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Greenville County Republican Women
hear about future of GOP and economy

The Greenville County Republican Women heard from Dr. Brent Nelsen, chairman of the Furman Political Science Department, and Dr. Raymond Sauer, chairman of the Clemson Economics Department, at their Dec. 12 luncheon at the Poinsett Club. (Click here to view photo gallery.)
Future of the GOP
Dr. Nelson referred to himself as a lifelong Republican before citing things he said would be unpleasant for Republicans to hear.
Dr. Nelsen said that fewer people call themselves Republicans, noting that the Republican base is made up of three groups: whites, married people and Christians. In 1950, 80 percent of Americans were white, married and Christian, but barely 40 percent are in that category today.
Young people, he said, are not opting to vote Republican. In the 2000 Bush-Gore race, 18 to 29 year olds voted 48 percent for Al Gore and 46 percent for George Bush. In 2008, 66 percent of this age group voted for Sen. Obama. The only age group Sen. McCain won was 65 and older.
Latinos, he noted, abandoned the Republican Party in 2008. In 2004, 63 percent of Protestant Hispanics voted for President Bush, but 42 percent for Sen. McCain in 2008.
Dr. Nelson said that to win elections, Republicans must keep the base and attract young and minority voters, especially Hispanics.
Dr. Nelson said that the ideas of Ronald Reagan are great – for 1980, admitting that such a statement was heretical – but that those ideas need to be adapted for the current decade.
Dr. Nelsen suggested that government be small but strong. Fiscal responsibility, he said, does not always mean no spending. Sometimes it means wise spending. Military strength, he said, is important, but American military power must be deployed wisely. It is not the answer to every foreign policy question.
Conservative social values are the bedrock of our society, Dr. Nelsen said, and we must win people over to our view rather than bullying them into submission. The pro-life movement has gained ground steadily, he said, especially among young people.
Dr. Nelsen called for a welcoming spirit toward immigrants who have energy and ideas to continue to build America.
The economy
Dr. Sauer said we are in a classic recession and that we are at the beginning of a downturn in the real side of the economy. We have a liquidity crunch that is real and a decline in durable investments by consumers, particularly in housing and automobiles.
Credit markets are not functioning well for good reasons, Dr. Sauer said. We have over-investment in housing that needs to be corrected by a reduction in investment in housing. Investment in housing, he said, is normally a source of stimulus in the economy.
The oil price shock of the past several years, which has now been undone, effected consumer demand for automobiles and for durable goods.
Consumer and capital markets are excessively levered up with debt, he said. This is being solved by selling assets, even at a marked down price, and reducing spending. This is bad news for the short term, but a necessary adjustment for the economy to move forward again.
Dr. Sauer noted that major errors of risk management and assessment were made in the capital markets and in Washington, D.C. It is mind-boggling, he said, that these errors were not managed by corporate controls and government regulators.
“We are just at the beginning,” Dr. Sauer said. “We have more defaults and bankruptcies to come. The news is going to continue to be bad at least for the next two quarters before things begin to settle out.”
Dr. Sauer said he thought government injection of funds stabilized the balance sheets of the large commercial banks, allowing them to continue to function. He said he would give Washington, D.C., a C plus in policy-making in the current financial situation. He would give high marks to the Federal Reserve for being innovating in trying to preserve the solvency of the banking system, a C to the Treasury and a D minus to Congress.
Dr. Sauer predicted a severe recession but that a depression is unlikely. This recession will be worse than the last two recessions though.
He said that “if the government tries to run the economy, the government will fail” in its efforts.

Posted 2:40, Tuesday, Nov. 18

Oct. 23 auction most successful ever! Click here for photos.

Posted 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 30

GOP leaders rally the faithful at GCRW luncheon

Four GOP speakers rallied the Greenville County Republican Women’s Club at its Sept. 25 meeting at the Poinsett Club 40 days before the presidential election.
They are Glenn McCall, South Carolina Republican national committeeman; Cindy Costa, national committeewoman; Warren Mowry, South Carolina director of Victory 2008; and Allen Klump, Upstate regional director for Victory 2008,
McCall, an African-American, said that his values do not align with those of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential nominee. McCall said he was disappointed with African-American ministers he met with the previous evening, who all support Sen. Obama. McCall questioned how they could say they are followers of Jesus Christ, and support Sen. Obama, who favors abortion rights and civil unions for gay couples.
McCall will make several trips on behalf of the McCain-Palin campaign in October.
The national committeeman slammed the $700 billion bail out plan, and sided with Sen. Jim DeMint, who has called for reducing corporate taxes and putting a moratorium on capital gains taxes. He noted the Democrats began pushing community reinvestment in the early 1980s so everyone could have a mortgage regardless of their ability to repay the loan.
McCall said that Sen. Obama’s economic plans to raise taxes on the rich will kill our economy. He sees more and more people thinking that if Sen. Obama is elected they will not have to pay their mortgages, car loans or student loans, and the government will take care of them.
Cindy Costa
Cindy Costa, Republican national committeewoman, recounted her experiences at the GOP national convention earlier in September.
“Republicans are in the game again,” Costa said. “Conservative Republicans have a reason to care again. She called on attendees to do their part in winning the election, to pray and to work, and to call on others to stand with us in this election.
She referred to the book The Case Against Barack Obama: the Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate by David Freddoso, which cites Barack Obama’s fraudulent theme of reform. The author cites several times when Sen. Obama has had the opportunity to vote for change but has voted for the status quo, the worst being when he voted against children who had survived an abortion procedure.
Warren Mowry
Warren Mowry, director of Victory 2008 for South Carolina, encouraged the party faithful to be organized for the 2008 election, noting that the Democrat Party is organized nationwide for the 2008 election. The Democrats planned to have 12 on staff in South Carolina, hoping for victory in the state, but that number dwindled to one, and he is working in North Carolina.
Allen Klump
Allen Klump, Victory 2008 Upstate regional director (one of seven in the state), gets about 70 calls every morning from people wanting to volunteer or get bumper stickers or yard signs. Klump asked for volunteers to serve on phone banks on one of four nights during the week from 5:30 to 8 and to serve in the Upstate Victory 2008 office at Republican headquarters at 402 N. Pleasantburg.

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Photo galleries

Karen Floyd & Rick Beltram March 26

Feb. 26
Greg Shorey
Kevin Hall


Jan. 22
Rep. Nikki Haley
Ashley Landess

Dec. 11
Dr. Brent Nelsen
Dr. Raymond Sauer

Oct. 23 auction

Sept. 25
Glenn McCall, Cindy Costa, Warren Mowry, Allen Klump

Aug. 28
Tony Beam, Rebecca Steen, Rick Freeman, Julie Hershey

July 24
Dick Jensen, Taylor Hall,
Eric Bedingfield, Liz Seman, Alan Kay

June 26
Americanism Program

Incumbents and challengers May 22 meeting

Incumbents and challengers April 24 meeting

Bob McLain, WORD Radio,
Feb. 28 meeting

Photo galleries 2007

Installation of new officers: Dec. 6, 2007 meeting.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE): Aug. 23, 2007 meeting

Glenn McCall, second vice chair, South Carolina GOP, July 26 meeting

June 28 meeting on Americanism

Bob McAlister, political communicator, May 24 meeting

Rep. Duncan Hunter, April 13 meeting

Jason Miller from Gov. Mark Sanford's office, and Councilman Butch Kirven, March 22 meeting

Mitt Romney, Feb. 22 meeting

Katon Dawson, state GOP chairman, Jan. 25 meeting