{"id":1376,"date":"2009-01-26T19:09:53","date_gmt":"2009-01-27T00:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2009-06-07T19:39:28","modified_gmt":"2009-06-07T23:39:28","slug":"lat-reagan-wouldnt-recognize-this-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/26\/lat-reagan-wouldnt-recognize-this-gop\/","title":{"rendered":"LAT: Reagan Wouldn’t Recognize This GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former congressman Mickey Edwards wrote provocative Op Ed titled “Reagan wouldn’t recognize this GOP<\/a>” in the Los Angeles Times a couple of days… It’s worth reading. I agree with Edwards’ central point which point which is that the contemporary Republican party has lost its way.<\/p>\n

Where Edwards loses me is here:<\/p>\n

The Republican Party that is in such disrepute today is not the party of Reagan. It is the party of Rush Limbaugh, of Ann Coulter, of Newt Gingrich, of George W. Bush, of Karl Rove. It is not a conservative party, it is a party built on the blind and narrow pursuit of power.<\/p>\n

Not too long ago, conservatives were thought of as the locus of creative thought. Conservative think tanks (full disclosure: I was one of the three founding trustees of the Heritage Foundation) were thought of as cutting-edge, offering conservative solutions to national problems. By the 2008 elections, the very idea of ideas had been rejected. One who listened to Barry Goldwater’s speeches in the mid-’60s, or to Reagan’s in the ’80s, might have been struck by their philosophical tone, their proposed (even if hotly contested) reformulation of the proper relationship between state and citizen. Last year’s presidential campaign, on the other hand, saw the emergence of a Republican Party that was anti-intellectual, nativist, populist (in populism’s worst sense) and prepared to send Joe the Plumber to Washington to manage the nation’s public affairs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problems faced by the Republican party aren’t the fault of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter or the grass roots of the party. Conservatism is alive and well on main street, where its failed is in Washington… The party’s leadership and of its political consultants have abandoned the principles and ideas that made Ronald Reagan successful and replaced them with a brand of populist, politically expedient “republicanism” that has more in common with the Democratic party than it does with conservatism.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0 republicans are going to have any chance in 2012 or in the 2010 mid-terms the party leadership has rediscover core its core conservative principles and begin crafting policy ideas rooted in those principles.<\/p>\n

H\/T:\u00a0 Hot Air<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other McCain has a slightly different take<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former congressman Mickey Edwards wrote provocative Op Ed titled “Reagan wouldn’t recognize this GOP” in the Los Angeles Times a couple of days… It’s worth reading. I agree with Edwards’ central point which point which is that the contemporary Republican party has lost its way. Where Edwards loses me is here: The Republican Party that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[445,290,123,446,447,186,44,444],"class_list":["post-1376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-ann-coulter","tag-conservatism","tag-george-w-bush","tag-karl-rove","tag-mickey-edwards","tag-newt-gingrich","tag-republicans","tag-rush-limbaugh","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-mc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1393,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/27\/house-republican-tells-limbaugh-to-back-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":1376,"position":0},"title":"House Republican Tells Limbaugh to Back Off","author":"Jeff","date":"January 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Congressman Phil Gingrey of Georgia demonstrates again why Republicans have lost two straight elections in an interview with the Politico: Responding to President Obama\u2019s recommendation to Republican congressional leaders last week that they not follow Limbaugh\u2019s lead, the conservative talkmeister said on his show that Obama is \u201cobviously more frightened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1657,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/11\/diana-west-its-george-w-bush-not-rush-limbaugh-who-is-the-real-enemy-of-conservatism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1376,"position":1},"title":"Diana West: Its George W. Bush Not Rush Limbaugh Who is the Real Enemy of Conservatism","author":"Jeff","date":"March 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When I wrote my election postmortem I listed \"Bush fatigue\" as one of the reasons why Republicans lost in November. Diana West takes that theory one step further in her column today and says out loud what a lot of us having been thinking: Forced to the ramparts to defend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1011,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/18\/newts-prospects-fading-in-quest-for-rnc-chair\/","url_meta":{"origin":1376,"position":2},"title":"Newt’s Prospects Fading in Quest for RNC Chair?","author":"Jeff","date":"November 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Times is reporting that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's bid to be the next RNC chairman may be losing steam. From the Washington Times: GOP governors and state party chairmen say former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be a leading Republican spokesman but not as its national chairman,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1408,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/28\/gingrey-to-limbaugh-oops-sorry\/","url_meta":{"origin":1376,"position":3},"title":"Gingrey to Limbaugh: Oops, Sorry.","author":"Jeff","date":"January 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia, who made headlines yesterday for his comments about Rush Limbaugh's criticism of Republican of leaders for their pliability on the Democrats massive spending plans, is singing a slightly different tune today: Because of the high volume of phone calls and correspondence received by my office\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3547,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/20\/karl-rove-odonnell-must-explain-witchcraft-comments\/","url_meta":{"origin":1376,"position":4},"title":"Karl Rove: O’Donnell Must Explain Witchcraft Comments","author":"Jeff","date":"September 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is priceless... Karl Rove on Sunday called on Delaware GOP senate candidate Christine O'Donnell to explain comments on witchcraft she made during a guest appearance on Politically Incorrect 11 years ago: Karl Rove \u2013 the top GOP strategist who declared last week that Christine O\u2019Donnell\u2019s surprise victory does \u201clittle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3631,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/28\/daily-telegraph-karl-rove-questions-sarah-palins-suitability-for-president\/","url_meta":{"origin":1376,"position":5},"title":"Daily Telegraph: Karl Rove Questions Sarah Palin’s Suitability for President","author":"Jeff","date":"October 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark Levin mentioned this Daily Telegraph piece on his show last light night... I'm sure Mr. Rove will claim he was just being and honest and impartial commentator, but after his criticism of Christine O\u2019Donnell following her primary win and knocking Tea Partiers as a bunch of unsophisticated rabble I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}