Regarded as a demonic figure by the Left, little surprise considering the defeats he handed them, Karl Rove gives sound advice to Republicans on the way out of the political wilderness here.
The most interesting advice is on social issues:
“9. Culture matters. Suggestions that we abandon social conservatism, including our pro-life agenda, should be ignored. These values are often more popular than the GOP itself. The age of sonograms has made younger voters a more pro-life generation. And California and Florida approved marriage amendments while McCain lost both states. Republicans, in championing our values agenda, need to come across as morally serious rather than as judgmental. More than 4 million Americans who go to church more than once a week and voted in 2004 stayed home in 2008. They represented half the margin between Obama and McCain.”
Rove is on target. The Republican party can only win when it is true to its core beliefs, and at the heart of these beliefs is a firm commitment to the pro-life cause. The pro-abortion agenda about to be unleashed by the Obama administration will only add fuel to the struggle that pro-lifers have been waging against abortion. Those who think that the election of Obama ended this fight are delusional. This battle is about to heat up to a degree that the supporters of abortion on demand will not be able to counter the pro-life reaction to their initiatives, especially their expected push for the Freedom of Choice Act.
Thus the dilemma neatly summarized by Prof. Rove. Churchfolk- that is of the Caucasian variety- sat this one out. Got the vibe that McCain wasn’t up to their standards. Particularly on Life Issue Number One, trampled on by Obama campaign. Seeing a nice bubbling of this issue. Accurate and funnier summary circulated this weekend by Jonah Goldberg, one of our syndicated faves. No more mooshy moderates. No more Christie Todd Whitmans. Strong on life issues, free-market economy, support for the guys and gals in the armed forces. All else is far below in rankings. This effort will make the 2010 midterms more pleasant for many of us.
Mr. DeFrancisis I deleted your comment. This isn’t Daily Kos. Feel free to propound your ideas but I will not tolerate in my threads mere insult.
Mr. McClarey,
That is in fact Bush’s nickname for him. It is not my doing.
John Henry: Did Mr. De Francisis refer to Mr. Rove as “word removed by Donald R. McClarey”.
Yes he did John Henry and in my threads I am going to draw the line at such terms no matter who bestows them as nicknames. I expect that during the next four years debate will become quite heated politically and I am going to do my best in my threads to deal with ideas and not allow partisan passion to start an insult war that accomplishes nothing.
Shucks, you mean we don’t get to re-use Nixon’s nicknames for people?
Fair enough. Apologies for violating the rule. In any case, thanks for posting the article. I am glad to see that Republican party strategists recognize the importance of the pro-life movement.
No apologies necessary John Henry. I have seen quite a few political combox threads get too heated and degenerate into useless back and forth and I therefore am going to be proactive in eliminating items in my threads that I think could start a flame war.
“Shucks, you mean we don’t get to re-use Nixon’s nicknames for people?”
I am afraid Darwin that I would then have to make heavy use of “expletive deleted” editing!
I saw Karl Rove debating Comes (of “Hannity of’) on ESCR and the Mexico City policy last week. I believe Rove’s concern — counter the liberal caricatures of him — was genuine rather than manipulative.
Christopher,
I have to ask because I cannot make your little avatar.
What is it?
Karl Rove was interviewed in Newsweek recently — best line:
CB,
LOL
I have to ask because I cannot make your little avatar. What is it?
Tito — the painting is “crucifix 46”, by William Congdon.
You can read about him here.
“I think he has an odd combination of longevity and long-windedness that passes for wisdom in Washington.”
Heh.
Strikes me that one of the interesting things about the Obama presidency is that Biden is not a remotely credible successor. He’d be 74 in 2016, and he was really more there to assure people that there would be an adult around if they weren’t sure about Obama’s experience.
So if Obama is seen has having had a successful presidency, he won’t have a direct successor but rather an open field to vie to replace him. Unless he dumps Biden in 2012 and runs with a different VP then.
As for 2012, if Obama encounters the problems I expect him to encounter I wouldn’t rule out a challenge by Clinton. One way to forestall that would be to dump Biden and put Clinton on the ticket. Whether she would accept would depend upon how much trouble she believes Obama is in. In any case Biden is a completely dispensable figure with no independent following in the party who could be given the heave ho without a second’s hesitation. I think that is one reason why Obama picked him.