Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority [Hardcover]

Hugh Hewitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 2006

Nationally syndicated talk show host and political strategist Hugh Hewitt delivers this insider's guide to the 2006 elections and the crucial messages GOP candidates and activists will be adopting to foster the spread of Red States.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

How to Win Everywhere Warning: this is the book the Democrats don¹t want you to read.

Painting the Map Red is the insider¹s blueprint for achieving a permanent Republican majority.

Bestselling author, political strategist, and nationally syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt shows you how conservatives can take down the Democrats, expose their liberal extremism, and reignite the Reagan Revolution.

Calling on his own extensive experience‹and on the savvy political minds of Mark Steyn, Fred Barnes, Michael Barone, and others in exclusive interviews‹Hewitt reveals: € The Five Key Messages and Four Crucial Steps to a permanent Republican majority € How big is too big? Which senator deserves to get pushed out of the Republican big tent € The next generation of liberal Democrats‹if you thought Ted Kennedy was bad, wait till you see the party of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Howard Dean € How extremist groups‹especially on the Internet‹are driving the Democrats¹ agenda € Why the Democrats¹ assault on religion is just ramping up € How Republicans can retake the courts and end Democrat obstruction € How the Democrats¹ alliance with liberal mainstream media can be turned against them both € Where we go from here: coming up with the right candidate after Bush

In politics, as in war, it pays to play offense, and Hugh Hewitt knows how the GOP can fight and win‹coast to coast.

Want another Reagan Revolution? Here¹s how. It¹s time to finish Painting the Map Red.

About the Author

Hugh Hewitt is the host of a nationally syndicated radio show heard in more than seventy cities nationwide. He is also a professor of law at Chapman University Law School, where he teaches constitutional law. A former aide to Richard Nixon and a Reagan administration appointee, he is the author of six books, including Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That¹s Changing Your World and the New York Times bestseller If It¹s Not Close, They Can¹t Cheat. Hewitt has won three Emmys during his decade of work as co-host of the PBS Los Angeles affiliate KCET¹s nightly news and public affairs show Life & Times. He is a weekly columnist for the online edition of the Weekly Standard. You can read more from Hugh on his blog at hughhewitt.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing (March 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895260026
• ISBN-13: 978-0895260024
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,557,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

139 of 164 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting voice in this year's clamor about how the 2006 (and '08) election should be fought, March 27, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority (Hardcover)

Hugh Hewitt is a conservative radio host who wants to see the GOP get to sixty senators in order to prevent the democrats from being able to stop the conservative agenda even as much as it has (some would say that it hasn't stopped the Republicans at all, but they wouldn't be conservatives). This book is his take on what the GOP needs to do in the present election cycle (looking forward also to the 2008 Presidential cycle) in order to make this happen. And when I say sixty senators, I am not counting the kinds of Republicans who tend to be social liberals (think Lincoln Chafee); Hewitt has no use for them whatsoever.

Being a staunch conservative, he sees the liberal agenda as something not only bad for America, but actually dangerous. If he could get the Democrats down to a stub party, he would be happy. However, I would caution that such a success might lead to something the conservatives might not intend. The American two-party system is really based around the idea of 51-49 political divides. The major parties are actually not continuing repositories of beliefs. They adapt over time to whatever will get them a majority. This is why the parties look quite similar to those on the extremes. The abortion debate has been great fodder for both sides because it locks in the extreme wings and allows them to jockey for moderates. If the Republicans actually did conquer the Democrats once and for all, it would not lead to one party rule. It would almost certainly lead to a split within the GOP and lead to the formation of a second major party from that breakup. It has happened before and our country, but hasn't happened in a long time because the parties are so adept at shifting with the political winds.

That aside, what strategy does the author of this book lay out? That the GOP should nationalize the election (this is riskier than he lets on, but he wants the big win so badly that he probably is willing to accept the risk or he doesn't see it) and that there are five messages the GOP should emphasize all the time and everywhere. They are: 1) The Democratic Left and the Mainstream Media (MSM) have declared war yet again on the military. (Remember, I am not saying he is right or that he is wrong, just reporting what Hewitt is saying). 2) The Democratic Left has declared war on religion (think about Schumer's statements about judges and their disqualification for "deeply held beliefs"), 3) The Democratic Left and its Senators have declared war on the judiciary (look at the extreme politicization of the confirmation of ALL Federal judges nowadays), 4) The Democratic Left wants to radically redefine marriage while portraying Republicans as bigoted, and 5) The Democratic Left is addicted to venom and is poisoning the political process. You can decide for yourself what you think of these positions once you read the book, but don't simply assume you know his positions from reading these one sentence summaries.

Hewitt also declares that the GOP must regain a semblance of party discipline and unity and withhold support from those who turn against party positions. He also cautions that the Border Security issue can be very divisive within the party. We are actually seeing this play out on our TV screens and reading about it in our newspapers.

The author uses twelve words to summarize it all:
-Win the war
-Confirm the judges
-Cut the taxes
-Control the spending

You know, if the GOP could actually get these twelve words into action rather than rhetoric, they probably would continue in power. However, Gingrich points out that the best campaign slogan the Dems can use in 2006 is, "Had Enough?" and I am afraid Gingrich might be right. While it is true the demographics within the individual races make it hard for the Dems to regain the House and they have to run the board in the Senate races, but it has been done before.

This book is an interesting voice in the debate about what should be done during this election year. It will be interesting to see what actually plays out.

93 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pragmatic Man of His Party, March 23, 2006

By 

C. A. Brown (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority (Hardcover)

A proud "man of the [Republican] party," Hugh Hewitt has come out with another book aimed at energizing and directing Republican grass-root members and leaders towards increasing their Senate majority in the next two elections and retaining the Presidency in 2008. This book is intended to provide a limited and compelling agenda for reelection and governing, with 5 issues/talking points calculated to clearly delineate the consequences of the choice between Republican and Democratic Party rule.

Hewitt devotes a chapter to each talking point supported by source material interspersed with commentary. If you do not think of this as a resource book, the number of lengthy excepts in the body of the text may be offputting. Take it for what it is and the format makes sense.

Hewitt continues to be very clear on the need for pragmatism as well as principle, indeed he argues for pragmatism in the service of principle. As in his past writings, he argues for political maturity in achieving and retaining a governing majority by allowing significant dissent, NO LITMUS TESTS, even on immigration and abortion. He names one politician as an exception that proves the rule: Lincoln Chafee.

Hewitt specifies four crucial votes, that tie to his 5 point agenda and his concern for building and maintaining a governing majority, on which Senator Chafee voted against the President and the Senate Republican Party. I confirmed Hewitt's factual claims by going to the Senate Voting Record, the Providence Journal, and the Americans for Democratic Action websites. Hewitt argues that it is necessary to defeat Chafee, even if that means Republicans voting for a Democratic senator in the general election.

The key problem this book identifies but does not satifactorilly address is getting party leaders and members, once elected, to actually carry out enough of the party platform to justify further investment of time and money. Nevertheless, Hugh Hewitt has provided a coherent center-right agenda for the next two elections; worthwhile as a basis for discussion, thoughtful debate, and action on either side of the political aisle.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant piece of satire, February 6, 2008

By 

jgerg "jgerg" (chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority (Hardcover)

At first I thought this book was intended seriously. If that were the case, then Mr. Hewitt would have to qualify as one of the most misguided and misinformed knuckleheads to ever drop from the bowels of the right-wing hackocracy. That was when I realized that no book could ever be this wrong. It must be a joke. Hugh Hewitt, in true Swiftian style, is showing what it would look like for an "author" to play the role of lickspittle, tongue-bathing his overlords in the Bush Administration and the Heritage Foundation. Hilarious. It is fascinating seeing a truly subversive satirist revelling in the role of partisan lackey, spewing talking points with bravado, all the while keeping tongue firmly planted in cheek. I highly recommend this book. It truly turns its alleged "premise" on its head and does so in a wonderfully understated way. Very rarely does he give that knowing wink showing the reader he knows what a fraud he seems to be. Great.