Archive for the ‘Republicans’ Category
07:39 PM PST on Saturday, January 3, 2009 By JIM MILLER SACRAMENTO - Republican lawmakers representing the Inland area have always been heavily outnumbered by Democrats in the Capitol. Many GOP bills die early deaths and Republicans can do little more than complain about most legislation pushed by Democrats.
Rep. Ken calvert: Poor showing in voter turnout and registration won’t happen again, the Republican says. 08:10 PM PST on Thursday, January 1, 2009 By BEN GOAD Inland Rep. Ken Calvert may spend much of his time in Washington, but he always keeps his watch set on California time. The Corona Republican speaks fondly and often of the weekends and congressional breaks he spends among constituents in his home district. But after winning a ninth term by a narrow margin Nov. 4, Calvert acknowledged that he’ll have to spend more time working with local party officials if he wants to win a 10th term in 2010.
Jessica wrote an article about rebuilding the Republican Party. Things have been a bit funky over there for a while and the site no longer works like it used to. I put a comment on this article over there, but at least I cannot read comments on my Blackberry because of the new format. So I reprinted my comment below: It is more than just getting back to principles; it’s finding local leaders with ethics, which I’m not sure is possible. How many of the current elected leaders are not accepting questionable campaign contributions, not using illegal drugs, not abusing alcohol, not cheating on their significant others, not lying to constituents and taxpayers, not cutting unethical backroom deals for their own benefit, and/or not using taxpayer money for their own interests? It’s hard to name more than a handful that are not participating in at least one of those activities, if you can name any. Even Neil Derry, who ran on a platform of ethics reform, has a huge lie on his county website if my sources are correct. This is no honor in this party.
Last week I attended a lunch meeting of one of the Republican women’s clubs. Those who read the blog know that I am a lifetime Republican who has seriously been considering becoming a Democrat. I’m really, really tired of the young, take-no-prisoners, win-at-all-costs, wealthy, white boy network in this county.
There is an excellent article over at Red County on the plight of the Republican Party. Here’s the link.
Mr. Morrell sent this to me for inclusion in the blog. It is a very well-written piece and I hope it is the first of many to come. “No leadership,” “re-branding,” “compromise,” “reinventing”–all these words and more have recently appeared in print to describe a party adrift–as suggested in the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. Even our California governor has suggested altering our platform’s political principles by moving to the center. It’s been said that we’ve become a party of marketers, not thinkers–a party not serious about policies and ideas and a party soon to capture the title of “Big Government.” Perhaps after the disappointing losses we’ve experienced, there’s some truth to these judgments. But to abandon our principles has never been proven a winning strategy. Following his own and his party’s electoral defeat in 1976, many Republicans rushed to say, “We must broaden the base of our party and blur the differences between us and our opponents.” Ronald Reagan replied simply, “No.”
07:51 PM PST on Saturday, November 15, 2008 Nameless Republican consultants scapegoating Sarah Palin for the party’s loss last week are doing her and the GOP a disservice. The party needs to understand why it lost voters if it hopes to regain majority status. And John McCain’s campaign aides need to begin with an examination of their own role in the debacle. In the past week anonymous campaign sources have worked to demean the Alaska governor with one derogatory tidbit after another: She didn’t know Africa was a continent; she didn’t know which countries were in NAFTA; she once answered the door in her bathrobe; she and her family are “Wasilla Hillbillies.”
November 12th, 2008, 3:20 pm · posted by Martin Wisckol, politics reporter Republicans were far more supportive of Proposition 8, the gay-marriage ban, than Democrats - but that doesn’t mean gay Republicans don’t favor marriage. The Log Cabin Republicans, the nation’s largest gay GOP group, opposed Prop. 8 and is supporting lawsuits to it overturned, according to Frank Ricchiazzi. The Laguna Beach resident, who helped found the the Log Cabin club in the late 1970s, has a interesting take on Prop. 8 and the lawsuit - particularly since he thought it was a little early for gay marriage when the state Supreme Court gave it the green light in May.
For those new to my blogs, I have been a Republican my entire life. The first election I was old enough to vote in was the 1980 Presidential Election and was very proud to vote for Ronald Reagan. Since 1980 I have only voted for a non-Republican for a significant office a time or two. It seems to me that there was a Democratic Attorney General and/or Lieutenant Governor I may have voted for at one time. This year I swore I was going to vote for the Democratic nominees for all offices except president, which I planned to vote third party until Governor Sarah Palin was added to the ticket. In the end, I voted a straight Republican ticket, not necessarily because I supported the candidates, but because I fear where our party is headed, especially in San Bernardino County. |
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