" With so many conservatives watching only Fox people are wearing blinders; they hear no fact that conflicts with their world view. All day long their views are reinforced that Obama is a socialist crackpot." ~ Bruce Bartlett. Bartlett served in the Reagan and H.W. Bush administrations.
"We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat. There were leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal. But they were trapped...By mobilizing them with hysterical accusations and pseudo-information, overheated talk has made it impossible for representatives to represent and elected leaders to lead." ~ David Frum. Frum was a former speech writer for W. Bush.
“... a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.” ~ Scott McClellan. McClellan was W. Bush's press secretary from 2003-2006. This comment was referencing the administration's "biggest mistake", the Iraq War. McClellan openly admitted to voting for Obama.
"I think it was the right thing to do (leave the GOP) at the time or I wouldn't have done it. And the reason I did it was because I felt the country needed some Florida common sense." ~ Charlie Crist. Crist is the former Republican Governor of Florida from 2007-2011.
"As I look out at the political landscape now, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas." ~ Bob Bennett, former Republican Senator of Utah to a Republican think tank (oxymoron). Bennett ran no television ads in 2004 and won reelection for his third term by capturing 69% of the vote. He was ousted by the Tea Party in the last election.
"They (the Limbaugh crowd) don’t have an explanation on why the party is shrinking and how you can reach out, how you can reach people who care about personal liberties. How we can take our philosophy and translate it into real policy. We talk about personalities and balanced budget. The Republican Party lost credibility because it didn’t do any of that. It violated the privacy of individuals; it flaunted the spending and ran up this huge deficit; got us into wars that are not winnable, and that was the real issue. That’s why it’s been translated into personality squabbles and who’s running what, because they’re not really talking about why the Republican Party is a minority party and why they lost. And I think as long as they do that, they’re not going to solve their problem." ~ Dr. Ron Paul Republican Congressman from Texas in 2009. The following year he faced three challengers in his primary, more than all his challengers in his previous six primaries combined, all from Tea Party candidates.
"It' also not true that he's (Obama) a Muslim. It's not true that he wants to take over as a dictator... we need to get rid of these things so we can build on credible, solid information." ~ Congressman Bob Inglis (R). Inglis served in the House from 1993-1999 and 2005-2011 before being challenged in his primary by a Tea Party candidate and being ousted.
"If you're going to lead these people and the fearful stampede to the cliff that they're heading to, you have to turn around and say over your shoulder, 'Hey, you don't know the half of it.'" ~ Inglis to Boehner talking about the Tea Party.
"It took only the single tap of a computer key, and just like that I’d exited the Republican Party after 30 years of active membership... I’m not sure if I left the Republican Party or the party left me. All I know is that I no longer feel comfortable...The national GOP is a party of exclusion and litmus tests, dominated on social issues by the religious right, with zero discernible outreach by the national party to anyone who doesn't fit neatly within its parameters. Instead, the GOP has extended itself to its fringe while throwing under the bus long-standing members..." Michael Smerconish. Smerconish is a radio and television personality and states he voted Republican in every election in his life except for voting for Obama.
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