Paths of Dewhurst, Straus Reflect Challenge Facing GOP
David Dewhurst and Joe Straus might as well be the Republican Party in miniature.
The lieutenant governor, defeated in a jolting United States Senate primary he was supposed to win, is running to the right, where he apparently thinks the party is regrouping. The Texas House speaker, already defined by his foes as a moderate, remains where the mainstream party used to hang out.
The question, for them and for the party, is this: Where will the Republican Party, in Texas and elsewhere, end up? The national punditry is already yammering about whether the Republican Party’s leaders should run ...
Comments (9)
John Byers
There is a lot of review of how or why the GOP lost the last election. Obama was very in a position where normal and traditionally he would have lost. Don’t ever underestimate the power of Chicago, Union politics. It does seem somewhat strange that he was trailing in the polls and ended up winning. Makes you question not the polls but voting. Early voting is not good since all the facts aren’t in. And even then we have the covering up of the Iranians attacking a US drone on the 1st of Nov but no word until after the election which leaves us with questions as to why that wasn’t release. Don’t buy the classified information crap.
The GOP has to focus not on social issues, but on those issues which have always been part of the party, financial conservatives. During 2000-2008 the GOP lost its grip on being financially wise and subverted itself. In 2006, the lost control of congress and the rest is very much a Democrat method on how to destroy an economical system. Social issues cost the GOP the election, not anything more but Social issues. The GOP allowed the Democrat and the mainstream media bias to focus the election not on financial woes of the country but in fact on Social and the very Rich issues. Obama hit on tax the rich sounded good for those below the poverty line, but the 250K cut off sounds a little low. Most professional working mid to senior level management couples make over 250K and their spending is what drives the most of the purchasing in the country. Small business owner are also those in that category, which means when these taxes are raised on them, they will make some changes. For example, most small businesses are family owned, they employ people, but if comes down to employing a stranger or taking care of family member who needs a job who do you think will win?
Four years from now, the GOP must have defined itself as the party of financial abilities, destroyed the democrat slavery of the people. The democrats have done more to rob minorities of the self-worth than any other political organization in the history of the world. If you want to be a slave then join the Democrats. The GOP must show where the Democrats are the OLD SOUTH bent and bond on enslaving people to the government. They must at every turn show it. They must then reach into the GOP of Lincoln and IKE and show the social reformers and financially sound GOP. We can maintain our values of religion but we can’t allow it to drive the party.
JC DemocratofTejas
OMG love the title. Hit's the nail on the head. The two-faced Repug party. No new taxes but on you middle America. We rich guys gotta go to the races.
john kelley
Even more Tea Partiers were elected this cycle in the state of texas, making Straus's job even more difficult as Perry and his TP allies become even more powerful. Their problem is that texas will go further right this legislative session gutting the already bankrupt education and social welfare state in Texas. Perry will get the nod for another try as governor and they will all be wiped out in 2014 as Texans reject destroying public education, infrastructure and other state services.
It won't take the time (8-12 years) predicted (by the pundits) for texas to become a swing state. The right wing of the right wing party is so self deluded they believe Texans buy into their agenda as a whole rather than as a result of gerrymandered districts that inflate their power and distort the public will. Clue: CNN national exit poll says 21% of the voters have a favorable view of the tea party, guess what only 22% of the voters identify themselves as being part of the tea party.
Mary Bell Lockhart
There has never been anything "populist" about the tea party and Ted Cruz is no populist. The tea party is the radical wing of the wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate wealth the Republican Party has become. Texans are becoming aware of this as people like Rick Perry strut into the public eye only to be seen for what they are. It will become more evident as Ted Cruz "serves" in the US Senate. Democrats are riding the wave of the future which will reject the low tax, low service, poor education, poor health care and social divisiveness of the teapublicans.
Jim Vance
The two faces: 1) idiot demagogue or 2) smooth jerk -- take your pick.
Pickles Sorrell
Boy the right wing white trashers are commenting today? Makes you wonder if their Daddies are also their uncles...
Samdavis
John, there's only one party in recent memory that tries to cheat at elections. Voter ID, purging voter rolls, Florida in 2000, trying to eliminate access to voting in Ohio. Don't play the conspiracy card and expect it to get any traction. The GOP lost despite a massive effort to suppress the vote and buy the election with corporate funds.
It's GOP members with your attitude about minorities that cost your party the election. People simply don't buy the FOX/Limbaugh/Beck line of crapola like you're spewing. The days of the current GOP are fast coming to a close. Redneck states like Texas and the low IQ south will continue to be dominated by the GOP for a few more years, but as more young people vote, minorities do their part, and old Republicans die off the pendulum will swing back toward the middle in those states too.
In the meantime you and Karl Rove keep convincing yourselves of all the propaganda you wrote about, it'll make our job that much easier.
Stuart Greenfield
good thing they'll have plenty of $s, http://www.texasfiscal.info .
David Spratt
This election was all about who will give me free things.
Latinos were bought and paid for by the Obama amnesty for " Children" up to age 30 of Illegals. With an even greater promise of amnesty for all illegals regardless of age.
Women were convinced there was a " war" on them and abortion would be outlawed and contraceptives banned. Free contraception and abortions were promised as well as federal laws that whter or not you desrve it ,,, you will be paid the same as a male who may be worth his pay.
Young single women bought into this, and where there is no father in the house Uncle Sam is the always present daddy dutifully providing for the "Family."
Welfare recipients were convinced greater amounts of money would be provided for food stamps and all the associated programs.
Unions were promised more government workers would be hired, teachers, firefighters , police and greater infrastructure spending. Government will continue to try and force the union agenda through the NLRB and more cases like the Boeing case will go forward.
Environmentalists were promised a doubling down on the Green Energy agenda. Even though an " all of the above " strategy was trotted out in the latter days of the campaign ,,, behind the scenes they knew the war on coal, Nat gas and oil will go forward primarily through regulatory enforcement by the EPA and land use restrictions of the Interior Dept.
Gays bought the line the government would push forward the whole LGBTQ agenda. When on the other hand Obama informed Holder early on not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act under the idea it was not the federal Government's place to define what marriage is. They will get nothing in the end.
Everyone without health insurance still thinks they will get it for free,,,, even those who do not have it but actually work and will be determined to have the financial means to purchase it ,,,, and who will be forced to purchase it.
Younger voters who are idealistic ,,, have no real life experiences to tell them otherwise,,,and believe that Utopia is a realistic goal bought the whole package without second thought. More student loans with provisons that allow non- payment if you just hold out long enough, or spend enough money and have no disposable income,,,, 10% of 0 is 0.
And overall most people are not considered rich and this was a very popular idea among the masses that those rich people would be made to pay for it all.
Older voters seemed less likely to buy into the idea they would be pushed over a cliff but some seem confused and stuck with the Prez basically being social liberals and just praying they were right on health care.
Blacks voted Obama just because. 97% to 98% Obama in PA in inner cities proves blacks vote color and the issues do not matter since some of these people do work and not all are on welfare.
Look at the campaigns. The Dems did not mention Entitlement reforms no talk of how to reduce the welfare rolls or the amounts of money being spent,,, The fact Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security are going broke and eating up ever increasing amounts of general revenue was not mentioned once. To hear them tell it while everything is not as good as it could be ,,, it is getting better. Islamic Extremists are on the run and terrorism has been defeated. After all Bin Ladin is dead. Every metric of the economic conditions in this country says otherwise. We are basically stagnant and standing still. But they managed to put a smiley face on every issue brought up and if you believe them there are no storm clouds brewing and everything will be fine,,,, given another four years. No mention of debt or deficit beyond taxing the rich,,,, and this will supposedly solve both.
On the other hand Republicans are telling the truth. Medicare and Social Security are in dire straights and need revamping to insure solvency into the future. Welfare spending has grown out of control and needs to be reigned in,,, primarily through putting people back to work and requiring they go back to work. The debt and deficits are killing our economy and interest is eating up a lot of money. Should interest rates rise,,,, and they will,,,,, it will be even more of a problem into the future.
Obama Care is the greatest farce ever perpetrated on the American people and will end up costing massive amounts of money that will eventually end up with taxes being raised on lower income Americans to pay for it. Single Payer systems across the world are failures and result in substandard health care. We have the very best now as evidenced by the amounts of people that come to this country to get it.
Rush was right ,,, You can not beat Santa Claus. The Democratic message is more palatable. It is the difference between eating raw Coca and Milk chocolate. The Republican message is not feel good enough,,, it does not sugar coat the medicine. The medicine needed for the cure is bitter and Republicans are telling you the truth,,,, it will not taste good,, but you will get better. The Democrats are just offering a poultice that will alleviate the symptoms for a while,, but you will not be cured and you will get much worse over time.
As has been noted the States are the laboratories for trial and error in determining which policies may be beneficial . Before instituting policies on a national level which could damage the union overall. It is more desirable to institute these experimental policies on the state level where they will have less effect on the nation overall. If these policies were put into place on a national level without knowing the consequences ,, it could be devastating on the country.
One only has to look to California where progressive liberalism is the norm. Without going into all the problems they have ,, this is an example of an experiment gone horribly wrong. Greece is another example . The Democratic message ,, which just won the day,,, will lead us to the same end as California and Greece. The same policies will lead to the same end result.