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whispering sweet nothings in our political ears

By haystack Posted in 2008 | Featured Stories — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The Field Of Dreams™, formerly known as the 2008 Republican Presidential candidates, continues to get planted, watered, and fertilized laying in wait for greener grass and occupied seats in the peanut gallery.

The list grows, almost daily, with names that range from total obscurity to absurdity in the absolute. With each addition comes the obligatory “quick review” and quicker casting aside of any serious consideration. Why then, given the near Total Eclipse of Conservatism™ under the “Bush Watch”, do these political court jesters continue to interrupt our sojourn through the wilderness with empty rhetoric and principled contradictions hoping for someone to lay myrrh at their feet?

With the so-called sweeping defeat shining brightly in our sitting President’s eyes, the GOP finds itself in similar circumstances to those of our enlightened college students in the wistfully remembered bygone days of the 60’s trying to find themselves.

I could resolve myself to be laughingly entertained, were it not otherwise so critically important to our Nation’s future that we get this right. With the opportunity to further at least the most basic of Conservative Principles thoroughly squandered over the past 6 years, we need to have a discussion about just exactly what we want from our next GOP President, should there even BE a candidate that legitimately exists out in that field.

If such a person doesn’t exist, can we please just pick someone we can glean some personal entertainment and amusement from to keep us from further slipping into a political coma for the next 6 years? Just pull the 2012 calendar out now, get back to the wilderness, and get to hunting?

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I find little value in trying to distinguish here between those who have “declared” and those who are “exploring”; such folly can remain with the girl-scout campfire ghost stories being bandied about on the Left. In order to form a more perfect union of support or rejection of these power aspirants, any legitimate review and analysis MUST include the points of reference against which we select or reject a candidate.

It has become abundantly clear, especially when one mulls the GOP cannibalism we have observed since November 8, 2006, that every faction and plank of the party has blamed every other (and the principles and beliefs they each espouse) for the defeat at the polls and the loss of majority status in Congress. While we busy ourselves with the knee-jerk reactions that engages criticism and demonization of the victors, we expend energy we should be reserving for determining how best to avoid a repeat in 2008.

We lost for a number of reasons; some obtuse, some abstract, and some plain and clear to even the untrained eye. Most important for us to acknowledge up front if we are serious about our self-inflicted rehab is to accept that the opponent won. They outplayed us, they took the field, and they are enjoying their election victory dance in the end-zone. Say it with me…

They won! Say it again….They won. There-isn’t that better?

Understanding HOW they won is the only way to even ATTEMPT to prevent them from back to back victories. Understanding that they won by making us look bad is the first step to recovery. And, they made us look bad because we were. As we busied ourselves arguing principles and ideologies, they were whispering sweet nothings in the ears of their faithful, and promising things would be less bad if everyone would just trust them, and go to the polls.

They succeeded in convincing their minions to play nice with each other in public, while making sweetheart deals with those colleagues that may have been under indictment or hiding bribe money in their freezers. They ratcheted up the "sell-able" accusations of high crimes and misdemeanors on the part of their opposition, and enabled the communications conglomerates to get the message across that bad guys in the majority are more bad than bad guys in the minority. We owe them a well done, and a closer look at the fundamental secret to this success.

The Democrats are not concerned with arguing Liberalism in public. Like religion, they prefer that be kept (along with a great many OTHER human endeavors) behind closed doors, and outside the public limelight. Simultaneously, they were able to analyze and tear down the fundamental tenets and principles of Conservatism in the open arena of ideas, successfully (and wrongly) associate ALL Republicans with Conservatism, and thusly found themselves in possession of the Speaker's gavel.

As the Mitt Romneys, Rudy Giulianis, Newt Gingrichs, Chucky Hagels, Sam Brownbacks, and Ron Pauls (and God knows who else I have missed or forgotten), come along, we will be faced with the more basic question of whether we pick the candidate that best fits our ideologies (or offends the least of them), or whether we pick the one that has the best chance of blowing the most effective smoke up...err, IN everyone's ears.

The planks of the GOP (and separately of the Conservative-minded subset of same) have been successfully placed under our collective feet much the same as Saddam's gallows. He fell through his, and the intended result was fully realized. We keep standing firm to ours, and we may well share that fate.

The GOP is going to stay out in the wilderness a good long time until and unless it understands that winning takes precedence over principle. However much I wish I could believe otherwise, this remains true until Americans re-learn the ills of liberalism (even closet liberalism). To achieve that, this party is going to need leadership that first and foremost actually BELIEVES in Conservative Principles, second, develops a public record of actually LIVING Conservative Principles, and finally, can articulate and LEAD the masses to that kool aid dispenser willingly and enthusiastically.

Until then, ALL that matters is that we find someone we think can beat the opposition, and make it so-by doing all that we have learned from those currently residing in that cuckoo's nest we so badly want back.

Today, as was said more eloquently HERE , no such man or woman has left the dugout and come on to the field. There is MUCH to be done