Steven Hayward in his biography The Age of Reagan details how Reagan dealt with political defeats on issues, "Though Reagan lost many battles, he did not lose the initiative and herein lies a fundamental lesson of politics. Even when losing, a political ideology that remains on the offensive creates a favorable political environment." For the GOP today there is no more important advice. All they have to do is take it.

The Democrats are coming to take over Texas and are advertising their plan (Politico 1/24/13 Democrats Launch Plan to Turn Texas Blue by Alexander Burns).

The group called "Battleground Texas" plans to engage the state's rapidly growing Hispanic population and other Democratic-leaning constituencies that have not voted in "appropriate" numbers.

Among their plans: "... the group intended to bring in 'top campaign talent to Texas' for a long-term organizing push. 'It's going to take a sustained effort and we're going to have to prove ourselves over time,' the Democrat said. 'We need to have the talent in state to build something real over time and make the environment such that you can look someone in the eye and say, 'You can run statewide and you can win,' or you can tell a presidential candidate that you should really consider putting resources here... Still, Democrats buoyed by the breadth of their 2012 victories are looking to Texas as a political holy grail: a prize so spectacular that it might just be worth a big, sustained investment of money and energy. If state and national party leaders committed the time and almost presidential-level resources required, the thinking goes, the most important cornerstone of the GOP's electoral map could become competitive."

One prominent public official quoted was "non-partisan" Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who faces a well-funded challenger in 2013 for Mayor and seems to be diving deeper into partisan politics after being elected twice with substantial GOP votes, said: "We have been waiting in Texas for a very long time for the Latino vote to come into its own and turn the tide. But many of us have decided that we can't wait for that. We have to do the old-fashioned work of going out and talking to Texans,' said Parker, who didn't rule out a statewide campaign 'when I am done [being] mayor.' 'Do I think we're going to turn Texas in two years? Probably not. Do I think we can turn Texas in four years? Absolutely, because I think the Republican Party in Texas is going to drive itself off a cliff,' Parker said. 'You hear Republicans with rhetoric, literally talking about the jack-booted thugs coming and taking guns out of people's homes, going door to door. You have legislators who will file, once again, virulently anti-immigrant legislation in the state House'."

The Democrats' plans should serve as a warning to Republicans that as Texas demographics change so does the GOP's need to ensure it continues to represent the aspirations and goals of the majority of Texans. As we go forward, our party needs to look like the "new" Texas, which can be done by encouraging involvement in the GOP by Hispanic voters and Asian voters and, yes, even African-Americans who share our vision for the future.

Premier economic advisor Richard Russell in his January 2nd issue of Dow Theory Letters details what is happening to the dollar long term and what can be done!

"My belief is that somewhere ahead, the crowd will 'latch on to' gold. Then, as disinterested in gold as they are now, the crowd will pile into gold with the same frenzy that overtook the storied '49ers' when they packed their bags, kissed their wives and kids good bye, and headed West in search of gold."

"As I write, Ben Bernanke's Federal Reserve is systematically shaving off an onion. The US has been in the process of constructing the greatest credit bubble in history. The world has never seen anything like it. The worldwide forces of deflation are now attacking this enormous bubble. Fed Chairman Bernanke is terrified by the mere thought of deflation and crumbling asset prices with all the inflationary power at his command.

"As the ocean of new dollars pours out of the computers of the Federal Reserve, the purchasing power of the dollar erodes. It erodes slowly at first, but as the river of dollars turn into an ocean, slowly rising inflation segues into a monster. Finally, the crowd recognizes what is happening to their money. The loaf of bread that costs sixteen thousand and there's the extra for a dorm. You're suddenly paralyzed. A light bulb in your head starts to glow. And just as suddenly, the mad, frantic rush for gold is on.

"No fiat money has lasted for as long as a century. The US has had prior experience with fiat money -- the Civil War Greenbacks, the 'Bills of Credit' of the American colonies, the ill-fated Continentals during the Civil War. None of these have survived, and neither will the Federal Reserve notes that we now refer to as 'dollars'."

TCR Comment: When we read this we were concerned about where the administration and the Federal Reserve are driving our economy, the direction is not a good one. Be prepared.

Last week the Texas Senate drew their terms, half got four-years and half got two-years.

Of those who drew four-year terms, only Judith Zaffirini (D) has been mentioned as a statewide candidate. The two-year term Senators are where many potential candidates for statewide office reside: Wendy Davis (D), Robert Nichols (R) and Kirk Watson (D). For them, a two-year term means if they want to seek statewide office it's up or out.

Democrats especially are hurt because Davis and Watson are thought of as possible statewide candidates in 2014 and now that is in doubt.

Remember just a few months ago President Obama campaigned on saving GM and destroying Al Qaeda.

Of course, we now know for sure that Al Qaeda is far from gone. They are resurgent. In the fall, we had the Benghazi attacks and murders, then the attack on an Algerian energy plant that left over three dozen dead and just last week, Al Qaeda of North Africa was pushing revolution in Mali, where the French recently intervened.

We recently learned in DekaNetWeekly, a strategic intelligence review that the dominoes kicked over by toppling Qaddafi in Libya resulted in "his" weapons being liberated and reaching Algeria, Mali and Syria, in the hands of Muslim radicals and have created major security threats.

The administration's foreign policy was an abject failure previously because they failed to ask the key question: What happens after we are gone? So far, the answer in Iraq, Libya, and soon Afghanistan is, not much good.

After four months of playing hide and seek with the American people, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton honored the Congress with her presence long enough to duck and deceive the American people regarding the worst incident of terrorism against Americans since 9/11.

Those who are fans of Mrs. Clinton must have been delighted with her tap dancing around questions addressed to her by House and Senate Committee members. Those fans consider all this as just stagecraft created by political hacks that have no right to question "his eminence" - the President - or his esteemed Secretary of State. Yet there are many questions unanswered and new questions that were created by her testimony.

The moment that received the most coverage was Secretary Clinton's heated response to a question from Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI). Johnson queried Clinton as to why her office was not immediately able to determine whether the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were spontaneous or planned by a terrorist group. Clinton responded in an animated and heated manner: "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?"

It makes a lot of difference. Not because of the great point that Charles Krauthammer made after the hearing where he pointed out that telling the truth to the American people is important. The central question has not been laid to rest as to whether the Administration was covering up the fact that Al Qaeda was resurgent despite Obama's biggest foreign policy coup – killing Bin Laden. Nor is it because of the point others brought out about the fact that Ambassador Stevens had made repeated requests for additional security, but Clinton claims not to be aware of such requests.

It is much simpler than that. That night had started with major protests in Egypt. They had reportedly spread to Libya. It was 9/11, the anniversary of the largest attack on the American homeland in history. It certainly appeared that neither the American Embassy in Egypt nor our consulate in Libya or our Libyan Ambassador properly prepared for the day at hand. The rest of Northern Africa had been a powder keg for over a year. Understanding the nature of the attack in Libya certainly would give guidance to how our State Department staff in a place like Tunisia should prepare themselves in the coming hours. It is that simple, yet our Secretary of State does not think it of significant importance.

Then there is Ms. Clinton's management of her department. She stated she has concern for all of the 70,000 employees at the State Department. We know we are a big country and we know it is a complicated world, but really -- 70,000 employees? If you take the estimated 195 countries and put 100 staff people in each country that totals 19,500. That would include providing for 100 staff people in countries like Burundi or Macau. If you double that for all the people who might work here in the U.S. and add some vigorish you have 39,000 people. Why in God's name do we have 70,000 people in that department? No wonder we are broke; and Clinton claims there was not enough security because of insufficient resources and points her finger at Congress?

But more importantly, the question of her management has to be asked. Mrs. Clinton claims that the requests from Ambassador Stevens for more security did not cross her desk. We are big on delegation, but how did she not know? This was Libya, one of the hot button places in the world. A place that was clearly unsettled. This was not additional security requests from Belgium or the Bahamas. Nor was it even security requests from Colombia or Indonesia. This was a request from the Ambassador in Libya. Not only that, there were multiple requests. If the requests did not filter up to Clinton then she is guilty of gross negligence of management. Are you saying your staff does not know what to bring to your attention? Either she has no idea how to train her staff or she wanted institutional ignorance. Either way she is guilty.

Most people think that Clinton's ducking and obfuscating got her out of any real scrutiny on this issue. With most of the press being in the bag for Obama and Clinton, this issue could go away. It is now in the hands of my friend, Congressman Ed Royce, chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, to keep the hope alive that some truth will come out of this murderous mess. Go get them, Congressman. Don't let Hillary's lies take the day.

Red, White & Blue featuring TCR Editor Gary Polland, liberal commentator David Jones and moderator Linda Lorelle on Fridays at 7:30 pm on PBS Houston Channel 8.1, replaying Sundays at 12:30 p.m. on Channel 8.1, Mondays at 11:30 pm on Channel 8.2 and on the web at www.houstonpbs.org.

The current show as well as past shows are available on YouTube.

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who completed three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as the most successful county Chairman in America by Human Events - The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his fifteenth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. The last twelve years he has edited Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the last 10 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections and city elections, all with the purpose of assisting conservative candidates. Gary is also in his eleventh year of co-hosting Red, White and Blue on PBS Houston. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.