After minutes upon minutes of soul-searching, Republicans are now in recrimination mode. And the GOP’s various factions all agree: This wouldn’t have happened if the party had listened to us.
In the aftermath of the historic GOP losses Tuesday night, moderate Republicans quickly concluded that the party needs to be more moderate. Conservative Republicans declared that it should be more conservative. Main Street is angry at Wall Street, theo-cons are angry at neo-cons, and almost everyone is angry at President Bush and the GOP congressional leadership.
The party purges formally began yesterday, as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert agreed to step down before they were pushed. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had already decided to leave Congress, but GOP insiders said Tuesday’s debacle should eliminate him from presidential contention in 2008.
“We ought to just mend our wounds, bury our dead, learn from our mistakes and move on,” said GOP lobbyist Ed Rogers. “But first we’re going to have go through this. Look, bad policy and bad politics makes for bad elections.”
The common theme of the Recriminatathon is that the party lost its way after seizing control of Congress in 1994, focusing on power and perks instead of principles. But behind all the maneuvering, posturing and backstabbing lingered a serious debate over the party’s future, and what those principles should be. It’s a familiar argument between confrontation and compromise: appealing to base voters on the right or independents in the middle.
With the benefit of hindsight, most Republicans seemed to agree that their congressional leaders should have been more aggressive about ousting members engulfed in scandals. The RNC has sent e-mails for months accusing Democrats of a “culture of corruption,” but yesterday its surprisingly self-critical talking points vowed to ensure “that the leaders in our party have public service as their highest calling and not personal enrichment or power.”
Do you know someone who actually joined the Republican Party over broad political ideology in the past couple of years? The question isn’t about single-issue alliances; but, the broad neocon brush that smeared traditional conservatives as RINO’s.
It was all just bad timing. If the election had been held next Tuesday, after Rumsfeld left and the President became bipartisan, the results might have been different.
Yes and pigs would have surely learned to fly by then as well.
Does this mean that they’re closing down Fox News?
Any time politicians begin soul-searching, half the battle is first to find a soul đ It will be interesting to see how many of those recently ousted will end up amongst the ranks of lobbyists, like John Ashcroft and countless others. In lieu of actually making a contribution to society, perhaps they can continue making laws from K Street.
With all due respect to the talking heads, and to my fellow members of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (R), the idea that Rumsfeld being quit/fired before the election would have led to fewer Republican losses is bullshit. They didn’t lose because of one man, and one man didn’t implement the policies and talking points that lead to the losses.
The “bury the dead and move on” comment is exactly what needs to (and is) happening. Note that this same thing happened in ’98, and lead to the removal of Newt. In reality, the fact the Democrats take so long to do the same thing after there losses is one of the reasons its taken them so long to get the house back.
Also, why would Fox News close when it beat CNN… again… in coverage?
sorry, I am a little slow, what do you mean by “recriminatathon”?
I saw one headline: Republicans forming circular firing squad
Uh, Tom. It’s from the article! Neat neologism.
“In the aftermath of the historic GOP losses Tuesday night”
wtf? that’s a bit of an overstatement. ’94 was historic. first time GOP controlled the House in 40 years. this year was just the swinging pendulum as usual.
The new Republican mantra:
“If we had only behaved more like Democrats, putting people before big business, listening to expert advice instead of the voices in our heads, and put basic ethics before pure politics, we would have won the election.”
Just to be “fair and balanced”, Fox News won slightly in raw numbers but lost to CNN in the key demographics that advertisers covet.
Tom
>>>>Also, why would Fox News close when it beat CNN⌠again⌠in coverage?
For once, I agree with 6.
And who cares? The same crap is going to happen anyway. Corruption of the government will continue to rise, privacy will continue to diminish, and a lot of powerful-closet-homosexual-christians will continue to try to ban gay marriage and denounce gays, meanwhile paying burly men to put their penises in places the bible says they ought not to be.
“Also, why would Fox News close when it beat CNN⌠again⌠in coverage? :
Just proves there is a vast amount of gullible people out there>
5. The same reason we have popular shows like “Fear Factor” and “Deal or No Deal”.
#11 – Key demographics? Cable news doesn’t care about key demos, they care about anyone with a pulse watching them (look at Larry King’s audience). Nice try at spin, however.
#13 – Agreed… there are some people that still watch CNN. That is what you mean, right?
#14 – Don’t mock the left’s base.
Thanks for playing.
Bad news for the “just you wait until 08” contigent of the republican party. In the Senate you will be defending 21 seats, with 11 currently vulnerable. The Dems will only be defending 12, with only West Virginia vulnerable.
Also it looks like a Republican senator got sick, and the new senator will be appointed by a democratic governor, which means our lead in senate is now 52-48.
Also, it looks like Bush is no longer under threat of impeachment hearings. Undoubtedly that is the result of the new bipartisan spirit in DC. I wonder ifBush is going to be one of the more progressive Democratic presidents we have seen in a while for the remainder of his term?
And all that is even before the team switching has gotten underway.
14: hot babes???
15: Whereas, the right’s base is Queer Eye? đ
16 I wonder ifBush is going to be one of the more progressive Democratic presidents we have seen in a while for the remainder of his term?
Yeah. Right.
It was only Rumsfeld who resigned…
If Cheney and Rove do the same, then you might have something…
#15 I hope you are not as clueless about politics as you are about how television works… Demographics (read ad money) is what drives all television and what all segments strive for. Raw eyeballs are, of course, important but it is the makeup of those eyeballs that is all-important and which brings in the money.
Tom
#19 – makeup on eyeballs? Ouch!
I have to agree with whichever Tom said #19. It’s been years since I consulted on where to buy how much TV ad time for how much — but, there’s never anything cheaper than raw eyeball time on cable. Cripes, one year, I caught time as sustaining fill for one local advertiser during the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament — for really cheap — awesome value.
Phew! Are we far enough OT, now? Not that most folks here give a tinker’s dam about whether or not the Repubs ever get it straight (or up).
I think itâs good we have some balance of power. It doesnât matter which side is in the oval office. I donât believe ant one party should control the Senate, The House, the White house, and with Alberto G in the presidents back pocket, the law.
We may have to watch this âLame Duckâ congress now.
“Bad policy and bad politics make for bad elections” D’oh !
“Power corrupts and absolute power…..” D’oh !!
This is why I need James Hill.
Ok, so don’t impeach a President who passed a law of immunity from a Supreme Court ruling of illegality…what the f * * *k ever…
Let’s just be friends, right ?? No probs with me but, can we get our Constitution back now ?!? I want to call the USA and/or the President a sack of sh *t whenever I think it’s needed or maybe just whenever my wife hasn’t beaten me in a while but, I don’t want to get locked away and beaten by un-imaginative morons for saying my government and its’ leader SUCK , especially, since I won’t get a trial or lawyer AND I won’t get to advertise my book on sadistic wives !
23. Agreed. We need to undo the damage, start writing the dems and if they dont cooperate……………..
The blame game!
Bush!
Bush, Bush, bo ush, Bonana fanna foe Fush
Fee fi mo Mush, Bush!
Rove!
Rove, Rove bo Bove Bonana fanna foe Fove
Fee fie mo Move, Rove!
Come on everybody!
I say now let’s play a game
I betcha I can make a rhyme out of anybody’s name
The first letter of the name, I treat it like it wasn’t there
But a B or an F or an M will appear
And then I say bo add a B then I say the name and Bonana fanna and a foe
And then I say the name again with an F very plain
and a fee fie and a mo
And then I say the name again with an M this time
and there isn’t any name that I can’t rhyme
Arnold!
Arnold, Arnold bo Barnold Bonana fanna foe Farnold
Fee fie mo Marnold, Arnold!
But if the first two letters are ever the same,
I drop them both and say the name like
Bob, Bob drop the B’s Bo ob
For Fred, Fred drop the F’s Fo red
For Mary, Mary drop the M’s Mo ary
That’s the only rule that is contrary.
Okay? Now say Bo: Bo
Now Rumsfeld with a B: Bumsfeld
Then Bonana fanna fo: bonana fanna foe
Then you say the name again with an F very plain: Fumsfeld
Then a fee fie and a mo: fee fie mo
Then you say the name again with an M this time: Mumsfeld
And there isn’t any name that you can’t rhyme
The blame game
Shirley: Did you take your Ritalin.
Now try Condoleeza!
“Shirley Ellis”! Chuckle.
Wow, talk about a Democrat circle-jerk….
Now that the Dems are in power, I wonder if this blog will be equally as critical hammering them with outrageous captions? Neither Repubs or Dems have a lock on incompetency/corruption/stupidity.
I wish it would return to the old days of tech news/oddities/conspiracy theories…
29. I agree with you but,,,, lighten up.
#30 – You’re right. It’s just that the orgasmic reactions are a bit over the top – 12 years of pent up frustrations creaming their jeans. Admittedly, much like the Repubs’ reactions in ’94 = 40 years of frustration…
Ok, ok, lightening up now… : )