seem, even Arnold Schwarzenegger is a Republican! Now, stop talking about partisan solutions, and face the facts.

Republicans are not the solution — you are.

It’s up to the good people of this country to stand up and get something done — restore common sense, return to common values, and re-establish the Constitution as the common bond that all Americans share.

That means that everyday Americans can’t just be passive observers anymore. You can’t just entrust the future to one party or the other. And you can’t stand back and watch your country be run into the ground, and wonder who is going to take care of the problem. It’s up to you.

There are literally millions of Americans working to “fundamentally transform” America into a place where “social justice” is more important that individual liberty, into a place where “equal outcomes” have taken the place of “equal rights,” and ultimately into a place where — like in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” — “some... are more equal than others.”

Sure, I know there is a sentimental attachment some people have to party designations, and you can make a case that Democrats lean a certain way and Republicans lean another way, but the facts of the past 50 years speak pretty loudly.

Since 1961, we have had five Democratic presidents and five Republican presidents. Congress has been a bit more Democratic over that long period, but you would be hard pressed to see much difference in the outcomes between times of Democratic and Republican control. Problems have continued to grow, and solutions have continued to get more distant in the telescope, no matter who was in control. The current debt crisis is just one more example of that. George W. Bush was nearly as profligate a spender as Barack Obama, and apparently thought that being a compassionate conservative meant spending more money on social programs than Democrats did.

As for President Obama, what’s his explanation for bombing Libya? How can he possibly jibe his administration’s use of war powers today with his own statement in 2007 that, “The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation”?

Answer: He can’t. It’s just one more example of how political affiliation is more for convenience in getting elected than a statement of values or guarantee of where you stand.

Another place where both parties have an abysmal record for acting in accord with the wishes of the people is border control and immigration sanity. Don’t forget — it was President Bush who tried to push through amnesty for illegal immigrants, with the support of many Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

And it wasn’t the Republican Party that stopped that disaster from happening; it was the American people, rousing from their slumber long enough to slam a sledgehammer of email, faxes and phone calls into the Capitol. Congress got the message — barely. The amnesty bill was shut down and people started talking about enforcing border security instead of legalizing criminal behavior.

But as always happens, the powers that be were just waiting for America to go back to sleep — Democrats kept talking about “comprehensive immigration reform,” the code words for amnesty, and Republicans kept trying to figure out how they could vote for it and still get re-elected.

A funny thing happened on the way to the re-vote that many in Congress had hoped for, however; the Tea Party movement emerged, partly as a followup to the amnesty fight and partly as a bulwark against increased government spending that was proposed in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse.

What the Tea Party realized long before most people did was that 20 million illegal aliens inside our borders are a huge drain on government services and taxpayer dollars. If we are against government spending money on citizens, we are adamant in our opposition to spending money to protect people who have broken the law to take advantage of our hospitality.

But if you think that Republicans are going to take the common sense approach to the immigration crisis, just take a look at Utah to see how wrong you are.

In a state that is arguably the most Republican in the country, a bill was recently signed into law that allows illegal immigrants to become legal residents of Utah. That’s right. Pay a fine of $2,500 and be on the road to not just a driver’s license, but also in-state tuition, safety-net benefits, and possibly even the right to vote! Talk about a path to citizenship!

Democrats are no doubt giddy over such a development, but the problem is that it would take federal approval to work — and if the feds were to allow Utah to develop its own immigration policy, it would also have to acknowledge the right of Arizona to do the same thing.

Since Arizona wants to do the right thing and send illegals aliens back to their homes in Mexico and elsewhere, that’s never going to happen!

But in the meantime, we are left with the incredibly important lesson that party membership is no guarantee of common sense, nor a safeguard against hypocrisy or foolishness. If you trust a political party to do the right thing, you aren’t paying attention.

Don’t trust Democrats, don’t trust Republicans, don’t even trust the Tea Party. If you expect anything to get done, trust yourself. Speak up, speak louder, speak until you are heard. Don’t let someone else do it — because they aren’t always speaking for you, and by the time you figure that out, it’s often too late.

Frank Miele/Daily Inter Lake

Tea Party for Dummies, at last we are explained in a way even liberals can understand

From Politico

'Tea Party' for dummies
By CURT ANDERSON
I’m fed up with all the foolishness written about the tea party. Virtually all the analysis has been off base. Liberals don’t get it. Democratic political players mistakenly think they can use it against Republicans. And the Republican establishment is cowed and terrified.

First, there should be a rule that no one can write about the tea party without attending events outside the Beltway. Here is what you would find: a mishmash of Americans who are a bit unusual yet oddly refreshing. There would be housewives with strollers, young people with edgy signs, old-timers with walkers, bikers with flags and Republican workers handing out literature that no one wants.
Like any political event, there would be smart people and dumb, well-intentioned folks and troublemakers, folks with their lives together and folks who need medication. There are clever signs and stupid signs.

Sometimes emotions run high. I saw a confrontation last year at a tea party event in Madison, Wis., between an obnoxious young “protester,” wearing a “Feingold for Senate” T-shirt, and a grizzled Vietnam veteran. The protester was filling the air with expletives, so the vet came over and said he was going to shove his cane down the protester’s throat. Sadly, the protester immediately stopped exercising his First Amendment rights.

I love it when enlightened pundits observe that there are “crazy people” at these events. No kidding. Ever been to a Democratic or Republican convention? Plenty of attendees would not pass a CT scan. Ever been to a PTA meeting? There are crazy people in America, on your TV and in your neighborhood. You may even be one of them. Deal with it.

Republican leaders are grappling with the tea party phenomenon as we speak. While publicly genuflecting to the tea party, many are privately scared and embarrassed. What do its members want? Are they trying to take over? How do we deal with them? It’s the cause of much consternation on the D.C. cocktail circuit.

A little history: My first job in politics began in 1984. There was a different, yet in many ways similar, dynamic afoot. This thing, which the media pejoratively labeled “the religious right,” had emerged as a political force and was threatening to upset the seating chart in the Republican universe.

Hand-wringing was everywhere. The late Jerry Falwell’s moral majority and Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition were the proverbial Huns at the gate — threatening to crash the party.

The religious right had a beef with the GOP: The party was not conservative enough, particularly on cultural issues. President Ronald Reagan was the exception, not the rule. Rep. Bob Michel and Sen. Howard Baker were the moderate rulers on Capitol Hill — and were suspect.

There is a lot more in here comparing the Tea Party to the Christian Right showing the differences............

Today, the tea party movement presents the GOP with a similar challenge — albeit with its own unique wrinkles. If it was sometimes difficult to figure out who was in charge of the religious right, it’s impossible to do so with the tea party. For one thing, tea partiers are suspect of anyone who wants to be in charge or any party that wants to harness them.
.......
The tea party remains a movement. As such, it is darn near impossible to contain, organize or control. Don’t waste your time trying. Call it rugged individualism.

You can either appeal to its concerns by voicing the issues it cares about, or you can try to organize and control it. If you choose the latter approach, good luck.

In the tea party world, structure is bad, political parties are corrupt, politicians are liars and authority is suspect. In other words, members are just like my kids and American voters — but a little more so.

Many Republican elites fret about the downsides of the tea party. They point to the disastrous failure to beat Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada or to the absurd TV ad that began with the genius phrase, “I’m not a witch.”

Yep. You have some of that. Democracy is messy. But you also have some benefits — like control of the House. Let’s face it, at the end of 2008, the Republican Party was almost out of gas, having been routed in two consecutive elections.

The energy of the tea party movement, in concert with tremendous help from President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), created the potential for the Republican landslide of 2010. This is not an arguable point.

So enough hand-wringing already.

Curt Anderson is a Republican strategist and a partner at OnMessage Inc., a GOP media and polling firm. He co-wrote Gov. Bobby Jindal’s book “Leadership in Crisis.”

Read it all here.  You might want to print it out and have it handy to hand to your liberal friends who don't get it.

Internal Republican Problems in Texas

I've been getting all the emails pro and con on as to who should be the speaker in the Texas House.  This is a good wrap up of what is going on - or maybe not going on.  It has been a real anthill of activity since the November elections.  This is from the Trailblazer's Politics blog. (Dallas News)

Speaker's race: Any votes moving beneath froth?
by Robert T. Garrett/Reporter

"The Tea Party in Texas has been working overtime to ensure that we have conservative leadership in the Texas House," says the unknown producer of this anti-Joe Straus video, which appears on the website StopJoeStraus.com , itself something of a mystery. Since I first noticed the site a few weeks back, I've asked the most visible organizer of the push for a more conservative speaker, Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, if he has learned who's behind StopJoeStraus.com.

"I have not," he told me today.

This video, with its network-news-type graphics, is more sophisticated -- or jaded -- than some of the anti-Straus fusillades we've seen up to now.

I say jaded because it's ironic to see an ostensibly conservative issue campaign cite the liberal Texas Observer as its authority for spreading fear that Joe Straus' family ties to gambling mean that casinos are sure to start popping up like dandelions across the state. The article about Straus' gambling bloodlines was written last spring by the estimable Andrew Wheat of the watchdog group Texans for Public Justice, and just those words alone should grab the attention of the tort reformers among us.

But speaker's race politics does make for strange bedfellows. To guard his right flank, Straus, R-San Antonio , has produced the video below, which puts forth his Republican credentials. Also, as a tea party blog known as Ramparts 360 recently noted, Straus has hired quite a diverse cast of political consultants and his most outspoken defenders in the House Republican Caucus have included some members he really went to the mat -- or the checkbook -- to assist in last year's election.

Speaking of the caucus, if you've been on vacation, you might have missed that its Straus-supporting chairman, Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, has agreed to hold a meeting on Jan. 10, the day before the session starts; Straus opponent Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, wants Taylor to call for "a vote to determine the Republican preference for speaker," which would be nonbinding but potentially trouble-causing for the incumbent; and Straus has reacted by saying, in effect, big deal, I've got more than enough Republican votes to carry the day -- whether it's opening day or the day before.

You will want to go to the site, read the whole thing, and then follow some of the other postings. The only way to have a fair appraisal of this situation is to read all the links, pro and con, watch the videos, all the comments (one of which gives the story behind the video mystery) then make up your mind.

Is the name of the game Control for the Republican Party?

In an article in American Thinker Joseph Asbuy makes the case and that is his final conclusion. Here is the article, what do you think?

The Establishment Strikes Back

At the climax of the 1977 film Star Wars, hero Luke Skywalker destroys the evil Empire's dreaded Death Star. The Rebellion's celebration, however, is short-lived. The movie series' next installment, The Empire Strikes Back, depicts the Empire's use of its still vastly superior weaponry and manpower to reassert its authority.

In the 2010-midterm elections, the tea party movement has played the role of the Rebellion. But the Empire is not played by the Democrats. It's true that the Democrat-controlled federal government was resoundingly defeated in the November 2nd general election, but that loss, unlike the destruction of the Death Star, was not a surprise. The real blindside was the tea party's dismantling of the Republican Establishment throughout the primary season.

He goes on to describe the wins by the tea party candidates against their Republican establishment and wraps it up with this:

The Establishment attitude is another form of central planning, in this case political planning instead of economic. The great economist Frederick von Hayek was once asked by so many academics rejected the free market in favor of central direction. Hayek responded: "I think it's...an intellectual attraction of a system you can deliberately control, which is fascinating to the intellectual." For Rove, Graham and others it's not just winning, but winning with their plan. The organized chaos of the tea party is to the Establishment what the unplanned free market is to the leftist professor. Both represent a lack of "fascinating" control.

And so the Establishment strikes back. Entrenched blue-blood Republicans hope to reap the electoral benefits of the tea party movement while simultaneously seeking to discredit it. In the aftermath of the 2010 midterms, it has become clear that the fight for America's future will pass directly through the heart of the Republican Establishment.

And there you have the best description of what happened and an alert to us to keep on fighting the establishment, not by forming a new party but revitalizing one that is already there.

More Liberal Bias in the Press this time on the Republicans against the Tea Party

Of course you will probably on see this only in Big Journalism.  Sarah Palin told about it on the Fox sunday morning show with Chris Wallace.  She told him, he didn't comment.

Anchorage CBS Affiliate Caught on Voicemail Conspiring Against Alaska’s GOP Senate Candidate
posted by P.J. Salvatore
The following voice mail message was inadvertently left on the cell phone of Joe Miller campaign spokesperson Randy DeSoto.
The following is a transcript of a call recorded after CBS Alaska affiliate KTVA called Joe Miller’s Senate campaign spokesperson. The call failed to disconnect properly. It was later authenticated by McDermott, who sent a text to Randy DeSoto stating, “Damn iPhone… I left you a long message. I thought I hung up. Sorry.”

The following voice mail message was inadvertently left on the cell phone of Joe Miller campaign spokesperson Randy DeSoto.

The voices are believed to be those of the news director for CBS Anchorage affiliate KTVA, along with assignment editor Nick McDermott, and other reporters, openly discussing creating, if not fabricating, two stories about Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Joe Miller.

Audio KTVA -

Clearly the reporters were conspiring to set up some type of smear of Joe Miller. With glee, they even cite a recent controversy over an incident involving the Rand Paul campaign, while discussing how they would spread the story via social media after whatever incident they had in mind came off. It also brings to mind another recent episode that ended with Jerry Brown’s California gubernatorial campaign being caught up in controversy when someone from Brown’s camp called Brown’s opponent, Republican Meg Whitman, a “whore.”

Check out Big Journalism, it always has some stories the MSM ignore.

Something to Ponder, or is it?

David Broder occasionally get it right, sort of.  This column of his sounds like he is very reasoned until you get to the last three paragraphs and see it is a recommendation for the Republicans and Obama to comprimise.  I certainly don't think that can happen and pray that it doesn't.
The title sounds reasonable enough What America might learn from the British austerity model.
The first two paragraphs seem reasonable:

The most important political news last week came from across the Atlantic, where the coalition government of British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered an austerity budget that radically reduces government spending on the welfare state. Both the policy and the political circumstances that brought it about have profound implications for the United States.
This country has wandered far -- not quite as far as Britain has -- toward the pending fiasco that threatens leftist regimes worldwide, and the reaction here in the Nov. 2 midterm elections is likely to be as painful for President Obama and the Democrats as the May 6 election was for Labor's Gordon Brown.

This sounds reasonable:

George Osborne, Cameron's chancellor of the exchequer, did not mince words. He told Parliament, "Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink, when we confront the bills from a decade of debt." Britain's budget deficit, now 11.4 percent of the size of its overall economy, is not that much larger than the United States' -- 8.9 percent -- but the debate has been similar in both countries.

The middle explains what is happening in Great Britain and somewhat reasonable (read it here)
UH OH!  Here's where reasonable ends:

The American political system virtually precludes the possibility of a coalition government. But the midterm elections provide the opportunity for a similar breakthrough. If Republicans emerge next month with sufficient leverage in the House and Senate to approach Obama with a proposition, they could insist that he "do a Cameron" when it comes to federal spending: a radical rollback now in the welfare state in return for a two-year truce on such policy questions as repeal of the health-care law.  (This is a part I could go for)


The vehicle could well be Obama's strong endorsement of the Dec. 1 report from his fiscal responsibility commission, which is expected to emphasize spending discipline over raising revenue. This would offer major gains to both parties, and set the stage for another experiment in the British model. (This is where you just know David Broder expects us to compromise)

Can't we just all get along? NO!!!  Am I being too hard on Broder? Let me know what you think.

A Reformation of the Republican Party

Marc Thiessen writing in the Washington Post speaks frankly about the need for reforming the party into a more conservative party.

Who cares about the Senate majority?

If Republicans fall a few votes short of taking back the Senate in November, the Tea Party's detractors have their headline already written: "Extremist candidates cost GOP the majority." So let me put it out there well before Election Day: Who cares if Republicans win control of the Senate come November? If enough conservative insurgents are elected to put Republicans back in power, wonderful. But if a few falter, and the Democrats manage to keep control, that's fine as well. The Tea Party isn't going anywhere. Better to wait another election cycle and make certain the next Republican majority is a fiscally conservative majority.

The uprising of 2010 is not about a Republican restoration; it is about a Republican reformation.

[.....]

Bottom line: Positive change in the Senate does not depend on the GOP taking the majority in November. Besides, even if Republicans were to win the House and Senate, President Obama is not likely to respond by declaring "the era of big government is over." The only way to end the era of big government is to elect a majority of fiscal conservatives.

If that requires a few election cycles, so be it.

This is an important editorial, read it all.

Is Sarah Palin the Lone Ranger

This is the last part of an editorial in the Washington Post
Has Sarah Palin saved the GOP?
By Paul Goldman

Simply put, Palin started as Tonto but has become the Lone Ranger. Instead of fading out last summer, she remained strong and stood by her party. She has become a bridge between the old Republican guard and the growing right-wing dissatisfaction with not just Democrats but also Republican officeholders. Palin's ability to advocate for using the GOP, not a third party, to channel this angst has allowed Republican voter anger to boil, yet not boil over.

Should Republicans run up the score in November, Sarah Palin will deserve a lot of credit she will never get.

Two steps forward, one step back; We Need a Plan

Richard Fernandez in Belmont Club writes about Michael Barone's American Political history.
Beads on a String

Michael Barone’s analysis of American political history sounds Chinese. Two steps forward one step backward. Forward of course is the direction of “progressive politics”. Backward is that momentary check that occurs when progressive politics takes the curves too fast. These actions alternate every decade or so. But Barone implies that for all the apparent flux one thing remains constant: it’s a brake and throttle world. The liberals hit the throttle and the Republicans sometimes step on the brakes. Republicans haven’t noticed the steering wheel. He’s wondering whether this time they’ll at least notice the carpet.

Liberal historians like to depict the past 100 years as a story of step-by-step progress from small government to big government, a progress they see as both inevitable and desirable.

But another way to look at it is to note that after each spasm of big government legislation, there has been a strong voter backlash.

Backlashes don’t change the direction of cars. They only alter the rate of acceleration.  (RC emphasis) With congressional victories staring the Republicans in the face Barone says they’re faced with the same problem as the dog that caught the car.

 
Read the rest, it's worth your time.

Joe the Plumber is working as a Republican for sure

As much a put down as a news item this is from Mediaite.com.

Joe The Plumber Elected As Republican Committeman In Ohio

"The Associated Press reported that Joe, whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher, won a spot as a Republican committeeman in Lucas County, Ohio. Wurzelbacher won a hotly contested 38-23 vote (though this account says 38-24 – scandal!) to become “one of nearly 400 committee members who set the agenda and pick a chairman for the local party.”

They managed to make a fairly long blurb (for a short article) about it. Read it all here.

A Plan of Action

From Commentary Magazine

The GOP in the Wake of ObamaCare

Peter Wehner

We are now a week out from the passage of ObamaCare, so it’s worth considering what approach the Republican party might take in the months ahead.

The first thing is to understand that, politically speaking, the GOP is in extremely good shape. President Obama succeeded in passing health care legislation — but he has not succeeded in making it popular. If you analyze the different polls that have come out since the passage of ObamaCare, it shows several things: the president received a slight bump, less than usual for a legislative victory of this magnitude, and it is in the process of evaporating. And because both parties are determined to make the midterm elections a referendum on ObamaCare — Democrats because they don’t want to leave it undefended, Republicans because they believe the public’s dislike of this legislation is intense and won’t recede — that is what the elections will largely be about.

Good advice here, read it all.

It has to Start With US

The LA Times has an article we all need to read and make notes on.
'Tea party' activists filter into GOP at ground level
By Kathleen Hennessey

The conservative movement is urging its members to seek positions as Republican precinct representatives. Their goal is to remake the party - and U.S. politics - from within.

First there was the "tea party" protester. Now meet the Tea-publican.

Conservative activists who once protested the political establishment are now flooding the lowest level of the Republican Party apparatus hoping to take over the party they once scorned -- one precinct at a time.

Across the country, tea party groups that had focused on planning rallies are educating members on how to run for GOP precinct representative positions. The representatives help elect county party leaders, who write the platform and, in some places, determine endorsements.

"That's where it all starts. That's where the process of picking candidates begins. It's not from [GOP leader] Michael Steele's office down. It's from the ground up," said Philip Glass, whose National Precinct Alliance is among the groups advocating the strategy. "The party is over for the old guard."

Read it all here.

Republican Debates of January 29th

Can be found at these links at Alamo City Pundit:
* Replay: The Belo Debate Part I
* (related link)Replay: The Belo Debate Part II
* (related link)Replay: The Belo Debate Part III
* (related link)Replay: The Belo Debate Part IV
He also has a good discussion of the debate.  See it here.

Advice to the Republican Party

From young activist Daniel Greenfield. I found it at Canada Free Press but it is cross posted at his blog.

Behind the Republican Party's Malaise

Scott Brown's victory and Obama's falling poll numbers were virtually undeserved gifts to a Republican party that for the most part spent the year on the sidelines, benefiting from grassroots activism without actually doing much about it. It's little wonder that Michael Steele is widely hated or that there's talk of a third party. But to fix the Republican party, it's important to understand what is behind its malaise.

The Republican Party is Conservative

- I don’t mean conservative in the sense of socially conservative or fiscally conservative, but being risk averse and when in doubt sticking to the safest path. The party best known for Lincoln or Roosevelt or Reagan, has been defined more by Taft, Eisenhower and Bush Sr. That aversion to risk and making waves has helped Republican candidates be seen as safer and more traditional leaders, and kept the party afloat, but has made it unable to cope with sudden change.

As I wrote in my article, “A Revolutionary Party Once Again”, the Republican party needs to be able to fight for change, instead of defending a constantly eroding conformity. The left’s counterculture has successfully shifted the battle lines over and over again, because they played cultural offense, while conservatives have played cultural defense. That same phenomenon has occurred in virtually every arena, and politically it has left Republicans ahead on points, but without an actual agenda.

In the aftermath of the 2008 elections, the Republican party was disoriented, confused and lost… because its leadership has no real understanding of how to turn weakness into strength, or to agitate against those in power. And so it was left to the Tea Partiers and others to express the anger that so many Americans were feeling....

....The Republican Party Fears Extremism

- Liberalism’s cultural dominance meant that they were able to define conservative Republicans as either evil bankers or klansmen. The Republican party has since worked hard to avoid being associated with anything that smacks of extremism, not that this changes the false image that has been created at all....

...The Republican Party is Playing it Safe

- (See The Republican Party is Conservative) The Republican party chose to wait out Obama’s first year and let him destroy himself. Arguably they can claim that the strategy worked out nicely for them. The party’s fortunes are on the rise again, with very little risk to anyone besides Joe Wilson. But that is exactly the problem.

Be sure read the whole thing.  I think you will see a well thought out discussion of what we as a Rockport 912 group are all about.
 
Here is the bio on Daniel Greenfield:
Daniel Greenfield is a New York City based writer and freelance commentator. “Daniel comments on political affairs with a special focus on the War on Terror and the rising threat to Western Civilization. He maintains a blog at Sultanknish.blogspot.com.
Daniel can be reached at: sultanknish@yahoo.com

don't bring home the bacon (PORK)!

Chuck Todd seemed to understand that concept. From Newsbusters we find this:
Chuck Todd: Obama Can't Buy GOP Votes Because of Tea Parties

NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday said the Tea Party movement has made it impossible for President Obama to buy the Republican votes he needs to pass his agenda.

Appearing on "Meet the Press," Todd told his fellow panelists, "I think the most striking thing about the minority party today...is that a Republican can't go home, and it's mostly because of this tea party crowd, cannot go home and sell a piece of pork that they got from Washington."

In Todd's view, this makes it tough for Obama because "it's not as if he can trade, you know, go and have these trades with a Susan Collins or Olympia Snowe, or let's say Lamar [Alexander]... or something like this, because they're not getting a benefit at home of bringing something back"

I wouldn't be so bold as to say "Mission Accomplished", but this is a thrill to read. See the whole transcript or watch the video here.

Lessons for Republicans, too

Vodkapudit quotes Professor Bainbridge:
Stephen Bainbridge on what ought to happen next:

The Democrats have now fumbled their opportunity, but that doesn’t mean that those of us who were fed up with Bush and the K Street Gang are ready to forgive and forget the GOP failings. They are going to have to convince us that they are again worthy of our trust.

How does the GOP go about doing so? Unlike some, I have no interest in seeing the GOP join hands with Obama for a few rounds of Kum Bay Yah followed by swallowing some version of Obama-lite. The GOP needs to articulate a positive program.

Yep. As the Tea Party movement shows, there’s a lot of voter frustration with the Democrats. And the fact that voters had to start a new movement, rather than flocking to the GOP, shows the Republicans — least the ones in Washington — still don’t get it.

Do they get it in Texas?  Do they get it in Rockport?  That may be our next job.

Steele says Republican Party will "embrace" Tea Partiers

The Republican Party will "embrace" the grassroots conservative and libertarian activists of the tea party movement, the Republican National Committee chairman says. RNC Chairman Michael Steele, appearing today on "Fox and Friends," said the movement "puts in stark relief where the American people are" and asserted it's important for the GOP to "understand this so that we can move towards it, embrace it, and then move into the future."

The moderate-conservative Republican credited the wins of Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey last year on the movement of the GOP toward the positions of the tea party backers, saying, "I think it's what you saw in special elections that have been held since early 2009, where Republicans have won a significant number of special elections." The GOP leader predicted that as the mid-term November 2010 elections approach, it will be "one of those moments where we can crystallize that new foundational support for our principles and tie it" to Republican positions on such issues as healthcare and organized labor.

From UPI via Booker Rising

Riddle me This

From Alamo City Pundit:
Texas Republicans Make Ham-Handed Mis-Step Before 2010 Elections

January 5, 2010 by Johnny Alamo

Republican Party of Texas Welcomes
New Executive Director
January 5, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Austin - The Republican Party of Texas starts the New Year off with a new leader. Chairman Cathie Adams has selected Jesse Lewis to become the Party’s next Executive Director. Mr. Lewis comes to the Party having served here before, as a Field Representative, a Statewide Field Director and its Deputy Political Director from 1999 to 2003. His extensive background includes everything from grassroots work training thousands of candidates, campaign managers and volunteers, to serving on the executive staff of a large state agency, overseeing 90 employees. He also served as Chief of Staff to Texas House Members Arlene Wohlgemuth and Sid Miller.

“Jesse is a remarkable Texan, a remarkable Republican and he’ll be a remarkable leader for our Party,” said Chairman Adams. “Having him at the helm as we enter the crucial 2010 election means that we will have a sure hand who has steadily led many winning campaigns, and whose experience covers every aspect of state politics. We’re excited to have him bring his knowledge and enthusiasm to the Republican Party of Texas.”

“Selected”? What is this “Selected” Crap?!?This is Texas here. We were an Republic before we were even a state, and good men died at the Alam and at Goliad so that free Texans could be free to vote for their representatives....

....Assuming this is the same Jesse Lewis (and Cathie Adams’ statement is deliberately vague in this regard, isn’t it?), it means Jesse Lewis works for the state government in Austin as essentially a PR shill for the Perry Administration.

If you are a Republican or a conservative in Texas, you will want to read the whole article.

12 Step Program to Defeat the Obama Agenda

by Michael Steele- via Big Government

Exclusive book excerpt: Right Now a Twelve Step Program to defeating the Obama Agenda
These are good words to hear, especially from the head of the Republican Party.

Within our own party, we need to make it clear that from now on there will be a price to pay for abandoning conservative principles. The grassroots – activists from tea parties to town halls – have sent a message: no more ‘fake-it-until-you-make-it’ conservatives. The days of merely espousing conservative principles and then, once elected, governing or legislating without principle, are over.
At least one senator has already got this message – Arlen Specter. In early 2009, after years of distressing votes for big government, Specter’s vote for the stimulus bill provoked an outcry among Pennsylvania’s Republican grassroots. Having barely survived a 2004 primary challenge from principled conservative Pat Toomey, Specter asked me what he could do to mend fences with conservatives. I said he needed to stand with us against card check (which abolishes the secret ballot on forming unions) and against the cap-and-trade carbon cutting scheme.
He agreed, publicly declaring himself against those proposals – and soon after, he abandoned the party and became a Democrat.
All the talk about pushing Specter out of the party, or making it hard for him to stay, was just bunk. For him, the politics of reelection outweighed taking any principled position on the issues.
Since then he has switched his position on card check, and I won’t be surprised if he switches on cap-and-trade. He exposed himself as a political opportunist, and we don’t need political opportunists in our party. If he survives his next primary, my goal will be to retire him....
...outright abandonment in the name of power and acceptance and going along to get along.”
Here’s why we’ve fallen out of touch with typical Americans: we’ve acquiesced to big government, big spending, and increased federal control that diminishes the authority of families and the rights of individuals.
Over time, many of our party’s leaders abandoned conservative principles in a misguided effort to maintain and expand their political influence. We became in many ways just another party of big government. In short, we behaved like Democrats.
Republicans gave in to big government, and we paid the price. The road forward is clear: we need to reclaim conservative values.  (RC emphasis)
We must explain our principles clearly and forcefully, directing our appeal to the American people as a whole—not to balkanized racial groups and competing special interests.

For more from his book click here.  I hope he means what he says here. This is the goal of all the newly formed 912 and other groups who are fighting to bring conservatism, and the constituion, back to the party and our country.