Thanks to two cycles of conservative hardliners “teaching Republicans a lesson”, the GOP is all but irrelevant in the political process, both here in Minnesota and in Washington. Generally speaking, these hardliners didn’t work to get Republicans elected. In fact, they just took their ball and went home.

I didn’t have a New Years resolution until this morning but I’ve got one now. This year, I resolve to belittle anyone who whined about RINOs but didn’t work on a solution. I further resolve that I’ll question such people to within an inch of their life for not being solutions-oriented.

The reason I’m resolving to do these things is because these hardliners have put us in a position of legislative irrelevance. Here’s the example that I’ve cited over the weekend. Had the GOP been the majority party in the House, the disastrous transportation bill that passed wouldn’t have seen the light of day. A modest gas tax bill likely would’ve been passed instead.

Purist parties don’t have sufficient numbers to influence legislation, much less the numbers to set the agenda. That’s because the majority party controls the legislative agenda. Like Hugh Hewitt says, “Until you have the majority, you’ve got nothing.”

This post isn’t just about complaining, though. It’s also about motivating people to be part of the solution, not just part of the Whiners’ Choir. Last week, I wrote a post called Hunting the RINOhunters. It’s a post that highlights the fact that some high profile hardline conservatives have called conservatives RINOs because they didn’t vote their way on something.

The example I cited was Sue Jeffers calling Steve Gottwalt a RINO because he voted for the smoking ban bill in 2007. I then pointed out that calling Steve a RINO destroys Ms. Jeffers’ credibility because she ignored the string of health care reform proposals that relied heavily on free market principles. She also ignored Steve’s voting against every major tax increase and against the irresponsible spending bills that the DFL originally passed.

I’m told that Jason Lewis has a similar all-or-nothing mindset. At some point, hopefully in 2010, Lewis and Jeffers will use common sense and realize that letting the DFL have a veto-proof majority in the legislature serves no useful purpose. I pray that they see that they’re the ones who need to be taught a lesson. I further hope that they realize that the lesson they must learn is that we can’t afford to lose any more seats in the legislature because if we do, tons of awful legislation will get passed.

It’s time for the hardliners to become adults. It’s time they realized that they’re the reason why we’re being put in a defensive position in the legislature. It’s time that they realized that the only way to reverse this timeline to political irrelevance is by electing sufficient numbers of Republicans.

Frankly, at this point, I’d be ok if we retook the majority with some squishies. At least then we could set the agenda. That means we’d get to go on offense. It means putting the DFL on the defensive.

It’s possible for hardline conservatives to contribute to the health of the GOP without getting their way all the time. I know it’s possible because Andy Aplikowski is as hardlined a conservative as you’ll find. He fights for conservative principles every hour of every day of every year. When it’s time to elect Republicans, though, Andy gets involved in the nuts-and-bolts things that gets Republicans elected. Andy worked hard to get Republicans elected even if he personally didn’t agree with them. In the ‘offseason’, he works hard to identify people who’d make good candidates, then works on recruiting them.

That’s what adults do.

I’m not suggesting that we throw our principles away. I’m suggesting that taking a big picture view of elections will help us get more things from our agenda passed than taking a ‘tunnel-vision view’ of elections.

That’s the only path back from political irrelevance.

Technorati: MNGOP, Sue Jeffers, Jason Lewis, Hardliners, Reforms, Health Care, Free Markets, Big Picture

When the Lady Logician talks about the Blagojevich scandal, it’s automatic that she’ll talk about the “popcorn factor” involved. I suspect she’s thinking in terms of grabbing a bowl of popcorn, then sitting down and watching the food fight. The popcorn factor just intensified.

The Chicago Sun-Times’s reporting indicates that Harry Reid opposed Gov. Blagojevich appointing Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis and Emil Jones. This opposition came after teh election but before Gov. Blagojevich’s arrest. Here’s what the Sun-Times is reporting:

Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.

Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis, both Democratic congressmen from Illinois, and against Jones, the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama, because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election.

That isn’t the only news on the Blagojevich front, either. ABC News is reporting that behind-the-scenes discussions are underway, with the goal of setting a meeting between Sen. Reid and Roland Burris:

The Senate sergeant at arms, Chief Terry Gainer, expressed confidence that a confrontation on the Hill can be avoided, according to a Democratic Senate aide. The aide said the Senate majority whip, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, is working behind the scenes to set up the meeting between Burris and Reid.

Though he won’t admit it, this is Reid’s highest priority. The last thing he wants at the start of the 111th Congress is for there to be a fight between the Senate and the Congressional Black Caucus. If Reid doesn’t cave on this, that’s exactly what would happen. Anyone who thinks that Maxine Waters, Bobby Rush, Chakka Fatah and Sheila Jackson-Lee wouldn’t raise a huge stink about this is kidding themselves.

The CBC’s howls will be that much louder now that the Sun-Times is reporting that Reid didn’t want Gov. Blagojevich appointing Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones to Obama’s seat.
It’s my prediction that Reid will cave on this like a house of cards because he can’t afford to fight this appointment. It’s also my prediction that President-Elect Obama won’t provide much political cover in this fight.

Rest assured that I’ll keep my eyes on this debacle as the popcorn factor intensifies.

Technorati: Scandal, Rod Blagojevich, Jesse Jackson Jr., Emil Jones, Danny Davis, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Bobby Rush, CBC, Barack Obama, 111th Congress

Cross-posted at California Conservative

Anything that Patrick Ruffini writes on the subject of using technology to return the GOP to majority party status immediately gets put on my must-reading list. Patrick posted something on the subject yesterday that I didn’t get to think through. I made reading and thinking it through a priority of my Saturday morning.

The starting point of Patrick’s post is Leon Wolf’s post that I also referenced. Further down in Patrick’s post is this nugget of wisdom that needs to be expanded on:

Attacking technology as a way to rebuild the party misses the point in another way. It assumes that technology is just a tool, that it doesn’t change the dynamics of the political process itself. And that it can’t be an instrument in nudging along the kind of change we all want on the issues and ideas front.

Were MoveOn.org and the netroots primarily about technology or ideology? The answer is both. They were instruments for the ideological “reformation” of the party that just happened to use technology. They were both successful because they tied technology to sense of political purpose, direction, and action.

EXACTLY RIGHT!!! This isn’t an either-or question. It’s a rare double-sided truth. One wouldn’t exist without the other.

There’s great potential for technology to change existing political dynamics. I suspect that we could’ve changed a number of US House and Senate races had the RNC been more tech savvy. We could’ve changed even more races if we hadn’t frittered away our credibility on fiscal restraint issues.

Here’s something else we need to think about:

Without technology, the Democrats’ path to power would have looked very, very different. Their purpose-driven use of technology sped up the process of giving the grassroots an ownership stake within the party and feeling like they could safely get involved in official Democratic politics again.

The current leadership models of the RNC and the Minnesota GOP are top-down, leadership knows best models. That definition is the opposite of grassroots activism. In fact, it tells us that they know best & we’re just obligated to follow their orders. That isn’t just a flawed system. It’s a fatally flawed system. It isn’t enough to just tinker around the edges.

It’s time we demolished the current model and instituted a new bottom-up model. This new model would insist on the RNC and the MNGOP making time and listening to the activists instead of talking down to them.

Any candidate for RNC Chairman who doesn’t subscribe to that thinking should be ignored. Any candidate for chairman of the MNGOP who doesn’t have a history of thinking outside the box should be immediately eliminated. Here’s why it’s important:

Right now, there is a poisonous divide between the official Republican Party and the grassroots. This is the inevitable consequence of the bailouts, spending, and Medicare Part D and probably couldn’t be any other way after eight years in the White House. But over the next few years, it has to be a goal to get the grassroots looped back into the party and in fact get them in the drivers’ seat shaping the ideas and priorities of the party. For an opposition to be effective, it must be united. This means breaking down or rendering irrelevant the elitist mindset of the political class that divides it from the grassroots, and working as one united Republican Party in the think tanks, on the ground, and online to be an effective foil to the Obama Administration.

If there’s anything that the MNGOP leadership does consistently, it’s that it doesn’t listen to local activists. They’re professionals at barking out orders that undercut the efforts of local activists. There isn’t a big difference between the MNGOP and the RNC in that respect.

It’s time that the inside-the-Beltway types at the RNC, along with the control freaks in the MNGOP, to actually start listening to local activists. Until that happens, local activists will be forced to go around the elitists in leadership.

The Army of Davids concept is totally lost on these people. I’ve seen too many bits of proof that showed the leadership thinks that they’re the only people who know what they’re talking about. They couldn’t be further from the truth.

Utilizing Facebook, Twitter and other products will allow the activists to work around the leadership. That’s certainly what MoveOn.org did. We the People should be putting forth suggestions on what our message is. We should use these tools to sharpen and refine our message, too.

Until we eliminate the elitism that inhabits the leadership at the state party and the RNC, we won’t repair the ‘GOP brand’. That must be our first priority unless we want to be the minority party for a generation.

Technorati: RNC, MNGOP, Elitism, Activists, Leadership, Message, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MoveOn.org, GOP Brand

Cross-posted at California Conservative

When Shawne Merriman was lost for the San Diego Chargers the first week of the season, most people wrote them off as a playoff team. A month away from the end of the season & people were still writing them off.

Meanwhile, Peyton Mannning had another MVP season; the Colts finished the regular season with a 9-game winning streak, Bob Sanders got healthy & Dwight Freeney played like Dwight Freeney.

Theoretically, Indianapolis should’ve won this game.

Unfortunately for the Colts, they play the games for a reason. What got exposed Saturday night was the fact that not even Peyton Manning can win games if he doesn’t have a running game or an offensive line. Time after time, Manning was forced to throw in what should’ve been running downs. Third-and-2 isn’t a passing down for many teams. This year, it was for the Colts.

Frankly, the Colts’ offensive line lost them the game. They lost it because they couldn’t punish the defense. For that matter, they couldn’t even force the Chargers to respect the running game. Had the Colts’ offensive tackles played well, they could’ve run a more balanced offense. By itself, that would’ve made Peyton Manning 10 times more dangerous.

Because they didn’t have to respect the run, the Chargers were able to put extra effort into disguising their pass defenses. (It doesn’t hurt that they’ve got Antonio Cromartie & Quentin Jammer at corner, either.) They could throw exotic blitzes, disguise their blitzes & generally wreak havoc. The Chargers knew they could do this because the Colts’ running game wasn’t likely to hurt them.

This time of year, the teams that cover well & are the most physical team offensively usually win. That played out tonight. What makes this even more stunning is the fact that the Chargers lost the turnover battle 2-0.

Speaking of physical, one player that surpised me with his toughness was Darren Sproles. He carried the ball 22 times for 105 yards, many of those yard coming on runs up the middle. Sproles was a terror in the return game, too, finishing with 328 all-purpose yards, the third most in NFL playoff history.

Another thing that can’t ignored is the role punter Mike Scifres played tonight. Not since the days of Ray Guy have I seen a punter have such a dominant game. Scifres punted 6 times, pinning the Colts inside the 20 yard line each time. That would be a great game by itself but there’s more to Scifres’ night than just pinning the Colts deep. He averaged 52.7 yards per punt, including a 67 yarder than pinned the Colts inside the 5 yard line.

Manning had a subpar game for him. During his MVP march in December, he completed 81.8 percent of his passes. Tonight, he was 25 of 42, which is less than 60 percent. While he threw for 310 yards, that stat was misleading, too, with almost half of those yards coming on 5 plays, including a 72 yard TD pass when the Colts caught the Chargers napping.

Simply put, the Chargers won because they were the dominant team. If not for the 2 Chargers turnovers, this game wouldn’t have gotten to OT.

This figures to be a difficult offseason for the Colts. Tony Dungy might’ve coached his last game for the Colts. The Colts’ offensive line needs improvement. They also need to upgrade their receivers & secondary depth.

For now, though, they’ve got lots of time to figure out how they’ll address their needs. In fact, right now, the only thing the Colts have in abundance is time.

Technorati: Playoffs, San Diego Chargers, Colts, Tony Dungy, Retirement, Peyton Manning, NFL MVP, Offensive Line

My friend Jerry Ewing posted a comment that’s worth posting about because it’s important to address what Jerry’s said. First, here’s Jerry’s comment:

Everybody’s right, but the thing most seem to miss is, first of all, that a)we don’t yet have “a message,” certainly not one that is clear, coherent, and consistent across all party units. More importantly, we do not have and can not get the most important communication tools– newspapers and TV, from which a majority draw their view of the world– on our side. We have to somehow blast that message out over the biased media. The easiest way to do that is to base the message in things that the average Joe already knows, like government wastes money, and that you ought to live within your income. Apply common sense to this “common knowledge” and you have real education occurring without the need for swinging any axe handles.

The other part of messaging is the “Army of Davids” mindset that Gary mentioned earlier– the notion that we need to activate the activists, and get them to gain more activists, etc. The trick is to have something for them to do. I suggest that we use the Democrats plans as our springboard for developing our “message”– that is, a popular, realistic and common sense alternative– and from that we excite the Davids and beyond. Now, if we could just get our leaders to play that instigator role….

The first thing I’ll address is this statement:

[W]e don’t yet have “a message,” certainly not one that is clear, coherent, and consistent across all party units.

I can’t argue with Jerry that we have a coherent, universal message. What I will say, though, is that we’ve got everything we need to quickly put a coherent, appealing message together. Ed Rollins and others have said that Reaganism is dead. That’s BS. People that think Reagan’s message is dead don’t understand Reaganite conservatism.

At its core, Reaganite conservatism is based on the underlying principles of liberty, prosperity and security. I don’t think that I missed the time when people suddenly said that they were too prosperous, had too much individual and societal liberty and were too secure both in terms of national and homeland security.

That’s the framework that we should build our message around because it’s such an appealing foundation. Nonetheless, that’s just the foundation. The next step is much like building a house. Contractors generally don’t stop once they’ve poured the footings, laid the block & framed the house. They know that sheet-rocking the walls, installing the wiring, plumbing and the furnace, siding the home and putting in the finishing touches are all part of the process of building a livable home.

To make us more prosperous, we need a well-educated workforce, high quality, reasonably-priced health care, low taxes and minimal regulations. The GOP has generally garnered high marks on taxes and regulations but they’ve usually not done well with issues like health care reform and education. That must change ASAP.

There are alot of bright people in the GOP who understand education policy, both from a funding standpoint and curriculum standpoint, who can stand toe-to-toe with the DFL and defeat them in an education debate. Some people that leap to mind that fit that description are Janet and King, my friends from SCSU Scholars. They’ve both got substantial experience with education, both having made a living in the education field. They’re but two of the people who could debate education policy with the DFL and defeat them on the field of ideas.

Another area that conservatives should exploit is the issue of health care reform. Steve Gottwalt and Laura Brod have proposed numerous free market-based health care reforms. Last fall, Jan Schneider displayed a detailed knowledge of health care policy, especially with regards to the role mandates play in driving up health care costs. Josh Behling totally schooled Larry Haws on the issue in debate after debate, too.

The reason why this is important to shaping the GOP’s message is because health care costs are driving profits down for small businesses. If the GOP wants to prove that it’s the small business community’s best friend, then we have to fight the DFL on health care reform. That doesn’t mean adopting their policies but putting a smaller price tag on it. It means that we put forward solutions based on free market principles. It means proposing cafeteria-style health insurance which allows people to customize their coverage for their needs.

Here’s another statement Jerry made that’s worth thinking through:

More importantly, we do not have and can not get the most important communication tools– newspapers and TV, from which a majority draw their view of the world– on our side.

Conservatives have seen the liberal media’s bias seemingly forever. This year, however, journalism died. Bernie Goldberg has a book coming out Jan. 26 titled A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media. Hords of Palin-hating reporters from every major newspaper in the nation descended on Wasilla to find dirt on Gov. Palin but only David Freddoso and Stanley Kurtz looked into President-Elect Obama.

If we simply accepted that as our lot in life, then we should resign ourselves to eternally being the minority party. Having talked with Jerry on this subject, I know that isn’t his attitude. I’ll guarantee that that isn’t my attitude. Conservatives aren’t a bunch of whiners. We’re a solutions-oriented bunch. The next logical question is straightforward: What can be done to correct this situation?

The solution requires a multi-faceted approach. Building Facebook networks is part of the solution. Writing concisely-worded LTEs about the most important issues of the day is another part of the solution. Reaching out to people who aren’t currently part of our currently configured coalition is another part of the solution. Putting together YouTube videos showing liberals making stupid arguments is part of the solution, too.

A good example of utilizing YouTube effectively was the creation of the video of Maxine Waters saying that Fannie and Freddie were fine “thanks to the outstanding leadership of Franklin Raines.”

The reason why that was effective was because it exposed Democrats saying something that the American people knew wasn’t factual or accurate. We should jump at every opportunity to highlight that type of statement.

Finally, we can avoid the slobbing media’s filter with direct mailings when the subject is important enough. This isn’t something that will be a big part of our repertoire but if it’s used in the right situations, it can be highly effective.

The point I’m making is that we can get our message out just fine if we’re smart about it. It just means using every tool at our avail. That’ll require hard work but it’s definitely doable.

Technorati: Media, Elections, Facebook, YouTube, Maxine Waters, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Conservatism

Cross-posted at California Conservative