ELECTION NOT ‘VOTER REBUKE’ FOR CONSERVATIVES, LEADERS SAY– CNSNews.com
…“the 2006 election was a rousing defeat for a Republican leadership wracked with accusations of corruption and sex scandals over the last year,” said Mike Mears, director of state legislative relations for the Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee.
Mears said he noticed “a very curious trend” breaking late Tuesday night. “As we looked at the results, we saw that many of the Republicans keeping their seats, and some of the Democrats who beat incumbents, tended to be more conservative.
“This alone bodes well for a new paradigm shift for Concerned Women for America members and conservatives who will be looking for a ‘philosophical majority’ to work with in the next Congress,” he added.
A GOOD ELECTION LOSS FOR THE GOP – American Family Association
The worse the loss, the quicker and more intensely the GOP searches for its wandering soul…The party of Reagan is sick and has been for some time. It is not pleasant when the electorate finally recognizes it. And the situation will not improve significantly until the Republican Party recognizes its ill health and begins to take corrective measures.
Judeo-Christian ethic is nothing to be ashamed of in public policy or personal life. When you either act like you are ashamed of it or find yourself, for instance, reluctant to flush out a congressman making passes at pages, well, you should be backpedaling on Election Day.
The loss of this election should be good for the GOP. If they change. Really, truly, change.
A DESULTORY AND DISTRESSING CAMPAIGN – Paul Weyrich
This has been the most disappointing race in my political lifetime.
Congress and the President in 2009 or thereafter may shut down talk radio as we know it. To do so, they simply would need a majority on the Federal Communications Commission, something they would obtain within two years of the next presidency. They also may make further changes to electoral laws to favor political parties and weaken grassroots efforts. All they need to do so is a majority on the Federal Election Commission. Republicans are naëve if they believe that liberals once in power would play by the rules.
It is possible that we have seen the last Republican government in my lifetime.
The heartbreaker for this election has been Rick Santorum (R-PA)…However good punishing Santorum may make some voters feel, his loss will be felt in Washington for years. He has been a leader of social-issue conservatives in the Senate. Santorum is the conscience of the Senate GOP Conference…. Far from the conscience of the Senate, Casey will be a monument to political expediency.
WHY REPUBLICANS LOST: Rush Limbaugh
When things go wrong, Rush said, “you must look inward and ask first, ‘What did we do wrong? What could we have done better? What mistakes did we make?”
Commenting that although Republicans lost, “Conservatism did not lose, Republicanism lost last night. Republicanism, being a political party first, rather than an ideological movement, is what lost last night.”
The root of the problem, Rush said, is that “our side hungers for ideological leadership and we’re not getting it from the top. Conservatism was nowhere to be found in this campaign from the top.
“It is silly to blame the media; it is silly to blame the Democrats; it is silly to go out and try to find all these excuses”..
Rush also blamed the failure to embrace conservatism on Republican’s fear of being criticized from those in the so-called establishment. Republicans, he charged, go out of their way to avoid being criticized, fearing they will be characterized as extremists and kooks. As a result conservatism gets watered down, and the GOP loses the support of the nation’s conservative majority Rush stated.
ELECTION SHOWS TOTAL FAILURE OF BIG GOVERNMENT REPUBLICANISM – Focus on the Family by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D., R-Okla.
The overriding theme of this election, however, is that voters are more interested in changing the culture in Washington than changing course in Washington, D.C. This election was not a rejection of conservative principles per se, but a rejection of corrupt, complacent and incompetent government.
This election does not show that voters have abandoned their belief in limited government; it shows that the Republican Party has abandoned them. In fact, these results represent the total failure of big government Republicanism.
CATHOLIC SHIFT GIVES DEMOCRATS BIG BOOST – nj.com
Catholics, who compose a massive 67-million-person slice of the electorate, favored Democrats in Tuesday’s election by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin, according to National Election Pool exit polls.
That’s a marked difference from 2004, when President Bush, a Republican, won 52 percent of the Catholic vote and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) received 47 percent.
For much of the 20th century, American Catholics were loyal Democrats, but in recent elections their voting patterns have been largely indistinguishable from the general population.
And for the last quarter-century, conservative Catholics and white evangelicals have increasingly voted Republican, making opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage their top political issues.