Ted Belman: GOP will ultimately adopt The Palin brand

Ted Belman, who is the editor of  Israpundit and a contributor to American Thinker, argues that the Republican Party must rebrand itself by putting on the back burner such issues as abortion, the Second Amendment, and gay marriage and by embracing those values that are important to most Americans. He argues further that the GOP can do this without sacrificing its principles.

Curiously, Belman cites a David Frum essay in Commentary Magazine about how the U.K.'s Conservative Party enjoyed no small measure of success using this strategy as the basis for his suggestion. As far as we know, "without sacrificing its principles" sounds rather strange coming from Frum, who has a history of trying to persuade the Republican Party to be more like the Democrats. Perhaps Frum is having a turnaround of his own, which is something many conservatives would love to see.

Once the GOP has convinced most Americans that the same issues which are important to them are also important to Republicans, the next step, according to Belman, is to select a new leader who appeals to the voters the party needs to gain. He says that Sarah Palin represents common sense values that Independents can rally to because "she eschews the party and its brand and embraces the people and their values." Leaving aside the fact that just the name "Sarah Palin" is enough turn David Frum into a barking moonbat indistinguishable from those on the Democrat Party's outskirts, it is true that the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate's favorability ratings are improving significantly with independents. So what are the values that The Arctic Fox represents?

1. Energy: "Drill, baby, drill"; "Exploit all the above."

2. Economy: "Stop digging the hole deeper" and unleash the private sector.

3. Health care: She favors competition, tort reform, and waste reduction.

4. Environment: She rejects cap-and-trade. She favors environmentally sensitive development.

5. Security: Support the armed services and let them do their job. Don't lower your guard. Specifically, stand by your allies, win in Afghanistan, and treat terrorists as terrorists, not citizens.

6. Israel: Build, baby, build. She supports the right of Jews to build in Judea and Samaria. She rejects Obama's racist policy of telling the Jews where they cannot live. She is a harsh critic of Ahmedinejad and his government and faults Obama for not supporting the Iranian opposition.

7. Patriotism: Patriotism is good, not bad. America is good, not bad. The Constitution must be protected and upheld.

8. Social issues: She supports life (not "death panels"), the weak (including challenged children and the elderly), hard work (not entitlement), and private-sector charity (rather then (sic) government handouts).

9. Ethics: Accountability over cronyism.

Not only do these values appeal to Palin's base, but they also appeal to Middle America, to Independents, and even to Democrats. On all these issues, Obama and the Democrats have set themselves up for a fall. Palin is on the right side of these issues and everyone knows it.

The Left in America doesn't so much reject these values as they rejects (sic) Palin herself. In fact, they ignore her message and set up straw-man values for her that they can attack. The Left is struggling to brand Palin as a Christian fundamentalist, God forbid -- an idiot, a know-nothing, a racist, and anything else with a negative connotation.

While the Left is attacking Sarah Palin in this manner, she is in the process of remodeling the Conservative movement using Ronald Reagan's blueprints and putting her brand on it for political success in a new century. No other figure in the movement is doing anything even remotely close to what Palin is effectively accomplishing. We agree with Ted Belman that the Grand Old Party should renew itself and adopt the Palin brand with her as its leader.

Quick, call 9-1-1. It sounds like David Frum needs the crash cart, stat! 

Read the complete Belman op-ed here.

- JP