Pataki: GOP Needs to Get Back to Basics

[Omaha Steve]

Full stroy: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060813/D8JFJV480.html

Pataki: GOP Needs to Get Back to Basics
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Aug 13, 11:04 AM (ET)

By MIKE GLOVER

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) - Republicans can avert a disastrous midterm election this fall by returning to basic conservative themes that set them apart from Democrats, New York Gov. George Pataki said Saturday.

"There will be a lot of change between now and November," Pataki said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I understand that it will be a tough year, but we have to get back to focusing on what Republicans stand for."

Pataki was visiting Iowa, where he campaigned and raised money for legislative candidates, and tested the waters for a possible bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

As he courted local activists, Pataki sought to counter what many see as his biggest weakness - the perception that he's a northeastern moderate in a state where the Republican Party is distinctly conservative.

[keta11]

1. Yeah right!!! Where has he been the last 5 years? n/t

[mac56]

9. Reaping the benefits of the Repub bullshit

that he's now crying crocodile tears about.

[PSPS]

2. "we have to get back to focusing on what Republicans stand for"

We know what republicans "stand for:" Criminality in office, abuse of power, influence peddling, vote fraud, war profiteering, torture and murder are a few that come to mind.

Yes, by all means, please focus on what you "stand for."

[Raydawg1234]

12. Republicans havn't stood for anything since Eisenhower

[Tempest]

3. Republicans Are Declining In Numbers

http://www.kxmc.com/getARticle.asp?ArticleId=33609

Perhaps more precisely, the nation appears to be trending away from Republicans. During the month of July, Just 32.8% of Americans identified themselves as Republicans. That’s down from 33.5% the month before and just a tenth-of-a-point above the lowest level recorded over the past two-and-a-half years. These results come from Rasmussen Reports tracking surveys of 15,000 voters per month and have a margin of sampling error smaller than a percentage point.

[AlinPA]

4. Pataki seems like a slimy phony to me. I can't understand how NY

elected him.

[Renew Deal]

7. In the beginning...

He ran against Cuomo in 1994. Cuomo was running for his 4th Term. People were kind of sick of Cuomo, so they voted for change. Pataki had pretty high ratings his first two terms and the state was doing OK, even though the budget could never pass on time. He was elected to a third term partly because the Democrat was incompetent, ran a uninspiring primary, and just didn't seem qualified for governor. That was Carl McCall. So Pataki got a 3rd term and it has been a disaster. Upstate NY is one of the poorest places in the country, even though Pataki is an upstate governor. Local governments are forced to tax people to death because the State government refuses to correct the way taxes are corrected. And when it comes down to it, it seems like Pataki is taking this term off. It's even more obvious when you see him in Iowa and NH campaigning for president.

NY desperately needs leadership in Albany. I think Spitzer (and Suozzi) would be able to make the changes necessary to modernize our government and improve the lives of NYers.

[Tempest]

5. All the Repugs have are fear and smear

More to the point, it is equally true that Bush desperately needs the terrorists. They are his last frail hope for political survival. They divert public attention, at least momentarily, from his disastrous war in Iraq and his shameful abuses of the Constitution. The "news" of terror--whether real or fantasized--reduces American politics to its most primitive impulses, the realm of fear-and-smear where George Bush is at his best.

So, once again in the run-up to a national election, we are visited with alarming news. A monstrous plot, red alert, high drama playing on all channels and extreme measures taken to tighten security.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0813-24.htm

[potone]

16. Excellent!

"Fear and Smear" is be what the Democrats should repeat constantly when talking about the Republicans.

[PATRICK]

6. Too late

Pataki does not have what it takes either to undo(impossible at this point), or take advantage of a collapse of, the RW Bush takeover of the party. The structure is also immensely more corrupt even among the so-called party moderates. Pataki can't succeed with the toady crowd so his only hope is a Bush, RW collapse which certainly wouldn't enhance the chances of any "change" candidate to succeed for quite a long time. Bush I had tried that moderate ploy trying to sneak it in with both sides. Now that contest ground is utterly obliterated. only a new party could revive "old Republicanism". The "Republican wing" of the Republican party is something that does not even rise to the level of a joke.

And his abysmal record in NY which the Conservatives legitimately(for once) find fault with? He does not even carry much weight there AND competes with the oddball wannabe toady, Guiliani.

It would take a fantastic accident of insane proportions for him to have even a shot at the nomination. Disgruntled Repugs might consider him their Jesse Jackson but he has no appeal. He makes Joe's primary run in 2004 look sensible. Running for Veep? Not in this GOP universe either.

The "Republican wing" of the republican party. It would be fun to hear him say it.

Marshmallow.

[davidinalameda]

8. he IS a northeast moderate

anyone with half a brain can see that he's not a conservative

honestly, he and the rest of the morans running for president don't know what the Republican stand for

at one time, the Republican Party was actually pretty decent, but that's certainly not the case today

[rurallib]

10. Thought my state stunk today.

Need to go back to the old fashioned thievery. The peasants are catching on to our new methods.

[w4rma]

11. Pataki: GOP Needs to Get Back to Wedge Issues (nt)

[dionysus]

13. LOL, good riddance Shitaki

he's the daschle of repukes....

[krkaufman]

14. Chuckle. "a lot of change between now and November"

Yeah, a lot of rhetoric will change between now and the election, and then they'll all fall in line with Bush once back in office.

I just hope a sufficient percentage of the people see through this BS.

[leesa]

15. Yeah, you move farther to the right...Go Pataki! Sheesh! What an idiot.

[hedgehog]

17. He really messed up the NYS budget this year pandering to

voters in Iowa. A Republican Senate and Democratic Assembly got together a decent budget on time and Pataki disobeyed previous court rulings trying to cut different parts out. The bad part is that budget issues don't play well on Action News, so most New Yorkers don't have any idea what happened.