www.thecincinnatusstandard.com

Why Republicans got exactly what they deserved on Election Day and ideas for an action plan to fix those mistakes long before the 2008 election

Family Friendly Fascist Chris Finney says Republicans got what they deserved because, as a whole, they did not deliver what they promised, and they steadfastly refused to heed warnings about the core Republican issue: taxes and spending.Governor Boob Taft, riding high in 2002, was warned and warned and warned by Conservatives that his tax-and-spend policies would drive away the party faithful and he refused to listen.George Bush, Speaker Hastert, and Senate President Frist presided over the greatest spending orgy in American history and George Bush failed to veto even one of their spending bills.Time after time, Republicans could have delivered on their core promises to the electorate and time after time they disappointed.The only one left to go is the master of the disaster, Ohio GOP Chairman Boob Bennett.

Hamilton County Recorder Ben-Gal Becky says if you forget your constituents, get too big for your britches, and forget about the basic Conservative values of the Republican Party, you get unelected. If others in your party forget, they can affect the entire party. This is what we saw last week. Republicans need to get back to the basics: implementing reasonable laws, cutting taxes and fees, effecting tuition cuts or tax credits, and protecting our borders. The view on the street is that illegals are committing criminal acts by coming into this country. They should go home and enter the country the right way. We should protect Social Security, cut medical costs and time spent waiting for doctors, cut the amount of money people running big companies can make, while ordinary Americans can?t afford to fill their gas tanks.

Hayes "The Hit Man" Robertson is urging Real Republicans to call, write, and e-mail any Republican member of Congress to demand that they support Congressman Mike Pence as the next Republican Leader in the House. Hayes says the current Leadership is full of dishonest self-serving egomaniacs who only seek personal gain and profit from their positions. John A. Boehner (R-OH) who is always inordinately tan and Roy Blunt (R-MO) who is inordinately fond of babes are both cronies of Abramoff and Delay and are the same people who have screwed up the Republican Party for the past 12 years. Both have enriched themselves from insider deals, both have relatives as supper lobbyists, and both are beholden to special interests. If the same leaders retain control, it will be more of the same Neo-Con self-serving Republicants who have ruined the GOP.

Jim Trakas says:

1. Sherrod Brown is personally responsible for every manufacturing job in Ohio. If one plant, one union (or God Forbid, there be non-union) workers are laid off or their jobs are "shipped" overseas, Sherrod must be held responsible. This may sound funny, but it is not, we need to hold his feet to the fire on this one.

2. Tax Cuts are not the elixir, but they are important. We need to calculate and educate the American public on the cost of regulation, the built in costs of unionized organizations, and let Ohioans understand that there is a lot more to the economy than what happens in Washington and Columbus, and that things that happen there are harmful to their interests. If industry can build products in Communist China and ship them back cheaper than what we can do here, we have a much bigger problem than just wages.

3. Challenge the Liberals on Affirmative Action, Quotas, Set Asides, Political Correctness, Partial Birth Abortion, Taxpayer Funded Abortions, and reconnect with basic American values. We need to be against this stuff, they need to be for it, and let's see who Middle America sides with.

4. Scrap and Remake of both the education funding formula and the curriculum in our schools. A complete return to basics, reinstitution of reform schools for incorrigible youth, bringing back paddling and discipline. Each school system has to report annually to its tax payers how much it spends per pupil, per special education pupil, exact teacher, administrator, and support staff salaries including benefits and how much they pay for health care.A funding system which stops robbing from Peter to pay Paul. Eliminate school levies, share tax dollars with municipalities, combine small school districts and force the sharing of staff, administration, and resources to save cost. A statewide pool of health care, by region, to dramatically save monies, estimated at saving $30 million per year.

5. Conservatives buy stock in the networks and shut down the left wing propaganda and bring back real journalism that is not dramatically biased against Republicans and America.

6. Purge the party of pedophiles, crooks, and incompetents and present a slate of candidates who the party and the public can be proud of. We have a rare opportunity to finish the job that the voters started on November 7, 2006

There's more, but you said short!

Caustic Conservative Mark Miller says Republicans ran on conservatism and we elected them to govern that way. We gave them everything they needed - both houses of Congress and the Presidency. They didn't have to compromise on ANYTHING, yet the gang of 14 compromised the judiciary. They had 100's more budget earmarks and pork projects than any DemocRAT congress. Whole new spending programs and bureaucracies growing like weeds. They let others tell them a win in Iraq meant bringing the troops home. Bullshit! The only former battlegrounds we DON'T currently have a military presence in are Vietnam & Somalia . We still have troops in Cuba , and the Span-Am war ended over 100 years ago. Wars don't stay won unless we stick around to defend our interests, and Congress never seemed serious about winning this war. With few exceptions in this last election, the wussies got whacked and the real conservatives were returned to office. Sure, Pelosi et al. is a big step back, but it's a necessary sacrifice to move forward. The nature of the primary process makes it hard to fine tune our bench, but the Republicans wouldn't clean their own house, so we did it for them.

Recipe for success? Recognize the enemy. The media hates Republicans more than Al Qaeda. Sam e goes for DemocRATS. Either ignore them or battle them, but don't kowtow. Ditch the "new tone" you're not there to be liked. We expect you to be effective and respected. So grow a pair and implement the agenda; the more conservative, the better. We don't spill blood frivolously so get serious about winning the war and solidify the meaning of our soldiers' sacrifice. Focus on that, and we'll give your power back.

Over at Wyoming City Clown-cil, Our Virtual Redhead Vivacious Vicky Zwissler says I can't be trite or funny here. We, as a nation, are where we are because we have lost sight of the fundamental values that generations before us lived within. Funny though, the Republicans aren't whining about disenfranchised voters, they accepted defeat with themselves to blame.

And Angry Andersonian Bill Banchy says, "I've heard this from one of my RINO friends. The Republicans didn't get "what they deserved." They got the result of six years of constant demonizing by the liberal media, especially since the invasion of Iraq. What happens when there is an unrelenting harangue like the Bush-bashing of recent years is that eventually the dumber element in society begins to believe it."

Michael Harlow (an emerging political strategist communicating with us wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile) says, there is nothing wrong with the Republican Party that cannot be fixed by what is right with the Republican Party. (Yes, Bill Clinton said the same thing about America .) What I have been telling people is that I have always been for lower taxes and smaller government, opposed to abortion, in favor of the death penalty, and support the 2nd Amendment. It would be nice if there was a political party out there which felt the same way.

Arnie Engel (a COAST member, CARE Founder in Fairfield , and member of the Fairfield Board of Education) says the working men and women of our country have just had enough. "They are tired of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. They see their pay check shrinking while big business is flourishing." OK, Arnie, so what's your solution?

Danny G says in 2004 there was a HUGE effort by the Republicans to get out the vote. It was very sophisticated. Republican voter rolls were loaded into PDA's and every polling place had a watcher who marked off who voted as they came through. Then the lists were returned to headquarters during the day and a phone bank manned by volunteers was constantly dialing registered republicans at their homes and reminded them to go vote and how important the election was. 60,000 votes in Ohio put Bush back in office, and were motivated by this campaign. There was no such effort on Election Day this year. More specifically, the media depressed the vote by constantly polling twice as many DemocRATS as Republicans and reporting the results as if they were legitimate. Those figures tell the story, if you look at how close the individual races turned out.

Feisty GOP Ladies Aid Society Spokesgal Ginny Martina says Republicans should remember what they're supposed to stand for: limited government, limited spending, more individual freedom and responsibility, strong defense of this nation with the intention of winning any conflict we enter and no more hamstringing our military when they're the ones carrying the burden of the fight. And by the way, bomb the mosques where ammo is stored. Whoa, Granny!

Staying in touch on his world tour, revered former Congressman Bob McEwen says the reason John Bolton will no longer be our Ambassador to the UN is because RINO George Voinovich denied him a confirmation vote in committee in the first instance. George Bush had to make a recess appointment (while Congress was out of session) which only lasts until the end of that Congress....in this case Dec. 31. Voinovich now says he would support Bolton if given the chance. Way to go, RINO! Because of your colossal stupidity, it's too late for Bolton, Bush, and America . As Bin Laden says, "That which hurts my enemy, helps me." George, hope you can explain this to your grandchildren!

"TaxKiller Tom" Brinkman says you see the same stupidity in Columbus, where this week state rep-tiles like Michelle Glass Slipper (who only took $5,000 from The Peppers) is doing everything in her power to see that overtaxed payers in Ohio forever pay for the Empty Uppity Oprah Winfrey Under-funded, Ugly Ass, Unnagrown Ray roe Museum Freedom Center.

Steve "Buns" Grote says actually, by "fumbling the House and Senate" over to the DemocRATS, people will be able to see just how annoying a woman president might be. Perhaps this was part of Karl Rove's strategy: give them what they think they want and see what they do with it. And locally, regarding the "still Republican tsunami" in Green Township, it took the efforts of about 30 people and their own funds to turn out a vote of over 9,000 who will still be motivated next year when liar/coward Tony Upton decides whether he will run for trustee again. Chuck "Porky" Mitchell's fate will turn on the lack of success of his albatross Legacy Place in 2009.

Tom Ross says we should get rid of the damn Blue-bloods running the party at all levels and get someone in charge who actually gives a rat's ass about the worker bees and winning. "Chairman of the Republican Party" has become a title, not a position. Tom really doubts if anyone currently holding that title nationwide, at all levels (county, state and federal) has any interest in how Republicans are actually doing at the polls. They only care that they can put it on their resume for their next cushy CEO job where they can make $20,000,000-per-year and to hell with everyone else.

Tom Hagedorn asks if Conservatives should form a Third Party. The Republican Party was a new "Third Party" in the 1850s. Formed by people driven by the principal that slavery was wrong and that the existing parties were not doing enough to address this evil, they placed principal ahead of party and became the dominant party in America for 50 years. Their members came mostly from the Whig party, a lesser number from the DemocRATS, and a few from smaller antislavery third parties (Free Soil and Liberty ). The rise of the Republican Party was the death of the Whigs, whose middle-of-the-road politics turned them into roadkill.

Cincinnatus Standard Publisher Steve Fristch says any action plan to make the GOP significant again must come with tough decisions and bold moves. Though it may be difficult for some GOP leaders to do, the time has come to say good-bye to certain candidates who have run their course. So let's thank them for their past service and move on with new, fresh candidates who have both the charisma and the brains necessary to win an election.

Once the GOP reinvigorates itself with new blood, bold moves will be necessary to win back not only those disenfranchised voters who once voted Republican, but also those independents who cause elections to "swing" one way or another.In addition, the GOP must immediately lose its "country club" elitism that turns away middle-class and working-class people. Open up possibilities for grassroots volunteers to run for office, invite greater numbers of supporters and volunteers to fundraisers and other events. Make the "regular" conservative voter feel important.

But don't stop there. Fight on their behalf. Push for reforms that will help all people in their pursuit of the American Dream. The rich can take care of themselves, so stop kowtowing to them. The GOP, if it wants to win back large numbers of voters, must appeal to the issues of the "great silent majority" that resides in the center of American politics. If you win the "middle," and keep your center-right factions controlled, you can reclaim power in government and make America better and stronger.

Our Conservative Strategist says the GOP must be proactive. Talk is cheap and that's all they have done. They must police themselves. When they have a Foley they must out him and take advantage of this. They must come out and release the information, rather than having to react and catch up with DemocRAT press releases.

They must show commitment. They need to address their downturn the way a CEO of a large corporation would address having their stock shares drop by 50%. They need to determine where they want to be and what is necessary to be their. They will have to make hard decisions and trim costs. Just the way a CEO does. They must show people that they will be back. They must be humble and admit they were wrong. Identify where they were wrong and tell the voters how they will correct.

Problem is the GOP can correct the Foleys' and Abramhoffs, but the DemocRATS can have Barney Frank and Slick Willie type corruption and nobody cares. The voters expect the corruption from DemocRATS. Look at the big cities like Chicago and New Orleans , where corruption have been rampant for years. It's institutionalized. It's a way of life.

Having the GOP come back will be akin to the US stabilizing Iraq and having a successful democratic process and industry in two years.

Kevin Pick says weak candidates reap weak election results. Since we took control of congress in '94, the party has been unable to stave off the lethargy and complacency that comes with success. We've become obsessed with keeping what we have and we've neglected the issues and ideals that put is in the majority. TLPB and candidates like her can't keep winning elections on partisanship alone. The party needs to embrace new candidates and fresh faces.

Showing he can do more than just draw pretty pictures, Artis Conception astutely observes: The Republican Party has never really understood its Conservative base, they look on us as loyal supporters no matter what they do politically. The upper class money people who are still with the party disregard the rank and file and accept us as a necessary evil to assure election wins. Republicans are basically no different than DemocRATS when it comes to staying in office. They will compromise, kiss butt, and forsake any core values if that is what it takes to retain office. George Bush is not a conservative in any real sense, albeit not as bad as his elitist dad. Both parties address themselves to the party loyalists, (money people, and sucker evangelicals for Republicans, labor and minorities for Dems). The real battle for power is with the true independents. The Party that can genuinely connect with solid, basic Conservative independents, while holding their base has a chance for long term majority control.