According to Jeff Schapiro's Richmodn Times Dispatch article this morning, the Virginia GOP is busy "look[ing] for causes of defeat." For instance, RPV chairman Jeff Frederick says:
...we need to get back to basics . . . conservative values and to address people's quality-of-life issues.
The only problem with that prescription is that it's completely self contradictory and internally inconsistent. Why? Because "conservative values" as defined by Jeff Frederick mean no new taxes EVER, but addressing people's "quality-of-life issues" - transportation, education, health care, public safety, environment, etc. - all require revenues (aka, "taxes"). How does Jeff Frederick square this circle? He doesn't say, and no big surprise there as this guy isn't exactly an intellectual heavyweight (to put it mildly).
The problem for the RPV is not so much Jeff Frederick - although obviously he has been and will continue to be a debacle for Republicans - but the complete intellectual bankruptcy and utter lack of real solutions this party has to offer. Here's GMU Professor Mark Rozell's diagnosis:
...the party's tough line against taxes, its advocacy of restrictions on immigration and its alignment with anti-abortion and gun-rights advocates have stranded Republicans on a shrinking voter base."The anti-government rhetoric doesn't sell well in the current environment," said Rozell. "Fiscal discipline and investing responsibly is the right message -- that's the Mark Warner message."
How can Virginia Republicans get to the "Mark Warner message," however, given its current cast of characters and ideological propensities? It's very hard to see, but it's certainly not going to get there by having the party's leaders issue meaningless statements like the one by Bill Bolling, that "Virginians are no longer persuaded by political labels." Yeah, and...what? I mean, let's say the RPV changes its name to the "Conservative Party of Virginia" or whatever, how does that remedy its problems, including the ones articulated below?
[Veteran Republican operative Kenneth] Klinge, who broke into Republican politics as a volunteer for conservative icon Barry Goldwater, said, "The Republican Party of Virginia is trying to sell the wrong message to the people. We have become a party of exclusion, not inclusion."George Miller, a former Republican chairman in Middlesex County, suggests his party may be whistling past the graveyard.
Annoyed by Bolling's statement, Miller wrote in an e-mail two days after the election, "So are these guys standing on the bow of the Titanic and are they willing to go down for principles the electorate just will not accept?'
Right there, in a nutshell, is the core problem the RPV faces: increasing numbers of people don't want to buy the product that they're offering for sale. Certainly, increasing numbers of people don't want that product the way it is currently being packaged, but even if Virginia Republicans change the packaging (e.g., by dumping Jeff Frederick, or by Bob McDonnell launching his gubernatorial bid "with a walk through the Fairfax County subdivision where he grew up"), how does that address the underlying bankruptcy of their flat-earth, far-right-wing, non-pragmatic, let-the-infrastructure-crumble ideology? How does the RPV address quality of life issues without raising revenues, aka taxes? And finally, how does the RPV win when it's tethered to the parts of the state that are relatively shrinking in population and economic output, at the same time that it's alienated the fastest growing, most dynamic parts of the state?
Personally, I wish the RPV luck in resolving these issues. On the other hand, I certainly wouldn't encourage them to rush things; hey, take your time, give it a decade or two and let Democrats handle things in the interim. We're more than happy to wait patiently for you as you spend a few years (decades?) "whistling past the graveyard!" :)
Jeff should reconsider running. Even if he is in the legislature, he won't be accomplishing much of either.
So they will drive, all, if there are any left, center thinking Republicans away. They've already driven the "conservatives" away, as the votes for both Warner and Obama prove.
McDonell? He'd done. Stick a fork in him. His backing, support and ultimate declaration that the unconstitutional "regional taxing authorities" were 'constitutional' has sunk his boat for good. Democrats need only to run someone center of McDonnell and it'll be a third election in the a row for the Governor's job for them.
The Party is infested with nasty personal attack, smear campaign tacticians,(Kirwin) who have pushed anyone with any integrity, any honesty or any degress of honor out of the party.
The once center thinking conservatives are now, not only joining the Democratic Party of Virginia,they are winning elections (John Miller 1st Senate district) for them too!
I think its a foregone conclusion that 2009 will see the Democrats take the House of Delegates and the Governor's mansion while maintaining control of the Senate in Virginia. The only thing the RPV will be doing is sitting on the sidelines (like they did for 120-years after the civil war) throwing rocks and making snide remarks.
For the Virginia Republicans, its going to get far worse, before it gets better! BANK ON IT!