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Putting the Elephant Back Together Again

Posted by SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist in At TMV.
Jan 26th, 2008 | Comments

I agree with Peggy Noonan, the former Reagan administration speechwriter, conservative doyen (doyenette?) and Wall Street Journal columnist, about half the time. That actually is a great improvement over a few years ago when I never agreed with her.

What happened?

For what it’s worth, we’re older and wiser, which has led me to be a bit less dogmatic and Noonan to be able to do a 180-degree turn on George Bush and declare in her latest column that the president is the primary reason that the Grand Old Party finds itself looking down the wrong end of the telescope these days:

“George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues.

“Were there other causes? Yes, of course. But there was an immediate and essential cause.

“And this needs saying, because if you don’t know what broke the elephant you can’t put it together again. The party cannot re-find itself if it can’t trace back the moment at which it became lost. It cannot heal an illness whose origin is kept obscure.”

Powerful prose, but in a way La Noonan is well behind the times.

Some of us understood several years ago that Bush’s reign of error would have dreadful repercussions for the GOP sooner or later, the 2006 mid-term elections being only a taste of what was to come. It’s just that the Republicans who understood the destructive nature of this presidency didn’t have the guts to speak up.

Not that it would have mattered, but shame on them anyway. Because, as I wrote here the other day, sentient Republicans are now faced with the spectacle of some, if not many, of their conservative brothers and sisters not voting in November.

This is a possibility if the nominee is John McCain, who in racist parlance is not white enough for the party’s atrophied conservative base. For my money, McCain has the best chance of the party holding onto the White House but can’t win without that base.

As I have written before, the reality that the tide is going out on the Republican Party so fast is enormously troubling even though I am a left-of-center dude. This is because we need (at least) two vibrant political parties if only as a check on the Democrats’ likely default to their own brand of hackery if they completely take over the henhouse.

What the heck can sentient Republicans do to try to put the elephant back together again?

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superdestroyer

McCain lacks any leadership ability to save any form of a conservative movement. First, if you can name anyone who he has mentor and is now serving in public office as a Republican, you can begin to build a case that he can save the Republican party. However, since his ego and his temper will not let him share power, he will not lead the Republican Party anywhere.

Second, he has not record from between 2001 to 2006 to demonstrate that he can get others to do anything. He failed to lead while in the senate and spent his time sucking up to the media instead of leading.

Third, his views on free speech and immigration are so far outside of the Republican main stream that he might as well be a Democrat. His claim to be a fiscal conservative pales when compared to his ability to affect any major spending bill.

If the Repulbicans are depending on Senator McCain to rebuild the party, they may as well disband today. His has not demonstrate a single skill or trait that woud indicate that he has the ability to do it.

In the end, John McCain is nothing more than Bob Dole with a bigger ego and a bigger temper

kritt11

Its always surprising how differently people see the same events in recent history. As far as I can tell, McCain has been about the only Senator to offer real leadership on controversial issues such as the Surge (supporting it when it was seen by many in the GOP as a sure loser), immigration (again going against the majority of his party) and campaign finance reform. He voted against the Bush tax cuts because he viewed the choice of not cutting spending as irresponsible, and felt they would benefit the rich at the expense of the middle class. Many in his party can't forgive him for these stances and especially despise him for crossing the aisle to sponsor legislation with the likes of Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold. Those choices, however, have endeared him to Independents, whose votes are needed to put the GOP over the top in 2008.

President Bush's divisive policies have shrunk the base of the GOP, so that fewer voters identify themselves as Republicans. And the smaller base is very unhappy with the remaining candidates. So, the best option for Republicans is to choke back their bile and nominate McCain, who at least has foreign policy experience, and won't continue to run Independents and moderates towards the Democratic ticket.

Dave_Schuler

As I commented to a similar post over at Outside the Beltway, rhetoric notwithstanding fiscal conservatives and small government conservatives have never wielded much influence in Republican administrations. Nor have social conservatives until this administration.

In my view the anointing of GWB in 2000 by the Republican party establishment under the mistaken notion that he was a Hamiltonian like his dad was an indication of the party's decline as well as a a cause of it.

superdestroyer

kritt,

McCain-Feiingold has a very negative impact on the Republicans. It hurt the Republicans ability to fund raise while leaving the Democratic party all the advantages they had with NGO's and union and pubic sector employees. Open borders and amnesty will eliminate any chance of conservatives making a come back while lowering the quality of life for most blue collar Americans. McCain either does not care about the negative impacts or is too stupid to understand them. That alone makes him unqualified to lead a conservative movement.

McCain should be running in the Demoratic primary as the moderate counterpart to the liberal politices of Clinton and Obama.

Also, name anyone who he has mentored into a position of power. The Reagan Administration produce a generation of conseravtive leaders. The Bush Administration has effectively destroyed the next generation of Repullbicans. McCain would ensure that no new Republicans get a chance to lead.

If the Republicans want ot regain any credibility they had better start paying attention to the small government conservatives. If people want big government, they will always vote for the Democrats. They are better at big government and passing out benefits.

PaulSilver

I wouldn't put all of the blame on Pres. Bush. All of his mistakes were enabled by the GOP congress. It seems to me that Bush did what his congressional constituents wanted. That is why I am personally more focused on the Senate elections than even the Presidental one. I give most of my money to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

superdestroyer

I put the blame on Bush, Hastert, and Frist. None of them demonstrate the any leadership ability. History has shown that Hastert was a total incompetent and really harmed the Replubican Party.

In the end, the U.S. will end up as a one party state. Instead of discussing the impossible scenerio of McCain bring conservative issues back to relevance, everyone shoudl begin to discuss how the U.S. will function as a one party state. I would say that seniority in the House and Senate needs to be eliminate or that the U.S.cannot really call itself a representative democracy.

shaun

Paul:

The "Congress Made Him Do It" scenario is seductive and Captain Ed, among other right-of center bloggers buy into it. I don't.

Rudi

SD - The Gang of 14 is an example of McClown's leadership, even though you didn't like it. What happens when Billary is POTUS and a simple Demonocrat majority starts to clone Ginsburg's for SCOTUS? Lindsay Graham is a McClown prodigy.

Jim_Satterfield

PaulSilver,

Even if the Senate manages to find some moderate Republicans will it really help given the kind of Republicans who populate the House?

superdestroyer

JIm,

The Republicans in the U.S. house are some of the most irrelvant politicians that exist today. That have no affect on policy, bills, or government operations. About all they can do is put earmarks into the budget and vote against bills that will pass without them.

As soon as the Democrats get 60 seats in the U.S., the Republican Party will become irrelevant. The Democrats will probably manage to eliminate at least 30 Republicans Congressmen when with redistricting in 2011. By 2012, the Republicans will be lucky to have 35% of the seats in the House. The real question is whether the last Republicans Congressman in the northeast U.S. will be voted out of office in 2010 or 2012.

GeorgeSorwell

It's not that Congressional Republicans made the President do what he did--it's that they uncritically enabled him to do what he did.

kritt11

It was quid pro quo. The GOP Congress dropped their oversight role, and in exchange, the president ignored pork-laden appropriations bills. The two branches stopped checking each other, and the GOP leadership coerced its members to support Bush's programs. They're all guilty.

SD- McCain exhibited leadership by doing what he believed was best for his country-not the Republican party. Its not his fault that taking a lot of money from a few big donors isn't always whats best for us as a nation. His party hated him because it threatened their hold on power. But he earned the respect of everyone else.

DLS

How to repair the elephant? Same as with the donkey. Ideally we don't try to repair either but break up the GOP into the "Whigs" and "Tories" identified years ago by Amitai Etzioni, the libertarian, small-government GOP Whigs and the big government, eagle-and-flag Tories. The Religious Right would remain in the Tory Party unless they sought someday to form their own party; I doubt they have the critical mass to be successful at this.

(With the Dems, split off the establishmentarian DLC-DNC-Brookings types from the more liberal to radical elements of the party and let the latter boost the size of the Green Party unless they formed a new party from scratch with a different name.)

DLS

Then McCain, Specter, Snowe, Collins, Chafee can be honest and become official establishmentarian Democrats....

Also, the Gang of 14 was like Unity 08, Big Government Business As Usual, Worship The Status Quo stuff that is the very last thing needed nowadays in Washington.

DLS

Not best for the country, K -- McCain does what he believes is best for himself.

DLS

"I wouldn't put all of the blame on Pres. Bush."

This thread originally wasn't about reality, but about bashing Bush (again). At least it has developed into something interesting, because the GOP (not only Bush; that never was the case) is dysfunctional these days. Not anywhere as dysfunctional as something like Albany (New York's capital), but dysfumctional, nevertheless.

DLS

Interesting reader remarks here. Shaun will like the picture at the top.

http://www.patdollard.com/2008/01/peggy-noonan-...

DLS

Also, the word is "doyenne," Shaun. I doubt she'd appreciate the use of any dimunitive form.

DLS

Last but not least -- more fuel for the Dems' pre-November gloat-fest:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120121663246015...

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