GOP Abandoned their brand, says DeMint

It’s official.  The Republican Party has declared open season on scapegoats.  John McCain is next in line (they’ve already skewered Sarah Palin).

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint says the Party lost because they abandoned their “brand” of governing:  “freedom, religious-based values and limited government.”  He places the blame on Bush, Ted Stevens and John McCain.

Bush we understand.  He was led into an unwinnable war by Rumsfeld and Cheney, and isn’t quite smart enough to figure out how to pay for no-bid war support contracts, relief for natural disasters, the Clinton mortgage meltdown, and still have enough to give enough rebates to jump-start the economy.

And Ted Stevens, the icon of old-guard corruption.  Caught taking bribes, convicted in federal court, he still denies he did anything wrong, and wants to go back to work siphoning federal funds to the only state in the Union that gives tax payments instead of collecting income tax, because there’s so much oil revenue.

But John McCain?  After winning the nomination away from 2 very religious contenders (Huckabee and Romney), he courted the religious right by picking Sarah Palin.  He did everything right except ignore the Washington Party elite.  It wasn’t his fault he lost.  The party bosses just weren’t ready for a woman who wouldn’t keep her mouth shut and stay in the background.

Unfortunately, it looks like DeMint just has a grudge agains McCain:

“McCain, who is proponent of campaign finance reform that weakened party organizations and basically put George Soros in the driver’s seat,” DeMint said. “His proposal for amnesty for illegals. His support of global warming, cap-and-trade programs that will put another burden on our economy. And of course, his embrace of the bailout right before the election was probably the nail in our coffin this last election. And he has been an opponent of drilling in ANWR, at a time when energy is so important. It really didn’t fit the label, but he was our package.”

McCain wasn’t the problem, just the package.  I’m sure that package is going to be attacked again before it’s over.  Fortunately, John McCain can take it.

Sources include:  CNN

Palin was Sabotaged

Right before the election, I wondered about what the Republican party was doing to itself.

I said that the party didn’t really want to be reformed.  It was as if they’d rather lose to a radical than win with a maverick.  Not McCain.  He knew how to take orders.  No the other Maverick.  Palin.

The party bosses made sure Palin failed.

According to a posting today from Women On the Web, Palin was shocked when she found out the price the handlers were paying to neuter her message.  She told Fox News’s Greta van Susteren that she had nothing to do with selecting the clothes and the hiring the hairdressers.

Former CBS News political analyst and McCain senior strategist, Nicolle Wallace, thought Palin’s style was too “outsider” and needed help.  (“Coming from Alaska, she needed a new look. She was a small-town girl who needed to look like a big-city girl.” )  A member of the media elite herself, she was out of touch with what made Palin special.  It was the message, not the packaging, that mattered to voters.

As for the clothes, they were provided by the stylists, who normally work for CBS  News.  They told her they were staging, and never told her the cost.  According to Palin, “they picked out some really nice clothes to borrow for a while there. But that was not anything that the Palin family would have chosen for ourselves. .. [I] did not order the clothes. Did not ask for the clothes. I would have been happy to wear my own clothes from day one.”

So you see, the Party lost on purpose.

How the Republican Party Machine Lost Their Way

First it was rampant spending for the war without cutting back at home.  Then the party was afraid of the best candidates – Huckabee and Romney, falling back on giving McCain his turn.  Romney supporters didn’t fully trust McCain and Huckabee supporters considered boycotting the election.  All because the party in power didn’t really want to be reformed.

The selection Palin as VP surprised a lot of people.  There are some poor choices she’s made in the past that should have been caught before her name was announced, and gave fodder for the Democrat operatives.  But it was the kind of un-managed selection that energized the base and pulled them back into the election.

Until the party bosses got ahold of her.

$150,000 for new clothes!  She would have been more genuine in the same three outfits over and over.  Show off her working class cred instead of trying to act like the Washington elite she railed against so often.

She’s got a great message, and is a great debater on issues, but the party has coached her into saying nothing.  No press conferences.  No town halls.  Few independent campaign appearances (don’t want to out-draw the headliner!)

The party advisers are also telling McCain to stump tired speeches over and over.  He was unimpressive in the debate and looks like an angry old guy on the campaign trail, so much that “thoughtful Obama” almost doesn’t have to campaign any more.  He expects to get to the top job on momentum.

And if Obama wins, the Republican party bosses can go back to their comfortable back rooms and pat each other on the back.  The “maverick reformer” will be returned to the back bench for the remainder of his Senate term and then retire to obscurity.  Palin they assume is damaged enough they’ll never have to hear from her again.

The seeds of a 2010 mid-term election upset are already planted.  Look for fertilizer next spring.

McCain on Education

Senator Obama this week claimed that McCain doesn’t have a plan for reforming education, even claiming that he hadn’t done anything on the issue for nearly 30 years.  “Not one real proposal or law or initiative. Nothing,” Obama said.  It’s a lie.

Women who qualify as leaders

A blogger who calls himself “idot” wrote a post suggesting there were more qualified candidates McCain could have chosen instead of Sarah Palin.  Each choice he suggested has advanced degrees (usually in law) and has long histories of government service.

In rebuttal, I submitted my own list:

• After graduating college, she married, and went with her husband to work on a Kibbutz, where leadership qualities were recognized. Returning to the US, the President of the US asked her to oversee Jewish affairs, and she was a signatory to the document that founded the Nation of Israel. She came out of retirement when elected to be Israel’s Prime Minister in 1969, serving until 1974. (Gold Meir)
• After graduating from college in 1975, she took a job with Wilson Sporting Goods, but after 22 years in the workforce, she quit to take care of her family. Once her children were in high school and college she accepted a job at Sara Lee in 2004 and then the top post in February 2005, becoming the CEO of the largest corporation with a woman at the helm. “It was another case of sending in a woman to clean up a corporate mess.”
  (Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee)
• She graduated from Stanford University in 1955, with a degree in history.  A few years later she was appointed to California’s women’s parole board. After serving there, she was elected a mayor for 2 terms. After failing her bid for Governor, she was elected to the US Senate. (Diane Feinstein)
• After graduating from college, she married and followed her husband to California. She became a Democratic party volunteer and was eventually elected to Congress in a special election. (Nancy Pelosi)
• After graduating college, she became active in family issues. As a leader in the PTA, her leadership skills were recognized and she was elected to the city council (2 terms) and then beat the incumbent mayor for her third term in local government, being recognized as a leading mayor in the state. As a reformist Governor, she returned the economic surplus to the state’s citizens and quickly gained a reputation as a competent administrator and a foe of corruption (Sarah Palin)

Idiot asks what he calls “the burning question” …”If something happened to John McCain, does she have the experience, today, to be President?”  It’s clear to me that education alone isn’t the qualifying characteristic, but rather demosntrated ability to lead effectvely.  Sarah Palin meets that qualification.

Sarah Palin’s Priorities

For all the leftist mud wondering about her qualifications, why is no one quoting official sources from the Government of Alaska? Opinion pieces don’t match hard facts.

I read last January’s Alaskan State of the State speech. It says she values good government, and has cut off wasteful and needless construction spending (including the famous “Bridget to Nowhere”) and an 11-mile road that was improperly awarded.

It shows a commitment to improve education, health care, public safety and defense, energy innovation and shoring up public infrastructure, even while lowering taxes.

To meet her education goals, she set forth programs to shift the discussion from “how much will it cost?” to “what will it do?” She called for “accountability and achievement … focusing on foundational skills needed in the “real-world” workplace and in college.”

Improvements in health care outcomes include “training more healthcare providers to meet huge workforce demands,” and changing state Children’s Services programs “to better protect Alaska’s vulnerable children.” And she improved elder care.

In a state the size of Alaska, infrastructure is a huge problem. Lots of long roads, plus maintenance of energy pipelines. She’s taken steps to end cronyism to get the best value on needed improvements.

As an energy producing state, she’s had increasing revenues, but rather than simply spend them on pet projects, she returned some of that money to the citizens, and invest in renewable energy.

She improved banking rules to provide protection to Alaska’s citizens.

Rather than simply “warehousing” criminals, she instituted rehabilitation and work requirements “for the 95 percent of inmates who will re-enter society.”

And she’s taken steps to strengthen the Alaska National Guard, both as a Homeland Defense initiative and to shore up their role in the nation’s war on terror.

As one article reported, “If it seems as though Palin has spent much of her first 10 days in office dealing with leftover crises from the Murkowski administration, it’s because she has.”

She hasn’t been in office long, but she has done more in 2 years than most do in a career.

McCain – Palin: Dream Team Off and Running

McCain announced his running mate today and picked one of my favorites, Governor Sarah Palin from Alaska. (see also here)

Compared to the ObamaFest of this week, the announcement ceremony was one for the record books.

1. No press leaks until just before the event – and then enough buzz to guarantee a wide audience
2. A big announcement right after Obama’s convention – bigfooting Democratic coverage
3. A tribute by Gov Palin to the women before her – Ms ferraro and Sen Clinton – for “putting a thousand cracks in the glass ceiling, and then declaring her own goal of finally breaking that ceiling. (An obvious attempt to provide an alternative to disaffected Hillary supporters, whose candidate was never considered to be O’s VP.)
4. Started on time, ended on time, and had appropriate breaks in the middle for broadcast station ID (source: Rush Limbaugh).

Look at what she brings to the ticket:

• Young (JFK was 44 when he was elected, too), mother of 5, against abortion (kept her downs syndrome baby),
• She’s been in politics since 92, when she won the first of two terms on City Council, and then became mayor in 99, defeating the incumbent. She was also president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors. She’s been Governor of Alaska for 2 years, making a name for herself as a reformer, with three cornerstones of education, public safety, and transportation. She’s the one who killed the “Bridge to Nowhere” and has publicly challenged Ted Stevens over ethics questions.
• As Governor, she’s the head of Alaska’s National Guard, and is a member of the NRA. She has an 80% approval rating.
• Her husband Todd, a Native American (1/4 Eskimo) is an oilfield worker for BP and runs a commercial fishing company. Her husband is a member of the United Steelworkers Union and championship snowmobiler.
• She’s good looking, and is a competent speaker.

In an election where issues matter, Governor Sarah Palin is an asset.

Condoleezza Rice for Vice President?

Dr. Charles W. Dunn, Dean of the School of Government at Regent University has suggested Condoleezza Rice as the best choice for McCain’s running mate.

What Rice would bring to the ticket, says Dr Dunn, is that she is a known and capable Black, a woman, highly educated, with proven foreign policy experience, a solid conservative.  She would be acceptable to the Evangelical community and has an affiinity for the arts.

Ms Rice was born Novermber 14, 1954 in Birmingham, AL, the only daughter of a Presbyterian minister. A daughter of the South, she experienced firsthand the injustices of Birmingham’s discriminatory laws and attitudes.  Rice recalls various times in which she suffered discrimination on account of her race, which included being relegated to a storage room at a department store instead of a regular dressing room, being barred from going to the circus or the local amusement park, being denied hotel rooms, and even being given bad food at restaurants.

During High School, she had dreams of becoming a concert pianist.  Although her career plans changed, she still practices often and plays with a chamber music group, and has performed at diplomatic events at embassies.

Condoleezza earned a bachelors in Political Science (Phi Beta Kappa) from University of Denver and a Masters from Notre Dame.  At age 26, she was a warded a PhD from the Graduate School of International Studies at Denver, with a dissertation on military policy and politics in Czechoslovakia.

As Provost, she had budget responsibilities over the University’s multi-million dollar budget.  She inherited a $20M deficit, which she eliminated within two years – and created a record surplus of over $14.5 million.

Dr Rice is an eloquent speaker, a competent administrator, and is known and respected around the world.  Should Senator McCain choose her as his running mate, she would be an excellent choice.

The top VP choice for evangelicals

Who’s on the list of people mentioned for VP that would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community?

According to Richard Land, that honor goes to Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Land’s endorsement is significant.  He serves as the Southern Baptist Convention public policy chief.  He speaks official Baptist thought (if there’s any commonality of Baptist beliefs).  And he’s a student of public policy and how it affects religious life.

According to Land, Palin is the best choice, “because she’s a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there’s a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome. She’s strongly pro-life.”

He goes on to mention that she’s a virtual lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents because she’s a woman. She’s a reform Governor. I think that, from what I hear, that would be the choice that would probably ring the most bells.

(Governor Mike Huckabee from Arkansas is the second best option, in part because he’s a Southern Baptist, with more governing experience than Palin.)

(Land’s third choice is Mitt Romney.  “There are people in the evangelical community who would have a problem with his Mormonism. I am not one of them. I mean, I’m very clear that I do not believe Mormonism is a Christian faith. But that does not disqualify someone from being President or Vice President. And my guess would be that, probably, about 15 to 20 percent of the evangelical community would have a problem with his Mormonism.”)

In the final analysis Palin is the best choice, according to Land.  She will be able to deliver independent women voters and excite both cultural conservatives and swing voters.

Countering Obama-Biden (Palin or Watts)

There’s a fanciful (fake) press release running around the net purporting that McCain should pick Romney for Secy of Treasury and Huckabee as VP. It would be nice, but ain’t gonna happen.

Also, it’s not good for the party. Who do we have that counters a “nice” black man (to use Biden’s words)? Who do we have that would draw the disaffected women’s votes? Neither Huckabee or Romney fills either condition. For all the good either could do, as second banana to McCain, it’s not a good match.

(NOTE: I like Huckabee. I still have the sticker on my car (but not much longer). I just don’t think he adds the best balance for the party or the country.)

Who would I choose? I like Sarah Palin and JC Watts.

Listen to how Wikipedia describes Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska):

“Palin was the point guard for the Wasilla High School Warriors when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship, in 1982. In 1984, she competed in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year. In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality. Palin holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. She briefly worked in the media and utility industries.

“Governor Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. Her husband, Todd, works for BP at an oil field on the North Slope and is a commercial fisherman. On September 11, 2007, the Palins’ son Track joined the Army. Age 18 at the time, he is the eldest of her five children. She also has three daughters, Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome. The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage.”

In short, she is a woman, a wife, a mother of 5, co-owner in her husband’s fishing business, and a successful Christian governor in an otherwise corrupt state government. (And she’s good looking – even in jeans and work boots.)

Maybe Palin won’t leave Alaska, where she has an 85% approval rating. Let’s turn, then, to JC Watts.

JC Watts was a college and football star quarterback (Univ of Okla and Canadian Football league), was a Baptist Youth Pastor, and served 4 terms in the US house before returning home to take care of family and run a successful business in a small city; he’s an eloquent, savvy, handsome black man with solid evangelical and conservative credentials.

In Congress, he served as Chairman of the House Republican Conference (the 4th highest ranking position). And in a 1998 interview with the NY Times, he chastised some black Democrats and civil rights leaders as “race-hustling poverty pimps”, whose careers he said depend on keeping blacks dependent on the government.

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Either Sarah Palin or JC Watts would provide balance to McCain and appropriately counter the Obama ticket. Few others out there would do near as well.