{"id":161,"date":"2008-10-22T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-22T14:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2008\/10\/22\/how-would-you-like-to-see-the-gop-change\/"},"modified":"2008-10-22T10:20:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-22T14:20:00","slug":"how-would-you-like-to-see-the-gop-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2008\/10\/22\/how-would-you-like-to-see-the-gop-change\/","title":{"rendered":"How would YOU like to see the GOP change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I keep poking at this question because it seems beyond dispute that the Republican Party has backed out onto a very creaky plank. <\/p>\n

Sharks are circling, especially here in New York state.<\/p>\n

If this election spins out of control even a few more degrees, the GOP’s meltdown could make Wall Street’s turbulence look downright placid.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans are calling for some introspection. Former National Review scribe Christopher Buckley put it this way during an appearance on the Daily Show:<\/p>\n

“I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me. My hope after November 4th is that there’s going to be some serious soul-searching in those quarters. There probably won’t be, but it seemed like a thoughtful thing to say.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Conservative Republicans are pushing back against the notion that the party needs to make substantial changes.<\/p>\n

Former Washington Times editor Tony Blankley wrote a column this week arguing that there are only two types of Republicans: right-wing conservatives, and “me-too” Democrats.<\/p>\n

“I certainly will do what I can to make it a big-tent conservative movement. But just as it does in every great cause, one question has to be answered correctly: Whose side are you on, comrade?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think Blankley’s wrong. I think the GOP had a long and politically successful history before the rise of the Goldwater-Gingrich-Palin wing of the party.<\/p>\n

And as I’ve written before, I think the Republican movement is essential to American democracy. <\/p>\n

So here’s a question for blog readers: How can the GOP become a better, more appealing movement — one that can climb back into favor in New York state and around the US?<\/p>\n

Is the future Sarah Palin? Colin Powell? What are the big new ideas — or the old ideas that should be jettisoned? Post your thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I keep poking at this question because it seems beyond dispute that the Republican Party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}