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Hit Them In The Head

Some conservatives said it is too late. “They honestly need a baseball bat against the head,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who helped Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) take over Congress in the 1990s. “Because if they don’t change the lexicon immediately, as bad as this election is going to be, they’re going to lose the presidency […]

Some conservatives said it is too late. “They honestly need a baseball bat against the head,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who helped Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) take over Congress in the 1990s. “Because if they don’t change the lexicon immediately, as bad as this election is going to be, they’re going to lose the presidency in 2008. I’ve given up on 2006. They’ve already made so many mistakes, there’s no way they can fix it in two weeks. But I’m worried now they’re going to lose all the marbles.” ~The Washington Post

Reading about the late GOP get-out-the-vote effort, I hope their appeal is more impressive than Tony Blankley’s “you’d have to be stupid” or Grover Norquist’s “you’re a bunch of crybabies” appeals.  Meanwhile, Paul Weyrich recounts that some conservatives are willing to ignore how they have been ignored:

Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, said the White House is not doing enough to repair relations with the base. “I’m not seeing anything,” he said. “Maybe they’re doing certain things with people who are closer to them. But in my case, I’ve not gotten any special treatment or invitations or whatever.”

Still, Weyrich said the White House may yet benefit from conservatives coming home. “It’ll all come down to conservatives,” he said. “For a long time, I’ve heard nothing but ‘I’m not going to vote for these jerks.’ Now I’m hearing ‘Well, I suppose we’ll have to vote the jerks back in and see what we can do.’ ” 

This sort of language of necessity, of having to do something, drives me up the wall.  This is one of those odd moments in modern democracy when citizens actually have some minor influence on their government, and some are willing to endorse a party that does next to nothing for them because they think they “have to” vote for them.  In an election, no one “has to” do anything he doesn’t want to do.  There are no GOP brands on the flanks of conservatives; they do not own us.  Why act as if they did?

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