CM PRESS # 549

GOP IN TROUBLE IN CALIFORNIA

Here's a column that says Republicans are in big trouble in California.

We agree.

Yes, we're Republicans here at the CM PRESS--Reagan and Buchanan Republicans. We're not George Bush Republicans.

And, if you ask us, we won't mince words. The reason the GOP is in trouble is because of George Bush. Bush has been a bull in a china shop since he took office.

We find it laughable that Bush flakmeisters such as Rush Limbaugh continue trying to convince people that Republicans such as Bush are good for the country. Good for the country? Nonsense.

Almost 5,000 Americans have now died in Iraq, and for what? Iraq was never our enemy. When we leave Iraq, the country will become an Islamic Republic more against the U.S. that it was before we started this war. We removed the guy who was keeping the place secular and hanged him. Pretty dumb.

Look at the economy. It's a mess. The U.S. has been deindustrialized and that means there are fewer people actually making things here. We have a paper economy of middlemen. It's a house of cards and it's falling.

Look at the automobile industry. What you usually don't see in reports about the automobile industry is that it's not just the people who build and sell the cars who are in trouble.

It's also all the tiny contract machine shops and outside vendors by the many millions who are having problems. If you don't build cars, then Joe's Machine shop that makes a certain pin that holds the brake pads in the brake caliper on your car has to lay off workers. And, Jim's Powder Coating shop has to lay off workers because he's lost his contract to powder coat some tiny flange that you never heard of and probably never even saw underneath your car.

We heard Limbaugh on the radio the other day attacking Barack Obama because Obama said something in a speech (we're paraphrasing) about how when he's President he'll set the big picture goals and his staff will carry them out. Limbaugh went on and on about how this shows poor leadership.

In fact, however, what Obama suggested is the way it should be. A leader initiates and those under him implement what he has initiated. If they don't do the job, then you can them and put in people who will do the job.

Ultimately, the President is responsible. And, he can always delegate some of his authority, but he can never delegate his responsibility.

The good news for Obama and the Democrats is that they won the election. The bad news for them is also that they won the election. They've inherited a mess that they'll have to clean up. And, the mess was caused by Republicans, no matter what Limbaugh and the other flaks may say.

As we wrote in a national column years ago, politics is not a football game as those such as Limbaugh seem to think. You don't just root for your team--the Republican team or the Democrat team--when they're incompetent boobs, and you don't keep trying to defend their incompetence.

Are we so stupid as a people that we support Republicans or Democrats when they have bad people leading or when they have horrible policies? Are we just rooting for the names and the jerseys because they're "our team," or are we smart enough to realize when we're rooting for dopes?

If the GOP wants to win elections, then it had better start standing for the right things and it better start bubbling up a better quality politician.

In the column linked to above, you'll see that some are saying the GOP has to start taking part in local elections. We also agree with this.

However, the GOP had better understand the lessons of Costa Mesa. The effort must be from the bottom up, not the top down.

In the just past election in Costa Mesa, the one really strong GOP party guy was Jim Righeimer. And, he lost even though he had the support of all the suits and the big money in the party.

Righeimer had failed to establish his bonafides among the average voters in this city. He was a top down Republican instead of a bottom up guy such as Monahan and Bever and before them, Mansoor and Leece.

And, while the GOP suits helped with the winning campaigns of Monahan, Bever, Mansoor and Leece, these four aren't really your typical GOP insiders. They started as grassroots activists and never lost touch with the community.

The message these four carried was that Costa Mesa can be improved to be a safer and nicer community. Voters listened.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.