Wake-up Call for Republicans
The mid-term elections are over and the republicans suffered significant damage. The majority party in the house of representatives is now the democrats and will presumptively be lead by Nancy Pelosi. The democrats also now control a majority of the governships. The only thing hanging in the balance now is the senate and it appears to me that when all the recounts are over and the lawsuits end the democrats will control the senate too by a majority of one.
Even locally I was surprised that the incumbent state senator lost re-election to the democratic challenger. That election will impact control of the Tennessee senate for at least the next two years.
Today is a very bad day for republicans. My question is whether the republican leadership will learn anything from it. I've talked to many republicans who simply said they could not get excited about the elections this year and I think I know why. The republican party moved away from its conservative Christian base. Republican leaders in the house, senate and even President Bush talked about being fiscal conservatives but spending is out of control. And we don't like our leaders being involved in political scandals: Abramoff; Foley. Lastly, I think there is a sense among many republicans that although the war on terrorism is necessary it is being handled poorly, particularly in Iraq. That may or may not be true but the mainstream media has at least done a good job of convincing the country that it is true.
I hope that republicans will wake-up and a new generation of leaders will emerge. Leaders who not only give lip service to conservative issues but actually operate with a Christian worldview.
Also, the mid-term elections have had a tremendous impact on the 2008 presidential election. Many (perhaps most) of the democrats who won house seats over republicans lean more toward the moderate wing of the party rather than the left. One example is Heath Shuler in west North Carolina. On the democrat side, can Hillary Clinton convince the party faithful that she is moderate? On the republican side, I think that George Allen and Bill Frist are likely now out of the picture. Even if Allen holds on to his senate seat in Virginia, he is too damaged for a run at the presidency. And as senate majority leader, Bill Frist's leadership has to be questioned now with these mounting loses. Will a guy like Mike Huckabe or Sam Brownback emerge or will it be someone like Mitt Romney or John McCain? Or someone we are not even talking about yet? Will see over the next year to 18 months.
Another interesting thing is that overnight and this morning I've had several hits on my blog by people running a search on whether Nancy Pelosi is a Christian or not. I don't know the answer (and hope that she is) but I find it interesting that people are researching that issue.
Jerome
Even locally I was surprised that the incumbent state senator lost re-election to the democratic challenger. That election will impact control of the Tennessee senate for at least the next two years.
Today is a very bad day for republicans. My question is whether the republican leadership will learn anything from it. I've talked to many republicans who simply said they could not get excited about the elections this year and I think I know why. The republican party moved away from its conservative Christian base. Republican leaders in the house, senate and even President Bush talked about being fiscal conservatives but spending is out of control. And we don't like our leaders being involved in political scandals: Abramoff; Foley. Lastly, I think there is a sense among many republicans that although the war on terrorism is necessary it is being handled poorly, particularly in Iraq. That may or may not be true but the mainstream media has at least done a good job of convincing the country that it is true.
I hope that republicans will wake-up and a new generation of leaders will emerge. Leaders who not only give lip service to conservative issues but actually operate with a Christian worldview.
Also, the mid-term elections have had a tremendous impact on the 2008 presidential election. Many (perhaps most) of the democrats who won house seats over republicans lean more toward the moderate wing of the party rather than the left. One example is Heath Shuler in west North Carolina. On the democrat side, can Hillary Clinton convince the party faithful that she is moderate? On the republican side, I think that George Allen and Bill Frist are likely now out of the picture. Even if Allen holds on to his senate seat in Virginia, he is too damaged for a run at the presidency. And as senate majority leader, Bill Frist's leadership has to be questioned now with these mounting loses. Will a guy like Mike Huckabe or Sam Brownback emerge or will it be someone like Mitt Romney or John McCain? Or someone we are not even talking about yet? Will see over the next year to 18 months.
Another interesting thing is that overnight and this morning I've had several hits on my blog by people running a search on whether Nancy Pelosi is a Christian or not. I don't know the answer (and hope that she is) but I find it interesting that people are researching that issue.
Jerome
posted by Jerome at 9:12 AM
1 Comments:
Good Post Jerome. I think the best thing for the Republicans, after licking their wounds for a day or two, must refocus their energies back to the basics of what made them strong six years ago. Once they've done that, fight, and fight hard to make sure our country continues to be the Godly country we are supposed to be.
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