California Conservative

According to this Politico article that Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay are advocates for the advice I gave after November’s humiliating defeat. Here’s what the Politico is reporting:

Gingrich told fellow Republicans they have a choice: They can either fight to upend the current majority, or be members of a permanent minority. And he encouraged lawmakers to use parliamentary procedures to slow action on the House floor.

Here’s what I said:

2. It’s vital that we regain a sense of teamwork based on a coherent, appealing vision of where America needs to go next. An important part of that means a House and Senate leadership team that are unabashed conservatives who will fight for the things that made our movement the dominant force in American politics. Another important part to the leadership puzzle must be installing people who can clearly communicate why we believe what we believe. It isn’t good enough to say “I’m for this” or “I’m against that.” If someone vying for a Senate or House leadership position can’t clearly answer the why questions that the media will throw at them, then they aren’t leadership material.

3. We need to pick some fights on the most important issues of the day.

Simply put, we need activist leadership. John Boehner is traditional Washington. We’ve seen that he isn’t a leader. He’s an ambitious man but that shouldn’t be mistaken for being a leader. He’s a slippery man, rarely answering questions directly or on point. Worst of all, he doesn’t speak to the party’s activists. Instead, he speaks to the party’s Washington operatives.

Mel Blunt is a decent man but he isn’t bold enough for leadership. He’s typical insider Washington, too K Street. He seems to be afraid of his own shadow in supporting new conservative legislation. He isn’t an agenda-setter.

By comparison, Minnesota House Republicans are connecting with Minnesota’s GOP activists by fighting for cutting taxes, holding the line on spending and challenging the DFL House leadership on core conservative principles.

I think that there’s several key differences between the Minnesota GOP leadership and Washington’s leadership. The biggest difference is that Minnesota’s leadership haven’t forgotten their core principles. They’re bold in standing up for the activists’ wishes for lower taxes and spending restraint. As Represent Brod told me, they aren’t perfect but they will fight for us. I told her that the activists don’t expect perfection but they do expect them to fight for the right principles.

There are few signs coming from the Beltway that they’re fighting for the activists. There are no signs that they haven’t accepted the status quo. That’s the fastest way of assuring the GOP of permanent minority status. There isn’t an intellectual curiosity to doing things that challenge conventional wisdom. There isn’t enough gravitas or confidence.

There’s a reason for that lack of gravitas or confidence. The Beltway GOP doesn’t have enough people reading the blogs. They get most of their information from liberal bureaucrats and the Agenda Media. No wonder they’ve stopped thinking outside the box. It’s small wonder why they get beaten down. The Minnesota GOP leadership seems to be reading the blogs. They’ve certainly been interacting with bloggers throughout the state. A number of the House leadership have appeared on NARN’s Final Word, too, including Minority Leader Seifert, Assistant Minority Leader Brod and Rep. Severson. Senate Assistant Minority Leader David Hann has also appeared on the show.

To be fair, some U.S. House members have been fighting Speaker Pelosi’s Democrats, chief among them Patrick McHenry. I just wish Rep. McHenry was part of the House leadership.

Technorati Tags: Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay, John Boehner, Mel Blunt, MNGOP, Patrick McHenry

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.