The Follow Through.  They have blown it over the last 8 years.

Well one change is me resigning from their party and becoming an independent, at least till one of the two major parties get their shit together.

Amen to that! (no pun intended) Getting the Elmer Gantry wanna-bes out of the party hierarchy might piss off the "Bible-wing" Republicans, but to be totally honest, they don't have a great track record when it comes to practising what they preach so they don't have a lot of credibility. (see Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Baker and Ted Haggard)

Although it doesn't help that there is going to be a meeting of sorts at the weekend home of the head of the Parent's Television Council this weekend to try to decide where to take the party from here. The fact that this "summit" is being held on the home turf of Bozo the Censor himself (that's Brent Bozell III) does not bode well for a change of direction.

Then again, I think that some of the "Rich-wing" Republicans should take a back seat as well. What with all of the economic scandals the GOP has gone through from Enron and the fleecing of the California Power market to Haliburton and Blackwater and the creation of the Robber-barron, war-profitering class, it is time for the Phil Grahams of the party to take a hike as well.

That leaves us with...............Joe the Plumber?

Actually, out of all of the examples above, Joe is the only real Republican in the bunch as far as I'm concerned. He is a regular guy who goes to work every day, tries to support his family the best he can and pays his taxes while just trying to be a good guy.

To me the Republican Party should be about:

*limited Government interference in our lives. 

*While I'm not talking about giving us a handout when we are job hunting, how about at least giving us the means to be able to get ourselves back on our feet when we lose a job through no fault of our own? Just create a good job and I'll take care of the rest,that's all I'm saying.

*A strong military and national defense that can fight injustice around the world when we need to, as well as protect our citizens from attack at home.

*Above all else, the government should not be spending beyond its means and sinking us deeper into debt. I hear complaints about "tax-and-spend" Democrats all the time, but not one mention of the "tax-and-spend-and-welch-on-the-debt" Republicans (aka. Rich-wing) in Congress that have gotten us to this point.

Now, that's not to say that the party should move completly to the center, but they should be willing to meet the majority of the people in this country half way. If anything we are not a liberal nation, nor are we a conservative nation. By and large I believe we are a nation of centrists who want our leaders to exercise some common sense while governing, not governing according to extreme idealisms. That is why the far right, and in a lot of cases the far left, are seen in many circles as a bad joke. Let's face it, both sides have their wing-nuts and whack jobs that give each side a bad name. On the right side you have the heritic and arch-traitor Fred Phelps, on the left.....YOU HAVE PETA!!!!!!

But, I digress.....

I think in the end the GOP is going to have to come together under one candidate much like the Democrats have done under Obama. Just after the primary season was over everyone was saying how divided the Democrats were and that they would never capture the White House come November. Well look at what this community organizer did - he organized this community of Democrats, gave them a common purpose and won 364 Electoral Votes.

The GOP needs to find their version of Barack Obama in order to have a chance in 2012 and beyond. But they shouldn't try to find the second coming of Ronald Regan. As great a president as he was, his brand of conservatism just will not work in the 21st Century, we've seen that already.

Instead what the GOP needs to do is to reach back even further in their history for the second coming of a man who was tough yet gentle, strong yet kind, firm yet understanding. He was a friend to the environment, which may give them a leg up what talking about global warming, and he was able to regulate business while still enabling them to make enough profits to spread among thier workers.

The GOP shouldn't be looking for the second coming of Ronald Regan, what they need is the second coming of Teddy Roosevelt.

The GOP needs to turn the clock back to that kind of conservatism. If they do that, they can give President Obama a run for his money in 2012.

If not, they may be on the outside looking in for a really long time asking "wha happa?'

One thing sure, they really should start to dissociate themselves with the religious right. It's a pact with the Devil they make, and the longer they stay on the course with them, the harder it will get to leave them.

I remember reading an article about Obama's coalition. He managed to get those voters:

the 18-29, the blacks, the hispanics, the first-time voters, the high-income (seriously! More high-earner vote for Obama than for McCain!), the poors, etc..

you look at it. specially the first 4 categories, these are demographic group that are growing in America. McCain won the eldery, and the white men. Not those who are getting more weight in the USA.

It's very possible that Obama's victory may be a long-term one for the democracts. the GOP needs to put itself together, and change a lot.

Also, the fact that the GOP presented themselves as the "Party of a low-budget governement" while more than doubled their pork-barrel spendings when they first got into the Representant chambers has impacted a lot to the electorate. How can you trust that party? at least the Dems are honest about it.

Totally irrelevant!  You missed the boat!  This election was the repudiation of the "bible wing" as McCain was the least palatable choice.  The only good things (and it is wasted as are all attempts for republicans to show the liberals they want to be bipartisan) that came out of this election was the demonstration that the republicans have a constituency that is comprised of conservative christians.  But they do not run the party.  And like black and democrats, the republicans can take them for granted.  But what the republicans cannot take for granted is their core ideals.  Conservatism.  And they did that this year.

Again with that theme!  I understand your lack of knowledge about American politics, but you both are railing against a ghost.  No, the republicans can keep (and should keep) the religious right as a faction within their party.  They were not he cause of defeat as it was plain to anyone except a mind numbed robot that McCain was pushing them away.

I dont have to worry about the republicans following the advice of liberals whose only goal is to destroy them.  They did that job this time around themselves pretty well.  But you are both wrong.  They dont have to distance themselves, and this election saw them do just that.  And they lost.  but not due to that.  Due to the economy.  Check back on my comments.  When the dow went below 10k, I said the republicans lost.  The only thing preventing my prediction from coming true was how bad Obama ran his campaign.  He damn near managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  If anyone mimics him, they are going to lose and lose badly.

For what it's worth, I think the Repubilcans need to start explaining why less government is better government.  They need to explain that to the Social Cons that this is the best way to protect their religious liberties and they need to explain it to the Fiscal Cons as the best way to preserve the market.  Then they need to sell it to the American people.

If all they do is offer big government that is pro business, the people will choose the Dems version of big government every time.

How to do that?  Taxes are a start.  People understand less taxes = good.  Also, less regs = more drilling for oil = lower prices at the pump = good.  That's why Joe the Plumber and Drill Baby Drill were the two most successful themes of the Republican campaign.  But they need to take that in develop it into a philosophy and educate the electorate as to why those things are good.  Take it and view it in the larger context of getting the government out of the way of the American people.  As any good salesman knows, a big part of the job is educating the customer.

Then, they have to deliver on what they promise.  Again, a salesman that doesn't deliver won't get very many repeat customers.  And politics is retail and repeat business.

The core values.  Reduced government (not growing it as Bush did - he was just playing to the democrats and they still hated him - it was a no win scenario).  Keep (or reduce after Obama) taxes low.  Develop national resources (they do create jobs people).  Secure the borders. Strong Defense (if they see a weak one, they will attack - that we have seen).

The way to give people a choice is to offer them one.  But there is hardly any choice when both are talking about Universal Health care (a plan to penalize 290m for the sins of 10m), creAting this department, or that department.  Doing this or that to out give the democrats is not the way to go.

I always have been registered as independent. I have never voted for a party, only candidates. If the Republicans want to earn people's votes they need to communicate WHY people should vote for their candidates instead of the others. I don't like the Dem party because they tend to pander to the special interest groups and don't like the Rep party because they tend to pander to big business. I would love to vote for someone who doesn't pander to any groups but instead will actually work for the benefit of the citizens of this country. A Common Sense Party is needed.

Republicans need to start grooming a rock star and raise a lot of cash. Apparently experience is not a requirement anymore, just need to look good and speak well (and read a teleprompter). This is not a slam against Obama, the election is over and it is now fact.

Other things that don't matter:

Prior military service (whether the country is at war or not).

Past associations.

Perceived lack of patriotism (like the refusal to recognize the National Anthem).

And the big favorite, that has remained a constant of all recent elections, the ability to keep all campaign promises (with president elect in the we'll see category for now).

Good God! Name a single politician that ever met that one!

Lincoln was not a liberal.  Nor do we want to harken back to those days for either party.  One was for slavery.  The other suspended all rights for those it did not agree with.

That's why I ended with the line about actually delivering on what you promise.