By Alan CarubaPerhaps the best news of the day is that Newt Gingrich has made it clear that he is available to take over the leadership of the Republican Party and reverse the current political catastrophe.
In 1994, Gingrich engineered the Republican return to power after forty years in the Democrat wilderness called Congress. It was no small feat, but even genius can be flawed and, in time, Gingrich had to give up his job as Speaker of the House and ultimately turned to writing some excellent novels based on Civil War events and a host of other activities.
He had arrived in Congress from Georgia after having been a professor of history and nothing will serve him so well, should he become the GOP choice to head the party, than that long sweep of the past that, for the Republicans began with a candidate from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. We had some really nifty ones like Teddy Roosevelt, Ike Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, as well as others like the less memorable Calvin Coolidge who historians say did a good job too.
Then we had Nixon; twice elected, once resigned for crimes against the Constitution and pardoned by Gerald Ford whom few can recall. And, it would appear, two Bush’s too many.
Over the years since Franklin Delano Roosevelt struggled unsuccessfully to get us out of the Great Depression and led, successfully, the nation through World War II, Republicans have drifted with the rest of the population toward an ever-growing, ever-expanding federal government. Even Reagan could not rid us of the Department of Education that has ruined our schools.
Liberalism like the “Blob” of the movies engulfed everyone and everything in its path. Unlike Al Capp’s “Shmoo” of the Little Abner comic strip, the Blog does not provide for all our daily needs. Instead, it sucks the life out of its victims until they no longer want to take responsibility for their lives.
Republicans have spent the last week attacking one another for either attacking or supporting the McCain-Palin ticket. This kind of blood-letting is predictable and one hopes will be short-lived.
It is time now to rally the troops. Republicans have to organize, organize, organize for the next four years if they are ever to regain the White House and Congress.
This last election suffered seriously from a ticket that was too squishy and semi-liberal with McCain and, dare it be said, a tad too far to the right with Palin. Neither should be regarded as the future of the party if the party is to have a future.
Republicans are not totally bereft of talent and new faces. Let me suggest just one. Michael Steele has the look of a potential presidential candidate for 2012. There are others.
For now, we must be good soldiers and brave.
3 comments:
NOVEMBER 11, 2008
Alan - A great analysis of the situation but you are dead wrong on two counts. Newt Gingrich, for all his history knowledge and education, knows nothing about climate history; he actually went on TV with Pelosi endorsing the last Anti-AGW program of the democrats. Newt lost all his credibility with me when he did that, and now I think he a bit old for RNC leadership, considering the important younger vote, that as you note in your column today, suffers from 30 years of brainwashing. They just will not accept Newt, and many in that age group never heard of him.
The other error is your faulty evaluation of Palin. You want the Republicans to be the party of energy? That Americans are tired of war? War is not something a country picks up or lays down without consequences. There is and will be a war going on for may years to come. Considering that the Muslims are in a 1400-year old war with us it is somewhat naïve to expect that little ole' war to go away, regardless of how "tired" Americans are of war. Remember, the only motive of Muslims is that they want us dead and out of the way of the glorious world-wide caliphate. Ii was too bad for the party and for America that the present POTUS never got around to telling Americans that the enemy was Islam. We could have set Islam back a few centuries, had he forged a warlike stance among the people, WWII style. Oh well, that is another story.
Getting back to energy, there is no Republican politician, bar none, who knows more about national energy needs, planning, and development than Palin. Her exec experience moreover far outshines Biden and Obama put together.
The most important thing is that she fired up the conservative base like nothing since Ronald Reagan with the fire in her eyes and real "straight shooting" in her character. She needs to be the next leader of the party to smash the milquetoast/RINO influence of the Eastern establishment, which in my opinion has its collective head in the sands. That is probably because there are not any red states around the beltway, so they are themselves brainwashed with blue state thinking. If the establishment does not see the power behind Palin among the American people, they are blind and will be further extending the grip of socialism on this country with Obama's second term if they do not pick Palin, no matter who else they pick.
And I will bet Palin against Putin, Osama, et al, any day of the week.
Re your main article "How America Has Changed" -excellent. There is a strong linkage between Marxism, political correctness, and their origin in "Critical Theory". The plan to attack the fairness doctine is an off-shoot -"silence the opposition".
You are correct. Gingrich, on the global warming issue alone, should be disqualified. Happily, he has disqualified himself as it has been reported he doesn't want the chairmanship of the RNC.
I remain skeptical of Palin's capabilities.
I'm actually responding to a piece I read on "American Daily" titled 'There will be no one left to protect you.' but couldn't seem to get the contact/email feature to work there.
Anyway, there is not DOMESTIC security, police, or SS/gestapo in the works. Obama is referring to a proposal for a civilian reserve corps the could handle postwar construction efforts such as rebuilding infrastructure--an idea endorsed by the Bush administration!! You all need to relax; it's not going to be a DOMESTIC force--it will be used in OTHER COUNTRIES. In fact, the State Department is already building a force similar to the one Obama described. The Civilian Response Corps, as it is called, was launched two years ago by the Bush administration, after a BIPARTISAN vote by Congress and at the urging of Republicans including former Secretary of State Colin Powell. They are now recruiting engineers, law enforcement personnel, health officers, city administrators and other specialists who could be sent overseas to help re-establish government controls after a crisis. John E. Herbst (former ambassador to the Ukraine) is leading the project and he says, "Our military performed brilliantly," but added that the troops needed the SKILLS and ASSISTANCE of civilians to help re-establish order. Herbst also says, "I believe it would save us LIVES AND MONEY in the long run." So please, please, all you alarmist, and scared paranoid people--RELAX. Obama hasn't even spend one day in office yet, and you're all flying off the handle, and you're basing it on nothing but fear and rumor.
I think it's a fine idea to have this kind of thing in place to help rebuild in countries which have been, or will be war torn. An additional point is that the Military isn't always trained in the areas where help is needed. In other words, restoring electrical power, or clean water, etc. Again, I just wish that one, people wouldn't get hysterical over something which would be a rebuilding, FOREIGN corps. And, whether or not you or anyone else is against it... it already DOES exist.
Take a deep breath and give the man a chance to do his job.
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