It seems the Republican Party finally has realized that – after suffering back-to-back electoral annihilations at the hands of the Democrats in 2006 and 2008 – it really needs to change in order to appeal to a greater number of voters in the future. While being pounded as thoroughly as the GOP was in those two elections is never a fun experience for any political party, Republicans should very easily be able to see at least one bright silver lining: such electoral losses usually indicate that there are plenty of aspects in a party’s operations that can be changed in order to win voters back. For instance, party leaders could acknowledge that their Faustian deal with the religious right was a terrible mistake and then return to truer Goldwater-style conservative social policies that openly embrace gay marriage and a woman’s (legal) right to choose. Another option the GOP has is to grow up in its foreign policy thought process and stop wanting to use the military to obliterate any country whose policies do not agree with the Republican Party’s. Or, the whole lot of them could simply stop trying to peddle the absurd myth that “trickle-down” economics ever trickles anywhere past the richest two percent’s ten-car driveways. And those are just three of the options this beleaguered political party has at its disposal in order to regain the one thing it actually cares about: political power!
So what option has the Republican Party embraced as its first step to winning back the general public? Would you believe they’re going to Glamour Shots for a makeover? Duh! Should we have expected anything else from the party of “Mission Accomplished”? Obviously not. It seems that the Republican Party is starting an initiative called the National Council for a New America – which sounds suspiciously like the inbred child of the Project for a New American Century and the National Review – in order to connect to voters around the country in a series of “town hall” style meetings open to the entire public. The thing is, though, that this “council” consists of a bunch of rich white guys – and Bobby (Ray) Jindal, of course.
Huh? Did I miss something? The Republican Party is going to try to win voters of all backgrounds by essentially starting a traveling think tank? And not just any traveling think tank, but a traveling think tank consisting of a bunch of conservative retreads? Please, somebody look at this roster and explain to me how these guys are going to be able to bring new voters who don’t already carry assault rifles and watch Faux News into their stagnant political party:
• Bitter, vanquished 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain
• Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, brother of possibly the worst president ever
• House Minority Leader John “only by cutting the capital gains tax can we stop the AIDS epidemic in Africa” Boehner
• Mississippi governor and former über-lobbyist Haley Barbour
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch “blame the auto workers union” McConnell
• GOP House Whip – and the man behind the plot to humiliate freshmen Democratic senators on youtube – Eric Cantor
• Former Massachusetts governor Mitt “Who Let the Dawgs Out” Romney
• Token non-white and experienced exorcist Bobby (Ray) Jindal
Granted, I’m still adjusting to these bifocals, but I just can’t see how new voters will be attracted to a group of such established conservative giants, unless these longtime giants do a political (and ethical) about-face this very instant. Considering the fact these people by definition do not change easily or quickly, I don’t see this about-face occurring anytime soon, either.
So where does this inability to undergo quick change leave the GOP and its traveling think tank town hall meetings? The obvious first guess would be that these meetings will attract almost exclusively those people who participated in the teabag demonstrations in April: angry, disenchanted voters who carry the pathological misperception that they are disenfranchised as well. [After all, most of these people are white (still the majority after all these years!), middle class (whose taxes are being lowered despite what they are foolishly led to believe by their conservative masters at Faux News), gun-owning (is there a weapons ban up for vote I’m not aware of?), Christian (still waiting for that constitutional ban on Christianity) fools (see previous four adjectives) who are just now becoming angry about government spending – after never uttering a single objection while their glorious leader Dubyah and his buddies in congress spent the public’s money like a bunch of drunken frat boys on a six-year spring break in Tijuana. I’m sorry, but these people have zero credibility or common sense.] Even if a few treasonous, America-hating liberals do decide to go to one of these town hall meetings and ask honest questions of these conservative leaders, they are very likely to be shouted down and/or run out of the meeting altogether by the innate hostility of the fundamentally ignorant people who are very likely to be in a great majority at such an event. In other words, the “wide open policy debate” allegedly desired in this council’s letter is very likely never to occur, and these town hall meetings will amount to nothing more than a bunch of broken record conservatives preaching to the angriest choir in America. Yeah, I’m sure this traveling think tank side show is going to build that (new) permanent Republican majority in the blink of an eye.
It should be obvious to anyone with even the slightest ability to look at matters objectively that the modern Republican Party just doesn’t get it. At a time when Republicans absolutely need to look inward, they are still looking outward. Rather than choosing to go to political rehab to restore their dignity, direction and integrity (assuming they ever had any), Republicans appear to be – as always – choosing merely to repair their cosmetic problems in an attempt to make themselves more presentable to the voters – all the while failing to understand that their interior flaws are what’s causing the electorate to see exterior ugliness. Republicans can – indeed, they must – start by coming back to planet earth – you know, the place where the Employee Free Choice Act does protect union members’ right to anonymous voting, where Matthew Shepard’s murder was a hate crime rather than a mere fatal robbery, where humankind is causing grave danger to the environment, and where people who break the law are held accountable for their actions – and not just when a Democrat lies about oral sex. Simply put, Republicans have to grow up, stop habitually lying to themselves and the general public, accept reality and live within its confines, and then – maybe then – be able to offer themselves as a legitimate alternative to the Democrats and thus regain their relevance.
I realize that’s a terrifying prospect to most Republicans out there (especially that whole introspection thing – ew!), but they should think about it this way: if they do offer a legitimate alternative to the Democratic Party, it will be just a small matter of time before those almost equally clueless Democrats screw up so badly that voters will flock to the Republicans the same way they did to Democrats in 2006 and 2008.
Based on this ridiculous National Council for a New America, however, I’m not holding my breath for a Republican takeover anytime soon.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/29/gop-set-to-launch-rebranding-effort/
So what option has the Republican Party embraced as its first step to winning back the general public? Would you believe they’re going to Glamour Shots for a makeover? Duh! Should we have expected anything else from the party of “Mission Accomplished”? Obviously not. It seems that the Republican Party is starting an initiative called the National Council for a New America – which sounds suspiciously like the inbred child of the Project for a New American Century and the National Review – in order to connect to voters around the country in a series of “town hall” style meetings open to the entire public. The thing is, though, that this “council” consists of a bunch of rich white guys – and Bobby (Ray) Jindal, of course.
Huh? Did I miss something? The Republican Party is going to try to win voters of all backgrounds by essentially starting a traveling think tank? And not just any traveling think tank, but a traveling think tank consisting of a bunch of conservative retreads? Please, somebody look at this roster and explain to me how these guys are going to be able to bring new voters who don’t already carry assault rifles and watch Faux News into their stagnant political party:
• Bitter, vanquished 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain
• Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, brother of possibly the worst president ever
• House Minority Leader John “only by cutting the capital gains tax can we stop the AIDS epidemic in Africa” Boehner
• Mississippi governor and former über-lobbyist Haley Barbour
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch “blame the auto workers union” McConnell
• GOP House Whip – and the man behind the plot to humiliate freshmen Democratic senators on youtube – Eric Cantor
• Former Massachusetts governor Mitt “Who Let the Dawgs Out” Romney
• Token non-white and experienced exorcist Bobby (Ray) Jindal
Granted, I’m still adjusting to these bifocals, but I just can’t see how new voters will be attracted to a group of such established conservative giants, unless these longtime giants do a political (and ethical) about-face this very instant. Considering the fact these people by definition do not change easily or quickly, I don’t see this about-face occurring anytime soon, either.
So where does this inability to undergo quick change leave the GOP and its traveling think tank town hall meetings? The obvious first guess would be that these meetings will attract almost exclusively those people who participated in the teabag demonstrations in April: angry, disenchanted voters who carry the pathological misperception that they are disenfranchised as well. [After all, most of these people are white (still the majority after all these years!), middle class (whose taxes are being lowered despite what they are foolishly led to believe by their conservative masters at Faux News), gun-owning (is there a weapons ban up for vote I’m not aware of?), Christian (still waiting for that constitutional ban on Christianity) fools (see previous four adjectives) who are just now becoming angry about government spending – after never uttering a single objection while their glorious leader Dubyah and his buddies in congress spent the public’s money like a bunch of drunken frat boys on a six-year spring break in Tijuana. I’m sorry, but these people have zero credibility or common sense.] Even if a few treasonous, America-hating liberals do decide to go to one of these town hall meetings and ask honest questions of these conservative leaders, they are very likely to be shouted down and/or run out of the meeting altogether by the innate hostility of the fundamentally ignorant people who are very likely to be in a great majority at such an event. In other words, the “wide open policy debate” allegedly desired in this council’s letter is very likely never to occur, and these town hall meetings will amount to nothing more than a bunch of broken record conservatives preaching to the angriest choir in America. Yeah, I’m sure this traveling think tank side show is going to build that (new) permanent Republican majority in the blink of an eye.
It should be obvious to anyone with even the slightest ability to look at matters objectively that the modern Republican Party just doesn’t get it. At a time when Republicans absolutely need to look inward, they are still looking outward. Rather than choosing to go to political rehab to restore their dignity, direction and integrity (assuming they ever had any), Republicans appear to be – as always – choosing merely to repair their cosmetic problems in an attempt to make themselves more presentable to the voters – all the while failing to understand that their interior flaws are what’s causing the electorate to see exterior ugliness. Republicans can – indeed, they must – start by coming back to planet earth – you know, the place where the Employee Free Choice Act does protect union members’ right to anonymous voting, where Matthew Shepard’s murder was a hate crime rather than a mere fatal robbery, where humankind is causing grave danger to the environment, and where people who break the law are held accountable for their actions – and not just when a Democrat lies about oral sex. Simply put, Republicans have to grow up, stop habitually lying to themselves and the general public, accept reality and live within its confines, and then – maybe then – be able to offer themselves as a legitimate alternative to the Democrats and thus regain their relevance.
I realize that’s a terrifying prospect to most Republicans out there (especially that whole introspection thing – ew!), but they should think about it this way: if they do offer a legitimate alternative to the Democratic Party, it will be just a small matter of time before those almost equally clueless Democrats screw up so badly that voters will flock to the Republicans the same way they did to Democrats in 2006 and 2008.
Based on this ridiculous National Council for a New America, however, I’m not holding my breath for a Republican takeover anytime soon.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/29/gop-set-to-launch-rebranding-effort/
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