The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

The president's people are saying he has a mandate from the American people. Yet the GOP gained seats in the House. That says something about what the American people want from their legislators. They need to frame their own financial plan, hold a vote and present it to the Senate. They'll do nothing about it, but it will set the stage for negotiations for a compromise from what they've crafted, rather than wait on the prez.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

yeah, been hearing that too.

I hardly believe he won enough popular vote to declare a mandate.

This country has not been this divided since the Civil War.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Did they gain seats? I been hearing that they lost some. Anyway, the house better stiffen their spines and resist the liberal agenda, they are the only fire wall!! Obama better anger his base and do the right things, or the financial cliff will be very sheer!!

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Instead of crying over spilled milk, because what you are doing here isn't going to fix anything - it's just whining, why don't you focus on how you can fix what is wrong with the Republican Party.

I heard Newt, on Morning Joe this morning, talking about how wrong he, Karl Rove and Michael Barone were on who would win the election. He is going to do a personal study which will take 4 to 6 months. My answer to him is that they couldn't see, through their partisan eyes, what those of us saw who were not partisans - an untrustworthy candidate. 3 million Republicans stayed home.

Why don't you focus on how you can fix this in the Republican Party:

:thumbsup :thumbsup

I am sick of hearing what Obama did or is gong to do. I want to hear how the Republicans are going to re-brand themselves, if they can.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Yes they lost seats in both house & senate. DB just can't help himself.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

I stand corrected. I quit looking at the numbers after Nov. 6 and I thought I heard that the GOP gained seats in the House. My bad.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Rebranding is the last thing the House needs to focus on. They need to legislate. they need to help craft the agenda. Successful years like Reagan's presidency and Clinton's presidency featured a president working with the opposition to get things done and build a solid economy. The House needs to lay the groundwork for that kind of work. But they need to be proactive and help set the agenda and not let the liberals do all of the pushing.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

They are already trotting out 2016 possibilities before they have fixed what is wrong. That has nothing to do with the "business as usual" in Congress or every day legislating right now. That's a given - the band plays on.... And yes they do need to start working on a re-branding. They need to start now if they think they will be able to win anything in 2016. Romney's campaign and loss did major damage to the party.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

El Numero Uno: Don't call yourself a "severe" conservative when you ain't.

If they can get past that one, we can proceed to El Numero Dos. :thumbsup :heeheehee

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Ted Cruz has a mandate and I like it, if he is serious about it. We shall see.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

He has no intention of working with the president.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

I think that is a good thing. A divided government can bring good results, i.e., a powerful incentive to agree to the least powerful demands of the other side.

Bipartisanship has brought us things like (to name a few):

• No Child Left Behind
• Freddie and Fannie
• McCain-Feingold
• Federal intrusion in our education system
• unfunded prescription drug entitlement
• most appropriations bills

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Everyone pronounced the Democrats dead after the 2004 election. Kerry lost, the Dems lost House and Senate seats. In 2006 they regained control of both chambers, got Obama elected in 2008 and reelected this year. They bounced back fine after losing convincingly. Shoot everyone said conservatism was dead in 2008 and they came roaring back in 2010 to regain the House and gain seats in the Senate.

This too shall pass.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Cruz is exactly right.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Here is what Im afraid of.
There are too few 'severe' conservative voters or even conservative voters to elect a truely conservative president.

I think the 'mainstream' america has done moved too far center.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

So, you think 3 million evangelicals stayed home from voting for a "severe" conservative? I don't think so. :nah They probably just don't like liars. Many voted for Romney for what they hoped he would be, not for what he really was.

We are back to El Numero Uno - Don't call yourself a "severe" conservative when you ain't.

If they can get past that one, we can proceed to El Numero Dos.

:heeheehee

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Yes, I agree.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

I think thats too simplistic. ALL politicians lie, we know this. They will say what they think the people want to hear to get elected.

I too would like to know the truth about why the 3 million stayed home. I wish they would poll them. My fear is that the 3 million just said; to heck with it.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

OMG!!!!! - they stayed home because they didn't think the Republicans were going to do anything different and they didn't see much difference in the two candidates. Romney's favorable ratings were among the lowest for a presidential candidate. Why? Because, he flip-flopped so often, you couldn't make heads nor tails of where he really stood or where he would stand once elected. I mean, what in the heck else is there to say, Scot-tay?!!!

NOW everyone is interviewing and asking NEWT what happened and what we need to do! Good grief! Call the solutions guy now after you made sure he wouldn't be in a place to effect change. This country is running on stupid.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Scotty,
I agree with Thomas Sowell.

"But the Republicans' greatest failure has been precisely their chronic failure to spell out their principles-- and the track record of those principles-- to either white or non-white voters."

http://townhall.com/columnists/thoma.../creators_oped

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

I agree with Cruz.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Many voted for Romney because they knew they did not want another four years with BO. They knew another four years would be worse than the last four. Romney was a belief of better than BO even knowing it was not what we wanted.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

I would say that applies to the DEMs. I heard almost no agenda from BO, just mud slinging

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

But there is a HUGE difference. The stupid part is anyone who cant see that. Now here is my deal, honestly, I don't care about anything but the economy. We can't fix anything else until we fix the economy. Their economic policies are like night and day they are so different. Thats what everyone should have been focused on. I don't care much for Romney either, but when you single out the economy, he should have been a shoo in.

Still not sure there is a big enough voting block that has the same principles any more. Sad I know.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Exactly why I voted for Romney.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

Obama did articulate an agenda. Doesn't matter if it was a bad one or not, it was a plan.

Romney didn't effectively articulate an economic agenda. Proof of that is in the debate when the young college boy asked about getting a job after he graduated. You can look back at the transcript, which I posted on another thread, and find that he never specifically answered the boy's question. All he said was he knew how to do it, but didn't specify. It was pretty lame and I was kind of surprised by his answer. I was actually waiting for a good answer and sat back with a - WOW - he just did that in a debate - on television - in front of God and all the angels? :heeheehee

The point is that we will always have two choices - income redistribution and economic growth. If you don't put out a specific plan, when asked, you will lose. People will fall back on a cushion if they don't believe they can advance economically on their own.

So, we can say moochers won the day, but it was those wanting what appeared to be a safety net. Romney did a lame job of laying out a principled plan. People were unsure of him.

Re: The GOP House Has a Mandate Too
 

I did focus on the economy. There is a lot involved and we need to look deeper.

People didn't feel comfortable with him saying he would make personal income tax cuts revenue neutral. IOW, to what extent a program of tax reform/regulatory reform would actually increase economic growth was uncertain and therefore controversial.

I didn't see any clear evidence, from scoring, that Romney would be able to produce. In fact, I read a study that the 12,000 million jobs is going to happen regardless of who is in the WH. So, I figured that Romney knew that information, used the information thinking he would win the WH and then later say, I did what I promised. Not good enough for me.

I can see how he lost the Asian vote. It appeared he was devaluing the dollar even further by something he said in the 59-point plan - “Designate China a currency manipulator and impose countervailing duties” and "Trade that works for America".

Huntsman spoke about the trade wars during the primaries.
He also talked about cutting tax rates while eliminating deductions and likened that to Reagan's '86 tax reform. The only problem is that Reagan brought down, on ordinary income, the top marginal tax rate (from 50% to 28%) only to increase the tax rate on capital gains from 20% to 28%.

I think people will listen to someone who is consistent, (Romney didn't have a consistent, conservative record and flip-flopped quite a bit on the campaign trail) solid with their plans AND solid with their answers.

Will we get to have that person stand before us and lead the charge? Only if the parties and media allow it, it looks like to me. We had a lot of good conservatives in the race. I'm glad Bachmann retained her seat. When she knows her subject, she is sharp as a tack.

We place way to much credence on what our own parties and the media hands us, I think.