Column: A fiscal conservative's thoughts on the Republican party
Wednesday, November 12, 2008; 12:00 AM
John McCain lost the presidential election last week, or more importantly Barack Obama ended up winning the battle for the White House.

Though I voted for McCain, I do recognize the historical significance of an African-American president in office and will not use this column to rail against the idea of "spreading the wealth" or anything of that nature.

However, I am going to take this opportunity to espouse from my conservative pulpit on what went wrong with McCain's campaign and what the GOP can learn from the mistakes they made in regard to it.

Let's start with the most evident, shall we? Having to formerly restrain my thoughts about Sarah Palin was quite the pain, and John McCain's VP pick was not only ignorant but a waste of donors' money to the Republican National Committee. Of course I don't place the blame on McCain for this when it seems he hardly knew the woman he was running with. He already had the support of the religious right; it just didn't make sense for him to pander to that sect of the Republican Party anymore than he already had.

Even worse is that he gave the media a new "face" of Republicana to latch on to and label as conservative a la our infamous Commander-In-Chief. Frankly I pray she doesn't come near executive office or happen to wander much farther from Wasilla; Washington, or more importantly Republicans don't want her and have no need for her on the national level.

Now that I've gotten perhaps the biggest peeve off my chest, it's time to get back to the economy -- something the McCain campaign acted like it knew nothing about. By the time the Republican nominee temporarily suspended his time on the trail to work on a bill in Washington, I was wishing Romney were in his stead. Abandoning the election to work on a bill that didn't even end up getting passed was foolhardy, and the American public saw it as behavior that was erratic instead of presidential, letting more moderates fall by the wayside to a veritable cult of personality.

But again I don't blame this on John McCain himself, rather those who were advising him. A year ago he was absolutely the maverick senator from Arizona, but along the campaign trail he'd transformed into some gross caricature who let the people know that they were his friends 30 seconds in to every speech.

So my friends, or my enemies depending on your general reaction (though I wish you'd keep an open mind), find solace in the fact that all hope is not lost with the 2008 presidential election; in fact, now is the time for our party to set a staunch agenda for, take a deep breath, reform for the conservative movement. With the Bush Administration being shown the door in January and Congress within their grasp, the Democrats will no longer have anyone to blame but themselves.

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Posted by: Kyle Minor at 11/16/08 Could you send a few cites on the health care numbers, Bob? Especially numbers regarding the quality of the health care. Are these comparisons made in a vacuum, or are they of the sort like "Would you rather be treated in the US or Canada?" Personally, I think the cost of health care is about right - especially since nobody has a right to demand service from someone else. The system we have right now controls demand for a limited service by keeping prices at a level which encourage people to defer nonessential treatment - thus keeping the ERs relatively uncrowded and allowing essential services to be provided more or less as they are needed. We pay more because the quality of our doctors is higher, and because it costs a lot to insure those doctors in our lawsuit-happy society (among many other reasons). Flag Abuse
Posted by: Bob Cline at 11/13/08 If you are a fiscal conservative, why are you a Republican? Regan and BushI doubled the size of the national debt as a percentage of GDP. Bush II drove it up further. I'm an independent and fiscally conservative too, but I am rational. The last three Republican presidents have done a poor job on that front. Another issue rational fiscal conservatives need to address is health care. An analysis of our health care spending compared to other developed countries indicates that our system is far more costly and provides lower quality care than nationalized health care systems. The overall health of our population is also lower even though our cost is sugnificantly higher (20% to 30%). Study up on T. Roosevelt for inspiration for the kind of rational realistic balanced governance we need. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Jonathan Daugherty at 11/13/08 If Republicans take a more conservative stance on the economy and national defense the social issues will fall into place. This happened with Reagan. Abortion was not his number one issue, but many positive steps were taken in the pro-life direction. We cannot win elections on social policy alone, nor can we push the social policies without addressing relevant issues such as the economy. We do need more Ron Pauls AND I would argue Mike Huckabees (fair tax, small government, has some charisma without being wacky like Palin) they are both pro-life, but they have made lower taxation and smaller government the priority of their policy. It may take 20 years to get the social change, but it's worth it. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at 11/12/08 Yeah, if you think change is a comin....the top of President elect Obama's agenda is to bailout GM. I realize the economic reasons (jobs, manufacturing sector, etc) but it will be just delaying the obvious outcome for the US auto industry. You only need to look in your driveway or the repair record of your US made car or the Hummer commercials (last year) to find out the reasons why. If you are a diehard supporter...uh....now's a great time to invest! GM: $3 a share / Ford: $1.86 share Flag Abuse
Posted by: A.N. at 11/12/08 I have to agree that the corporate welfare is out of hand. I now own a small business and if I make poor decision and run my business into the ground, then my employees and I suffer the consequences of my decisions. I realize thousands rely on the auto industry, but they've been bailed out before and they continue to make poor decisions. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Anonymous at 11/12/08 I abandonded the GOP during the Bush administration for exactly these reasons. It used to be the party of fiscal responsibility, but we ended up with record spending, the largest federal government in history, and a huge deficit. Weren't the Reublicans supposed to be about limitation of government? And yet we got massive expansion of Executive branch power, expanded surveillance of civilians, a push toward national ID cards, etc. The Republicans have sold out their core principles to the wingnuts. Until they can once again prove that they care about financial responsibility, states rights, and respecting individual liberties, the 'pubs won't see another vote from me. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Brad at 11/12/08 I agree with the writer. The Republican party won't get very far basing their platforms on religious social issues such as gay marriage. Look at most of the polls. Young people aren't backing such ideas in any significant numbers. Young 'conservatives' such as myself look for a candidate who believes in free trade, low taxes, and reduced government welfare(including corporate welfare, which in my view is disastrous). We need to encourage small business and individual fiscal responsibility, rather than dropping interest rates to the floor and encouraging people to live beyond their means. The latest set of Republicans grew the government more than any before; more than even Democrats. In this election, the fiscal conservatives had no candidate. John McCain is a big spender, no matter what he says about pork. George Bush was a big spender. One day, when the religious right relinquishes its stranglehold on the Republican Party, it might be able to return to its fiscally conservative roots rather than spending its time discriminating against gay people and cheerleading for wars. The Republican Party needs more Ron Pauls and fewer Sarah Palins. Flag Abuse
Posted by: Elliotte at 11/12/08 Speak for yourself. As a Conservative I am proud that Gov. Sarah Palin was chosen to be Sen. McCain's running mate. For all your claims of being a fiscal conservative, Gov. Palin was the only conservative on either ticket. Look at the donations and poll numbers, Gov. Palin is the only thing that made the election even close. Flag Abuse






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