The Republican Party suffered at the polls last month because it strayed from its guiding principles of limited government, lower taxes, a strong national defense, personal responsibility, etc. We allowed the so-called religious right to set the agenda, beginning with the Terri Schiavo fiasco last year.

It is certainly time for mainstream Republicans to stand up and be counted. Otherwise the party will slip into minority status for years to come. And with Hispanics rising in population we had better figure out a way to build a coalition with several different points of view or it's over.

The thought of Democrats controlling everything frightens me beyond comprehension. They are going to raise taxes AND spending, period. They are going to placate the far-left on other issues, like this silly notion of increasing the minimum wage. It's a question of when they'll impose a leftist agenda, much like the far-right positions adopted by the GOP in recent years.

As an openly gay man I am a proud Republican, in spite of my party's flaws and shortcomings. I see this as a period of great opportunity. Mehlman is right - we must build on the big tent, not shrink it. Whether he comes out or not is completely off-point.

I'm a 60-year-old Texas Republican who started volunteering for the Republican Party when I was in the 5th grade because they were the desegregationists and, until recently, I've served the party well. But I've come to realize that the old mentalities of the South have displaced the values of the traditional Republicans throughout the rest of the country.. and that will not change. The Republican Party, as a whole, has become the mentality of the Dixiecrats, supporting religion and hatred to gain a vote. I no longer vote for them.

Great, Mehlman wants the GOP to expand the Big Tent. We libertarian Republicans have been saying that for years. Nice of him, and other top GOP leaders to finally catch on. Perhaps we could start with the Libertarian Party folks? How about us extending a hand of friendship to them and inviting them to join the GOP Coalition?

Eric at www.mainstreamlibertarian.com

So maybe Kenny boy can include his own kind - that is his gay brethren in that so called big tent of his by 2010!

But I for one am not holding my breath for such a outcome, cause Kenny boy, long ago lost his key to his personnel closet/hell on earth!

Such a sad example of a really misguided gay man!

Wow! Just imagine it, another closeted gay governor. Rick Perry, move over.

The Republicans of today do represent party of the 1860s. The party of Lincoln was made up of religous crusaders and Wall Street businessmen, today party is...well the same.

Sam: We've had the debate about Republicans and Democrats and African-Americans before where people cited Antebellum and Reconstruction African-American Republicans and scurrilous Democrats at that time; i.e., the founders of the KKK. People provided some very good hsitory.

But, the Republicans and Democrats of today bear no resemblance to the people of those times.

Citing Ed Brooke and Powell and other current Republican African-Americans is fine (personally, Rice gives me chills even more than HRC). But let's stay away from historical examples which are so old that they don't relate at all to the current parties.

They're good history, but bad current politics.

Excuse me, but the Republican party was putting African Americans into elected office for decades after the Civil War.
Ever heard of Hiriam Revels or Blanche Bruce? Both of these guys worked with the Republican party in Mississippi, and earned their elevation into the US Senate.
Do you remember Ed Brooke of Mass? He as another Republican leader who worked his way in the party and was put into the US Senate in the 1960's.
How many members of Congress from the African American society were given seats between 1870 and 1920 by the voters of their states, including white voters? The answer is almost 25 members of Congress who served with distinction.
Ever hear of PSB Pinchback<? He was elected as Lt Gov of Louisana back in 1873 along with a white guy. When the white guy was impeached, Pinchback made history be becoming the FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN GOVERNOR.
Frederick Douglas was a good friend of Abraham Lincoln, walked into the White House often to speak with the President.
So when it comes to being diverse and open to ethic groups becoming Republican, our tent has always been open.
Look at Colin Powell, and the HUD Secretary, and Condi Rice. Remember the African American guy from Texas who was Bush's Education Sec?
One more thing, after serving as governor, Mr. Pinchback helped create Southern Univ. in 1879, served on the board of trustees, and studied law in New Orleans.
He later moved to NY and became a federal marshal, later moving to DC to practice law.
Are you Democrats so blind to real history of success of the African Americans that you would prefer to ignore any success of the Republicans who also happen to be black or Asian or Hispanic?
Maybe you should look at your own history and why the Southern Democrats created the Jim Crow laws? Could it be that the Democrats were scared of African Americans becoming successful in business and politics?

Mehlman is a race-baiter of the lowest order. What he did in Tennessee is unconscionable and I hope that his future in politics is forever ruined. His credibility certainly is.

I feel like dancing witha clown, wanna try?

you said:

"
You can tell the rabid wing-nut left by their politics and ideology... just as you can tell the Neo-Cons by their's. Rabid left ideas are those like: "single payer medical system", "reparations for slavery", "outlaw smoking", withdraw from Iraq without considering the possible negatives...etc
"

how about making smoking pay for itself by spending some time to figure out how much it costs the United States, taxing the remaining smokers to pay for their future bills, and setting that aside?

or about making reperations for slavery? Howz about this: we work with schools and colleges to make a certain amount of coursework, field work. We send college students out to work in different communities... And donate their time in that community, and write up papers on it and get evaluated on the job by people that they are working for. Suppose it were done in Washington DC.... I would have several colleges that were local focus on certain areas, that were blighted in one way or another...sort of innundate an area with college students doing teaching, law enforcement, government work, architectual work, street planning, what have you... Have a couple of colleges concentrate on a close in Virginia suburb... Like Falls Church/Seven Corners..... Then change the location next year, but work like a clock hand tracing a pattern inside the beltway clock.... Until all areas were covered. More exposure of the students to ordinary people, more exposure of people to educated people of different nationalities and skillsets...not stuck in the same mindset. Real life working experiements, changing the world in a way that benefits all that are involved and doesn't cost a lot of money.

In some cases I would do it differently. It depends. I am an engineer. I do what works, I don't work on projects that don't succeed, because I'm not selling a position, I am selling the project getting done....and I can do that.

That is what I want to hear from politicians, not theories or biases...

your comments are shallow and rather inssipid...wanna talk?

that I believe in,

I don't believe in jack... I either know or I don't...I don't make crap up to please people.

I tell the truth as I see it, and _that_ is what _I_ back... Got some shinola to sell, it had better be.

.

act like it,

Quit trying to please really sick people, get rid of them and put people in that you trust... Or get out of the way...

stupid people are easily manipulatable.

you want to stop that kinda swing. Talk about it.

When some one is using homophobia, step up and say...

_that_ is garbage...because it is.

It has nothing to do with being nice or liberal, what does someones sexual orientation have to do with life in the United States...

Queer Eyesfor the Straight Guys, has pretty much done your work for you, don't be such a bunch of chickennecked geeks...

just say, "What, you need to use demagoguery, in order to get your candidate elected?" "Does that mean your candidate is nothing, except a prop for your hate based platform? Because your position is garbage, and you have nothing really to say????"

Except I'm against gay marriage and for the war.... AND I have no moral compass and I spend most of my time doing illicit acts behind curtains?

the lot of you need to understand that when the customer might live or die depending on the product that you sell them, there needs to be a little more truth in advertising...

Point in case... We are no longer in an expansionist mode. That means resources have to be managed. Believe it or not, citizens are a resource. IF because of your actions they become, stupider, poorer, or need more of what you didn't give them because you were to stingy to act when it was a preventable disease...

well the fit hits the shan...

when that happens in a small space it gets ugly....

100 years ago, the fit hitting the shan was no big deal...

you make some really stupid deals, ala cunning ham, bush/nationsmilitaryforoildeals, cheney/influencepeddling on the potomoc/insidertrading, and so on...as the country goes down the tubes...

The United States won't be a good place to live in when its just peasants and rich people and the rich people have to live in compounds to keep their area nice...

To a certain extent Washington DC is a compound... But _they_ are starting to outsource federal jobs to India, and newspapers/media are becoming the property of one of five families. Rupert Murdoch is buying media and getting rid of reporters like ClearChannel did.... Corporate propaganda... Who needs reporters.

Small changes that could doom a country, or sell a country out from under its citizens.

Politicians pass laws, they need to be held accountable for obeying them.

The GOP needs to take a hard look at minority inclusion and it's failure. November 7th proved that the party cannot carry on with black people. Mehlman, Racicot and Gillespie failed a number of black Republicans while openly embracing Don King and Armstrong Williams. The National Alliance is a white supremacist group, but can they claim to have ruined so many black Republican careers? Look what the GOP is doing with other candidates here.

www.blackcommentator.com/152/152_minority_inclusion_gop.html

I'm a moderate and decline to state a party, Ex declared Democratic party member...

You can tell the rabid wing-nut left by their politics and ideology... just as you can tell the Neo-Cons by their's. Rabid left ideas are those like: "single payer medical system", "reparations for slavery", "outlaw smoking", withdraw from Iraq without considering the possible negatives...etc. The proponents of measures such as Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich. Hillary Clinton is a wingnut pretending to be a centrist and it shows. The reason we had such a tremendous economy during the Clinton era is he effectively sidelined both the right
(neo-con) and left (progressive)wingnut coalitions via triangulation against the middle, moderate, sensible course.

I'm a moderate and decline to state a party, Ex declared Democratic party member...

You can tell the rabid wing-nut left by their politics and ideology... just as you can tell the Neo-Cons by their's. Rabid left ideas are those like: "single payer medical system", "reparations for slavery", "outlaw smoking", withdraw from Iraq without considering the possible negatives...etc. The proponents of measures such as Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich. Hillary Clinton is a wingnut pretending to be a centrist and it shows. The reason we had such a tremendous economy during the Clinton era is he effectively sidelined both the right
(neo-con) and left (progressive)wingnut coalitions via triangulation against the middle, moderate, sensible course.

By the way if you cant get Clay Aiken out of the closet how the heck are you expected to see Ken Mehlman---get real.

Generally, I agree that nobody should be obliged to reveal his/her sexual orientation. HOWEVER, hypocrisy should be exposed. High-level gay Republicans like Mehlman spend their days working on behalf of candidates who engage in gay-bashing to win votes. Those same gay Republicans turn around and ask the gay community to harbor them, protect their privacy, whatever. Forget about it, dude, you don't deserve to have your privacy protected if you're going to use MY private life as a political weapon.

Woo! For a second, I thought they meant make the party a place that minorities will be interested. I dont need Republicans chipping away at our based because they finally figured out stereotypes regarding minorities are simply not true, and they don't think in a monolithic pattern. These elections are way to close to divide our party at the moment.

Sooooo xenophobia, pork-barrel spending, cherry-picking/lying about WMD intelligence, anti-scientific policy, war profiteering, hate mongering, and voter disgust with hypocrisy and negative campaign ads had nothing to do with it?

If you say so...

so glad we're in for a long-trend Republican minority!

Conflating relious conviction with being "conservative" is a dangerous error. Neither political party has a monopoly on religion and -- unless I misready my bible -- "religion" is about more than just abortion and gay marriage.

Also, take a look at the Democrats that actually got elected. Some of them are conservative on a handful of social issues, but the vast majority are economic populists. The whole theory that Democrats somehow "moved right" to win is just silly.

GOP needs to get back to its core issues...small government, fiscal conservatism, personal responsibilty and emphasis on individual liberty.

And religion isn't a bad thing...even the dems had to go conservative to win back the house.

I also think the idea that Mehlman could win ANY race as a candidate in Maryland is ridiculous. That being said, I disagree that he - or anyone else - is under any obligation to reveal or even discuss his sexual orientation.

Norm Coleman of MN is Jewish, but he is not a moderate. Ask anyone in MN.

'Pope Benedict XVI has invited former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to be a political consultant to the Vatican and Kissinger has accepted, according to a published report.'

--how weird is this?

speaking of a 'big tent':

'A Colorado congressman who likened Miami to a "third world country" defended his comments in a letter to Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday, saying fewer city residents consider themselves Americans.

Bush had earlier responded to the remarks made by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., after the congressman criticized the city's poverty and crime while attending an immigration conference in Palm Beach over the weekend.

Tancredo, a vocal supporter of the anti-illegal immigration movement in the U.S. House, made the comments to WorldNetDaily, a conservative online new site, his spokesman Carlos Espinosa said.

"Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country," Tancredo said.

Bush, who plans to move to Miami after vacating the governor's office, said in the letter, "Miami is a wonderful city filled with diversity and heritage that we choose to celebrate, not insult."

Tancredo insulted Bush personally. His wife is Columbian. That's just the GOP's problems in microcosm.

I would like an example of the 'rabid left' -- who are they, and what exactly, was their platform? I think this is a myth, propagated by the R's.

The rabid christian right is running moderate republicans out of the party the same way the rabid left ran moderate democrats out in the 80's and 90's. It will probably take the GOP as long to recover as it has the Dem's (15-20 years)

its a pity Md will return to being a one party state, divided govt is a good thing at both state and national level

Why does Mehlman repeatedly refuse to answer the following simple question: "Are you a heterosexual male?" It seems to me that any straight, 39-year-old, single guy would just offer a simple "yes" in order to quell the rumors about his sexuality. The reality is that Mehlman and other powerful gay Republicans have been trying to hide their existence from the rabid, intolerant wingnut base of the party. It worked for a while, as the Republicans used anti-gay rhetoric and code words (traditional marriage, blah blah blah) to great effect and electoral victory. But the Foley scandal exposed the hypocrisy and cynicism of that strategy. If Rudy Giuliani, Olympia Snowe, Christie Whitman and other rational moderates can't save the Republican Party from the wingnuts, they will sink further into minority status. Independent voters will continue to break heavily for Democrats, as happened in this year's elections. If Republicans don't get that, they are in denial.

Petunia: good point. To the best of my knowledge there are two Jewish Republican Senators (Norm Coleman and Arlen Spector, both moderate) and exactly one Jewish Republican congressman (Eric Cantor of Virginia, who appears to be nothing but a good GOP foot soldier).

The GOP insistence on pandering to far right Christians on social issues is keeping Jews away.

Over the past several weeks I have refered to a comment I made that goes "Accuse your opponent of doing what you are doing and that way you will know what you are doing". Amazing how true this has been for about the past two weeks or so. Just wondering how many others have picked up on this oh! so true statement?

By 2010, he will have been outed by the intolerant Christian right and other members of his party and he will switch parties.

Is there a single openly gay GOP legislator anywhere?

Mehlman may not be *openly* gay, but is anyone who doesn't know it?

Look, Chris, do you honestly think that he'd stand a chance in MD? If a republican governor with an approval rating in the upper 50s to lower 60s lost his bid for re-election, what chance will Mehlman. O'Malley would need to bungle the job as much as George W Bush has the presidency for Melhman to even stand a chance. And what's to limit his aspirations to the governor's mansion? He could always lose 65 to 35 to Senator Mikulski in 2010 when she's up for re-election.

Mehlman? For Governor? In Maryland?

Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha.

*wiping tears* Oh, that's a good one, Chris. Almost as good as when you said Michael Steele "came up just short" in losing by 10 points to Ben "charisma's not my middle name" Cardin.

My sides. They hurt from laughing.

"The future beyond the RNC is unclear for Mehlman. He will surely have many offers to join private sector firms but has made no secret of his interest in running for elected office at some point. A Maryland native, Mehlman may be looking toward a challenge to Gov.-elect Martin O'Malley (D) in 2010."

If this is true Mehlman's long term plans would be well-served by switching parties. By 2010 the Democratic president would have recently gotten us out of Iraq and Bush's War will brand all R's with a negative taint (just as Watergate did) for the next several years beyond that point. Plus the fact that Mehlman is gay makes him a nonstarter within the GOP. Still, Log Cabin Republicans typically suffer from severe delusions so maybe he really thinks he can win (ha, ha, ha).

Yawn. Every time the Rs have talked about enlarging the tent (since Atwater/Nixon days), it has actually shrunk, if not in size, then in range. They seem only to mean "let's find more people like us" rather than "let's add people who aren't like us."

that's the thing really -- republicans detest almost everyone.

Of course the "Bigger tent" includeds gays...as long as they are willing to stay in the closet, that is.

*My* question would be whether non-Christians would be welcomed. Republicans seem to detest non-christians even more than they do gays.

'bigger tent meaning gays '-- well that would be my guess, Mehlman being who he. Gays are a growing constinuency, tending educated and affluent, in a lot of sections of the country. And frankly, I think if the only ideas that Republicans can offer are about controlling sexuality --[and if you look at what bills were actually passed in congress this term, that's about it] Americans are going to weary of it rather quickly. Do americans want the government to decide whether they can use birth control, or tell them whom they can marry? I kindof doubt it.

Right now, several of the most likely and promising R candidates, who actually have a decent shot at getting elected, like Guiliani and Romney, will never win the primary because of their past or current support of gays.

Not a problem for me.. I just hope they 'stay the course' so they'll lkeep losing elections.

I am left to wonder if the "bigger tent" also includes gays.

Agreed. The sentiment that I heard from a lot of Republicans was one of "good riddance" after Jeffords left the GOP in 2001. Let's face it, there are just too many litmus tests to be a Republican in good standing. Never mind that several of them are logical contradictions. (i.e., lower budget deficits and constant tax-cutting, less government spending and more defense spending)

Not to mention that unless you are a rich, WASP male, the things that you are voting for completely contradict your interest, there is just no reason for a party that eschews diversity to try to say that it is a big tent.

The philosophy of the national Republican Party is not compatible with a big tent. Too many Repbulicans are simply not tolerant of diversity.

http://intrepidliberaljournal.blogspot.com