National Party News

Political eyes will be on the National Harbor in Prince George's County, Md., as the Republican National Committee meets to consider what we're going to call Democrats.

With the GOP on the receiving end of back-to-back electoral smackdowns in 2006 and 2008 and the party's polls numbers still hovering somewhere below those of trial lawyers (though above John Edwards's numbers!), spending time and money on what is essentially a name-calling resolution — to rename the Democratic Party the "Democrat-Socialist Party" — is at best a waste of time. Read more...

In baseball, when a team loses 10 games in a row, the owner starts thinking about firing the manager.

Whoever owns the Republican Party should start thinking about firing Michael Steele.

Steele’s run at the Republican National Committee (RNC) has been inauspicious at best, a complete disaster at worst. Read more...

The Hill's A.B. Stoddard talks with John Feehery and Chris Kofinis of The Hill's Pundits Blog about where Republicans need to focus their energies in the coming months.

Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell has lost his bearings on what it means to be a Republican.

He certainly can be forgiven for supporting Obama over McCain. He can be forgiven for criticizing Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin. He can be forgiven for criticizing the direction of the Republican Party.

However, he cannot be forgiven for disparaging the core of the philosophy of the Republican Party. At a recent conference, Powell stated, “Americans do want to pay taxes for services." He also continued that "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less." Read more...

Jack Kemp wasn’t a particularly good vice presidential candidate. He was a happy warrior, which made Bob Dole’s sourpuss more pronounced during his losing effort to gain the White House.

But Kemp was a prophetic leader of the Republican Party, whose efforts to expand the party base are all the more significant today.

Yes, Kemp pushed for tax cuts, and his supply-side philosophy would later become criticized as “trickle-down” economics. But Kemp never pushed to cut taxes because he wanted to help the rich. He pushed for tax cuts to help the economy grow, which in turn would help the poor. Read more...

Right after George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, and things looked bleak for congressional Republicans, Haley Barbour, then the new Republican National Committee chairman, put together a strategy to basically re-brand the party. He founded the National Policy Forum, which held town hall-style conversations around the country to find out what the American people wanted from their government.

The National Policy Forum was not without controversy. The Democrats sensed how this exercise would threaten their majorities and their death grip on power, and they attacked its creation with lawsuits, investigations and innuendo. Read more...

You hear it every day — the GOP is either dying or dead.

These are not good days for the GOP. No one with a straight face can argue the point. This means Republicans throughout the country — the entire country — need to do some soul-searching and figure out what the party is and how it comes back.

It's not enough to be against President Obama — and, frankly, if that's all the GOP has to offer, the party might as well pack up and go back to its shrinking home. Read more...

Once again, the Republican right got what it wished for — ridding the party of another moderate.

The Club for Growth, which worked with Pennsylvania Republicans and certain forces within the Senate, was successful in getting its wish — Pat Toomey to once again challenge Arlen Specter in a GOP primary. The moderate Republicans left the party in droves in Pennsylvania and switched to the Democratic Party. And the state has a closed primary, so Democrats and independents could not vote for Specter. Read more...

Democrats don't like George W. Bush. It's an obvious statement, of course, and something Democrats have used every opportunity they get to remind voters of over the last two election cycles.

Nowhere was that better seen than in ads criticizing Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for representing Bush's "third term" — and who can forget the photo of Bush and McCain embracing? Read more...

Conservative Pundit Armstrong Williams give President Obama for staying on target with addressing issues like the economy, while Republicans have attacked him without having a clear agenda.