DELAY: The Democrats' Shadow Party

Mr Delay draws some wrong conclusions from the facts, most egregiously it was the money. The better candidate with sufficient money will probably win, and McKane had sufficient money. The correct conclusion is that the GOP must get a better candidate. The Congress of the United States is the problem, and we had to choose between two of the insiders. Notice how McKane never talked about the real issues? That's because he was part of the problems, and was not articulate enough to dissemble like his opponent, and it is doubtful if he understands the problems. John McKane was a horribly bad candidate. Before the campaign, it was hard to tell if McKane was a Democrat or Republican. Doubt it? Just look at his associations. McKane made really bad decisions, such as (1) McKane-Feingold law which attempted to strangle the First Amendment and was unconstitutional, (2) opposing drilling in ANWAR, coal, etc, and (3) the truly stupid decision to interrupt his campaign to come back to Washington to vote in favor of a bailout bill that the Democrats cobbled together and was laden with earmarks. Then we had to put up with his ignorant mouth like when on national TV he said that he didn't know anything about economics. His opponent doesn't either, but at least had the good sense to keep his mouth shut. McKane preached that he was against earmarks - with out any fuss at all, he voted for the bailout laden with bailouts. McKane the Maverick? About anything you could be sure of was he was going to be sticking his finger in the eye of the Republican party, George Bush, and conservatives. You could count on McKane to be getting cozy with the Democrats. He called this reaching across the aisle, and his liberal friends and the media handed him his head when the chips were counted. Despite all of this, McKane lost a fairly close election. I doubt that anyone would have been swayed by more advertising. People were looking for a reason to vote for McKane, but couldn't find it.

I find it disgraceful that the WATimes would try to patronize us with Tom DeLay on this morning of hangover. The Republican / Conservative Coalition re-birthed in 1994, to be sold-out by Bush, Hastert and this joker, so that we now have a Marxist moving into the WH. "Brokering" the biggest expansion of the Fed govt since FDR, in the middle of the night? Upcoming trillions in deficits? An upcoming 100M in illegals? No, sorry, expediency was destined to fail. Had Dick Armey or Newt stayed at the helm, at least we would have stood for something, and maintained our integrity.

Why should anyone listen to the opinion of the architect of the 06 GOP defeat? This guy advocated massive increases in spending, new entitlements, mired himself in scandal and did nothing on issues of importance to the American people. Fundraising? The GOP/RNC has become a party of K-Street streetwalkers with no ambition other than lining their pockets at taxpayer expense. Ground game and turnout? Hey, Tom, people would turn out to vote if the GOP actually represented Main Street as they did under Reagan and the class of '94. Organizational shortcomings? You mean like ignoring the grassroots and listening to the moderates and lobbyists? Tom, take a hike. You and Bush blew it. The real conservatives have a party to rebuild.

The GOP would still have lost badly this time around with Newt Gingrich or Dick Armey at the helm. The electorate feel that GOP-promoted deregulation is largely to blame for the current financial meltdown, and this has been the decisive factor in this election cycle. What progress Obama and the rest of the Democratic leadership make in their first two years will largely determine how much or little the GOP will be able to regain representation in the mid-term elections of 2010.

JohnY You can say all you want about Tom Delay, but he was very effective as a GOP leader in the House. That's precisely why the Democrats went out of their way to find a like-minded prosecutor to destroy him. Delay wasn't called The Hammer for nothing. And I happen to think he's right about the Democrats' shadow party and its effectiveness, and why we should take a leaf from their playbook. You claim a good candidate could have been elected with the money McCain had. Ask yourself this: would Obama have been elected on the money McCain had? I tend to think not. Money is and always has been the fuel of politics, and this election proves it insofar as I can see. As for not having a reason to vote for McCain, well that "reason" will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States in January. Thanks I suppose to "Republicans" like you. :-)

Mr. DeLay writes about the need for a conservative agenda, but fails to initiate one. He wants, once again, to tie the abortion issue to the rumps of conservatives, along with various other social causes that have nothing to do with Conservatism, so that we are continually dragged down by the overload. Conservatism is about LIBERTY; it is about fiscal responsibility; it is about low taxes (read: FAIR TAX!!!); it is about government that protects it's citizens from danger and gets out of the way of business. Most people in the country support freedom of choice on the abortion issue, and for good reason. It is a question of LIBERTY! Since when does a conservative, a real conservative, deny a human beings the right to a medical procedure she can afford?? How is it that conservatives have given away this issue to a bunch of liberals who want the government to control EVERYTHING?? Get on the right side of these issues and the fine people of this nation will allow you to govern!! Stop the pandering!! Find your conservative principles and stand by them

Mr. Delay is right about America being a center-right nation. Unfortunately, he and his ilk wouldn't know a true conservative if they fell over one. That's precisely why the Republicans lost this election, even though by all rights they should have won. Americans have shown they will not longer tolerate the Delays, Cheneys, Bushs and all the rest of the "mightier-than-thou," Neo-Cons. They lost support of the people a long time ago, but still kept initiating their failed policies. Delay and his band of indignant imbicilles disgraced the the name or our nation and their party. But in their hubris they overlooked one of the most important things about American politics. "We The People" put them there and we can put them out.

Nothing like advice from a disgraced convicted felon who started out as a roach killer until he himself became a roach! BTW idiots - this is not a center right nation and it never has been. The "right" was just a coalition of rich white men, and poor dumb white folk who came together on election day and then parted ways. We know have an unabashedly liberal president and liberal Congress so any of you saying we a center right country? You've got fail!!!!