America loves a fighter

While I'm not sure I agree 100% with SusanAnne Hiller's lengthy post at Red State -- taking on Byron York, of all people -- she's clearly on to something here:

The GOP should have called out the media, rather than retreating into a corner so as not to be branded as racists, obstructionists, the party of no, or worse, conservatives.

Again, it was at this time that the MSM started its ground assault of the Bush administration and mauling of the GOP. And the GOP never fought back. Bush never fought back.
With this defeatist attitude, the MSM reshaped conservative thought to hate Bush, creating apathy and division in the Republican party, and ultimately causing Republicans to vote Democrat or stay home on election day in 2008.
In reality, the American people crave a party to take on the media, Democrats, and corruption. Just look at Joe Wilson, Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, Andrew Breitbart, Rush, Hannity, Beck, Tea Partiers, and our own Erick Erickson. Look at Fox's sky-high ratings. All signs of the American people's thirst for knowledge and someone --anyone -- to stand up against Obama, Congress, the media, and the left. And those who do get major support from the GOP base.

Read the whole thing and make up your own mind. The point which strikes me most strongly is SusanAnne's emphasis on the courage to fight, which requires the willingness to become a target. Americans love a fighter.

The reason I'm not sure I agree 100% with SusanAnne is because Byron York also makes very good points. When York says Republicans are to blame for their own woes, I believe he means the GOP establishment (elected office-holders, party officials, staffers, consultants, etc.) rather than Republican voters.

That's an important distinction. The rank-and-file of the party -- the ordinary GOP voter in Iowa or Oklahoma or Ohio -- have too often been ignored and ill-represented by the people they've elected. You can't really blame ordinary Republican voters for the Abramoff scandal or the Bush administration's lack of a workable plan for post-war Iraq.

So both York and SusanAnne are onto something, and I'd be willing to bet that York probably agrees with most of what she says. BTW, SusanAnne is on Twitter. and is also a contributor to BigGovernment.com.

Update: (Smitty)
Dan Riehl:

But other than some scolding for what has long been known and already widely discussed, I'm not sure York's item says much at all. Net net, the GOP has to find a way to bond with the base and the American people as a whole. They shouldn't think they're going to win any election prizes simply for not being Democrats.

I'm not sure, Dan. Didn't BHO win by saying he would not be Bush? You know Progressivism is killing the country. The real danger would seem to be fragmentation, as voting for 20 different "not being Democrats" effectively elects the Democrat. So the principles should always trump the personality, in a thinking electorate. Oops.