GOP Senator Lugar says republicans have no leaders, warns colleagues if power passes to them voters will expect them to actually do something

• Lugar says GOP has no ideas, no leader, doubts they could take charge. Lugar even says 'we're in the pits of despair.' He says Boehner and McConnell aren't up to the job. With this group, it's easy to see why the country has been lost.

'Ideas' aren't the problem. It's an excess of people who lack character. Thanks again to George Bush, Karl Rove, and John McCain for creating this persona. Congress apparently escaped a threat of term limits via a 1995 5-4 Supreme Court decision.

• 8/12, "Lugar: Republicans "had better have ideas", "Evansville Courier and Press, by Eric Bradner

Indianapolis: "The day after announcing his intention to seek a seventh term in the U.S. Senate, Richard Lugar sounded like a man less concerned with his own electoral prospects

• than he is with his Republican Party’s readiness to counter the Democratic president.

Speaking at his annual Excellence in Public Service Series luncheon, Lugar told the packed ballroom at the Marriott Hotel in Downtown Indianapolis that

• Republicans, especially if they capture congressional majorities,

• “had better have ideas.”

Lugar cast Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels during his speech as a prime example of a Republican with the vision to lead the party.

But when asked after the event if he is concerned that on the national level,

• Republicans might not have enough ideas,
  

• Lugar said: “Yes, I am.
  

That’s why I challenged today, without going into great detail, the fact that

• we had better begin thinking
  

• in the next 13 weeks about
  
• what we are going to do.”

Lugar blasted President Barack Obama for advancing an ambitious domestic agenda at a time Lugar says he should have focused on encouraging private-sector job growth.

• “He has really led, I believe,
  

• to the pits of despair we now have,
  

because as a matter of fact, the economy is not recovering,” Lugar said. “Americans even now don’t know what their obligations are, apart from the expense of them. This is unforgivable.”

• He said he believes Obama will be defeated in 2012, but the reality is Republicans must deal with a Democrat in the White House for a minimum of two more years.

“The question is, how creative will Republicans be in the face of this?

• If we get the majority, will there be the sort of negotiations that occurred between Newt Ginrich and Bill Clinton, for example?” he said.
  

• “And if so, who is going to be our Newt?”

Lugar was asked whether Republicans such as House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky can fill that role.

• “Probably not,” Lugar said.
  

• “But it’s a very important question.”

That, he said, is because

• if voters elect Republican congressional majorities,
  

• they will expect swift action. (Really?)
  

“Come January, the public will anticipate something or they will become extremely angry and frustrated," Lugar said.

• "They will say, you know, once again, we have been failed by the elections,
  

• by people who claimed our support.” (No kidding.)
  

Lugar offered one suggestion as to who might be the GOP’s new ideas person:

• Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the top-ranking Republican on the House budget committee.

• “I’m not acquainted with all of his work,

but I’m acquainted with the fact that he has been offering, courageously, some very important ideas that get to the heart of the entitlement programs as well as the aggregate spending,” Lugar said.

• What about Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the third-ranking House Republican, Lugar was asked.
  

“Mike has the creativity, and he’s the sort of person who is articulate and

• once he gets an idea, being able to advocate it well.
  
• So maybe Mike is the guy.”

As for Daniels, Lugar said he will encourage the governor to run for president in 2012.

“I hope he will strongly consider it,” Lugar said. “I’m not going to support anybody else until I know what Mitch is going to do. If he runs, I will support him.”"

• ****
  

Ideas for this pathetic group collecting gold-plated health care at voter expense?

• 1. Stop allowing Soros to be involved in matters affecting US government including UN matters such as global warming.
  
• 2. Build a high fence on the US southern border. Stop all aid to Mexico.
  
• 3. Start withdrawing from the United Nations.
  
• 4. Give us a list of businesses making a profit on our involvement with Afghanistan.
  
• 5. Start repealing the health bill and the bank bill, convert federal employees from union protection, allowing them no more pay and benefits than private sector workers receive.
  
• 6. Make it mandatory that congress members read legislation before voting on it.

A Journolist member (among many others) stated much of congress is "owned outright" by industry groups/lobbyists and we the people are just fringe annoyance: "Dean Baker, at the time a blogger at the American Prospect, said,

• “but the industry groups have this town blanketed with lobbyists and
  

• own a large portion of Congress outright. …

• There has to be some counterforce to the industry groups and that is
  
• the populist rabble.
  

• It might not be pretty, but that’s Washington.”"

Why not at least try to change this?

• Reference, Daily Caller, "Political operatives on Journolist worked to shape news coverage," by J. Strong, 7/29/10