Thread: GOP can prevail

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GOP can prevail
By Dick Morris

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

It is always dangerous to generalize about ideological trends among the American electorate. But the data are becoming overwhelming that the nation is moving left and is likely to stay that way through at least the 2006 election.

And if President Bush doesn't adjust, for a lot longer.

Why the leftward move? A big part of the reason is the success the Bush administration has had in solving and, hence, diminishing the importance of the Republican agenda. Taxes have been cut, we have not had a terror attack since Sept. 11, 2001, and trial lawyers are on the defensive. The issues that remain -- energy, environment, health care and Social Security -- usually are Democrat and liberal issues.

The drip-drip-drip of Iraqi casualties isn't helping Bush any. And Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has done more to hurt the GOP than any Democrat has. But the fundamental reason for the liberal drift is the salience of issues normally identified with the left. To reverse the situation, therefore, Bush has three options:


Fight the Democrats on issues that are already in play but have a Republican skew

Raise new issues that have a built-in skew to the right and a Republican orientation

Recast Republican positions on Democrat issues that are already in play to make them work for the GOP.
The Democrats are helping Bush mightily by their vitriolic response to reports of National Security Agency wiretapping and their opposition to the Patriot Act renewal. Since we have not had a terror attack in four and a half years, the homeland-security issue, the mother of all Republican issues, would seem likely to fade into the background.

But by beating Bush over the head for his efforts to keep America safe, the liberals are helping Bush, raising the salience of one of his core issues. In his State of the Union speech next week, Bush should spend considerable time taking them to task on these grounds, since it will help him enormously.

Two new solid Republican issues are begging for attention from the White House: immigration and drugs.

The administration's guest-worker program is a step in the right direction to appease Hispanic voters. But it must be accompanied by some red meat for the base -- the border fence passed by the House. The fence -- without guest-worker rights -- will alienate the fastest growing bloc of voters, the Latinos. The guest workers without the fence will do nothing to move voters toward the GOP.

As the victory of Evo Morales in Bolivia makes clear, cocaine is concomitant of oil in fueling terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. The narcoterrorists use our dependence on black oil and white cocaine to power their anti-American work and terrorist activities. Soon their terror will spread to our shores. Already the cocaine infects our young.

Bush should urge drug testing, with parental consent, in schools in his State of the Union address and put drugs back in play as a domestic issue. Crime is down, but drug use is still a vital Republican issue. Put it back on the agenda.

Finally, the Republican Party had better consign itself to defeat in the next two elections unless it does more to elaborate an energy/environmental policy. It must go beyond nuclear power and Alaska drilling in policies to achieve more energy independence.

Bush has to decide if he is willing to preside over the diminution of the Republican Party so that the nation embraces Democrats for the ensuing eight years, just as his father did. Those are the stakes.

Dick Morris, a former political adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton, is the author of "Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race."

People like Dick Morris is what is wrong with America.

To suggest that you create an issue to spin it to win an election is the epitome of a party without a soul. To suggest that children be used as a political tool by putting them through drug testing is insane. I don't even think drug testing in the work place is constitutional, but now to "win an election", a political consultant is recommending this "dumb idea" to exploit our children.

The pattern? Pick on the innocents. What was one of the solutions to illegal aliens getting driver's licenses? RealID. Did this penalize illegal aliens? NO. It penalized American Citizens. What is the solution to illegal drugs entering the US through a defenseless open border? Test children for drugs.

Our nation is losing its mind with people like this at the helm.

WE HAVE TO TAKE IT BACK AND DO IT NOW!!

Keep the illegals out of the country and they won't have driver's licenses.

Keep the illegal drugs out of the country and kids won't end up wth them.

DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!

I stopped reading when I read "Dick Morriss" near the top.

W

DITTO, WILLIAM!!! He is just FULL OF HOT AIR and I can't ABIDE HIM. I grap the barf bucket every time O'Reilly has him on. I HOPE all of this BLOWS UP IN HIS FACE starting with that BOOK, "CONDI VS HILLARY".

When he says that the Democrats are blowing up the NSA spying for political gain, I stop reading. AND, the polls have now reflected my feeling about THAT ISSUE. The LATEST polls now show that MORE AMERICANS ARE AGAINST warrantless spying than are FOR IT. SO, it tells you that, if they put Bush out there to DEFEND ANY OF HIS PROGRAMS OR SELL ANY PROGRAMS, the public TURNS IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!

When people like Dick Morris, point out that the Republican Party will lose Latino votes on the border issue, they are conceding defeat. If the Republicans were doing their job and enforcing our borders and labor laws, there would be no large latino population to pander to. It's simple, build the wall and prosecute the employers of illegal aliens and the problem will go away. It really is that simple.

He's sick.