The Lincoln Coalition

As such things usually play out, Jack Kemp is finally getting the credit he should have gotten during his life.  It took a bout with cancer and his recent passing to make his political opponents re-realize what a decent human being Kemp was.

Here’s Jonathan Singer today on MyDD:

But as much as Kemp helped move his party to the right during his time in public life, he also brought something else to his party that has been sorely missing: Compassion. I’m not talking about the type of poll-tested “compassionate conservatism” that George W. Bush proclaimed during the 2000 campaign. No, Kemp actually believed that the country would be better off if more people had the opportunity to live the American dream.

As Singer mentioned, Kemp was a conservative because he believed that conservative principles were good for people.  You never got the impression that Kemp wanted to just help those on top stay on top.  That’s what 90% of non-Republicans believe our party stands for.  We’re seen as selfish and unwilling to come up with ways to help those who need it.

Here’s Kemp himself in a column he wrote about Coretta Scott King after her passing in 2006:

Mrs. King went on to ask me to use my political influence to help address the pressing problems of impoverished urban and rural neighborhoods, the unacceptable levels of poverty and homelessness, and ultimately the lack of access to capital for all too many people of color with which to launch businesses and own their own homes.

The issue of poverty was a subject addressed by Dr. King in his “I Have a Dream” speech of August 1963, when he said, “the Negro lives on an isle of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” Dr. King talked of the battle against the grinding abject despair that gripped all too many people and families left out of the American dream. He said that while we’ve come a long way, we still have long to go.

Obviously, education, homeownership and job opportunities are critical to a meaningful bipartisan war on poverty…

Education.  Home ownership.  Job opportunities.  Kemp believed that the American dream and that there was nothing wrong with pushing for a society that expanded that dream.

Pelosi to Republican voters: ‘Take back your party’

“Yes, there is — shall we say — a ‘radical right-wing’ element with whom they identify. But by and large, I say to Republicans in America: Take back your party. The party of protecting the environment. The party of individual rights. The party of fairness. This is not the Grand Old Party.”

God willing, the party will get back on its feet during Pelosi’s tenure. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Funny and depressing article in Politico today about recent polling data that reveals the GOP’s best hope for 2010: tell the public they should vote for us just as a check on the Dems.

What this article doesn’t say, but is obvious to any concerned Republican, is that we really can’t run on too much else at this point, at least in this political climate. So far, everything put forth by the Democrats and the Obama administration is pretty popular in the rest of the nation. We claim to have alternate plans for getting the economy back on track, upholding traditional values, keeping pressure on the bad guys around the world who are still taking aim at us, but the public doesn’t seem to notice.

I was speaking with a up-and-coming Republican operative the other day about the party’s woes. This is a guy who can’t stand Hannity, Levin, Rush (although he– like me– has some respect for the druggie), and agrees that the party needs new blood, but even he didn’t think that our problem was a lack of a message. Even he was focused on tactics– more aggressive organizing, and the like.

I didn’t feel like embarrassing him, running through all our party’s contradictions and mixed messages, but not once did he talk about why the party is so unpopular in honest terms. He really thought that if we just knocked on more doors or held more rallies, the tide of the nation could turn back into our favor.

In light of an announcement that New York State will be raising taxes on those earning over $300,000 annually, Rush Limbaugh has stated that he will stop doing the occasional show in New York, and might even stop broadcasting from Florida, where his show usually is based.

“When I am there working I pay whatever, you know, my rate is based on income for that day in New York.  And I try to go as little as possible. If it weren’t for hurricanes down here, I would never go up there.  New York is the escape valve in case hurricanes are showing up in our area, because of the loss of electricity.  So I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.  I’m going to look for an alternative studio somewhere outside New York, perhaps Texas — another no-income-tax state — and I’m going to get the hell over there, when a hurricane starts coming our way, ’cause I told Mayor Bloomberg: I’ll be the first to lead the way.  You know, this is just… I’ll sell my apartment. I’ll sell my condominium. I’m going to get out of there totally, ’cause this is just absurd, and it’s ridiculous — and it isn’t going to work. It’s punishing the achievers for the mistakes and the lack of discipline on the part of a bunch of corrupt politicians that have run that city and state into the ground for I don’t know how many years — and I, for one, am not going to take the blame for it.”

There is no question that New York State is extremely bloated and inefficient, and has a dirty dirty habit of wasting the public’s money.  There is a common understanding among those who work in State agencies that they could cut their budgets in half and do pretty much the same job.

Here in New York, however, there is a more pressing, immediate concern than whether New York State has a culture of inexcusable government largesse.  That immediate concern is the decision by the Metropolitan Transit Authority to raise subway fares from $2.00 to $2.50, whilte also cutting services.  By law, the MTA is required to maintain a balanced budget, which led to this extreme decision.  Unless the state comes up with more money to bailout the MTA, working people, the elderly and everyone else will get a 25% hike in their transportation costs– basically a huge regressive tax– and for no reason other than the state’s inability to manage its finances.

The argument in New York against taxing the wealthy mainly revolves around the belief that if you tax the rich, they’ll leave the state, thus drying up our tax base.  With the exception of the Drug Addict radio show host, I’m not sure you’ll see much of this.  From my perspective, it looks like the defenders of the wealthy are saying that there’s little chance of low and middle class people leaving the state, so it makes a lot more sense to tax them.

As I watch my Republican Party dissolve into a 3-ring circus, I begin to wonder if the party can be salvaged.  Between CPAC, Michael Steele, the perception of Rush as the leader of the party, the unwillingness of the party to work with the President, and threatening to withdraw campaign funding from the three that voted for the stimulus package, it seems that the far right wing is firmly in control, and have no intention of relinquishing it.

Now the party is crying foul over the “earmarks” in the Omnibus bill, 40% of which are Republican earmarks.  It seems to me that my GOP is willing to do anything to further divide the nation, and stir up hate.

So my question is this….how low will the party have to sink before it has it’s long overdue epiphany?  Will we dissolve into a regional party based on hate and division instead of the national well being?  Will the GOP ever find room in the tent for voices to be heard, other than those of the far right?  Can reclaiming the party actually be done, or are we all delusional?

First off… it’s funny to see which GOP members of Congress DON’T stand when Obama mentions the fact that families making less than $250,000 won’t get their taxes raised.

If Obama can pull that off, I think that’s reason for any Republican to celebrate.  We shall see.

Bobby Jindal:

I’ve never seen a more awkward reading off a teleprompter.

I want to root for the guy and to think he’ll be a good, new face of the party, but I just had a hard time listening to him.