"The president delivered a sweeping and eloquent defense of free markets"

"Republicans don’t need a new philosophy as much as they need someone who can explain it" and be heard over the clatter of the anti-Republican chatterers, writes Optimistic Patriot of New England Republican [via Maggie's]:

When President Bush first hit the scene, I didn’t see his tendency to mangle the English language as a real impediment or reflection on his intelligence. I’m still not convinced that’s he “dumb,” but his communication skills caused considerable harm to his presidency and the conservative cause …

His inability to communicate meant he was forever at the mercy of the MSM, where all things Republican wither and die.

The next Republican standard bearer doesn’t have to be Reagan, but he does need those kind of communication skills. I believe Reagan was able to bypass the MSM because he was an effective communicator.

Part of the problem is "there's an IQ War going on, and Republicans are losing it," writes Eric Scheie of Classical Values:

I think the Dems win by convincing voters that they (and those voting for them) are smarter than the other side, by doing their best to make conservative populism — and thereby conservatives — look moronic. P.J. O'Rourke is a damned genius, and as a thinking person he obviously cannot understand why any thinking person would be on the left.

The "Republicans are dumb" meme is nothing new, of course, but the volume was turned up to a deafening din in the chadstorm following the exercise of our franchise November 7, 2000 and hasn't let up since, as Sally Zelikovsky at American Thinker recalls:

From the minute George Bush was elected, the Democrats began their next campaign -- and it was a brilliant one -- to tarnish the Republican brand. With the exception of a short blip during 911, when politicians and their constituents had no choice but to put politics aside, Bush met with nightly assaults in the media on everything he said and did. First, there were the periodicals and the networks; then, the nightly talk and comedy shows; then books and movies; and finally, supposed parodies like "Li'l Bush." It was an endless onslaught defaming the brand and, it's true, you know, if you say it enough, they will believe it.

"I'm really struck at how badly he was treated by the hosts," writes grant1863 in the comments of Maggie's "Peter Schiff Gets It Right on the Economy." Unfortunately, the hosts were personal faves Neil Cavuto & Company, who look pretty foolish in hind sight. "Check out the expression on Schiff's face at 7:48 [above]," we wrote in Maggie's comments. "A truly haunted man sees the writing on the wall but cannot get through to the cock-sure chatterers." And we're talking about Republicans here.

"In a badly needed speech that seemed to bring the stock market back to life late in the day, the president delivered a sweeping and eloquent defense of free markets during a luncheon talk to the Manhattan Institute," editorialized Investors Business Daily yesterday, giving our heart a lift:

Amid all the gloom and the revived enthusiasm for massive government intervention in the world economy, Bush's comments were a breath of fresh air.

"History has shown," Bush said, "that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market, it is too much government involvement in the market."

He went on to show how this was the case in the U.S. with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were created by Congress and lay behind the whole subprime mortgage mess that later begat our current financial meltdown.

From all this, Bush said, "There is a clear lesson: Our aim should not be more government — it should be smarter government."

And he took it even further, to what he called the "most important principle that should guide our work: While reforms in the financial sector are essential, the long-term solution to today's problems is sustained economic growth. And the surest path to that growth is free markets and free people."

"Europe's leaders, so in love with top-down economic solutions and socialism, are clearly losing the long battle for economic supremacy. So they're using a financial crisis to tear down the one global economy that truly delivers for its citizens," concludes IBD. Not unlike "Nancy Pelosi's Motown Juggling Act."

Update: For a sweeping and eloquent defense of free felines, head on over to Carnival of the Cats #244 with Kashim, Othello and Salome at The Catboys Realm, "living a Bohemian life in Vienna."

Comments

[goomp]

I agree. Those who deny the laws of economics also deny the laws of nature and are doomed to lead the human race to serfdom.

[Retrorepublican]

The Republicans need someone both articulate and with a generous E.Q., a la Reagan.

That's why I'm interested in seeing what a Jindal-Palin ticket would bring. I think that duo could really be an "old 1-2" for the liberal illuminati clouding Washington for the next four years.

[Teresa]

The real problem is... not one single Republican learned a single thing from Reagan. Not one!!! That's so incredibly astounding I still have a hard time believing it.

It's like Reagan was such an aberration, no one even attempts to emulate him. That's very very sad. Isn't that the purpose of a role model? To emulate them?

President Bush did an extreme amount of harm to the Republicans by not talking at all. The Democrats - past masters at media usage - have been on a gleeful spree for the past 8 years with absolutely no push from Mr. Bush (who simply refuses to talk).

This means the Dems win because the general populace is so very easy to sway. Not with logic but with repetition. The Dems have repeated the most unbelievably stupid things so often, people now believe them.

So, thanks a lot to Mr. Bush and every single other Republican leader for NOT making any push at all to get your case out to the public. Yes, I fault them completely and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Can we please get some Republicans from somewhere who can actually communicate??? Please!

[Donna B.]

Repetition has worked the other way too, they convinced a great number of people that Obama is an intellectual and an eloquent speaker.

As for Jindal being a great communicator, I'm not sure. He needs some coaching in that area - he speaks too fast and has a tendency to reel off fact after fact after fact. He does have his facts correct, but he can easily "lose" you with his earnestness.

He doesn't have a natural charisma, but I think is learning some very important things about leadership as our governor, and will someday make a great president.

It's sad, but it does take a certain amount of "packaging" to win over the electorate.

[Teresa]

Oh yes, I agree Donna. But why is it the Republicans don't seem to have the slightest clue about this or how to go about it? Why do they seem so lost when it comes to getting the word out?

Here you have George Bush, president for 8 years. In that time he has groomed no one to take over for him. (while I like Dick Cheney, he was never going to run for President - and that is what the VP job is all about) *sigh*

The things they continue to do wrong are astounding. The fact that they don't seem to improve is beyond disheartening.

[Gayle Miller]

It could well be time for a new political structure at the GOP starting at the top with Michael Steele! And it will require ALL Republicans to weigh in with direct communication to the top - to national headquarters, telling the so-called leadership in no uncertain terms that THEY work for US and not the other way around and that WE expect and demand IMPROVEMENT. Unless we do that - it will be same old, same old. I've already sent the first of several letters giving them some direction - but one person alone cannot do the job. Everyone needs to weigh in.

[Karlo]

The Republicans aren't dumb. They're extremely clever, smart, farsighted, and (during the past decade) successful. The problem is that their policies are designed to enrich billionaires. The spectacle of Joe-the-250-grand-a-year-plumber supporting McCain just shows the gargantuan gap between Republican politicians' true concern and that of the general populace. I wish Bush, Cheney, and the others had been dumber and less successful. The fact of the matter is that they've done exactly what they set out to do.

[Gayle Miller]

Karlo, you clearly have been at the trough drinking liberal Kool Aid for far too long. In point of fact, it is REPUBLICANS who have made the most positive difference for the middle class and poor throughout history. Bear in mind Karlo that it was a REPUBLICAN who initiated and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, a fact that liberals try to obscure whenever possible. And it was middle class tax cuts that helped the economy in Reagan's years. The problems have arisen from a DEMOCRATIC Congress (in 1976) beginning a program to give people who lack the income to afford housing a special consideration to buy a house, which initially seemed like a responsible thing to do. But over the years it was a DEMOCRATIC Congress that pushed the entire thing into policies that created our present problems. Democrats want the government to be our "nanny" - but they want to use OUR money to do it. Thank you very much but this middle class woman will continue to make her own financial decisions and I will TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for my own successes and failures. At age 66 I am still working for a living and paying my own way, unlike a lot of 20 and 30 somethings who expect to sit on their derrieres letting "the government" (that's you and me) provide them with the life they are not willing to work for!

Oh yes, there was that War thingie that was thrust upon us by people who are still stuck in the 7th Century attacking us without provocation and creating a lot of the problems that PRESIDENT Bush had to address.

[tparker]

Oh Gayle I'm your age and working and yet I have no illusion that the government is taking care of my children or anyone else's. Look at what the govt hands out to the people who jump through all the hoops and see if you could possibily live on it. As for the lazy kids, in Connecticut where the price of a modest single family home is still $300k+, a person needs an income of over $100k to qualify, assuming they can find a loan. And I don't know any 20-30 something teachers, barristas, IT guys, cashiers, clerks, truck drivers, nurses, etc. who make that kind of money, though they are working their derrieres off, or can afford to save for 20% down. If they are lucky Bush's depression will drive down housing prices to the point where you don't have to be old like us to own a home.

And the Republican party isn't in trouble because of Bush's communication problems. It's in trouble because its "philosophy" was to make govt so useless that it would shrink away to nothing. It was careless and cavalier with the public trust.

You reap what you sow.