Fergus - right on one thing; dead wrong on another - Granite Grok

Fergus – right on one thing; dead wrong on another

UPDATE: Well, it seems that our worthy (hey, they call us that!) adversaries on the Left here in NH, Blue Hampshire‘s Dean Barker, liked what Fergus had to say:

Fergus Cullen Welcomes Voters to the Democratic Party

On his way out the door, Chairman Cullen invites voters to consider the issues that define the Democratic party:

"we have to be talking about issues that centrist votes care about. I suggest that we talk less about taxes and less about social issues and more about education, health care and conservation, as three examples."

Thanks, Fergus, for once again allowing the Dems to co-opt the message.  Wanna rethink your "centrist" (aka, Democrat-lite) talk again?

Hey, Gov. Sununu, what are we to do about Republicans that sound like Democrats?

I stand by my words:

  • Craft the Republican philosophy
  • Apply it to the current issues
  • Show the public how keeping the power to decide for you and your family is more important than allowing Democrats have Big Government make it for you
  • Make sure Republicans stay on that message.  Shame those that would rather sound like a Democrat.

It’s a start….and Dean can’t say that I’m sounding like him!

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Just read this article on former Governor John H. Sununu but what caught my eye was what the outgoing NH GOP Chair (methinks he saw the neon writing on the wall), Fergus Cullen, had to say:

"He’s interested in helping the Republican Party be a competitive, winning party in New Hampshire," said outgoing chairman Fergus Cullen.

Cullen said Sununu, 69, has more credibility than he has himself on some issues and will bring a new approach to organizing a party that has been thumped by Democrats in two consecutive elections. Democrats ousted Republicans from both U.S. House seats and seized control of the Legislature in 2006, then defeated Sununu’s son, Sen. John E. Sununu, in November.

Certainly right on the first point – otherwise, why come out of the "retirement" that he has been in with respect to the NH GOP?  Perhaps he has been active behind the scenes, but not to the vast majority of Republicans.

More credibility?  Methinks a lot more on a lot more issues; much of it due to experience at multiple levels over a much longer amount of time.

"I think the important thing is to define the difference between the Republican and Democratic parties," Sununu said in an interview. "The Democrats have been very good at winning elections and done a terrible job of running the state."

This nails one of the desperate needs of the NH GOP – a true spokesperson that will be willing to be toe to toe with the Democrat Chair Buckley on all any and all issues.  Not only that, be able to articulate that message well without ambiguity (and not "we better because we not the Dems).

Cullen also believes the party should be more centrist.

"We can be centrist about the issues we talk about while still offering conservatives policy alternatives. We have to meet centrist voters on the issues they care about," he said.

Er, Fergus?  In this last election cycle, we put up about the most "centrist" Presidential candidate in a long, long time.

How’d that work out for the Party?

I’d also like to hear about the use of the moniker of "Democrat-lite" – if all the Republicans are doing is sounding like warmed over Democrats with positions so similar that it takes a knife to separate the two?  When Republicans SOUND like Republicans, sticking to the platform (which does a good job, IMHO), things would go well. 

When Republicans jump to the fore with legislation:

  • to raise taxes (instead of looking for more efficient ways to run government),
  • that punish constituents (by blocking citizens from participating in their government with badly timed meetings or letting government raise limits for bonding before public input is needed)
  • that uses the force of government regulation that picks winners and losers within an industry
  • that forces behavior changes in citizens "because it is good for them"

there’s a problem.  There’s a BIG problem.

Going centrist ain’t going to help with that problem.  Articulating issues that demonstrate that we Republicans respect citizens as adults (and expect them to act as such) rather than fitting the Democrat "victim" role (where the Dems believe that everyone has to be protected against everything – except against Democrat policies) will help.

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