The Republican party hasn’t always been the same as conservative… As you undoubtedly remember, the southern states we now equate with Republican Fundies were mostly Democrat in Pre-Nixon times.
Saying he began the withdraw from Vietnam is misleading- His plan wasn’t to give up the Vietnam war, but to ease Vietnam into Southern control. He still wanted a democratic Vietnam. Unfortunately, S. Vietnam was overrun.
Not exactly. Actually the GOP sold its soul to the Moral Majority in 1984 when Reagan was running for a second term. Reagan got religious after Hinkley shot him. The party began to take positions on abortion, prayer, contraception… I remember these events very well as they caused me to become The Man Without A Party. Sucks, since I was just able to vote.
Ever since 1984 the Republican Party has had this schitzophrenic identity as the party of limited government…unless you are in your bedroom, doctor’s office, or really “need” some corporate welfare. (airlines, sugar, farmers, etc…)
OTOH, being two-faced seems to be contagious. Many Democrats protected the accounting industry from reform a few years ago. Not to mention the DNC taking corporate contributions hand over fist and helping fill the corporate welfare trough. At least the Republicans admit to sucking up to big business. Also, the Democrats have always (30 years = always) opposed the intelligence gathering apparatus of the United States, yet wonder why the FBI didn’t arrest the 9/11 hijackers when they were only students in flight schools. Um, let me take a stab, because to do so would have made the agents “racists.”
Lenin Of course you are right on Nixon. He wanted to “Vietnamize” the war. Unfortunately* the war was too “Chinese / USSRized” on the other side for the ARVN to have any chance against the NVA. Moreover, the U.S. did continue to provide air support for the South.
My point is that it is necessary to reclaim the great Republican tradition (party of Lincoln) from some of the wingnuts who are running the GOP now. Secondly, I think that Presidents often do the opposite of what one might expect from their party affiliation. Why? Because they are the only ones who can. Imagine GHWB (41) trying to push welfare reform. Dan Rather’s head would have spun around as he projectile puked pea soup on the air. Clinton does it and the criticism is somewhat more muted.
*especially for Cambodia and those conquered in the South (Mass executions: a habit the Communists just can’t kick. I guess there is no genocide patch) Vote Communist! [sub]you will never have to vote again[/sub]
The Nixon legacy also includes the Clean Air Act and Title IX. Alas, if Clinton could have moved a bit more to the left, he’d almost have been as much a liberal as Nixon.
The Southern states, with large fundamentalist populations, are finally getting over the memory of Reconstruction enough to vote for Republicans on the state and national levels. But you still see groups like the “Blue Dog Democrats”, a Congressional voting bloc of moderate Democrats from the Southern states. Sen. Richard Shelby from my state switched to the GOP several years ago during the Republican Revolution of '94; he had been voting with the Republicans for years anyway.
The GOP should be willing to include more progressive members, instead of alienating or isolating them (John McCain) and driving them out (Jim Jeffords). If it were still capable of being the party of Teddy Roosevelt (or at least his kind of progressive beliefs), and not just Trent Lott, I might still support it.
Jeffords is a slimey sonunvabitch. He told the people voting for him ‘Hi! I am a Republican’. He told the GOP ‘Hi! I am a Republican, give me money!’. Then he turns into Daschle’s little lapdog. Nice.
And maybe, just maybe, Republicans don’t want ‘progressives’ (who generally aren’t) in the GOP. The overwhelming majority of Republicans oppose abortion, welfare, higher taxes, etc. Why shouldn’t the paty platform reflect that?
Brutus, please tell me you vote for people(assuming you’re old enough to vote) based on ideals and not what party they are registered on. Jeffords never has been as conservative as his Republican counterparts, and I believe that fact was quite established… Moreover, you somehow see him as someone who decietfully went on the republican platform, all the while scheming his plan to jump ship. Are you not aware of how the Republicans snubbed him?
Please put the drugs down before you post again.
When was this?
I think a lot of people enjoy pinning the blame more on Clinton than Democrats in general. Remember, it was Clinton who halted Newt’s Amazing Republican Revolution!
How’s your standing in Ladies Against Feminism?
The Republicans made an effort to get Jeffords to stay in the GOP when they knew his leaving would cost them the majority in the Senate. So they were certainly willing to put up with him in the party then. And his views and voting record were no secret to the party or to his constituants.
Maybe if the GOP were more welcoming to more moderates or progressives, they could gotten a few conservative Democrats to change parties, padded their then-majority, and retained control of the Senate. It would have been a good hedgebet against the number of retiring members of Congress and many of close races that are coming up in November.
Brutus, assuming that you were old enough to notice–or even alive–at the time, what’s your reaction to Ben Nighthorse Campbell (who was elected as a Democrat, and received campaign funds from the Democtratic party) switching to the GOP?
What’s that? I can’t hear you. . . .
So wait…if I become a Republican, I have to be associated with people like Brutus?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
There, there. Just think of all the other great people you can hang out with, like, uh, Wildest Bill! Loads of fun there.
Well, you did say you were a terrible Republican, Guin.
They say the only thing scarier than seeing who’s opposed to you is looking beside you and seeing exactly who’s on your side.
My answer would be no.
I think that it’s a reasonably on-target distillation of Libertarian ideals – fiscal policies which are rather Republican in spirit combined with an attitude toward personal freedom that isn’t Republican.
And it’s catchy, too.
Guin , here’s a 12-step program to becoming a conservative pundit
It should also be noted that, unlike Shelby or Campbell, Jeffords offered to return money to offended donors. He only had to give back around 7,000 bucks, out of a campaign treasury that had numbered in the millions.
I just got my membership card to the Republican National Committee today! All I have to do to “activate” it is make a donation! If I had to make a choice between making a donation to the RNC, the DNC, or sticking my dick in a blender, I’d have to sit down and think it over.
I get these Republican fund-drive mailings because my Dad gave me gift subscriptions to “Weekly Standard” and “National Review.” I think he’s dismayed that I read them as comedy rather than politcal commentary. I returned the favor by giving him a copy of “Parliament of Whores” by P.J. O’Rourke, whose political opinions are closer to my realistic (OK, cynical) opinions on American politics than any of the Right Wing spewings of the above mentioned rags.
I regret throwing away these begging letters, because most of them come with a nifty card that probably would make even niftier guitar picks when cut into the right shapes.
Nifty.