The Jindal prescription for GOP

CBS:

When asked about the future course of the Republican Party following their losses on Election Day - losing not only the White House but also considerable ground in the House and Senate - Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said it is imperative his party offers solutions to voters, and not just be the opposition.

"As Republicans, we need to do three things to get back on track," he said on CBS' Face The Nation. "Number one, we have got to stop defending the kind of spending and out-of-control spending that we would never tolerate in the other side. You know, when voters tell us that they trust Democrats more to cut their taxes [and] control spending, that tells you something is wrong with the Republican Party. We've got to match our actions with our rhetoric.

"Number two, we've got to stop defending the kinds of corruption we would rightfully criticize in the other party. The week before the election, our most senior senator is convicted on federal charges - and that's only the latest example.

"Number three, we have got to be the party that offers real solutions to the problems that American voters, American families are worried about. We don't need to abandon our conservative principles; we can't just be the 'party of no.' We need to offer real solutions on making health care more affordable, on the economic challenges facing families, on the international threats."

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While that sounds good and it is the kind of thing liberal questioners like to hear there is another point of view and it is the one that worked for the Democrats the last four years. Paul at Power Line is closer to the mark.

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The Democrats won't be ousted from power when the Republicans develop great conservative policies with cross-over appeal; the Democrats will be ousted when the electorate concludes that they have screwed things up. For this reason, the real case for formulating new conservative policies is that such policies will help Republicans/conservatives govern better when they return to power, not that they are likely to hasten that day.

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That seems to be the winning formula over the last 30 years. The Republicans need to do a better job of showing what screw ups Democrats are. You would think that would have been an easy job with the last two years of a Democrat congress, but the GOP was spending too much time on defense.

The one time they went on offense, on the energy bill this summer, they got the Democrats to at least pretend to back down. It should be clear to voters that Democrats have been complete screw ups when it comes to energy policy. They were also screw ups on Iraq, but for some reason the Republicans did not argue that case very effectively.

Once you have made the case for Democrats as screw ups then you can bring out your policy wonks to show alternatives.