In Miami, New England Republicans ignore the riptide

Jim Douglas admits freely that he is ignorant of his own constituents' political inclination. Vermonters should ask themselves if they want this guy representing them.

Don't the Republicans think that the American people care about the competence of their candidates? Or the competence of their platform. You have the majority of Americans supporting a mothers right to choose when to have a baby, but the Republican platform is completely anto Abortion rights. You have the vast majority of Americans against the war in Iraq but the Republican candidate supports "winning at any cost". You have a party who's economic policies have bankrupted the government and destroyed our economy, but they want to continue doing using the same formula. Then came Sarah Palin, an insult to every American who think that our leader should actually possess some exceptional skills.

McCain didnt lose. President Bush and his architects lost the confidence of the american people and their GOP party through their corporate policies. In this scenario Maverick got Goosed by his own party!

It's kind of amusing that some Republicans still think that their ideologies of theofascist treason can still make inroads after 8 horrible years of their Party's crimes against us -- and crimes against humanity.

The whole world hates Christian terrorists, fascists, and the United States now thanks to Republicanism, and it's just really bizarre that some politicians still think they're a legitimate political party.

There's often a classic choice for leaders in any representative democracy. Ours is no exception. The choice is simply this: Which is more important, to be right or be popular? Should our leaders lead in the direction they feel is correct, bucking popular opinion they feel is wrong, and thereby risk their politcal careers? Or should they keep their finger in the political wind and float along with the political tide, even if they believe it is going in the wrong direction? One thing is certain. Those who should not be in power, those who choose to be in office only for the power and prestige, almost always pick the second choice, and we suffer for it.

um... "Im Miami"???

The Republicans have ignored more than just the "riptide" of this election. They have only themselves to blame for their losses; they had plenty of warning after the last congressional election cycle.

They have no "core values" to return to. They call themselves fiscally conservative, but look where we are after 8 years of Republican White House occupancy and 14 years of a Republican-dominated Congress. In the meantime, they've catered to an inflexible religious minority- Evangelicals, to the detriment of the majority of American citizens and fully one half of the population in countries abroad- women. The "faith-based" initiatives are as un-Christian-like as anything I've ever seen. They call themselves inclusive, and claim they are looking out for the common man, but under their leadership the majority of wealth in this country has shifted to 1% of the populace. It is in fact a party led by elite, rich, old, white men- not what I call inclusive at all. They lead by fear and hate-mongering, and ran one more campaign using that poisonous strategy. It's no wonder that somebody who is a complete opposite to them won. The whole world is tired of them, not just Americans.

lol... Marco is right!

Sad for McCain, screwed out of the presidency by Bush in 2000 -

and screwed again in 2008!

Fran, I think Vermonters should be allowed to think, speak and vote for themselves, don't you?

I agree that one of the factors that allowed Obama and the Dems to get elected was the total incompetency of Bush and his cronies, and the rest of the Republican party for failing to keep their President honest. However, this is not the first time McCain has been 'goosed' by his own party. It tends to happen a lot to those who try to actually be centrist.

Will the Democrats be any better if Obama goes extreme in his own manner? I hope we'll never find out. I myself was elated at Obama's election and not McCain's defeat (Sarah Palin's defeat was just an utter relief). I hope Obama sincerely makes an attempt to hear some of Senator McCain's ideas, as they have their own worth.

P.S. To the blogger; you may want to give your headline a typo check.

And CT's Jodie Rell, Miss Popular - Practical - Pragmatist, in a blue state? Where was she? Imagine, if John McCain had been himself, ignored the fringe right, (who were going to vote for him anyway), and picked her to be his running mate, - a moderate ticket and a John McCain true to himself would have been formidable indeed.

Unless the Republicans get in line with thier constituencies and leave the culture wars for the fanatic fringe and the frantic character assasinations for the dubious talking heads, it's going to be a long time on the side lines. Will they learn? When Karl Rove and his Machiavelian Matt Atwater wanna bees desist....maybe.

Obama thanks you Karl..silver platter for change, - good job. Face it Americans hate mean people.

The Republican party became nothing but a surrogate Democratic party for the last few years. True conservatives would not have become big spenders of tax payers hard earned money. Reaching across the isle is just another term for selling out to the tax and spend Democrats. Both partys have had a big party voting to give away tax dollars. The Republicans need new ideas and new faces.

Jim Douglas is a FABULOUS governor who keeps the whacko VT Democrat lefties legislators in check. If he was not in office, there would be NO ONE actually working in VT. It would be a complete welfare state, filled with people getting entitlements. If you do not want to work and get a government check every week....COME TO VT!!!!!

John Rowland made the trip? I don't think you need to know much more than that. I guess he was feeling out the crowd for a state where a felony conviction wouldn't stand in the way of being elected Governor. Oh... wait... that would be Connecticut!

"The best thing you can do is only go ahead of it until you find an opening."

What? Thats is? Thats the best you can come up with?

There is a reason schools teach history. You learn from history. You learn from your mistake. You learn what went wrong. You learn about all the missteps you took. You learn how you wandered off the path. You learn about how NOT to tear up the constitution. You lean NOT to go to war without any proof. I can go on but again if they dont want to learn who am I to tell them where to start.

Republican party has become a regional ethnical mafia party which supports ancient agendas that todays people dont care about. Regional because only states from south supports it. Ethnical because its only base is old white christian males. Mafia because they are secretive of how they work and once you are in you can not leave the party. If you leave the party then the Evangelicals will smear you to death. Their agenda is anti-abortion and gun control.

They call Dems party of tax and spend but ran up budget deficit from a surplus. ALL Republicans have difficulty explaining how trade deficit doubled in last eight years.

Their only hope is to go ahead of the tide. Thats is. Good luck with that "strategy" if you prefer to call that. Burying your head in the sand would be equally sane "strategy".

I don't know about New England but this Oregonian independent had his vote in hand ready to hand it to Senator McCain until he picked that whacky bubblehead for second in command. Very sad, because I really wanted Senator McCain to be my president. I know, I'm only an anecdote but I've seen lots like me in comments just like these. If the GOP really wants to reverse its fortunes then they might start by quantifying us anecdotal voters instead of seizing to Mrs. Palin's celebrity appeal and calling her the "future" of the party. Just the thought makes me shudder.

Personally, I tend to think that the problem with the republicans that really showed this election was that the emporer had no clothes. It really showed through that they were party first, God only when it suits them, and to hell with everyone else. This was evidenced by speakers at the GOP convention, including the GOP VP Nominee. Heads of the GOP (including Guiliani and Palin) making fun of community organizers, acting like community organizers are just wasting their lives (Note to self, when looking for votes, it is best not to ridicule the voters). On a side note, in this economy, I bet the lines at the soup kitchens and food pantry's are getting longer, it's a good thing the Community Organizers are out there trying to fill up those pantry's....God knows if they left it to the Republicans (like Guiliani), only the rich would eat! It is further evidenced by #5's "classic choice". Problem is, the Republicans act like they know everything that is best for the people, when they have been doing nothing but hurting the people for many years. When the populace turns on them, they think the people are wrong and not them. They can at least listen to and perhaps try to learn from people that are beneath them. But they are too arrogant for that. That might be something Christ (no, not the Gov of Florida) might do!

As liberal as Vermont may appear, it actually retains an independence of thinking which comes from self-sufficency harking back to colonial times. The founding fathers of our country reflected an independent spirit quite differnet than what exists today. Working for others, conforming to the wishes of a boss promote the entitlement mind-set. A larger percentage of working men and women in Vermont work for themselves and as such think for themselves. We weigh candidates on their personal merits, not on a contrived party line.
As bad as economic conditions are now, one result will be a higher percentage of self-employed. This is a good thing.

Another piece of advice for those within the GOP who say stuff like "we need new ideas"... no, you don't. You need your OLD ideas.

I love these discussions. The bantering of individuals who feel totally guilty that they voted Democrat using such terminology such as against Bush. Need to reach out to the other side. No, no,no.. either you believe in the Republican format God rules humans drool, abortion is the killing of a human with out a voice of representation, Gaiety is an action thus not a natural characteristic. Individuals have a right to pursue their dreams and legal schemes without government intervention and that the Republican party answers closely what you believe. if not vote elsewhere. What I'm hearing is that you really feel guilty about voting Democrat, well there's no sympathy here. Climb in the boat! You built it. For those of you against Sarah, Sarah is the base, the average everyday American trying to find their way in a Government ruled by narcissists. Get over yourselves, she did great!!!!!

If the Republican Party thinks that Palin is their future they can look forward to many more losses and being a minority party for a long time. McCain probably would have won if he stuck to the values he has held 8 years before, his pandering to the far-right helped him lose the election.

AMEN!
To that Jay!!

Why are these airheads wasting time pontificating? Let us list republican ill's.
Xenophobia - All brown skinned, olive skinned, people are not good people
Fear - keep citizens afraid by announcing terror alert level's every day.
Uncertainty - Starve State Governments of funding forcing tax hikes
Doubt - Will we have gasoline tomorrow Dad?
Big Government Spend Baby Spend
Create institutions that do not work - Homeland Security FEMA
Snoop on citizens, arrest citizens, call an unpatriotic law The Patriot Act
Create a humongous deficit, Increase spending, ruin the economy for everybody.

How can the Republican Party expect respect when it just attempted to saddle the American people with probably the most incompetent and scary VP to ever run for office. Did you not think we'd eventually catch on? The terrifying part of this episode is that it was within the realm of possibility that Palin could have ended up President. It's going to take a long time before the American electorate forgets that possibility.

I have zero sympathy for the Republican Party. I wrote and told different people in their campaigns that I would not vote for any of them if they allowed Palin to keep up with her rhetoric, so, in my mind, they were warned and he evidently put no pressure on her when they knew it was wrong and dangerous. My hope is that some very smart ambulance chasing attorney investigates whether the recent slaying of that young woman by the Klan, had anything to do with her possibly being incited to join such a monsterous and ignorant organization by the campaign rhetoric. If it did, there ought to be a very substantial lawsuit that sends a message to the Republican Party that Americans just absolutely will not tolerate
people who aim to divide us as a people and disturb our peace.

As long as the Republican party is the party of Sean/Rush/BillO they will rule over Joe Sixpack and his fellow country dwellers. I agree with most Americans that Palin was a horrible choice but who could of beat Mr. Obama? Mr. Obama and the Democrats were inclusive and held out an olive branch to anyone willing to listen. The Republicans were the narrow minded party of the far right wing. Clearly! Hopefully the Republicans will reject the far right, adhere to privacy rights and SHOW instead of tell. I doubt if they will though. I see Palin and she is exactly what it will take to lose again!

Running out of well qualify, well educated, intelligent and know how to do leaders America? Not really,but lets give the low IQs an opportunity and see how they're gonna lead us the next four years.It's going to be a bump ride with lots of bruises.

If we had a parliamentary system of government, a party more conservative than the Democrats would do well here in New England. But the first vote a New England Republican makes in congress is for Speaker of the House or majority leader of the Senate, and it's always some right wing nut case from the heartland running to represent their party. Whatever else New Englanders think of their representatives, they don't want that.

Governors don't have to vote for Mitch McConnell or John Boehner, so they do better than Republicans running for federal office here.

REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY:
PRO-LIFE but send our young men and women to a meaningless war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans and Iraqis.
AGAINST TERRORISM but have created economic terror against the people and tried to take away our rights through the Patriot Act and illegal surveillance.
LEADERSHIP EMBROILED IN CORRUPTION. Many of the GOP leadership from the Far Right Religious leaders, White house staffs to the corridors of the US Congress, have all been involved in some kind of scandal in the past 8 years.
Any wonder the American people have made a change?

As long as the Republican Party continues to be the party that idolizes ignorance and willful stupidity, panders to the zealous fanatics of the "religious right" Evangelicals on one hand while also pandering to the desires of just the ultra-wealthy 1 percent of the populace on the other, and decries any sort of regulation over business while showing an utter and complete lack of ETHICS in business, they will deserve every loss they receive.

skmj
You mean someone with a low enough IQ that they don't know the difference between a country and a continent---Nope, all of my democrat friends know the difference, lets see, I wonder where we could find such a person?

If the Republicans ran a campaign based on _true_ Compassionate Conservativism, they likely would have won the Presidency and probably would have lost fewer seats in Congress. However, they insisted on being hard-line ideologues and running an attack-based, slur-based, and fear-based campaign.

This drove the moderates (today's Silent Majority) into the arms of the Democrats.

It would have been a no-brainer for the Republicans to remain true to conservative principles while at the same time not emphasizing divisive issues, not demonizing their opponent, and not accusing his supporters of being anti-American. And by September or October, the G.O.P. could clearly see that these tactics were not working. However, for some reason, they just kept plowing forward, seemingly blind to the way they were damaging their own cause.

It's almost as if the Republicans have lost touch with reality and have become self destructive.

What happened to the Big Tent? The G.O.P. drove almost everyone out of it except for the party's Family Values "base" and the very rich ... and a few million white racists in the South. This doesn't comprise enough voters to win a National election. If the Republicans want to be known as the Party Of Conservative Ideological Purity, then they will be admired for their steadfast adherence to their values, but they will at best be a permanent minority party, sniping at the leaders of our country from the wings.

Maybe that's what the G.O.P. wants. If so, they are well on their way. However, if they want to win the White House and have a greater say than they have given themselves in the 111th Congress, they will have to figure out how to be more flexible and appeal to the Silent Majority that they tossed under the bus during this last election.

I won't comment on republicans woes but I will say that if anyone wishes for Sarah Palin types to run the nation in a complex world, "lawd have mercy!"
I love the people I know who are just like me, but I sure as hell wouldn't vote for any of them to be president, or even mayor. Councilmen, school board, sure...but they, like Palin need to expand their narrow visions of life in 2008.
Advance and follow Palin at your own peril because middle America has higher expectations of it's leaders, especially after the Bush administration.

No more Republicans... what a happy state of affairs!