The Liberty Papers

No. No! NO! NO! Hell, NO!

There, I’ve said it, and it would do the GOP a lot of good if more Republicans would say it, too.  Voters in early polls did say it to Arlen Specter, who’s now busy boohooin at CNN about the “one vote, the stimulus package vote, [where he] was ostracized.”

Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of senior GOP-types still don’t get it.

Republican House Whip Eric Cantor has just announced the formation of the National Council for a New America, which is described as “a forward-looking, grassroots caucus intended to bring together Congressional leaders with a national panel of experts.”

In reality, the National Council for a New America looks like another top-down organization which will be conducting forums and town hall meetings to push an agenda which looks just like the same-old agenda we’ve been seeing from Republicans.

As an example, their proposed national security agenda seems little different from the Bush Doctrine most Americans despise:

The threats posed to our nation are more varied and evolving more than perhaps at any other time in our history. Modern communications, technology and the proliferation of weapons of all types have empowered our enemies and those who support them. Our national security policy must reflect these realities while allowing us to maintain technological superiority, support the most well-trained and well-equipped military in the world and have the intelligence capabilities to uncover and prevent attacks before they occur.

Their plans for the economy, healthcare, education and energy don’t look any different, either.

Adding insult to injury, one of their top five policy experts is going to be John McCain.

The Washington Post reports:

At a pizza restaurant in Arlington, where they officially unveiled the National Council for a New America, party leaders attempted to portray Republicans as sensitive to the concerns of average Americans and to shake off the “Party of No” label that Democrats have tried to affix to the GOP.

America could use a lot more “no” these days, not less.  While one doesn’t expect Republicans to be moral enough to take a moral stand on an issue like torture, they could at least be saying no to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts, no auto bailouts, no to bank bailouts, no to TARP funding, no to stimulus packages, no to deficit spending.

Instead, the same guy who endorsed a bailout and brought us McCain-Feingold is going to once again be cheerleading for the “yes” crowd.

If the GOP leadership wants to continue to say “yes” to big-government, they can expect the voters to tell them “no”, just like they did to Arlen Specter.

From UPI (emphasis added):

Newt Gingrich has angered some members of the U.S. Republican National Committee by telling them on national TV that they have big egos.

The former speaker of the House and architect of the Contract With America was responding to a question about a resolution to limit Republican Chairman Michael Steele‘s ability to spend committee funds. Steele, Gingrich said in an interview recorded on C-Span, “probably has not yet learned the art of massaging the egos of RNC members.”

“Newt needs to take a breath,” David Norcross, an RNC member from New Jersey and backer of the resolution, told CNN.

Neither Gingrich nor the RNC get it, despite successive GOP losses. I’ll suggest a simple strategy that seems far too complicated for them: Get back to the basics of limited government.