Tag Archives: Republican Party

Cheney Dilemma Challenges Republicans to Think Again

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON | MAY 17, 2021

“As a republican, I say to my colleagues on this side of the aisle that the Republican party faces a challenge today that is not unlike the challenge which it faced back in Lincoln’s day. The Republican party so successfully met that challenge that it emerged from the Civil War as the champion of a united nation—in addition to being a party which unrelentingly fought loose spending and loose programs.”

Those were the words of Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith June 1, 1950, in the wake of what became the maniacal campaign of fellow Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy to purge Communist sympathizers from the Federal Government and the movie industry.

McCarthy encouraged bad behavior and perpetrated severe threats to our freedoms. He was the grandfather of cancel culture.

In her famous “Declaration of Conscience’ speech Smith dared challenge the intimidating McCarthy, warning against a Republican regime “embracing a philosophy that lacks political integrity or intellectual honesty (that) would prove …disastrous to the nation.” Smith said “I do not want to see the Republican Party win that way. While it might be a fleeting victory…it would be a more lasting defeat for the American people…”

Democrats produced their own version of a popular despot. Just a short two decades earlier they had to face down Huey Long, a corrupt, mean-spirited, and flamboyant Governor of Louisiana and US Senator. When once challenged on acting contrary to the Louisiana constitution, Long declared “I’m the Constitution around here now.” He caused a near riot in the State Capitol, and later was the target of an armed insurrectionist movement in response to his attempt to stay in office illegally. Lt. Gov. Paul Cyre, who earlier supported Long’s impeachment, took control of the state when Long was out of town. Long was assassinated in 1935.

The similarities between then and now are striking. It is a shame we do not learn from the events in our history that give us perspective and map for us the road ahead. Continue reading →

Media Mayhem Part I: Down on, Done with Donald

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON | JUL 22

“I like what he’s saying. He’s bringing things out.“ No I don’t think (he would be a good President). “He doesn’t have some of the qualities needed…”
Nancy Zeller, retired nurse on CBS Evening News July 20, 2015

“Some days I’m hot and some days I’m cold. There’s things he’s saying that other politicians don’t have the guts to say…But he tends to be a little thin-skinned and retaliates too easily. When I see that out of Obama and his people, I detest it.”
George Smith, retired consultant in the Washington Post July 21, 2015

It is so over for Donald Trump. Continue reading →

Republicans Victims of Mass Hypnosis?

BY WILLIAM F. GAVIN

Recently, after days of fasting and contemplation (well, to be truthful, just as I was finishing my second glass of chardonnay last evening), I had a revelation: contrary to firmly-held beliefs among Republicans, President Obama is not a socialist or a Kenyan or a Chicago pol with a bogus college degree, or even much of a doctrinaire left-winger.

He is, instead, a skilled hypnotist.

We all know what effect he has had on his many cultists in the news media: glazed eyes, instant obedience to his suggestions, loss of inhibitions leading to a total abandonment of professional standards and ethics, and a kind of goofy grin like the one we find on the face of Alfred E. Neuman of Mad magazine fame.

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Republican’s RINO Problem

BY MICKEY EDWARDS

It has become common in recent years for self-described Republican “conservatives” to target for defeat in party primaries those candidates (including incumbent officeholders) whom they consider Republicans In Name Only (“RINOs).

This purification process is based on the rational view that if one believes in party-based governance, Republican voters should elect those candidates who most accurately reflect what the party stands for. It’s a view that confuses America’s constituent-based governing system with the parliamentary systems the Founders rejected (for good reason) but I’m willing to accept the anti-RINO logic even if based on a faulty premise. Continue reading →

Annihilation?

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

John Boehner might be right. The President may very well want to annihilate the Republican Party. But if that is true it is going to take far longer than Mr. Obama thinks.

Obama’s speech on Monday and his efforts to force gun control on an unwilling Senate served two invaluable purposes for the GOP. First, it unified them to an extent that they haven’t been unified in a long while. Second, it made it awfully hard for Harry Reid to keep control of the Senate. Continue reading →

Time to Purge

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheHill.com

If the vote for Speaker on opening day confirmed anything, it confirmed that simple fact. By having a dozen of his Republican colleagues either vote against him or not vote at all, John Boehner just barely squeaked by in his bid for a second term for Speaker.

The vote against Boehner wasn’t a vote against the Speaker’s actual performance. By all accounts, Boehner has done yeoman’s work leading the House under what can only be called difficult circumstances.

The vote against Boehner was really a vote against the Republican Party. It was a protest against Republican policies and against the Republican establishment. Continue reading →

Super Pacs are Over-Rated

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

It is conventional wisdom that the rise of the so-called Super Pac is good for the Republican Party.

That is false.

The Super Pac is very good for some campaign consultants who want to ply their trade without having to consult directly with the pesky candidate. But they have been bad for the party as a whole.

Rick Santorum wouldn’t still be in the race if it weren’t for his Super Pac. Newt Gingrich wouldn’t still be in the race if it weren’t for his Super Pac. Those two Super Pacs have largely been funded by two rich guys who kind of like Rick and Newt.

The New York Times reported a couple of weeks ago that one rich guy gave money to the Rick Super Pac, the Newt Super Pac, and the Mitt Super Pac. Those Super Pac dollars were then used to beat the hell out of Rick, Newt and Mitt. So, in a sense, this one rich guy spent a million dollars so that Republicans could attack each other. Continue reading →

Chamber of Commerce Republican

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

I consider myself a Chamber of Commerce Republican.

By that I mean I generally support where the Chamber of Commerce is coming from when it comes to the functioning of the free market system. And my politics tends to reflect that worldview.

According to the Chamber’s own website, it all started: “The idea of a national institution to represent the unified interests of U.S. business first took shape when President William Howard Taft, in a message to Congress on December 7, 1911, addressed the need for a “central organization in touch with associations and chambers of commerce throughout the country and able to keep purely American interests in a closer touch with different phases of commercial affairs.” Four months later, on April 22, 1912, President Taft’s vision became a reality when a group of 700 delegates from various commercial and trade organizations came together to create a unified body of business interest that today is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”

The Chamber of Commerce is a pragmatic institution. Continue reading →

Why Iowa?

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

We are now inside of a week until the waiting-with-baited-breath Iowa Caucuses.

Every four years everyone looks at who has won in Iowa and who ended up as the nominee and makes the very persuasive case that the Caucuses are not predictive of the ultimate primary process outcome. I said on Anderson Cooper last night that Iowa caucus voters don’t pick winners, but they do a great job of identifying losers.

The reasons are: There are 49 more primaries and caucuses to go after Iowa – more if you include delegates from Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the District of Columbia. So, a victory in Iowa punches a candidate’s ticket at least through South Carolina, but there are no guarantees after that.

Second, this only happens once every four years and there is almost always an incumbent running in one of the party caucuses so they don’t count. Continue reading →

Selecting Committee Chairmen an Inside Job

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

Several conservative outside interest groups are engaged in a campaign to prevent Congressmen Fred Upton of Michigan and Jerry Lewis of California from becoming committee chairmen, Upton on Energy and Commerce and Lewis on Appropriations. That’s according to the Washington Times.

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Media Missed Mark on Campaign Coverage

By Michael S. Johnson

Delta Airlines’ Sky Magazine had a 26-page spread last month on the Midwest’s new tourist hotspot, North Dakota . It featured Governor– and now U.S. Senator-elect– John Hoeven, who gets much of the credit for making North Dakota one of the most prosperous states in the country.

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Employ Power of the Purse

BY TONY BLANKLEY

Reprinted from the Washington Times

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, center, accompanied by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, right, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. takes questions on the sweeping GOP victory in the 2010 midterm elections, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Republican Demise A Bit Premature

BY JOHN FEEHERY

Reprinted from the Feehery Theory

In many ways, it was the best-case scenario for the Republican Party.

They swept the House in dramatic fashion, and while they didn’t quite win the Senate, they got the next best thing: Harry Reid is still going to be the chief spokesman for Congressional Democrats.

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REASONS GOP WILL COME BACK: FROM MAY 2009

BY JOHN FEEHERY

Reprinted from the Feeherytheory.com

Here is an article I wrote in May of 2009 that I thought you would all find of interest:

(CNN) – “It is important for us to have a strong Republican Party,” Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tauntingly told a press conference on April 23. “And I hope that the next generation will take back the Republican Party for the Grand Old Party that it used to be.”

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Future of the Parties Shaped Today

BY TONY BLANKLEY

Reprinted from townhall.com

The New York Times has written, in explaining why the political parties have lost the confidence of the public: “Their machinery of intrigue, their shuffling evasions, the dodges, the chicanery and the deception of their leaders have excited universal disgust, and have created a general readiness in the public mind for any new organization that shall promise to shun their vices.”

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Religion and Elections

By GARY ANDRES

Reprinted from Realclearpolitics.com

With all the focus on the Tea Party this election cycle, another strong predictor of political behavior – religion – has not received as much attention.

Historically, religious groups have played central roles in electoral contests, but their impact and alliances have shifted over time.

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Shameful Slime

BY JOHN FEEHERY

From the Feeherytheory.com

Bill Murray’s character in the movie “Ghostbusters,” Dr. Peter Venkman, had the iconic line: “He slimed me!”

The Democratic Party has taken on the role of the Ghosts in “Ghostbusters”: They are all about the slime.

I was on the Ed Schultz Show last night when Ed showed Louisiana Congressman Charlie Melancon’s new commercial against David Vitter, who he is running against for the Senate.

Louisiana has had some tough times lately. It is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The oil spill has had a grave impact on the economy. According to some analysts, the job situation down there is reaching Depression type levels.

Serious issues.

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