Concerned Conservative

As we have all seen over the past two decade, the Republican Party has failed us in its major responsibility to put forth conservative candidates for the presidency on the ballot. Now we can get into the specifics of why that has happened and even perhaps come up with a viable plan of reform, but the bottom line is, it is irrelevant if John McCain wins the upcoming election. You simply don't reform a winning political party.

So the real choice before politically experienced conservatives in this election is to further support the liberalization of the Republican Party by supporting the candidacy of John McCain, or not, and focus our electoral efforts in supporting our own Congressional, state and local conservatives candidates.

In this election, given these choices, not voting for McCain will be a vote for change in the Republican Party,  back to its conservative base.  Voting for John McCain will only serve to prolong the inevitable change the party must undergo when the general public realizes its made a mistake and starts looking around for the right answers.

Now I can tell you that I, as a conservative, don't like this choice any more than any other conservative, but those are the choices before us. We can either vote to prolong the conservative comeback by voting for Mccain, or we can hasten it's return by simply not voting on the presidential choices given to us.

Again, the ideological life of our party lies in our own hands. All we have to do to bring our conservative values back into the mainstream of public support and thus, the party back to its conservative roots, is to responsible not use it on election day for the office of the presidency.

ex animo

davidfarrar

Today, I read the best analysis of the McClellan betrayal by C. Edmund Wright,  where he states that  Bush betrayed us by not hiring the best person for the job.   

Afterall, in the real world, folks who are elevated beyond their capabilities do one thing predictablly when they start to slip in stature; they sell whoever and whatever down the river to maintain their status, because they surely cannot do it on their own talent. McClellan may no longer be welcome in the Oval Office, but he's a star in Keith Olbermann's green room.

For eight years, Bush recycled Texas talent instead of casting the net out wide and recruiting the best conservative person for the job. By the time Scott  McClellan took over, Bush was at the bottom of the Texas talent pool. This has been the greatest disappointment  -- our great world leader turned the Oval office into a college fraternity by only trusting his close clan of Texans or the Bush family. Just look at the irrational choice of selecting Harriet Miers as a candidate to serve on the Supreme Court!

As a keen observer, I believe Bush's Texas loyalty strangled innovation, fresh ideas and new approaches. Rarely, would the Bush administration take time to listen to GOP congressional leaders, leaders of key constituencies or conservatives around the country.  The motto seemed to be Texas knows best.

Management 101 for any company is to hire the best and the brightest. Instead, Bush created an insular community by recycling old ideas and using the same approaches to the same problems....  I hope McCain and others in the GOP will be mindful that loyalty is good, but not at the cost of talent.