1 I'll get the link-whoring started: here's a post about how conservatives let the GOP drift left.

2 Read that last night, actually, even considered doing a post in response.  I'd say a few things, first, a lot of conservatives bit their tongues when Bush started to go off the rails with his big spending initiatives because they were afraid to stir up a big internal fight in the aftermath of 9/11, for both unity reasons and to preserve Bush's political capital for the war effort.  It was a huge mistake, and it's costing us dearly. 

Another thing was that conservatives as a movement failed to remember their own philosophy, that government is massively corrupt and corrupting.  As a movement, we assumed sending conservatives and Republicans up there as a majority would be enough, and that they'd go in and fix DC.  We were wrong, soon many became corrupt, RINOs, or corrupt RINOs, we should have constantly been demanding they adhere to the conservative agenda, and had challengers waiting in the wings for those that didn't comply.  We didn't follow through, and we'll pay dearly for it.

3 But other than that, you're spot on, we do hold some of the blame.

4 "Our friends, the Saudis" give us their version of pussywhipped.

5 There's the ever popular question of what to bring to a gunfight. Hint- it ain't a poodleshooter.

6 I just wanted to bring to everyone's attention that Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog is up online again for free for a limited time.

7

...we do hold some of the blame.

I believe we hold almost all of the blame for what has happened to the party.
These things cannot function from the top down, once the grassroots of any party/movement whatever stops holding the leadership accountable on a daily basis, that party will start to drift away from it's ideological base (power always give one a sense of superiority).

In order to have a conservative Republican party, we have to rebuild it from the ground up by getting more involved, finding and working for good local candidates and working our asses off to get the deadbeat bull shit out of office.

If you want to change the political ecosystem, start right in your back yard and let it drift up through the levels of government.

8 Since I don't blog anymore, I'll link whore this one from the next right.
It's a damn good example of "getting in the game".

(full disclosure, if you click through) I'm a former small town Mayor living in John Day, Oregon, and I'll be taking a shot at the County Judge seat in 2010.

9

I gotta disagree about demanding that they be conservatives and having challengers in the wings, we did that, it didn't work.

Remember the challenger for Specter? How about Lincoln Chafee? We tried and the party leadership shot us down for RINOs.

We then tried to give them a lesson in 2006 and they didn't learn.

They gave us Denny Hastert and him saying that the Executive Branch working with the Judicial Branch can't investigate the Legislative Branch when the FBI served a search warrant on Jefferson.

They gave us Trent Lott as minority leader.

They gave us Immigration "reform", more than once and called us racists to boot.

They torpedoed Benito Giuliani in an effort to get Mitt "I've been conservative for a whole week" Romney and so gave us John "I hate conservatives more than Hillary does" McCain.

America 08, too late to work within the system, too soon to shoot the bastards.

10 Maybe I should include the link....

11 I have this sarcastic rant series I started on my blog called Cubicle Neighborhood.  Here is the link to the first four in the series.  It's a great place for you to vent about your frustrations with rude colleagues. Or just enjoy a good laugh because you can relate.

12 Veeshir's point is in part is why I say we're partly to blame, while we need to eventually oust the RINO leaders, and that is on us, it's difficult to gain a foothold when we have the RINO brigades throwing rocks at us from above, the Toomey/Specter sellout being a great example of this.

13 The RINO brigades (love it) are first and foremost politicians, if they see any real movement under their feet it will scare the hell out of them.
They will dance and spin and, yes, throw rocks from above, but if they think the movement is strong enough they will eventually get out of the way.
The real problem (IMHO) will be the hordes of unelected *party leaders*, those RINOs are everywhere in the county, state and national party structure and I don't think they will go quietly into the night.

14 Yeah, and that's gonna take time to fix.

15

Wow, check out dpud, I didn't realize you were so optimistic and are thinking we can fix things.

My position is that this is the Funniest End of Civilization Ever!!! and we're all doomed.

I mean, the Romans had some bad-ass, hard-case barbarians, ditto the Eastern Roman Empire when some real bad-ass Muslims sacked Constantinople. I mean they weren't impressed by being fed to lions or crucified. Our barbarians get all upset when you shave off their beards, draw up some comics or put panties on their heads.

16 I kinda like the new feature, but if you'll accept some free advice?
1. Rename it- "Pimp my blog!" comes to mind.
2. Try to keep it simple, I'm a moron and like simple, don't need a big intro.
3. Banish discussions to other posts. (see item 2)
4. Consider bumping it and making it sticky to the top of the page.

Or you could just ban me.

17 I like some of XTC's ideas, and I like this new format. With the number of doctor's appointments I have now until the baby's gborn (including the few health scares I've had in the past few weeks) I can't blog as much as I would like, so being able to let people know when I do have new stuff is great.

18 I actually have decided to vote for Obama and every liberal democrat on the ticket. 

Why?

Because I am tired of being lectured on how I am not conservative enough or ideologically pure enough.  If I am going to be hated anyway I might as well align with the people who are going to win the election unless conservatives can begin to understand that politics in a representative republic is a series of compromises and you cut the best deal you can and then try and improve it in the next election. 

19 Breaking my own proposed rule about comments in the roundup post...

Chad, I understand your frustrations. I'm pretty far right wing, but I also understand that not everyone else is. But what gets my dander up is the rapidity with which supposed conservatives in Congress abandon what most of us can agree are the pillars of the conservative movement, such as limited government, and the enabler thereof, limited government spending. I don't think it is at all inappropriate for us to agitate for our political party to stand for its own principles.

20 chad, I understand why you're backing McCain and I respect it, some people are, and some aren't.  I'm not bothered by the people voting or even actively supporting McCain, except when I or others start getting bludgeoned with ZOMG YOURE A CRYBABY AND YOUR A LIBERAL WHY DONT YOU GO VOTE OBAMA YOUR GUY LOST GET OVER IT!!!1!1eleventy!1 from the really aggro McCainiacs and GOP cheerleaders because of our choice to abstain. 

Those types and the mindless Party cheerleaders, who won't criticize McCain or the GOP when they fuck up, even if they absolutely know McCain or the GOP fucked up, those types I don't have much respect for either.  I see a lot of both at Hotair, but other places too, I dunno if my train of thought carries when I talk about the election here, but it might, and that might be part of what colors my thinking and rhetoric.

Those types need to learn berating me for abstaining isn't going to make me more willing to support McCain than me berating them for voting for him.  We're just walking different paths on this one.

You and others think it's better to keep Obama out at all costs, that the damage he'd do would be so profound as to be unrecoverable, understandable and respectable position.  Those of us abstaining think that the GOP leadership is so cluefucked they need the shock of having the base abandon them and letting them get their asses handed to them to make them realize they need to adhere to at least some conservative principles, and then we'll come back and vote for them, donate and volunteer.  It just is what it is. 

And when I say the RINO brigades, I mean honest to God RINOs, who basically don't care if the socialists win, they just don't want them to win while they're alive.  I truly believe McCain and much of the GOP leadership are RINOs.  They don't care if the socialists win, they just don't want it to happen in their lifetimes. 

I haven't decided if I'll vote for McCain or not, and probably won't make that choice till election day, unless he does something that pisses me off and permanently pushes me in the abstain camp, like picking a RINO or Lieberman for VP, or make even more RINO leaps. (I like Lieberman, I think he's a good guy and what respectable opposition should be, but I like him as a sane Democrat senator, not as VP)

21 I'm not actually berating people for not supporting McCain (well maybe I am if so I don't mean to berate as much as cajole) and I do understand conservatives frustration with the direction of the GOP. 

My point is and has been the GOP isn't a conservative party.  It is the more conservative party.  To insist on ideological purity in a "big tent"  party is an invitation to either losing your voice entirely within the party or having your party soundly defeated at the polls. 

The alternative is incrementalism.  Get what you can and then come back for more.  the liberals have used this to great effect since the populist movement in the late 18 / early 1900's and there is no reason conservatives can't do the same. 

In the minds of many that reasoning makes me less than a true conservative, and on social issues I'm may not be, although I bet my views are a lot closer to the small government ideal than those who want to get involved in every facet or morality.  Anyway the party I belong to is still the best choice conservatives have of having their views represented.  If you choose to abstain and hope the GOP leadership get cluefucked as you put it the you essentially hand the Supreme Court to the liberals and that's damage that can't be undone for years. 

You said in your response at my blog:

"Why isn't the GOP fighting to make advances for the GOP agenda in Congress? Why aren't they doing anything!?! They ought to be pounding the offshore drilling and ANWR issue every damn day, relentlessly, new measure after new measure, doing press conferences, doing ads, sending out mailers, having an online presence. The GOP ought to be bludgeoning the hell out of the Democrats with this issue, it's a no-brainer, yet here we are, with the typical tepid canned GOP talking points and nothing to show. FIGHT GODDAMMIT! That's all I'm asking."

I agree I have called them out on this a number of times, but abstaining isn't going to change that either. 

You also said that I had unfairly characterized Daniel's post.  If that's the case I am sorry.  It's the way it struck me and it is still the way it struck me, but it is entirley possible I am misreading his intentions through a haze of ... well I don't know, not really anger but something.  If that is the case that is my problem not his. 

XBradTC said - "I don't think it is at all inappropriate for us to agitate for our political party to stand for its own principles."

Again I agree I just think that the way many people are going about it is wrongheaded and will actually end up pushing the party further to the left because it won't be the fact that conservatives sat out the election that gets noticed.  It will that the guy with an American Conservative Union score of 0 beat the guy with a score of 80. 

Finally - my previous post at 18 was intended to be humorously ironic and I expected a ton of hate from it.  When I have posted similar thing at other sites {cough} wizbang {/cough} in the past it was like the paint was blistering off my computer case.  You guys were actually pretty polite.  :-)  For the record I will vote hack off my penis with a butter knife before I vote for Obama, Patty Murray or Maria Cantwell.

22 {cough} wizbang {/cough}

IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT GEORGE W. BUSH'S DICK TASTES LIKE, GET THE FUCK OFF MY SITE. 

23 Gss 'll gt th fck ff y'r st thn.

24 f y hvn't fgrd t t yt, 'v hd my rn-ns wth th wzbng ppl.

25 What is sad is that in 2006, I still liked DJ and felt bad for him when polipundit threw his temper tantrum and threw DJ, AKM, Lori, and Jayson off his site. But since going to Wizbang, DJ has become a dick.

Too bad Jay Tea has had to come over to various moron sites and try to smooth things over. I recall when he went to mesablue's site and tried to smooth things over.

Now, I don't even go to Wizbang anymore, or polipundit either. And that is sad, since polipundit in 2004 was where I cut my blogging teeth.

26 As for incrementalism, I'm all about it as long as it's working in my favor, which it isn't right now, we're clearly going backward.  You know who does do incrementalism well? 

The pro-2nd lobby and 2nd activists.  Look at the incredible successes they've racked up in the past two decades.  The Dems passed the Assault Weapon Ban, and the pro-2nd forces were central in crushing the Dems in the 1994 elections, with the AWB eventually sunsetting to with little resistance, and Dems are scared to go back to it...well, those that have any political savvy are, idjit fascists like McCarthy don't count.

Shall-issue concealed carry is now reality in almost every state, with efforts to expand the current carry rights and expand open carry.  The recent Heller decision, and the Dems willingness to now slap DC into compliance with Heller.  The Dems are afraid to even talk about gun control outside of socialist havens, and Democrat candidates start sweating every time gun control even comes up in discussion. 

That's how incrementalism works, that's why the gun control movement is on the run, and NRA and other pro-2nd groups are strong and have strong support.  They never cave, and they only accept setbacks or compromise as long as it ultimately works in their favor.  That's why they're fucking winners.  The GOP could learn a little something from them.

27 Yeah, he didn't so much smooth things over as after a lengthy series of email exchanges we agreed to a cease-fire.

28 In the minds of many that reasoning makes me less than a true conservative, and on social issues I'm may not be, although I bet my views are a lot closer to the small government ideal than those who want to get involved in every facet or morality.

I'm generally the same way on social issues, I tend to be in the leave me the hell alone camp more often than not.  I'm not a fan of the Huck/social con type Christian Democrat/Morality Police type stuff.  Pisses me off.

29 ^amen. I abhor the Hucksters and their Moral Majority nanny statism as much as I abhor the Goracle nanny statism. Why can't they just leave me alone as well?

30 What I don't understand is the logic behind it.  Government is the problem, they know government is the problem, yet they want to solve it with more government?  It's just a complete logical disconnect.  The only reason I can see them going that route is if they they think they're going to give up in the marketplace of ideas.  The FMA, faith-based initiatives, all that crap?  Protectionism, s'all it is.

31 FMA is inherently defensive. The courts are making shit up as they go along, so social cons feel the need to be proactive on what they see (and I tend to agree with them) an issue that should be a no-brainer.

But for the fHuckster, I love my God, and I love my country. I just think of them as two separate entities. Huck needs to pick a job, politician or preacher, but not both.

32 @22

Yeah, that would be why I no longer visit your site.  Well that and the fact that Paul is / was such a prick I hope he suffers an incredibly painful anal cyst that eventually drives him mad.

33 Heh, you have no idea how tempted I am to keep posting as him.  Of course I also don't have a thing to take the vowels out of your comment, and I'm too lazy, but pretend I did, it'd be hilarious.  Speaking of Paul, were you around for the big fight between him and Ace?  Ace totally pwn3d him and Paul went on a lengthy hiatus.

34 ^yeah, and I have noticed an uptick on bannings and devowelings of Morons over there since then.

35 Something odd I've noticed is that when a site starts kind of going off on a weird direction, or the person is pissed off at the right blogosphere, or they go lefty they often trash Ace and/or us morons. 

When commissar went lefty, he started knocking Ace, and I always thought that was a dick move.  Ace was always cool to commissar, even after commissar went back to being a lefty, so why trash him? 

Ditto when the Wuzzadems committed blogocide, they were trashing Ace and us morons in their comments on one of their posts, shortly before scrubbing that, a few other bitter posts and declaring it an archive site.  I wish I'd have screencapped before the scrub, I couldn't find the comments in archives or cache either.  You can ask Weasel about it, she was the one caught it.  I was kind of shocked, because again, Ace was always cool to the Wuzzadems, and what did we morons do?  It just came out of left field.

36 Yeah, actually the Ace / Paul fight was a while after my disillusionment with wizbang, but it and the QandO fight were what got me onboard as a daily AoS reader.  

37 See, I missed the QandO fight.

38 thanks for this blog

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