Election Night November 5, 2008
Posted by Chairman Mike Duncan in Uncategorized.Tags: chairman mike duncan, rnc
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Last night I attended the RNC Election Night Party where I watched the election returns come in with our staff and volunteers. Though we fell short of our goal of retaining the White House in a very difficult political environment, I’m grateful for the strong efforts that everyone made on our Party’s behalf.
As Chairman, I’m confident our Party will be back stronger than ever in elections to come as we work to promote policies that make America safer and more prosperous. I look forward to continuing our work together and rebuilding our Party to meet the challenges ahead.
Dear Sir:
The conservative pundits I read have been saying for some time that only the election of someone as liberal as Obama can serve to wake up the GOP to its wimpy, disordered priorities and to show how badly listing to the left it has been for some years.
Whether from McCain or any other Republican leader, where is the message of genuine conservatism? We scarcely saw any of it in this election. It exists but it does not emanate from the GOP. Yet a liberal, progressive message comes loud and clear and consistently from the Democrats! It seems that the RNC is terrified of losing votes and so does whatever it can to hold on to “moderates” who are really liberals in essence. This results in not taking a firm stance that amounts to a truly conservative foreign policy– no “nation building” or placing a myopic globalism ahead of the United States’ interests– and promulgating horrific concessions on immigration both legal and illegal, to name just two items. The Republican Party should be leading a strong and necessarily noxious fight to *reduce* the role of the Federal government, including reducing or eliminating the Fed’s role in public education, finance (Federal Reserve) and a broad range of other subjects that the states are perfectly capable of managing.
Today what many Republicans may call “right” thinking is unutterable and intolerable in the overwhelmingly liberalized America of today. The GOP simply keeps moving leftward, in lock-step with the Democrats. In effect the Republicans are being pulled, they are not doing the pushing or pulling on a great range of issues. This perhaps pleases many members who are afraid of controversy or conflict, but in terms of the principles our nation was founded on, and with respect to our great Constitution, Republicans are not leading this great nation. The balance is so lop-sided that it is fair to say the Democrats have been leading for the past four decades and we have been meekly trying to make sure we don’t become indistinguishable from them. There are a few exceptions, like Reagan, but we need a lot more than a few exceptions to set a more proper course.
One last thought. I heard on the radio yesterday that in a poll some 45% of Americans believe that wealth redistribution is a good and justifiable thing. Either the Republicans have not been doing their job or the Democrats have been doing theirs only too well, or both. This is the entitlement mindset we are up against and it will only grow under an Obama presidency. IT WILL ULTIMATELY DESTROY THIS COUNTRY either economically or via terrible enmity between our citizens.
What is the GOP going to do to right this self-destructive trend we have suffered for two generations and more? What reason is there to believe the Republicans have the answers and the strength to move America away from her painfully self-evident course of ruination?
I would like to know what we (Republicans) can do now to start building our party. Please let me know, I live in Florida and this state really needs something done to swing it back to our party.
The Republican party better think long and hard about it’s direction, and what kind of party it wants to be. The drift away from core conservative beliefs has driven a LOT of people away from the party, and I’m one of them. I don’t want a dishrag RINO to ‘reach across the aisle’! I want a bulldog to champion conservative beliefs and NOT be interested in ‘concensus’. Reagan gave nothing away, stood by his core values and look at what he accomplished! It appears the Republican leadership has gotten too used to losing, and isn’t prepared to do whatever is necessary to win. While the party is deciding where it wants to go, i, and a lot of others, will be doing the same, deciding if there is another organization that still believes in conservative values and individual liberty.
General point: We need to recognise that to be Republican means to be Conservative. The left will always vote for real Democrats, and to nominate John McCain was a huge mistake. Why vote for a moderate Republican who tends to vote with Democrats, when you can vote for a real Democrat. Lesson learned: next time, pick a conservative.
Infighting: Criticism of Sarah Palin was destructive and cost us votes and support, and lowered the value of the campaign. No matter what you think, once the choice was made, that’s the end of the discussion. If Republican operatives thought she was the wrong choice, they should have kept their mouths shut until after the election. The time to discuss her qualifications was BEFORE her selection, not after. We damaged our own campaign by giving the press quotes from prominent conservatives and other Republicans which criticized Palin’s credentials and created doubt about John McCain’s decision-making.
Negative ads: Negative ads are the lifeblood of a campaign, when the opposing candidate is a Marxist (has anyone actually read his first book?) and his positions are complete reversals of the earlier positions he took when he wasn’t in the national spotlight. It is not negative to point out such facts – no one has to call him names or dishonor him, just tell the truth, which happens to be negative. Taking Jeremiah Wright off the table was a stupid move and cost us votes.
Better luck (and more conservatives) next time.
1st Order of Business: Graciousness in Defeat.
Mr. Chairman, it is imperative that you find and stop whoever within the party or campaign is responsible for this post-election annihilation campaign against Sarah Palin.
Not only is it unfairthis to blame her, or put the out most illegitimate type of gossip I’ve ever seen, it creates the appearance that at the core of the Republian party lies a basic misunderstanding about strategy and public relations that (regardless of the 700B Perfect Storm) could be at fault for failing to help a very good man like John McCain from getting elected.
To women like myself, it is downright misogynistic and while I am not a single issue voter, I will be watching to see how this is ugliness is addressed. It cannot be allowed to continue.
Thank you.
Something we need to do is identify those Republican elites that gave us bigger government, more spending, increased entitlement programs and soon a global warming boondoggle. Those type Republicans have watered down the party. We need to convert them or get rid of them. My whole chain of representation is now Democrat, nothing I stand for is represented anymore.
I hope we don’t try to include a wider base by liberalizing our values to get them. We need to stick to first principles and ensure our elected people are of the same mind. We need to find new people that will not liberalize the party.
We will never get back to the seat of power unless we stop using talk radio tactics as the source of our political motivation. Look at our Newsfeeds – they are the most negative example of sour grapes communication you can utilize. While there is a place to legitimately point out where the opposition is going the wrong in as far as a direction, to focus on those points this soon after an election is only going to further alienate anyone we want to bring into our party and heal the wounds the RNC leadership inflicted on our party.
Lets find the center once again, and start building on the principles Ronald Reagan taught us and bring us back to the center. Give the Dems a chance to see where they are going and then lets be the loyal opposition – not the whining GOP you are promoting on our RNC website.