Redstate

of course, I am lucky enough to live in John Shadegg's district. :>)
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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?

--As Majority Leader, he did nothing for the party this year. He had no public sway and probably hurt the party.--

Can you please elaborate on this point? Boehner PUBLICLY backed down the Senate on its decision to load up an emergency spending bill with nearly $15B in pork, leading to a bill that stuck to the President's request. Boehner PUBLICLY backed down the Senate and the President on immigration, leading to the passage of the Secure Fence Act (and the money appropriated for it) rather than the Senate amnesty bill. Boehner PUBLICLY backed down the appropriators and helped pass the first ever earmark reform in the House. Boehner PUBLICLY passed a pension bill that boosted 401(k) limits and allows companies to offer their workers investment advice (eradicating a decades old Democrat/union driven barrier).

He did these things in the worst possible environment for Republicans while surrounded by an inept leadership team. He deserves another shot.

The Pence love-fest could use a dose of perspective.

a power base for economic conservatism if there ever was one. We nominate an economic conservative who is socially liberal and we'll sweep the NE. Here we come NY. Here we come NJ. Watch out MD. Hey RI, we've got your number. Oh MA, over here! Here we come ME. Here we come VT & NH.

Yep, that's the future of the party.

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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?

You’re a persistent cuss, pilgrim.
John Wayne to Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

I think the claim that Reagan wasn't a social conservative is self-refuting. So putting that aside, the claim that Goldwater was not a social conservative takes a very narrow view of history. Goldwater criticized the absence of any reference to God or religion in the Democratic platform, bemoaned that America "permit[s] the world’s greatest collection of smut to be freely available anywhere," and wrote in "The Conscience of a Conservative" that "[t]he laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline." Only toward the end of his life did Goldwater become more of a social libertarian, e.g. on gay issues.

For example, see the observation I made here about Pence's approach to government funded and regulated faith-based charity programs. His approach there seems far more driven by good efficient governance, limiting the role of the feds in matters better handled locally. Had he been as you worry, then he'd have been more likely to jump on the bandwagon and score points with evangeicals or religious citizens in general, wouldn't he?

excerpt from 1983 evil empire speech:

Is all of Judeo-Christian tradition wrong? Are we to believe that something so sacred can be looked upon as a purely physical thing with no potential for emotional and psychological harm? And isn't it the parents' right to give counsel and advice to keep their children from making mistakes that may affect their entire lives?

Many of us in government would like to know what parents think about this intrusion in their family by government. We're going to fight in the courts. The right of parents and the rights of family take precedence over those of Washington-based bureaucrats and social engineers.

But the fight against parental notification is really only one example of many attempts to water down traditional values and even abrogate the original terms of American democracy. Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. When our Founding Fathers passed the First Amendment, they sought to protect churches from government interference. They never intended to construct a wall of hostility between government and the concept of religious belief itself.

The evidence of this permeates our history and our government. The Declaration of Independence mentions the Supreme Being no less than four times. "In God We Trust" is engraved on our coinage. The Supreme Court opens its proceedings with a religious invocation. And the members of Congress open their sessions with a prayer. I just happen to believe the schoolchildren of the United States are entitled to the same privileges as Supreme Court justices and congressmen.

Last year, I sent the Congress a constitutional amendment to restore prayer to public schools. Already this session, there's growing bipartisan support for the amendment, and I am calling on the Congress to act speedily to pass it and to let our children pray.

Perhaps some of you read recently about the Lubbock school case, where a judge actually ruled that it was unconstitutional for a school district to give equal treatment to religious and nonreligious student groups, even when the group meetings were being held during the students' own time. The First Amendment never intended to require government to discriminate against religious speech.

Senators Denton and Hatfield have proposed legislation in the Congress on the whole question of prohibiting discrimination against religious forms of student speech. Such legislation could go far to restore freedom of religious speech for public school students. And I hope the Congress considers these bills quickly. And with you help, I think it's possible we could also get the constitutional amendment through the Congress this year.

More than a decade ago, a Supreme Court decision literally wiped off the books of fifty states statutes protecting the rights of unborn children. Abortion on demand now takes the lives of up to one and a half million unborn children a year. Human life legislation ending this tragedy will someday pass the Congress, and you and I must never rest until it does. Unless and until it can be proven that the unborn child is not a living entity, then its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must be protected.

You may remember that when abortion on demand began, many, and indeed, I'm sure many of you, warned that the practice would lead to a decline in respect for human life, that the philosophical premises used to justify abortion on demand would ultimately be used to justify other attacks on the sacredness of human life - infanticide or mercy killing. Tragically enough, those warnings proved all too true. Only last year a court permitted the death by starvation of a handicapped infant.

I have directed the Health and Human Services Department to make clear to every health care facility in the United States that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects all handicapped persons against discrimination based on handicaps, including infants. And we have taken the further step of requiring that each and every recipient of federal funds who provides health care services to infants must post and keep posted in a conspicuous place a notice stating that "discriminatory failure to feed and care for handicapped infants in this facility is prohibited by federal law." It also lists a twenty-four-hour, toll-free number so that nurses and others may report violations in time to save the infant's life.

In addition, recent legislation introduced in the Congress by Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois not only increases restrictions on publicly financed abortions, it also addresses this whole problem of infanticide. I urge the Congress to begin hearings and to adopt legislation that will protect the right of life to all children, including the disabled or handicapped.

http://gamecock.townhall.com and www.race42008.com
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan

So you would have the GOP commit suicide?

http://gamecock.townhall.com and www.race42008.com
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan