10 posts tagged “gop”

Sarah Palin, using an old, tired page torn from the playbook from the far right GOP, sounded the opening volleys of her campaign for the 2012 Republican Primary, which included a strong message for the US media and for "starlets" in Hollywood.

Without specifying whatsoever what the hell she meant, or who in the media was at fault, or what misleading statements were behind her comments, she stated "“So, how about, in honor of the American soldier, quit making things up,”

She called out unnamed individuals in "Hollywood" for using  “starlets” who rail against gun rights, specifically “anti-hunting, anti-second amendment circuses from Hollywood,” Palin said advocacy groups “use these delicate, tiny, very talented celebrity starlets.”

By this she meant Ashley Judd, who used her stature to help inform people about aerial hunting of wolves in the Arctic.

Palin, hoping to educate the misinfomed, offered such individuals this message: “By the way, Hollywood needs to know: We eat therefore we hunt."

Um, Get Real, Sarah.  First, aerial hunting of wolves is not a guns rights issue.  Nice try.  Well, ok, not so nice try.  Second, and I think more to the point, we don't eat wolves.  Well, most people don't.  You might.  I'm sure THAT would help you with dog-loving voters all across America.

She even aimed her fire at an undefined group who she deemed insufficiently patriotic.

Some in this group, Palin said, “seem to just be hell-bent on maybe tearing down our nation, perpetuating some pessimism and suggesting American apologetics.”

Palin appears to be ignorant of the fact that the current President of the United States has in fact apologized to much of the world for the errors of the last Republican administration. No 'suggestions' necessary.  And appropriately so, according to the many people who voted for Obama based on his foreign policy plans, which were vastly superior to your PNAC orders.

According to some who listened to the speech, Palin sounded like a shrill, spurned woman having a hissy fit who was bent on score-settling.

Palin is clearly seeking to provoke headlines.

Ok, now that that's over, Get Real suggests that the press  do Palin a solid and refuse to cover anymore of her amateurish antics and hissy fits.

They don't help her one bit.

Run, Sarah, run!

-GR

Six months have gone by since Obama was sworn in.  In that time, the GOP has squabbled within their ranks over who qualifies as a genuine Republican.  They have stood in the way of much-needed progress in the critical areas of economic reform and job creation.  By shutting down the program for retrofitting federal buildings for energy efficiency, the GOP guaranteed higher cost of doing government business, and further delaying the inevitable renewable energy revolution.  They have proven that they are more willing to politicize important issues such as health care reform.

When was the last time you heard an earnest, coherent alternative plan from the GOP to counter Obama's proposals?  Obama has even reached across the isle for input searching for areas of consensus.

Enter, again, the far right to screw things up.

William Kristol has today put the call out for GOPers to obfuscate, delay, stall, block, while at the same time keep up appearances of being productive.  To FAKE it. What?  Why?

Well, it appears that William Kristol, one of the architects of the far-right's equally brilliant plan to invade Iraq at all costs, feels the need to justify the actions of an otherwise apparently rogue South Carolinian Republican Senator,  Jim DeMint. Speaking on health care reform, DeMint showed his true colors:

“If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo,” DeMint told the group, according to the Politico’s Ben Smith. “It will break him.”

President Obama recognized the opportunity to expose the real agenda of the Party of No Ideas and made mince meat of Sen. DeMint.

"Think about that,” Obama said of DeMint’s remarks. “This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America’s families, breaking America’s businesses and breaking America’s economy. And we can’t afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care, not this time, not now.” Obama vowed to fight against “the politics of the moment.”

Let's go back to 1994, and back to William Kristol, who basically called our the GOP hounds against health care reform then.  It was clear in his message then, and today, that the exercise in demonstrating the appearance of political power (which is severely lacking) is more important to the far-right Kristol than the implications of such politicking on policy.  His ploy appeared to work then.  But all of our eyes have been opened wide.  Remember what happened the last time a GOP member listened to William Kristol and the rest of the far-right?

No big surprise here for those of us with our eyes open.  The blatant, raw preference for no-ism over progress of any kind is precisely the kind of errant politicking that has weakened the GOP.  Rush lost it when he said he hoped Obama would fail.  Cheney lost it when he tried to kick out the moderates.  Whether health care reform flies or not, this is pure posturing by the far-right.  William Kristol felt the support for health care reform among the Democrats last week begin to decrease based on fiscal projections, and his call for rallying the GOP troops is really a call to take credit for the inevitable.

Get Real, Mr. Kristol.  You fail to understand the new politics of the 21st century.  Your ploys and tactics are tired and worn out.  They fail to inspire.  They lead to GOP Presidents making fools of themselves by invading other countries without warrant, and they have lead to Mr. DeMint looking like a stick in the mud, a representative of the Party of No Ideas.  If only you hadn't pushed so hard for pre-emptive war in the Middle East, doing so much damage to the GOP that they will not likely recover again for decades to come.  Maybe then someone might listen to your advice.  Someone other than the GOP News Outlets, that is.

Here is a message to GOP candidates: Get Real.  If you play with this type of dangerous politics, and continue to gloat over increasing job losses, with no effort on your part to bring to this Democratic Congress and to this Democratic President real alternatives that you think will genuinely work, your local constituents will continue to lose their jobs, continue to struggle with sick family members with no health care insurance, continue to see the price of everything they seek to purchase grow further and further out of reach.  And you won't be able to run against Obama.  You'll be running against candidates who report that you have done nothing.

It's really, truly time to put partisanship aside, and for every candidate to take action and make a real impact that will improve the economic situation in the US.   This does not mean rubber-stamping every one of Obama's initiatives.  It does mean making progress.  Progress is made by proposing genuine alternatives that are likely to work.  Or modifying a standing proposal.  The only people who care about who gets credit for bills that work are the people who will vote for you.  Sponsor bills.  Get moving.   Don't listen to the talking points from the far right of your party; that kind of politics is the exact wrong kind to practice in this climate.  Your party is broken and suffers from a great sickness.  Their messages are colored by the terrible advice from the far-right that has ruined this country.

Give yourself a book of work that is greater than "I stopped Obama".  Something to take back home that says "I did this for you.  We made it happen.  It's not perfect, but it's much better than nothing.  And it was made better than nothing because I put my individual creative effort into it.  Even when others in the GOP were sticks in the mud.  To make things work takes creativity and compromise".

Heck, I might even vote for a Republican that talked like that. 

An important factor that appears to be providing a deep and abiding undercurrent in national politics in the US is the effect of the election of a black American to the Office of the Presidency of the United States.

Let's look at this closely, because an analysis of the futility of the fear-mongering by the right exposes a pattern of the most cynical political strategy behind the right-wing's apparent past successes.

Let's go back in time to Nixon Atwater presidential candidacy strategy of “split the country in half and take the bigger half”.  Pat Buchanan is credited with this.  The story goes that this was Buchanan's reply to Nixon's question on which side of the Vietnam issue he should adopt.  On a given, individual issue, this can be considered equivalent to voting your constituency's voice.  The other side of that is voting your conscience.

Fast-forward to Newt Gingrich's conservative revolution.  What was that?  That was the GOP's attempt to take majority control of the Congress for the first time in forty years with a promise of ten bills designed to reform the government with fiscal responsibility, getting tough on crime, welfare reform, tax relief to the middle class tied to married folks, re-assertion of the sovereignty of the US military (no UN control), job creation, and term limits.

Issue after issue, Gingrich and his cronies promoted GOP candidates with a standard list of talking points on issues that polled among conservatives and moderates - this is important - AND MODERATES - as highly important.  Moreover, the specific position the GOP took as a party issue after issue reflected the majority voice.   Individual candidates were told to emphasize issues in their local stumping that played well with their constituency, and to downplay issues where the GOP differed from local sensibilities.

The actual success of the GOP Contract with America turned out to be questionable, and, because Clinton played ball on the fiscal and social program reforms (welfare to work), Clinton seized the majority of the credit.   The same people behind the Contract with America were the most vehement in their seething, unhidden disdain for Clinton during the Lewinsky scandals.  In spite of their efforts, Clinton's approval ratings continued to climb in his last two years in office, paradoxically reaching its zenith at 73% AFTER impeachment.

Enter Karl Rove.  Rove used a stealth campaign tactic based ultimately on Buchanan's "divide the country, and take the bigger half", combined them with the "tell them what they want to hear locally".  This gave Bush II a fighting chance at beating Al Gore.  The absolute absense of the role of the role of individual morality led to congressional candidate literally without any apparent need to think, or formulate their own opinions, about issues that mattered.  The radio talk show arm of the GOP, including of course Limbaugh, Hannity and others, would beat away at finding sound bites that could catch on, softening the listening conservative audience to the more respectable and apparently rational representation of the same issues coming from their candidates regurgitation of party-line talking points.

Few understand that Rove and the GOP strategists sliced and diced the US on hundreds of issues, trying to find the bigger half on issue after issue.  This strategy, however, had two undesirable and little-recognized effects.  First, it took the "soul" out of the individual candidate's election or re-election bids.   Candidates were found to vote party-line with the Bush White House, with no initiative, no creativity, no representation of the local constitutency's voice.    GOP candidates were observed representing the White House, and therefore they tied their fate completely to Bush's popularity, which was a mirror image of Clinton's.  Bush's approval jumped to its all-time high after Sept 11 attacks, but the general trend was a downward spiral.  Bush ended his Presidency at about 33% approval rating.  In January 2004, 89% of the GOP electorate gave Bush an approval rating  This means that the same people who now say that Bush was "not a conservative" touted him as an ideal leader for their party.

Enter the 2006 mid-term elections, which saw the transfer of power back to the Democrats.  Bush tried to blame his low approval rating on the outcome of these elections, but the opposite was true: by 2006, the War in Iraq was seen by most Americans as a mistake, and, as their GOP's congressional candidates' fates were tied to the party line, they were helpless to speak for themselves.

Now, if we look at the cultural firsts that happened in this time frame, we can see the disintegration of the ability of the far right to whip the party into frenzy over issues that historically divided.  The first of these was the ascension of a woman to the Speaker of the House post.  A woman is two heartbeats away from becoming President of the US.  This tells women in every party that the power ceiling can be breached.  It also makes Pelosi a natural target for criticism from the far-right.  A bunch of balding white guys impuning the moral integrity of a mom who achieved such high status does not sit well with the majority of Americans.

The second cultural first of course was the election of a black American to the Office of the President.  What was important in this outcome was that the world did not stop; people went about their days, going to work, raising their children, in spite of this outcome considered so unacceptable by the far right.   The far right was put into its proper place as a minority viewpoint on the issue of race.  Which leaves them weak and unable to lead.  The in fighting between the far-right talk show hosts and the former right-wing party leaders is symptomatic of a deep fracturing of the GOP in which it's every elected candidate for themselves.  All politics are local.  Therefore GOP candidates should be turning to the local constituency, and they are learning, on issue after issue, that the country cannot be divided neatly along past issues like abortion, gun control, and other fear-issues, mostly because, to a person, we are focused on trying to make our own lives work, manage our credit, keep or find jobs, feed and house our families.  These are issues that unite across cultural divides.

Now we see the far right, and the GOP talk show hosts, hammering and hammering away at the six month point with blame for Obama for not miraculously turning the tide of the business cycle, for not creating millions of jobs in six months.  They cannot necessarily criticize Obama for not immediately undoing Bush's legislation, or reverse course on every economic policy, for they supported these policies and enacted the legislation.  So all they have left is what Obama has done so far.  And they have overplayed their hand, and peaked too early.   Obama wisely is holding back on spending the bulk of the stimulus package for a number of reasons, including (1) he wants to see where it is most effectively applied, and most needed, and (2) he can survive another six months of unwarranted criticism because the facts don't bear out the assertion.  He is in a marathon, and the far right think he's in a sprint.  They far right is trying (and failing) to seize the banner of economics, as if the idea to have a recovery was theirs, portraying Obama as a person who wants the US to fail, spreading rumors about his supposed personal Islamic past, questioning his allegiance to the US.

Six months from now, after the recovery has really taken root, and is obvious to even the most jaded right-winger, these issues will be seen as derisive, irresponsible dabblings in hate.  So let them continue to try to divide; only Obama is positioned to bring those split apart on issues together.  The crazies have even so far as to say that their last best chance right now is an attack on the US by bin Laden.  The fact that they would exploit such an event to their party's benefit should disgust all voting Americans.

The main thesis of this analysis is that due to their practice of 'divide and conquer', the far right is seen by the US public as an external threat to a recovery.   Statements like "I don't care about that issue, I don't have time to care about that issue, I have a mortgage payment to make" are more likely from moderates than "I need to do x and y before Obama takes it all away from me".   The far right is too far out of touch with the new culturally reformed America, and cannot relate in a real and meaningful to their supposed constituency.  They are, therefore, no longer legitimate leaders in their own party.  Never, ever would we want to see such a thing, but Get Real asserts that even an attack on the US would bring people together right now because Obama would ask the people of the US to work together.  He has no hidden agenda for a war on Iraq to fulfill.  And, unlike Bush and Cheney, he has no big-money interests expecting him to assert US foreign policy to the benefit of war-contract companies.

So, to sum up, the more the far right attempts to divide, the more isolated they become.  Obama has time now, in the next six months to a year, to oversee a recovery.   And the good news is that it's overdue.  There is a backlog of hiring; small businesses right now are reluctant to hire into new positions due to uncertainty over their future contribution to their employee's health care.  Obama should drop health care for a year if it does not pass this time around, and give the economy a year to rebound, facilitated by investments that lead to new jobs now and that in the long-term lower the cost of doing business in the US, such as creating a national renewable energy grid with locally optimized blends of electricity from wind, geothermal, solar, tidal, and other sources.  Making all federal buildings more energy efficient would put local contractors to work now for insulating air returns, installing high-efficiency heating and cooling units, etc.   Obama needs to make repeated trips to Detroit and underscore the changes in the auto industry as progressive and, important, enabled by but not mandated by the US government.

Obama should turn the argument around on his avowed critics and ask them what their plans would be, and take their input seriously if they have material plans to stimulate the economy, and ask them to tone down the pointless rhetoric and do everything they can do to stimulate the economy.  The far right is now rendered impotent in fanning the flames of past culture wars.  The GOP appears to be the "Party of No", and if they keep alienating blacks, women, Hispanics, and moderate conservatives, they will enjoy being the or one of the minority parties in the US congress for a long, long time as the "Party of No One".

Ok, Ellie and Snowy, I'll try!  Here goes:

Yes, the right-wing radio nutjobs spout out claims that Obama is "Socialist" because he wants to provide (gasp!) health care for all Americans...  yet you can bet Rush Limbaugh and all the other crazies will be the first to complain if they don't get their SOCIAL security checks...

Look, everyone.  Socialism is not achieved by government taxing people and then implementing FUNDING programs that benefit everyone.

Socialism is achieved by governments ACTUALLY RUNNING the hospitals.

If Obama were socialist, he'd be telling us the the US Federal Gov't was going to take over the hospitals with government doctors and government nurses and government administrators.

He's not saying that.  So he's not a socialist.

He's saying that there are people in the US without ANY HEALTH CARE and that the US, of all places on earth, should be able to provide health care to every person.  He's saying that with some form of Universal health care, we can have a healthier population.  Which means more productive workers, and kick-start to our economy.

Now, I confess, I am not decided about Universal Health Care.  But it's a good touch stone for the debate on whether Obama is a socialist.

Put simply, a Socialist Government runs things for you.  For everyone.  For the common good.  The collective interest is foremost, but first, before the interest of the individual.

In a Democratic Republic Government, such as ours, the government sometimes nudges the economy, or businesses, or people, in the direction that seems needed.  With incentives, ideally, with funding, if it seems to make sense.  We use the process of democracy to replace leaders who no longer seem to make sense.

Now that we know the difference between  a SOCIALIST government and a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC in which the government can facilitate directions in the economy and in the health care with strategic investment and spending, could we PLEASE drop the meaningless rhetoric and vacuous claims of fascism and socialism and communism?

Any level-headed conservative knows the difference between socialism and social programs.

We have had social programs before, like Pell Grants for qualified college students; federal guarantee of student loans; oh, and let's not forget that SOCIALIST program called the Department of Defense (GASP!!!  WE ALL SHARE THE BENEFIT FROM A COMMON (= communal) DEFENSE??? HEAVENS!!!); or how about that SOCIALIST Department of Homeland Security!!!  OH MY!!!

Oh Wait!! DON'T WE ALSO ALL SHARE A COMMON DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE?  AND A COMMON SENATE?  AND A COMMON CONGRESS???

Wait, here I discovered a link to a comprehensive listing of government agencies IN EVERY STATE!!!

EACH OF THESE AGENCIES EXIST FOR THE COMMON GOOD!!!!

OMG, WHEN DID THE US BECOME A FASCIST COMMUNIST STATE???  THE EXISTENCE OF GOVERNMENT IS PROOF THAT OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST!!!

Under the conservative ideal, we would all provide all of our own individual needs, right?  No regulation.  No street signs.  No street lights.  Everyone does their own surgery on themselves, like REAL MEN. who saw their own arms off with a swiss army knife after being trapped for 10 minutes.  Now THERE is a RIGHTEOUS dude.

Cause we don't want ANY OF OUR MONEY TO GO TO HELP ANYONE ELSE. EVER.  FOR ANYTHING. I'M A DUPE IF ANYONE USES MY MONEY TO HELP ANYONE ELSE.  Cause I can't see how it helps me.

I mean, it's MY MONEY.  I earned it.

WAIT... WHO PRINTED THIS MONEY??? THE US COMMON DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY????  OMG I CAN'T ESCAPE!!! A COMMON CURRENCY FOR ALL 50 STATES???

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

I'm moving to Montana.  Just me and the big sky.  And some cows.  Grazing. On Federal Lands.   FOR FREE.. PAID FOR BY OTHER TAXPAYERS.. OH GEEZ I guess I better just admit that I want government.  Something.  But not too much.  Just a little.  And anyone who wants more government than me, is EVIL.  PURE EVIL SCUM WHO MUST BE ERADICATED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Or they should move to Canada.  Or Cuba.  Whatever, they are not real Americans anyway because they want more government than I do.

They want my guns.  Yes, I mean the ones that fire safely because the US Government imposes quality control regulations so they don't blow up in my face.  OMG WHEN WILL THE NIGHTMARE END???

Ok, ok,  At least I can vote for republicans next time.  Party line.  In this voting booth.  Paid for by MY TAXES.  But you can't vote in MY BOOTH.  In fact, I'd rather build my own voting booth, thank you.  And you should build your own, too. It's the American way.  Mine will only have buttons for republicans.

Well, whatever SOCIALISM is, I hate it, because I don't understand it.  And I hate things I don't understand.  They are intrinsically a threat, because I don't understand it.  And I kill anything that I don't understand.  I need simple, straightforward things like sticks, and rocks.  Those, I get.  I throw them at things I don't understand.  They hurt when they hit people.  That, I understand.  Pain.  I like that.  Yeah. He-he.

Alaskan Governor and former Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin complained about David Letterman's joke about her daughter being impregnated by Alex Rodriguez.

On the "Today" show on Friday, Palin claimed that Letterman's joke had contributed to the "acceptance of abuse of young women" and called on people to "start really rising up."

Not going there.

Anyway, look, Sarah.  You don't get David Letterman's style.  He wasn't joking about your real daughter - either of them.  He was joking about a hypothetical, unreal, fake, pretend daughter who was impregnated by a baseball player.

Clearly, your daughter has not been impregnated by a baseball player, right?

SO GET REAL, PALIN.  IT'S NOT YOUR DAUGHTER.

Only you seems to not get that.  We expect comedians to play on our suspended disbelief.

Get Real also notes that neither you, nor anyone else in the GOP, has come to the defense of Alex Rodriguez and other Hispanic baseball players.

Are you really so insensitive, Sarah, to let it pass by that vicious, racist David Letterman insinuated that Alex Rodriguez is some kind of pedophile? A rapist? DURING THE GAME???

There are a lot more Hispanic baseball players who vote, maybe you should have appealed with outrage to them instead.

We find your pretend dismay and self-righteousness, and your logic, well, tortured.

In the continuing civil war brewing in the Republican melt-down, Karl Rove and chosen to side with blow-hard Rush Limbaugh over Former Secretary of State Colin Powell.  Rove told Fox News that Limbaugh would edge out the former secretary of state if he "had to pick between the two."

It never ceases to amaze me.  First Cheney, now Rove have sent the signal that the GOP feels that it does NOT need moderates.

But what amazes me even more?  I found that I agree with something that Karl Rove said.

Rove called the debate between Limbaugh and Powell a "false" one because neither is a candidate for public office.

"The real debate", quipped Rove, "takes place out there in the real world by people getting out there and encouraging the kind of candidates who represent their vision for the party,"

So, it would seem, that Rove has invited Limbaugh, Hannity, and the other blowhards to disengage from public debate unless they are running for public office.

Whew, thank goodness.  It's a about time.  Get Real can use some peace and quiet.

Of course, what Karl does not know is whether Colin Powell will run for office in the future.

We all should wonder... in which party he would choose to run?

At the same time, I find myself disagreeing with the Democrats.  The GOP is not the Party of No.

It's the Party of No-One.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele today made sure that the entire world learned that the GOP is not even slightly interested in any type of reform that would save it from the quagmire it found itself in thanks to the domestic and foreign policies of the Bush administration.

Steele said the following:

"Republicans will no longer talk about their mistakes,"

He also said that Republicans will no longer apologize for their mistakes.

These comments were made against the backdrop of for Vice President Dick Cheney's continued blustering, blow-hard insistence that the Bush administration did no wrong.

This even as the spin doctors try, but fail, to convince that enthusiasm for their tired, failed policies are even worth our consideration.

Steele pointed to the woefully underwhelming tea party protests as some type of groundswell of grassroots support for the party, even as Politico blogger Roger Simon tried hard, but failed to spin the worst days of Dick Cheney's political career somehow into something good.   Read this excerpt from Simon's entry on Politico today:

Everybody has heard of Dick Cheney. True, a Washington Post headline last week said: “As Cheney Seizes Spotlight, Many Republicans Wince.” But a wince can sometimes be mistaken for a spasm of ecstasy.

Cheney has many pluses. He is very, very good on TV. (People who don’t like what he says overlook how good he is at saying it.) He is calm, articulate and often courageous. Who else but Dick Cheney would have the guts to go on “Face the Nation With Bob Schieffer” and say “in terms of being a Republican, I’d go with Rush Limbaugh” rather than Colin Powell?

After that, Maureen Dowd wrote: “Cheney, who had five deferments himself to get out of going to Vietnam, would rather follow a blowhard entertainer who has had three divorces and a drug problem (who also avoided Vietnam) than a four-star general who spent his life serving his country.”

To which the Republican wing of the Republican Party replies, “Yeah? So who wouldn’t?”

There is term that describes individuals, political parties, and governments and nations who do what they want regardless of the impact of their choices on the rest of the world.

That term is sociopath. 

The ongoing melt-down of the GOP is clear evidence that they actually have no regard for anything except that which brings them to power.  Of course, those of us who think deeply about the impact of our existence on the world and those around, knew this all along.

We need to stop expecting the GOP to correct itself.  It has decided that it is beyond introspection, reform, self-improvement; that these things are somehow beneath them.

In so doing, they also have removed any legitimacy for their criticism of any other party, person, nation, or entity.

We have seen its final implosion.

I move that the Democrats pass a resolution suggesting that GOP change its animal to the ostrich.

Ed Rollins, a veteran conservative politico and commentator, recently wrote a palliative commentary on CNNPolitics.com that sounds good, but misses the mark.  Ed pulls all punches and almost - ALMOST becomes and apologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney commented on former Secretary of State Colin Powell's Republican credentials on "Face the Nation."

Ed outlines how Mr. Cheney probably saw Powell's support of President Obama as betrayal by a man who Cheney had supported.  Cheney basically disinvited Powell to the party (as if he had the power to do so!).  Rollins then goes on to assuage readers how

"We are a party that has a large constituent group that believes in a social agenda and we will not abandon them. We are a party that believes in the Second Amendment -- and every other amendment for that matter -- and don't feel they need to be altered by the Supreme Court or the Congress.

The need to find a new generation of leaders is an ongoing challenge that falls to both parties on an ongoing basis. Equally important, we as a party have to become more technologically competent in our campaign tactics -- and our message has to relate better to young voters.

We also need to reach out to constituency groups that have not been traditional Republicans. The Democrats have their leader in Obama and we will find ours.

We now have a serious challenge in the battle for the direction of the country, and the future of our children. In one sense the country is blessed to have two divergent views and two distinct parties. That's what makes our democracy strong."

A couple of points are sticking in Get Real's craw.

(1) Mr. Rollins, did you not hear Mr. Cheney?  The former Republican Vice President also stated, without equivocation, that  he would "go with Limbaugh" on dis inviting Powell.  The same Limbaugh who would have McCain and his daughter leave the party.  The same Limbaugh who wished failure on a sitting US President.

The fact is, the unescapable truth is out there. The Cheney's and Limbaugh's of the world put party before country.  That stings, I bet, for conservatives to hear.  The country, and the moderate constituency in the GOP, has learned the hard to way to watch what the GOP leaders DO, instead of merely listening to what they SAY.  More and more Moderate Republicans are beginning to question whether they are being handed a pack of just-so-stories in a party platform on what's important to the leadership of the Republican party.  It's supposed to be for small government.  Hard to swallow that given Bush's explosion.  It's supposed to be against Socialism.  Yet there is, as Rollins points out, a large consituency in the Republican party who wants a progession social agenda.

(2) Which constituency groups can the GOP 'reach out to' when Cheney so stupidly defines the party as an unwelcome and hostile environment for people who dare think for themselves?  Who does Cheney think he's zooming? We all recall very well how Powell was hung out to dry, forced to testify at the UN on false evidence, false intelligence, intelligence the Bush administration knew was false.

Why is anyone even interested in what Cheney has to say about party or country?  What does he have to offer that is worthy of our attention?  His administration was based on lies and secrecy.  The hubris of this man is ridiculously ginormous; he thinks that the country is stupid enough to sit pat and wait for 50 years to reveal the details of his secre energy plan meeting in which many believe they discussed how to secure oil fields in Iraq during an invasion.... well before 9/11.

Now he thinks his party is stupid enough to believe that he should have a say in the party's future.

Mr. Rollins, Get Real.  Your party has conundrum wrapped in a quagmire soured by the stain of torture and death, deficit and depression, and the American people are not all that interested in the party's future contributions.

So, my take on it? There is no room for NeoCons in a viable future GOP.

Let's face it.  Bush and Cheney ate the political and financial base of the GOP.

In an interview with with Scott Hennen, a North Dakota radio host, Dick Cheney tried to defend the Bush administration.  He also saw fit to fan the flames of the growing GOP Civil War.

“I think it would be a mistake for us to moderate," Cheney said. "This is about fundamental beliefs and values and ideas … what the role of government should be in our society, and our commitment to the Constitution and constitutional principles. You know, when you add all those things up, the idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy. I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us aren’t. Most Republicans have a pretty good idea of values, and aren’t eager to have someone come along and say, 'Well, the only way you can win is if you start to act more like a Democrat.'"

Problem is that Bush and Cheney caused the GOP to lose its very base, and Cheney does not realize that he has no one left to talk to.  The GOP's traditional SOCIALLY CONSERVATIVE base is gone.  Disinterested, that is.  How did Bush and Cheney do this?  They managed to do it by mismanaging the financing of the economy so poorly that the pension and retirement plans of their SOCIALLY CONSERVATIVE base are all but gone.  They hit their own base where it hurts.

Since Bush & CO. emptied the pocket book of their ideaological base, the GOP can no long count on them to fall for their half-truths and outright lies.

By agreeing with Rush Limbaugh that Colin Powell should leave the party, Cheney is arguing for ideological purification of the party.  This won't wash when the GOP is in such desperate need for new ideas.

It will be VERY hard for the GOP is a year and half to argue that theirs is a party of inclusion when they so boldly proclaim that moderates don't have a place.  Where do they think their support will come from?

It is nice to know that long-standing members of the GOP see that the old party lines are just empty rhetoric.

Two quick examples are sufficient.

"We are the party for small government!" says the party whose last president oversaw the largest expansion of government bureaucracy in US history.  My conservative friends are disgusted and dismayed.  They say that Bush & CO. became "like Democrats" via his spend, spend, spend mentality.

"Democrats are tax & spend!" says the party whose last president earned the GOP the moniker of the "Borrow & Spend Party".  Bush's deficit will be in place for a long, long, long time as a painful reminder of the stupidity of his fiscal policies.

The GOP has no answers to modern problems, because their president created those problems.  The last administration hijacked the party for the benefit of big business to the point where the voters see their pensions - and their taxes - going to the already super-rich in the form of executive bonuses, even as the companies tank.

What can a New Conservative Agenda look like?  Their options are highly restricted.  Certainly it cannot be the old, tired, failed policies that include pre-emptive war, tax loopholes for the rich, secrecy and lies.  Certainly it cannot be the old, expensive, non-sustainable policy of fanning the flames of fear.

Get Real will be first to say that the GOP will ignore those who call for far-right ultra-conservative ideological cleansing of the party.  The sheer amount of evidence of those positions as dismal failures is far too much to overcome with further rhetoric.  In fact, the GOP must come to understand that their dalliance with global domination via unmitigated unprovoked war on Middle Eastern countries was nothing more than an anachronistic adolescent temper tantrum because they feared that the US would lose its grip on international matters.  They need to see the US for what it is, where it is.  As nation, the US is still relatively young.  Somewhere between adolescent and young adulthood, with episodes of falling back on old patterns during times of stress, the US is bound for a calmer, more mature future.  As long as the GOP insists on keeping the US in diapers, they will not win the White House.

The GOP needs to find a new, genuine voice that puts party interests second to world interests.  Yes, SECOND TO WORLD interests.  Focus exclusively on American (US) interests will lead to charges of Bush myopia and nationalism.  There are precedents for this; Reagan's foreign policy was not exclusively Americentric.  Even Bush, Sr. made serious overtures to China and other Asian countries.  The GOP can no longer afford to underestimate our friends and allies overseas.

Their only hope is to find a way to create a foreign policy that leads to the consumption of US goods and services overseas.  Everyone knows that the future of the technology sector is green, renewable energy.  Perhaps with their focus on large business, the GOP could see the real value of adopting the position of exporting US know-how in renewable energy blends of  wind, solar, geothermal, tidal - for developing countries as a way to bring a surge to the US economy.  Are the US Corporations too proud to sublet their factories to Indian interests and build the next generation of cheap, reliable transportation - perhaps the Air Car?  Ok, they can too proud themselves out of existence.

If you're a conservative, and if that sounds moderate to you, then you're probably not going to help your party by turning down real economic opportunities for the US in favor of party pride.  You see, for years, conservatives mocked and laughed at those wacko greenies.  Their blatant and loud consumption waste of non-renewable energy was a symbol of their party's pride.  But you can't eat unsound idealogy.  And the GOP has won its last election of far-right ideology.  The character of the US citizenry has never been to empower the people who hurt them last.  They know who put them in the poor house.

To succeed in an internationalized US, the GOP must adopt a position where eveyone's well-being is considered in every decision.  They must first try to protect US interests, yes.  But the trick they need to learn - and learn fast - is to say, with a straight face, and to mean it when they say it:  "This policy has been checked, and is the policy that leads to most benefit to the largest number of people, and the policy that harms the fewest people, regardless of their nationality. This policy benefits Americans because (1) it will create a less expensive commodity for our lifestyle, (2) it will create jobs for US citizens, or (3) it helps improve the lives of other worldwide, and their improved lifestyle will mean greater consumption of US-made goods".  In short, the GOP is going to have to, finally, admit the interconnectedness of everything, and show specifically, based on real analysis, how their policies are going to help.  Ideology is easier, but their brand of it at least is far too ineffective, and will be, for some time.

The GOP is either in for a period of true enlightenment and reform, or for a dark ages that will last decades.  As they rest of world learns how to help each other out with equitable arrangements, the GOP can either sit, and stew in their wishes for a return to good old days of selfishness wrapped in a cloak of false compassion, or they can can GET REAL and join the global party.
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The GOP has lost a highly vocal and powerful senior senator (Specter Abandons GOP) after a rousing laughable but unresolved fight for the soul of the party between party chief Michael Steel and talk-show pundit Rush Limbaugh.

Meanwhile, President Obama's popularity is at 68%.

The GOP is at risk of becoming one of many minor politcal parties, like the Green Party.  The advice I have for the RNC is to Get Real.

(1) Get an Honest Platform.  No amount of rhetoric can pull you out of this one.  Lies destroyed your party.  Bush's Compassion Conservatism in the campaign.  Cheney's secret "Energy Policy" meeting.  WMD.  Refusal to estimate Iraqi civilian casualties.

(2) Formally Denounce the Bush Foreign Policy, Including the Invasion of Iraq, as Completely Wrong-Headed.  This means admitting that Bush's real agenda after 9/11 was to take over a foreign country to access the oil.  This may be tough medicine, but you should denounce the policy laid out by the Project for a New American Century, which outlined a bold but stupid plan to invade 4-5 middle eastern countries for the sole purpose of expanding American influence in the world.

Read this, GOPers, from Behan's Counterpunch:

"Four days later, on February 3, 2001 the Security Council received a top-secret memorandum from a “high level official.” The memo
“…directed the NSC staff to cooperate fully with [Richard Cheney’s] Energy Task Force as it considered the ‘melding’ of two seemingly unrelated areas of policy: ‘the review of operational policies toward rogue states’ such as Iraq, and ‘actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields.’”

There's your war, ladies and gentlemen.

(3) Condemn the Use of Torture, and Support the Prosecution of those Who Approved the Use of Torture or Acted to Cover it Up.
When Bush said "We Do Not Torture", he was unequivocal.  But at the time, he knew at that time about waterboarding and other techniques approved at the highest level.

It's not hard to find admissions of torture.    Take a look here as well.  These are bare facts, no longer debatable. The Bush administration tortured.    Other people in the US who torture are prosecuted; why are these guys being let off the hook?. 

The only real question is how will you purge your party from these ugly stain?  Only you can turn this around.  Press loudly for legal action against the torture of US detainees.  Denounce the Iraq War. 

Only then can you even begin to put together an Honest Platform. Until then, why even bother?