We Lost the Election but Won the DebateNovember 9th, 2008 | 38 Comments | Posted in Congress, Democrats, Economic Stimulus Plan, Election Night, John McCain, Limbaugh, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, Nominee, Presidential Election, Republican Party, Taxes
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The Republican party is in the Jacuzzi this morning, trying to soak out the pain and stiffness from the bruising defeat it just suffered. The American people have rightly rebuked us for forgetting what the Republican Party used to stand for. We foolishly abandoned fiscal conservatism, oversaw a dramatic escalation in the size and scope of the federal government, chalked up record deficits and insisted on nominating a guy who, for the most part, couldn’t be distinguished from the run of the mill Democrat when it came to most of his policies.
For me, there where no surprises on election night. I said to friends and to commenters on this site that I expected a fairly close popular vote, but a big electoral defeat, and that is what happened. In the waning days off the campaign, when crowds called out to McCain to get tough with Obama, to fight harder for the principles that were important to them, you just knew this ticket was in big trouble. There was more passion, more fire in the belly of the people in the crowds than there was within the nominee.
As we look at the smoking ruins of what’s left of Congressional Republicans, it is apparent to me that we must bulldoze the landscape clean, so that we can start the rebuilding process. That has already started. The work of purging the Party of the people responsible for the loss began on Election night as the voters rejected McCain. I sincerely hope any future leadership role for him in this party has also been rejected by the rank and file as well. Hopefully, we have learned some hard lessons. As Rush Limbaugh said several days ago, when will Republicans ever learn that conservative Republicans never lose and moderate Republicans never win? These past attempts by Republicans to ingratiate themselves to the MSM and to left-center voters never works at the national level.
In spite of all the negative feelings we are working our way through, the rebuilding process that has already started is giving cause for a much more optimistic view of the future.
An article in Friday’s WSJ provides a stunning quote from none other than the ubiguitous Nancy Pelosi. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a two-stage effort to boost the shaky U.S. economy: a $60 billion-to $100 billion stimulus package this month, followed early next year by a companion measure that would include a “permanent tax cut.” You may be rubbing your eyes and squinting at that last sentence to try to make sure you saw it right the first time. Nancy Pelosi actually said those words. She said “permanent tax cut.” That is why I said in the title to this post that we won the debate. Isn’t it amazing how a sea change is political thinking came come about in such an off hand way? One of the most doctrinaire Democrats in the country now agrees with Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney that the best way to boost the economy is with “permanent tax cuts.”
Ms. Pelosi also said, in the long term, a capital gains tax cut, as pushed by Congressional Republicans, should be considered as part of a “tax simplification” bill.
Ronald Reagan in Heaven and Mitt Romney in Massachusetts must be grinning a little this morning!
~~John Cronin~~
