have these “townhalls” and LISTEN instead of rushing out to TELL US what they are going to do….the RNC did the same thing last year on their website remember? and they brought up all the liberal agenda in their questions WHY? because they are NOT listening!

There is NOTHING new in their elite agenda it is a liberal agenda with tax cuts that is all. If they really want to win they NEED to just go ALL SMALL GOVERNMENT and take themselves and their lobbyist friends and business friends out of the equasion.

Whoever has his enemy at his mercy &
does not destroy him is his own enemy

A National Council for a NEW America.
I don’t want a NEW America.
I want the America that became the greatest nation in the history of the world in a mere 200 years.
I want the freedom that the ORIGINAL Constitution afforded.
Yeah, we need to change some things. Pull back in some places and improve things in others.
But, we DO NOT need a NEW America.
Sounds a bit too much like “Change we can Believe in.”

And… I may not exactly be disagreeing with this one but the problems are more than just those who have said, “If John McCain, Romney, et al are in, I’m out.”

Okay, they’re moderates. Big whoop. At least they walk their talk. Gingrich, on the other hand, talks conservative but walks moderate, as do some others.

You can’t walk in the middle of the road but they keep trying. Sooner or later, they’re going to get hit when the line in the middle gets crossed by traffic on either side. More often than not, it’s the left that crosses the middle line because the left has little regard for the rule of law because they can rewrite it at will and even less for the Constitution that is supposed to define what should and shouldn’t be under the law.

When given their choices without persuasion that borders on seduction, people trend toward conservatism, even in countries we can point to and say are as socialist as they come. Instead, we’re given empty promises not just from the left but from the so called right as well.

It’s the lack of distrust. We tell them what we want and they say, “Okay, we’ll take that into consideration, ” and then, once they no longer need the support, they ignore us. Why is this time any different from any other time before?

Even the words you used tell the story, when you say conservatism is being given a “seat at the table”. Putting it that way says, we’re supplicants to the ones in charge who may decide that anything we have to say has no merit.

I’m not saying it’s not worth trying but I am saying that right now, that I don’t trust it or them because it’s been done before and all we got were words and no actions that matched.

The real questions are:
1.) Is trust broken beyond repair?
2.) Are those who broke it really willing to try to repair it?
3.) Will it be another half-hearted attempt so they can have an excuse for not doing anything?

No matter what name someone pulls out as the example of their ire, it still boils down to words and actions.

NCNA is asking the wrong question at a very wrong time.

My impression is that it certainly is an attempt to refocus the GOP, maybe not necessarily “re-brand” it but certainly re-introduce Republican principles to the people.

Not “rebranding” may be. But it’s still about “about GOP” and that’s the problem.

That’s what the con job of the MSM. The MSM wants the GOP to be “self-conscious” - making it sound ridiculous and untouched.

It seems like narcissistic. It’s asking the question “what’s wrong with the GOP?” Instead, these Republicans should be asking “what’s wrong with Americans today?”

There are so many people with real problems out there. The people should be the focus of the alternatives of the Republicans, not the Republican Party itself:

- Not the generic working paper of Cong. Ryan more than a month ago.
- And certainly not the Republican Party itself ( I repeat: narcissistic.)

The last general election was only 5 months ago. It’s still fresh from the memories of many Americans. Many moderates are currently expecting solutions and answers (sadly from Obama) . . . not POLITICS.

Discussing the problems of the Republican Party to these kind of voters would be construed as off-beat and out-of-touch.

NCNA is looking for inputs?

Look, Cantor and the rest of the Republicans are representatives of ordinary Americans, the voters. There are still 170+ Republican representatives in Washington. Did they stop consulting their constituents (republicans, democrats and independent alike) in the last 3 months? I assume that the answer to that question is NO.

So, what are their constituents saying? What are the problems of their people? What specific programs can the Republican leaders do for their respective states and counties?

These are the only way for the Republicans to get close to the people. Know their problems. And if possible, given them some advice and encouragement, if not actual solutions.

Most importantly: timing the NCNA with the defection of Specter is also bad. It means a total surrender of the Republicans to the MSM meme that the Republican Party is dying. Are Cantor and the rest admitting now that we are now the party of losers? That’s totally wrong. Rasmussen statistics are saying NO.

Cantor et al should be careful: Last time I looked, Americans don’t want to be associated with the losers. But …. but Americans love to feel good by siding with the victims.

Siding with and offering actual help to the People is the key. Offering a non-partisan solution to the problem by a Republican will do the Party good. Asking the people on how to resurrect the Party is just plainly incoherent…. as if the Republicans are worrying more for their Party than for the ordinary Americans.

As for Obama, 50% of the Americans “adore” him. We can’t do anything about that. The only chance for us is to allow him to SELF-DESTRUCT. The Republican Leaders can help in destroying the Myth of Obama by “strongly” rebuking his Anti-American policies. The Obama phenomenon is now bordering between JFK and the FDR lunatic phenomena.

And please. Tell these Republican Leaders to coordinate their efforts with the RNC. Some are really thinking that this is just like another “internal dispute” between the R Leaders vs. the Party Chairman.

“In fact, if I were a moderate, I’d be happy if the conservative voice would walk away from the debate and give me the floor!”

If conservatives did walk away from this group it would collapse or continue with no one listening because the GOP cannot move forward if the base doesn’t believe in the effort. I want conservatives with spines willing to go toe to toe in the trench warfare of the Dems. I don’t want anyone who starts their floor statements with “my friend”. I’m tired of the GOP getting its ass handed to them by the Dems who play for keeps and frankly many of the people involved with this project are the ‘go along to get along’ types that continue to cause us to fail.

You are right. We can’t just take our ball and go home. This discussion is too important. We must be heard and we must also listen. I don’t doubt there’s plenty of common ground. Let’s fight for our piece of it.

And, we’ll understand if you wear gloves when you shake our hands

Do they have plans for cool and hip looking muted blue and red posters also?
I’d point out that when the Democrat Party fell out of favor and lost the House, Senate and eventually the White House, THEY didn’t go looking for all the “moderates” they could find. Oh they said they were a big tent party and all the pablum we’re hearing from the Republicans now.
But what they really did was go further left then they had been, and called anyone not as far left as they were, radical right wing extremists.
And they stuck to that message, wrong thou it was/is.
And the Republican Party answer when faced with the same potential of permanent minority status?
Well, don’t just include moderates in the party, make them equal partners. Heck, put them in the ‘leadership’ roles! Act as if the conservative point of view is something to be tolerated and ‘listened’ to, while the party moves to the left.
As someone else said, why vote for a squishy liberal Republican when you can have a real liberal Democrat?
The two party system assumes some pretty stark differences between the two parties.
Not so much a reality anymore.
Anyone who wants to declare that there is no workable alternative, that the ship is to big and cumbersome to change direction quickly……Barack Obama, President of the United States.
Considering his, well…everything, who would have placed the “sucker bet” 8 years ago that the above would be true?
Half steps to the left and socialism/fascism STILL gets you to socialism/fascism.
If that’s all that the NCNA (Who came up with that anyway??) is offering, then the Republican Party is truly becoming nothing more then Democrat lite.

I have nothing against the GOP big tent. I don’t want anyone to be “thrown out” from under it. I simply want the GOP, the RNC, the NCNA to try it the conservative way for a change.

Conservatives have watched in horror as the Republican Party keeps trying things the moderate way. That got us Bush41 and the defeat which put Bill Clinton in the White House in 1992. The moderate way got us a toothless Bob Dole candidacy, another defeat and four more years of Bill Clinton. It got us “compassionate” conservatism and spending run amok, which lost the Congress in 2006. It got us a John McCain candidacy which stabbed its own VP candidate in the back, yet another defeat in 2008 and a socialist in the White House.

Every time we’ve tried it the moderate way, we lose. And we keep losing. When we’ve tried it the conservative way, like we did in 1980 and 1984, plus in the House in 1994, we won. Every time we try it the conservative way, we win.

Those of us in the grassroots are not prolitical professionals. Be we have the presence of mind to be able to observe what works for the GOP and what does not work. Conservatism works, and moderation does not work.

So let us welcome anyone to come in under the big tent. And let everyone have a voice. But it’s time for the gavel to be passed to the conservatives. It’s our turn now.

- JP

It went from bad to worse, yelling at the television and now organizing “Tea Parties”. Look at what they have done to me. Conservatives marching in the streets with protest signs, what am I nuts. I hear this “big tent” talk and all I can think of is how conservatives were out in the cold and alone for too long. To add insult to injury I hear all this talk about more pandering to the left, move that tent to the left some more? Hell no. And now RINO Romney and poke in the eye McCain, please spend some of that pork on anger management for Conservatives. We were yelling, screaming and now protesting in the streets, what more is it going to take for them to hear us? I believe that I am way past the spine stiffened, spleen all in an uproar part as most are. Heck, I am working on some “Tar and Feathers” for the next project.

We should have one message for the NCNA project, make a sharp right turn. The two party system has become socialism or socialism light and that is simply wrong. You want me to work with this NCNA project, OK. But I am bringing my pitchfork….

I read that there were about 100 people at the pizza place. 30 were from the press and the rest were from Cantor’s office or Romney/Bush entourages. Who were they talking to? The restaurant’s owner?

I’d really like to believe that they are interested in listening to us but I’ll have to see it to believe it. Can we get some fresh blood in this party? Will someone from redstate please stand up and run for office???

and time.

Buy each Senator and Rep a copy of the Constitution. Include a note that says kill all federal programs that don’t conform to this document. Pay special attention to the 10th Amendment.

This stupidity, headed by McCain, isn’t the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of but it’s in the top five. The “problem” folks is that we have no leadership and precious few elected representatives who actually stand for anything. I’ve said over and over that McCain, who purportedly is “my” Senator, doesn’t represent the people of AZ he just gets reelected here. He represents the interests of the people who commute into Washington DC. As do damn near every other elected official.

I want the GOP to grow. Strike that. I want the party who believes in the Constitution to grow. I want the party of smaller government, lower taxes, a stronger military, a belief in free speech, religion and adherence to justice, grow.
I want Supreme Court Justices who believe in interpreting the Law, not socially engineering America from the bench. Many of the issues which create the need for the term “moderate” are social issues - abortion, gay marriage, the environment. I contend that those issues should be side issues: they have nothing to do with the nuts and bolts of governance. So let’s have a “big tent”! Sort out those social issues later. When I first heard the name of the organization I groaned, I don’t want a “New America” I want an “OLD AMERICA” - OK that sounds a bit stodgy, but what I want is a return to the Constitution, rule of law and first principles that made this country the envy of the world.

We should not be apologizing for being the party of “NO”. We should not be apologizing for being the party of belief in God and Justice. We should not be apologizing for believing in conservative principles that made this country great.
We should not be knee-jerk reacting to the MSM. Who cares what they think? And why don’t we have the courage to say that CONSERVATIVE principles are what made this country great and are what we need now?

Whoever owns the microphone is in charge. So, it matters who governs the “new “GOP”. I still want an elelphant in charge, and not a RINO.

McCain, Romney and other moderates need to step aside. They may talk like a conservative, but those moderate ideas, and catering to moderates is not a winning strategy. If they are in charge they will guide the agenda, and shut out the voices of the conservatives.

Warner, I appreciate the point you are trying to make. I am the one who stated if McCain is in I am out. Every time I see the man on the Sunday morning shows, I just know the democrats and the media are having another good day.

The beltway Republicans like government and are perfectly happy marginalizing the conservative message …take our votes and donations and assume we will be satisfied with scraps. Year after year with GW Bush, I kept waiting for his domestic agenda to turn conservative. We finally had both the Congress and the White House and yet there was no agenda to change the direction of big government. Spending was on autopilot … I was so frustrated reading the press releases from my conservative Congressman Geoff Davis proudly announcing the latest federal fire engine for his district. Then to add insult to this, the primary process led to the nomination of John McCain. Most conservatives had not even voted by the time he was anointed.

There is a golden opportunity just waiting to be take by the Republican party. But to do this, but the Party is going to have to give up their desire to run and grow government. The tea party message laid out a road map for the Republicans. These were not attended by political activists or even Republicans. These are people who are tired of the failure of politics as usual in Washington. They want honest answers from their elected leaders … not focus group tested pablum. We all instinctively know that the growth of government to this extreme is going to lead to disaster … who is going to stand up and scream stop!

I don’t think conservatives will walk away from this effort. I think the bigger question is will we ultimately be excluded?

You’ve written this before and I couldn’t agree with you more. Political parties don’t equal political purity.

Those who led us to failure in the past will not be the leaders who can recapture disillusioned conservatives, Libertarians, and conservative Democrats. The GOP must continue to be a “Big Tent” party, but the underlying principle of the party, which connects all those within the tent, must be its dedication to liberty. McCain, Romney, Bush, and many of the others “leading” this organization have proven that they do not default to the principles of liberty, but to the concerns of their own political careers.

Until they do something, I’ll regard them as toxic waste.

You want to be a “leader?” Then: Lead! Put your reputation on the line, go after oh-so-popular “Dear Leader.” Take down a Democrat–any Democrat, anywhere.

Take on a leftist group, any leftist group–pick a fight and show no mercy–I don’t care if it’s the Democrat Grandmas for Hot Fudge Brownie Kindergarten Snack-Time. Take them down.

This Democrat party and it’s money-men have poured millions into every little left-wing outfit they could find, they have cultivated a weed garden of thousands and thousands of foot-soldier–make them howl in silence as the tentacles are cut away. What are they going to do, go public with the fact that they’ve indirectly funded some kooky group? Let them bring in their reinforcement of ACLU lawyers and media “watchdogs”–then drag them down into the mud and slop, too.

There’s a lot of targets out there, and some have some awful skeletons in the closet–rattle them bones and tie the carcass to the Democrat Party.

Show me there’s some fight in your belly, not a desire for more grapeshot in mine.

If this is to be a fight, if this it to allow you to lead–then show me you understand someone has to lose and that you have no problem making the loser the Democrat; that you can’t wait to make that loser the Democrat. You’ve got the money, you’ve got the reputation: You’ll find plenty of soldiers when you start fighting.

I usually agree with you, but not this time. If THEY want a seat at my table, they can ask nicely, and then THEY can listen to what I have to say. One of the first items on the agenda is a name change, because I’m not looking for a new America, I’m looking for the one I enjoyed under Ronald Reagan. “New” as in “New and Improved” was never a phrase that crossed his lips. The closest he ever came was “Morning in America” and even that was designed to invoke remembrances of things that have gone right in the past.

Next up would be the point which is repeatedly made on this site that elections have consequences. You guys lost badly in the last election. It was your ideas that failed. Man up to it and step aside. Let new leaders with different ideas take the stage. Notice I didn’t say “new” because they aren’t new. They are older than the country, possibly older than man himself. And when we provide the public with a choice not an echo, they seem to like those old ideas. That they just happen to be the ideas you keep pooh-poohing might be what has led to your failure.

…but rather the what. When they start out with a liberal agenda right from the start, it just doesn’t bode well for the future of the group.

I think people on both sides can agree that Mitt Romney is big fat phony. See, common ground!

I believe that we are at the point where we as conservatives can no longer give up any ground. We are always the ones who who are told to keep quiet, make concessions and agree to everything and then the party will maybe listen to us. I say NO MORE! Victory cannot be obtained through concessions. Victory can only be obtained by a complete take over of the party. I for one do not wish to agree to any moderate view of anything, because that is what we have been doing for more than eight years now. Look where that policy has gotten us Nowhere!No power in Congress or the White House.
It is now time to make a stand and take the party back. We need to tell moderates like McCain to sit down and shut up because they do not speak for us.
I think that the only way the Republican party is going to listen to conservatives is if we do withhold ALL of our support unless the party’s views agree with our own (that includes candidates).

Eric Fletcher

Spending time on Jeb Bush’s alleged statements reported throught the press filter.

Shame on all of you, Rush & Sean.

We are losers as long as rise to this bait.