RNC Chair(Ken Mehlman) Unveils 'Durable Majority' Plan

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/home.pl?&&frameurl=http%3A%2F%2Fus.rd.yahoo.com%2Fdailynews%2Frss%2Fpolitics%2F%2Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fstory.news.yahoo.com%2Fnews%3Ftmpl%3Dstory2%26amp%3Bu%3D%2Fap%2F20050119%2Fap_on_re_us%2Frepublicans

White House ally Ken Mehlman took over leadership of the Republican Party on Wednesday and outlined plans to find new voters among the ranks of churchgoers and social conservatives.

"We can deepen the GOP by identifying and turning out Americans who vote for president but who often miss off-year elections and agree with our work on behalf of a culture of life, our promoting marriage, and a belief in our Second Amendment heritage," Mehlman said, referring to the party's opposition to abortion, gay marriage and gun control.

<snip>

Accepting the chairmanship on the eve of Bush's inauguration, he said the party must take four steps to "cement these victories into a durable Republican majority:"

_ Enact the president's agenda, including fighting terrorism, revamping Social Security (news - web sites), changing the tax code and appointing "strict constructionists to the courts."

_ Institutionalize the GOP's 2004 grass-roots operation, which most experts believe was far better than the Democrats'.

[Maven]

1. What an ass.

Someone needs to Dreierize this fool pronto.

[The Zanti Regent]

22. Someone is

http://www.blogactive.com/

[lancdem]

2. They did have a better grass-roots organization

than we did. That I have to admit.

[LostinRed]

3. I don't know about better grassroots organizing

Their message of fear is just stronger at getting people to actually turn out to vote.

[lancdem]

5. True

but I've seen a number of articles about their organizational superiority. We were handcuffed because the 527s couldn't coordinate with Kerry. The Repukes were less dependent on 527s, and Rove pretty much ran the show from the WH. Everything was centralized under him. We didn't have that luxury.

[AndyTiedye]

9. Their Total Control of the Media Might Have Had Something to Do With It

The billions of dollars in free advertising disguised as news
(not to mention the Diebold Republican Electing Machinez)
might have had more to do with it than any grass-roots organizing.

[ClarkUSA]

14. DNC /Kerry expected the 527s to handle all the grassroots projects

while they raked in the $$ and made ads. And Kerry ended up saving a huge
chucnk of that monies for his 2008 run.

The RNC took the WHOLE grassroots operation under their umbrella.

THAT'S why they were better. Kerry folks couldn't care less about handling grassroots unless it was our money even though they always talked a good game in public. Don't ask me how I know because this is a public forum and I'd have to tell some fugly stories and name names.

[starroute]

7. I think Republicans network better

The grassroots stuff I was involved in involved people knocking on the doors of perfect strangers, and the payoff was pretty minimal.

I have the impression that the Republicans are far more able to work through churches, through whatever is left of the old business-oriented fraternal organizations, and so forth. Conservatives *know* other conservatives. Liberals are far more isolated and no longer even have the unions as an organizational adjunct.

Before we can get better liberal politics, we may need better liberal social institutions.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi LostinRed!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Modem Butterfly]

8. Religion was a huge factor

The Repugs managed to conflate supporting the troops with supporting Bush, so it was a short step to conflate supporting God with supporting Bush.

[janx]

4. We need DEAN!

I can't wait to see Dean go up against this guy!

[President Jesus]

6. keep asking evangelicals "what has the GOP really done for you?"

they can't answer. they're being played, and it's up to us to remind them of that. no one likes to be a chump, and that is precisely what the gop takes them for.

[KittyWampus]

10. Wasn't Mehlman Outed?

[Maven]

11. That's what I meant.

I guess it doesn't matter...this really is (as Gore Vidal said) the United States of Amnesia.

[ernstbass]

12. Isn't Mehlman a godless homosexual?

[DemonFighterLives]

13. Can't stand Mehlman

But as for the pukes strategery(W spelling) I know a guy who went to jail for a couple years. Now he sees the light. He told me that dubby has given tons of money to churches through his faith based funding. I'd say it is more of a bribery scheme because dubby doesn't seen like any Christian that I ever knew.
So the churches love knuck knuck and you can't change their minds.
As usual, follow the money.

[Brooklyn Michael]

15. Cool....

The harder the right pushes to consolidate its power, the more they'll alienate everyone else, especially people in the middle who just want to be left alone. The more they push the wedge issues, the closer we come to civil war, which is starting to look like a better idea all the time.

We'll take the blue states - all the financial, educational, cultural and political centers of power, the coasts (for shipping and trade), and we'll be able to bankroll moving all our brethren trapped in red states. The red states can have....well, whatever's left. Bankrupt state economies, bad schools, high divorce rates, out-of-wedlock children...lots of churches, though.



“People say I am ruthless. I am not ruthless. And if I find the man who is calling me ruthless, I shall destroy him.” – Robert F. Kennedy

[Benhurst]

16. They still lost the election and had to steal it, just like they did

in 2000 and 2002. Hey, I think I see a pattern here. Control the counting of the votes, and you WIN! I think they are on to something here.

They can only thank their stars the Democratic leadership remains totally clueless. Things are looking might good for 2006 and the rest of the century -- if you're a fascist, that is.

[VirginiaDem]

18. Thus we see the thin silver lining to this election--

The social conservatives used to have big but not overwhelming power in the party. They were the grassroots activists who were often shut out at the national level. Sometimes the Republican establishment gave in, like when they let Buchanon thunder on about the culture war at the convention of 92 and sometimes they get shut out by the pro-business leadership, like when Dole/Kemp won the nomination.

With the "success" of the radical right in the 2004 election, the Republican party is now owned by the social conservatives.Their election strategies will be to squeeze every last socially conservative vote out of America because they will no longer be able to effectively lure the middle through compromised positions and statements. If Guiliani, Schwarzenegger, and McCain get prime speaking spots in the next convention, social conservatives will stay home. By 2008, if not 2006, they will have become spoiled like Dems/liberals/lefties had become by 1999. Either the Repubs will elect a hardline social conservative or there will be a third-party candidate with a following.

[deacon2]

19. He forgot dual prefix

Should be "unen" durable majority plan

[CoffeeCat]

20. Lies and more lies...

"...he said the party must take four steps to "cement these victories into a durable Republican majority."

That statement by Mehlman is similar to the one Rove made, when he said that he would secure millions of new "Christian Right" voters for Bush in 2004.

These tactics are released to provide an "alibi" for a future election victory.

They're currently gearing up to steal 2006, so now they throw up the fake strategy.

That way, the day after their 2006 landslide, they can insist that this longstanding strategy worked.

[raysr]

21. We need a leader

that is thinking how to bring more people in too! W/O losing the ones we already have.