The GOP Needs a New Message

I used to be a political junkie. I remember when Clinton (Bill) was running for President in '91. I'd tune in to all the political shows every night before bed, especially CNN and C-SPAN. I couldn't get enough of the news from the campaign trail, debates, speeches, you name it. Maybe it was the excitement of my first Presidential vote or my naivety in thinking one person could change the country but I couldn't get enough of politics! I continued to follow politics throughout the years even during some (for me) very depressing times: the Contract with America, the Gore defeat of 2000, the re-election of GW Bush. This year I find myself not giving two shakes of a dead rats ass about the process. I'm probably not informed as I used to be simply because I don't have cable. The news I get now is what I can catch at my parents house, online, or from the Daily Fish Wrap (The Daily Oklahoman). I guess what drove home my increased apathy for our political process was the recent GOP debate in Florida. It's been years since I watched a Presidential debate either Republican or Democrat (and I couldn't stomach to watch all of it). What I watched could've been viewed during the '88 election, the '92 election or any other year! We need change. Change? Really? The party who controlled the White House and Congress for most of the last 16 years wants change? Um OK, whatever... a new direction or leadership from conservatives, I guess I can swallow that even if their 71 year old front runner isn't very fresh. What really irked me was the same old rhetoric I'd heard from years before! We need tax cuts. Tax cuts for the middle class, tax cuts for small business, tax cuts across the board! Wow. And the other side? Tax and spend liberals. Tax and spend liberals. Tax and spend liberals. I can't believe they're still beating this dead horse of an argument. Of course other issues were discussed but it always made its way back to tax cuts and staying the course with the war. I can't believe anyone would have the balls to utter the words "sustain the war" and "tax cuts" in the same breath. They're getting away with it! This is the only time in American history where we've lowered taxes while we're waging war! I'm all for lowering taxes (really, who isn't) but isn't a war a time for a country to sacrifice? To pull together and get the job done no matter the costs? Perhaps if the new Democratic Congress had kept their promise to start bringing troops home we could afford to spread a little money around. Ah well that's a blog for another day. I'll hold my nose and vote on Super Tuesday but I think I'll ignore the coverage until then. What do you think?