Comments on: If you read just one article on what the Republican Party should do now…

By: gcotharn

gcotharn — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:09:54 +0000

Glancing at my above cited group, of individuals who are skilled at deconstructing invalid premises which underlie questions from biased media, I notice a common factor: the individuals in this group have been heavily subjected to the Alinsky tactic: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it.”

Two things:
1. Their targeting demonstrates that they are the skilled communicators whom the left fear. The skill, of deconstructing false premises which underlie biased questions, is lethal to the left. And the left, either consciously or unconsciously, understand the severity of the threat, and react with vicious personal attacks.
2. Most of the right – especially the part of the right which make their living in various media, are disgusting cowards who decline to defend compatriots who speak truth, and who are equally likely to join the attack on the truth seekers (as to defend the truth seekers), and who cower in a fetal position attempt at protecting their own careers and incomes (at the expense of truth; at the expense of truth seekers).

If you glance at the below list, you will see that the persons who are most skilled at deconstruction are very persons against whom the left has aimed their most intense vitriol. Not an accident. They are also the persons whom the cowards of the right have been most quick to run away from, and to even publicly condemn. This is why we are losing. The list:

First, several radio talkers, b/c they constantly practice the discipline: Limbaugh, Levin, Prager, Hewitt, Ingraham.
Second, some cable media, such as: Gingrich. He is the prime example. Santorum. Cain. Coulter, Palin, Fred Thompson (and Jeri), Malkin, Gutfeld, even Adam Corolla. Rudy Giuliani. Doesn’t hurt to have training in law and argument.
Third, some active national politicians: Rand Paul, Ted Cruz (a solid conservative who has been a national debate champion, a trial lawyer, and an Attorney General of the State of Texas), Rubio, Coburn, Inhofe, DeMint, and a number of congresspersons, led by Ryan, Cantor, Allen West, [Bachmann,] and others, and a large number of courageous and tough governors.

By: expat

expat — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:24:45 +0000

I too like Paul’s Bootcamp idea. I wouldn’t try to go national with it though, at least not at first. Keep it within the community till participants see that it works and become real supporters. Otherwise, you could get the kind of organized resistance that charter schools get from the unions.

In my hometown, a black group (don’tknow anything abouttheir politics) has started a program for teaching manners to young girls. They show them how to prepare a dinner, set the table etc. It’s just a little program but it can b a stepping stone into a wider world for the participants.

My point is that we should keep our eyes open for any small local programs that build on local strengths. We have to crack through the closed minds of the ther side.

By: kolnai

kolnai — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:54:06 +0000

“thin” = “thing.”

By: kolnai

kolnai — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:53:46 +0000

Paul in Boston –

I second Parker’s enthusiasm. A fantastic idea, and one more thin to add to the “Big Money” operation.

One of the best ideas I’ve heard yet – practical, boots on the ground, realistic, and one that is built to snowball in success over time (i.e., it fits into a long game). If it fails, we lose nothing.

By: Gary Rosen

Gary Rosen — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:56:06 +0000

I think this should be the one article.

By: parker

parker — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:43:57 +0000

“The leadership of the left in this country is deeply racist — most of them see every issue through a lens tinted of racist thinking.”

IMO, they are racists because they promote the idea that blacks can not achieve, can not better their lives through their own efforts, and thus must continually be wards of the state. How insulting!

By: Gary Rosen

Gary Rosen — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:35:01 +0000

“However, when they get their first paychecks the world changed.”

Obama has cleverly arranged it so most of the young won’t get paychecks for a long time.

By: southpaw

southpaw — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:26:24 +0000

IMAO the article had some good points and some that have also been attempted unsuccessfully, in that much I agree with the artfull dodger. And from a practical standpoint, the thought crossed my mind the practical implementation of these things is much more difficult for mere mortals – many of us cannot convince family and friends of the merits of minimal government, much less blocks of voters who’ve been indoctrinated with generations of liberal “thinking”.
Gcotharn I’m with you. Play to win or don’t play all. My biggest criticism of Romney from the start was the ‘play it safe’, ‘play nice’, respectful disagreement approach. It’s naive to think in this day and age Americans respect a candidate who won’t fight back. Republicans can’t expect to win if the candidate is happy to walk away at the end of “a spirited respectful campaign”. Democrats have no problem bending the truth and lying about their opponents. When Republicans get questioned about their truthfulness, they spend a week defending it; the winning response should be 3 more accusations to keep the opponent protesting and fuming, not stop and wait to get pummeled.
Ive beaten this dead horse into the ground before- Its a nice sentiment to hold the lofty goal of staying above the fray, but our culture passed that point years ago. Americans need to be sledgehammered. Most don’t appreciate subtleties or eloquence or statesmanship. Our republican candidate was competing for attention with an increasingly crass pop culture and enormous distractions, while waxing philosophic about the grand old days when we pulled ourselves up by our boot straps – it falls on deaf ears of every color. Not that the principle needs to be abandoned, but the message needs to be packaged for the times. Its the right idea, but its badly communicated. Paul in Boston has a good point.
If you get punched, you come back with a club.
The commenters to this site are not the average American- I respect all the opinions and ideas here that agree with me… The only thing I would add is to drop the gloves. A campaign is a battle. It’s war. A struggle for the most powerful office in the world. If you believe your vision is right, you need to take the battle to your opponent with everything you have. You can’t get to that office being a wimp.
I refused to cast a vote for McCain because he refused to fight for me – everything was “respectful” and “a campaign he could be proud of” He never got the point that asking to be presidential was about fighting for us. I don’t give a rats ass how a candidate feels about himself the day after he wins dirty campaign. Candidates think this way, as I believe Mitt did, shouldn’t waste our time.
Honor is reserved for your friends, your enemies get none. The irony is we want our leaders to be decent men and women, but there’s a fine line between decent and hopelessly naive. To some extent, Mitt and Bob Dole had the same sense of misplaced decency, affording it to those who offered them none, and leaving the country to pay the price for their vanity.

By: Otiose

Otiose — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 02:31:03 +0000

The leadership of the left in this country is deeply racist – most of them see every issue through a lens tinted of racist thinking. For example, many of those claiming that people especially whites not voting for Obama were primarily failing to do so because of racism really believe it and really have trouble seeing other possible reasons.

So in their calculations of what is to come – the counting of those chickens before they hatch – they assume that all non whites will always vote with them because they see the world the same way.

I think this is mostly a center right country and over time many of those non whites will migrate away from the Democrats especially if they over reach – something very likely.

We’ve got a canary in California where they now control everything top to bottom. It’s likely that California will fail first and provide a very concrete example for all to see prior to 2016.

By: parker

parker — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 01:33:15 +0000

“If it were up to me, I’d start a “Business Bootcamp” in the inner cities, operated from storefronts with a giant picture of Lincoln in the window. It would be run by Republican businessmen and free to all that have an interest. The sales pitch would be “Do you want $20K in welfare or do you want to be rich enough to pay $20K in taxes?”. Then teach the students how to start and run a business and help them get started.”

This is a great idea!