This Is No Time to Give Up!
(Post updated to reflect Democrat Scott Reske’s victory in HD 37 after barely holding off Republican challenger Kelly Gaskill)
Here is a note to my fellow conservatives and Republicans.
I did not have the highest of expectation for last night. I had hope that John McCain might some how pull off a miracle (because really that’s what he needed to win), but it wasn’t a lot of hope. And like many of you who may have stayed up fairly late (after the webcast which ended at midnight, I went out and picked up yard signs to get some much needed alone time) I’m still recovering from yesterday’s action. But I came to this conclusion.
It’s time to face the facts. Barack Obama will be our 44th president. And a historic congratulations should be sent his way. But we should take solace in the fact that Democrats did not net major gains in the House or get their filibuster proof Senate, though they could still up with (a worst case scenario) 59 seats.
But there were some positives for us as well last night. Governor Daniels smoked Jill Long Thompson (no surprise there) and Greg Zoeller and Tony Bennett won their statewide races. The Indiana House will end up with only one seat gained by the Democrats after much hand wringing they could end up with as many as a three to four seat gain. On the congressional level. Everybody stayed the same. Many thought Congressman Souder could be a loss in the Republican column, but he showed his tenacity and didn’t just win by a small margin, he kicked his young upstart opponent to the curb.
But now onto my message.
Fellow Republicans, this is no time to give up. This is also no time to resort to childish pettiness, bemoaning and name calling that the left resorts to when they lose. This is a time to step up! We do have a lot of ground to make up nationally, and while our state still leans red, it certainly is becoming a closely and evenly divided state.
We need to re-energize our base and return to what made our party great! I encourage our state and national Republicans to return to the principles and virtues of the Contract with America. We need to raise the level of discourse on the issues that matter most to Americans at this time; the economy and energy independence. And while I believe social values cannot be ignored (though we must never give up on the issue of Abortion), we must understand, as a Party, that in these tough economic times, voters are thinking mostly with their wallets. We must return to a message of fiscal restraint. We must hammer the message of an “all of the above’ approach to energy independence. We must hold our new President’s feet to the fire when it comes to the issues of coal and nuclear power. Nothing can be off the table if we want to break free from the shackles of foreign oil. President-Elect Obama seeks energy independence, but he must seek all avenues, closing off nothing.
We lost the American’s public’s faith in us when we lost our way as a party. We have only ourselves to blame for the situation we are in. Now is the time to make up for our past mistakes. Now is the time to take action and to be the party of solutions and ideas. We gave that away, but it’s time to take it back!
(But should you need it, here is Red State’s Obama Administration Survial Guide)
November 5th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I could not agree more. But it is not just sore losing, sometimes we need to clean up bad apples.
Try to figure out which one of these messages is fake and which one is accurate. I could not tell.
Message from Steve Shine, Chairman - Allen County GOP
November 5, 2008
Dear Republican Friend:
I write to you today as Chairman of the Allen County Republican Party after a long-fought struggle that has resulted in a great deal of success. I am proud of our Allen County GOP, and of you for your steadfast support and contributions.
I am pleased to report that EVERY Republican candidate who appeared on the Allen County ballot won the county vote. From President of the United States to County Council, if you were a Republican on the ballot, you won Allen County! Because of you and your neighbors, Mitch Daniels returns to the Statehouse, Greg Zoeller and Tony Bennett will be our next Attorney General and Superintendent of Public Instruction respectively, and Mark Souder and Mike Pence will return to the U.S. Congress.
State Senator David Long and each of our Republican State Representatives, Matt Lehman, Jeff Espich, Matt Bell, Randy Borror, and Phyllis Pond, will return to a General Assembly with a Republican Senate and a narrowly divided House.
Our new County Treasurer, Sue Orth, and new County Council-at-Large member Robert Armstrong will join their newly re-elected Republican county officials Paul Moss, Roy Buskirk, Dr. E. Jon Brandenberger, and Al Frisinger. Once again, we have proven that Allen County is one of the most Republican counties in the entire state!
These strong results in Allen County, coupled with the successful fundraising this past year, have made the Allen County GOP even stronger than ever and more financially sound. Our party has faced adversity, and we have addressed that by working even harder to obtain our successes in spite of those hard times.
Thank you again for your efforts, and let’s get started on keeping Allen County the Republican strong house!
Sincerely,Steven R. Shine, Chairman
Republican Party of Allen County
Message from Thomas John, Chairman - Marion County GOP
November 5, 2008
Dear Republican Grunt:
I write to you today as Chairman of the Marion County Republican Party after disappearing for a couple months. I am disillusioned by the Marion County GOP base for getting the lowest Republican numbers in the state, and of you for your steadfast support and contributions you must have made elsewhere.
However, because of me, I am pleased to report that EVERY Republican candidate who appeared on the Marion County ballot came in second or higher in the county vote. From President of the United States to County Council, if you were a Republican on the ballot, you came in second or higher in Marion County! Because of me and our neighbors, Mitch Daniels returns to the Statehouse, Greg Zoeller and Tony Bennett will be our next Attorney General and Superintendent of Public Instruction respectively.
These results in Marion County, coupled with the fact that we did this with the sitting Mayor and Prosecutor, have made the Marion County GOP even funnier than ever and this is your fault. Our party has faced adversity, and we have addressed that by disappearing, offending people, and allowing the base to shrink even more so that our numbers for Marion County reflect favorably when compared to Lake County.
Vote for me soon and I promise next time I will work hard and not offend people.
Sincerely, Thomas A. John, Chairman, Chief Political Strategist and General Know-It-All
Republican Party of Marion County
Marion County is a big place to start getting the state back to red, and that guy is not the answer.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:37 am
If y’all don’t get your GOP leaders to fall on their swords, then you’ll be done as a party. If you don’t fire all the bums, you’ll swirl even deeper into irrelevance.
Face facts; the GOP destroyed our liberties, our economy, our society and our laws by turning against all of the principles you claim to hold dear.
There’s nobody else to blame. Your own party did you in.
I don’t know why you feel you owe it your life, liberty and property. I can’t imagine why you worship such a false idol. But it’s getting embarrassing to watch; and painful to endure the consequences.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Andy, would you and the other Libertarians out there PLEASE organize strongly and run for a mayor and city council positions somewhere–preferably in a smaller town that you could by sheer organization take over? (I offer up Carmel as a target).
To become CREDIBLE, you need to show that 1) you can perform at higher than 2% of the vote and 2) that if you can win an election, you can actually govern.
This will never happen on a State wide basis or certainly national basis until you can demonstrate it on a smaller scale. Only then will you be able to climb OUT of irrelevance.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
“it’s getting embarrassing to watch”
This from the gubernatorial candidate with more punch lines than a Abdul Hakeem-Shabazz performance at the Legal Beagle?
“To become CREDIBLE, you need to show that 1) you can perform at higher than 2% of the vote and 2) that if you can win an election, you can actually govern.”
Agreed. L’s are nothing more than the margin at best right now. L’s do just enough in the SoS race to maintain ballot access. Even with no GOP opposition L’s can’t even poke 20% in State House races.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
But one of my points, Michael, is that I would like to actually see it happen. I would love to see the Libertarians take over the Carmel City Council or the Terre Haute City Council or the Westfield Mayor or ….
I remember seeing a Libertarian on a Marion County judicial ballot once and saying, “I wonder what a Libertarian would do on the bench?”
It is easy to say things in a campaign. The question becomes when you win, how will you actually do what you are saying you will do? The way that Libertarians will magically become “relevant” now will be if they can point to some part of government that they have run and say, “See! We made it work!”