Bob Dole Says the GOP Should Be "Closed For Repairs"

Reason

Former Republican Senator and Presidential nominee Bob Dole has said that the GOP should be "closed for repairs." Dole said that Reagan would not have been at home in today's GOP and that it would be worth the national party spending some time rethinking ideas and focussing on rebuilding itself.

Dole also criticized Obama, who he said has not done enough to work out differences with Republicans. 

From CNN:

(CNN) – National Republicans have shifted so drastically in the past decade that the party's most vaunted figure - former President Ronald Reagan - would no longer find a home in the GOP, former Sen. Bob Dole claimed Sunday.

"Reagan couldn't have made it," Dole said, adding he too would also have faced challenges in today's Republican Party.

Instead of operating day-to-day in a nonelection year, the national party should focus on broader plans to rehabilitate itself after the losses of 2012, the former Kansas lawmaker said.

"I think they ought to put a sign on the national committee doors that says 'Closed for repairs' until New Year's Day next year. Spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas," Dole, who was the Republican nominee for president in 1996, said on "Fox News Sunday."

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Comments

[Sevo]

OT:
"Asset forfeiture both an effective tool, civil-liberties nightmare"

First claim lacking evidence.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/nati.....z2UPaKlfWP

[Ted S.]

It's an effective tool to fuck you, that's why.

[fish_remote]

How else do we pay for beer kegs at cop team building exercises.....? And the toys.......don't forget all the new toys we get from FEDGOV!

[Caleb Turberville]

So, Dole is about 5 years late to the "GOP should rethink itself" party?

[Fist of Etiquette]

One day the GOP will swell again with pride, standing erect for the principles of personal liberty, as it the party inserts itself into a leadership role for the American people.

[Fatty Bolger]

+4 hour erection

[Caleb Turberville]

"Instead of operating day-to-day in a nonelection year, the national party should focus on broader plans to rehabilitate itself after the losses of 2012, the former Kansas lawmaker said."

What losses?

[Killazontherun]

And where was the recriminations with the 2010 turn over, one of the biggest in history? Dems kept Pelosi on for fucks sake.

[Caleb Turberville]

The Democrats are exactly what the want to be and they're willing to lose because of it. Good for them.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

They lost a seat in the Senate when they had a very favorable map, and lost to the incumbent president in the midst of economic malaise not seen in decades. There are explanations of course -- batshit insane GOP candidates in MO and IN and libertarian nasal amputation in MT for the former, and the MSM going down on Obama like they've never gone down on a candidate before in the latter.

Pretty sure Dole is looking for the GOP to stop worrying and love big government when he says they need to retool.

[Warrren]

Ideas? How about ending the income tax and closing the regulatory agencies?

Ending the drug war? Stop with the overseas wars?

Eliminating the Legal Tender laws? Selling off and de-monopolizing the USPS and Amtrak?

Lowering or eliminating most tariffs and totally eliminating quotas. Removing all legal protection from unions?

Even just one of those would be a step in the right direction.

[General Butt Naked]

I think they should focus on abortion and family values. It's what the voters want.

[darius404]

And supporting Social Security and Medicare, you can't forget those.

[eyeroller]

Keep your government hands off my Medicare!!!

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Where's Terri Schiavo when you need her?

[Killazontherun]

Just what proglodytes need, reinforcement of the righteous smug.

'See, even . . .'

[Fatty Bolger]

OT: Parking Tickets Issued on Wrecks while Stockholm Burns

Since last Sunday, May 19, rioters have taken to the streets of Stockholm's suburbs every night, torching cars, schools, stores, office buildings and residential complexes. Yesterday, a police station in R?gsved, a suburb four kilometers south of Stockholm, was attacked and set on fire.

But while the Stockholm riots keep spreading and intensifying, Swedish police have adopted a tactic of non-interference. "Our ambition is really to do as little as possible," Stockholm Chief of Police Mats L?fving explained to the Swedish newspaper Expressen on Tuesday.

"We go to the crime scenes, but when we get there we stand and wait," elaborated Lars Bystr?m, the media relations officer of the Stockholm Police Department. "If we see a burning car, we let it burn if there is no risk of the fire spreading to other cars or buildings nearby. By doing so we minimize the risk of having rocks thrown at us."

Swedish parking laws, however, continue to be rigidly enforced despite the increasingly chaotic situation. Early Wednesday, while documenting the destruction after a night of rioting in the Stockholm suburb of Alby, a reporter from Fria Tider observed a parking enforcement officer writing a ticket for a burnt-out Ford.

[Killazontherun]

And that's why Swedes pay the big tax rates. You get more effective government that way.

[mad libertarian guy]

If we see a burning car, we let it burn if there is no risk of the fire spreading to other cars or buildings nearby. By doing so we minimize the risk of having rocks thrown at us.

It's nice to know that officer safety is paramount everywhere.

What a bunch of pussies.

[Irish]

Are we sure this is legit? That reads like a parody.

Admittedly, I can't tell what's parody and what isn't anymore.

[fish_remote]

The Onion thought about doing that column; unfortunately reality got there first and is forcing them to rethink their business/satire model!

[darius404]

No, it's real. I recall reading something linked here in the past couple of days (National Review, maybe?) where the writer thought the same thing and looked up the original, untranslated words. That was exactly what was said.

[Robert]

They're rioting in Sweden (Sweden!) and it's not big news? What are the riots about? Sweden's supposed to be where everyone's happy.

[Robert]

Googling quickly, I see it's the same issues & demographics as in France.

[SIV]

That will teach Sweden not to have colonies in the Muslim world.

[PS]

FEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeennneeey!!!

[mad libertarian guy]

Dole's problem with the new crop of Republicans that are starting to come through is that they are not statist enough.

The Republican party is changing (even if not quickly enough for libertarians), and the old guard doesn't like it because it is the old guard which is being left behind. Bob Dole has a problem with the way the party is changing because there is no more room for big government statists like Bob Dole.

Now if only the party would leave the religious component behind and stop giving a shit what the fundies in Iowa (and elsewhere) think. It's a travesty that Iowa is the first stop during primary season because it's taken as a given that they set the trend for the rest of the season, and so every candidate seems to feel the absolute need to bend their politics towards the fundie mindset in order to get a head start.

When the party can finally look at the fundies and tell them to fuck off, the party (and the country) will be better off.

[jasno]

Yeah but that's the whole problem with the GOP's big tent. There aren't enough fundies or limited government types to win on their own, so they got together in the GOP. The problem got worse when the moral majority got the fundies to bend the party platform. The one good thing about it is it keeps the authoritarian fundies from ganging up with the authoritarian lefties.

[Calidissident]

I love the meme by liberals and moderate Republicans about how "Reagan couldn't get elected in today's GOP." Let's take a look at the nominees since Reagan: George HW Bush twice, Bob Dole, George W. Bush twice, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. Not exactly a bunch of radical small government extremists. Reagan didn't govern as conservative as his reputation, but he was still easily more conservative than all of these guys.

[Killazontherun]

Exactly. The point of nominating Romney over Paul all of those establishment Republicans told us was to nominate someone who was 'electable.' By their post election rhetoric, you would have thought Paul went on to face Obama and lost.

[DRM]

And you'll notice:

1) George HW Bush only won as the continuation of Reagan, losing as his compromising-on-everything self.

2) George W Bush lost the popular vote as the "compassionate conservative", only winning as an "extremist neoconservative warmonger".

"Moderate" Republicans picked because they're "electable" and "appeal to independents" consistently lose. They don't appeal to anybody and they can't get elected.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

GHWB was probably the best president we've had since Ike, and he only lost because of Ross Perot. For all the smoke we blow up Bill Clinton's ass for being a master politician, he never got a majority of the popular vote.

[Robert]

He didn't, but in the exit polls of Perot voters, if Perot hadn't been a candidate, the electoral votes would've been unchanged from every state.

[Cytotoxic]

LOLWUT?

1) Reagan was better. So no.

2) HW sucked so no. Got America into Iraq and set it up so his son would have to finish what he couldn't. Caved on taxes.

2) Ike also sucked. Back friggin Nasser during the sadly aborted Franco-British liberation of the Suez.

[DRM]

Yeah, between the 1990 Clean Air Act, the 1991 Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the tax increase "compromise", and David Souter, Bush was an awesome president . . . if you're a statist shithead.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Indeed, after GHWB won a majority in the pop vote in 1988, the next person to do so in a presidential election was.... his son in 2004.

[Goldwyn Smith]

I also love that they will sometimes acknowledge that the whole fiscal conservative, limited government agenda of the GOP and conservatives are a bunch of nonsense only to then attack them for being a bunch of anti-government nutjobs.

Gee it's like their goal is to get TEAM BLUE elected and they don't want to imply that the libertarians have a legitimate political philosophy.

[np]

National Republicans have shifted so drastically in the past decade that the party's most vaunted figure - former President Ronald Reagan - would no longer find a home in the GOP, former Sen. Bob Dole claimed Sunday.

When you consider his actions, Reagan probably would fit right in.

[wareagle]

Dole wants the CNN crowd to remember his as credible and one of the guys "who could get things done" in the days when Repubs were a rank minority willing to take whatever crumbs Dems would offer.

He probably hates the tea party, limited govt types and I could give a shit what he thinks. And have you ever noticed to no Dem who is out of office ever points out his/her party's shift? It's like Scoop Jackson and Sam Nunn would fit right in with Pelosi & Reid.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

And have you ever noticed to no Dem who is out of office ever points out his/her party's shift?

Off the top of my head, I can think of Zell Miller.

But I mostly agree that this constant talk of how "OMG the GOP has become so radical" seems designed, at least in part, to downplay the Democrats' move to the left.

[Anders]

"Dole also criticized Obama, who he said has not done enough to work out differences with Republicans. "

There is one thing that they both agree on at all times: curtailing liberties. Drone strikes, the surveillance state - these are very heartening examples where Democrats and Republicans come together to crush individuals in the name of safety and security.

[VG Zaytsev]

Instead of operating day-to-day in a nonelection year, the national party should focus on broader plans to rehabilitate itself after the losses of 2012, the former Kansas lawmaker said.

Funny,
I don't remember Dole looking to rehabilitate himself after his loss in 1996.

[Ted Levy]

Ironically, many in the GOP say the same thing about Dole...

[VG Zaytsev]

...former President Ronald Reagan - would no longer find a home in the GOP, former Sen. Bob Dole claimed Sunday.

Yep, but not for the reason that Dole implies

[cavalier973]

OT: "Stop the hate, free Kate!Stop the hate, free...oh...nevermind."

[darius404]

"Getting in trouble for finger f*cking your underage girlfriend in the school bathroom is not a noble cause."

That sums it up pretty well.

[General Butt Naked]

I wouldn't call an 18 year old dating a 14 year old pedophilia, though.

[AuH20]

Thought on AD?

SPOILERS obviously

[WomSom]

Sometimes dude, you just have to roll with those punches.

http://www.GetYourAnon.tk

[General Butt Naked]

I thought we were supposed to roll the beautiful bean footage. This "punch" thing is new, and I'm not entirely sure that I'm cool with this, ananobot.

[Peter's Landscaping]

You'll get no argument out of us. My dad and mom and I have voted Republican for a combined total of 97 years now, but no more! We reregistered Dems in 2012 after nearly soiling our own pants watching the 'craziness' emanating from that once great American Institution. 'Vagina Wand Insertions; Death To Aborting Mothers; Screw The Poor And The Homeless And The Our Returning Vets With Debilitating Mental and Physical Problems; No Lunch For 'Children' With Unemployed Parents,--- That's Not The America That We Can Get Behind! . . . . VOTE DEMOCRATIC TO RETURN THIS COUNTRY TO IT'S FORMER GLORY!

[Mickey Rat]

Why should there be lunch for the pets of unemployed people?

[newshutz]

Someone is nostalgic for the 1930s?

[CE]

Yeah, the Democrats will fix everything, starting with the elections.