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The Race to Run the GOP Gets Even More Ridiculous
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Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
In the wake of the “Magic Negro” controversy, the number of men running for Republican Party chair reflects both their identity crisis and their excruciatingly narrow brand.
The most telling moment at the debate among contenders for the chairmanship of the Republican Party might have been when they took turns bragging about how many friends they had on Facebook. The spectacle of six grown men comparing an accomplishment that only 18-year-olds should be really proud of did not seem to bode well for a party that is struggling to maintain purchase on the 21st century. (For the record, former Ohio state Attorney General Ken Blackwell wins with around 4,000.) Their measure of each others' followers on Twitter (Michigan state party chair Saul Anusiz has just under 3,000) might also have been embarrassing except that a few minutes earlier, current RNC chair Mike Duncan referred to it as "the Twitter," that definite article condemning him to Old Fogey status among anyone who cares.
“If we don't get it together, Barack Obama is going to be ripping us a new one for eight years.”
The Facebook/Twitter showdown resonated for those who use Twitter, but in the moment it wasn't clear how being the most friended Republican would come across with the 168 committee members who actually vote on the position. They are exactly as representative of the Republican Party as you'd expect and do not Twitter. But committee members say the fall taught them a valuable lesson about technology, only the least of which is that it is possible to use "friend" as verb.
Louis Pope, a committeeman from Maryland and supporter of former Lieutenant Gov. Michael Steele, said the discussion of social networks was "absolutely" important, though he admitted he was not himself a member of any: "It's like with a parent or something. When it comes to technology, you understand what your kids are saying when they talk about it, but when it comes to fixing it or using it, you ask your kids." In other words, the RNC has finally decided to do something about the VCR blinking 12:00.
"The next chairman has got to get that right or we're sunk," said Gary Emineth, head of the North Dakota GOP. "And it was apparent who up there got it and who didn't." He pauses for emphasis. "Very apparent." He added, "And if we don't get it together, Barack Obama is going to be ripping us a new one for eight years."
Facebook-friendless Duncan actually walked into the room a favorite to win the chairmanship, despite the party's disappointing electoral showing and toxic brand. As incumbent, Duncan is in a position to make handshake deals and remind the national committee of old debts. "You don't win these things with a Twitter account," explained one Republican insider before the debate began. "You win it with phone calls and calling in favors."
But the unprecedented debate opened up what was once insider baseball into slightly less insidery baseball. Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, organized the event in hopes of making the Republican Party more, ah, democratic. "I wanted to get people used the idea to being asked for their vote," he said. A public forum for the candidates would, he reasoned, force the committee members to be accountable for their selection. In the past, "they could fly in, vote, and fly out and it would be covered by a little notice, like a birth announcement. Now, the 168 have the votes, but they also have constituents."
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The republican party has nothing but old white guys who are so old they would have to ask their grandkids for help with the Internet, not their children
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these guys suck
The Democratic Party has just undergone a significant transition form the Clinton and everyone previous mold to an almost completely new way of doing business (thus far). In the previous election, Dean tried to capitalize on what technology could offer, but only went at it part way. Obama and company are so totally different that the Republicans running for leadership can't understand that they are the problem. They still think that they can do the same stuff, only harder, and still win. Ain't going to happen. Before they'll become a competitor again, they've got to re-invent themselves as well.
I haven't been reading this site for very long, and this is the first time I've come across Ana Marie's work. Really enjoyable read. Hope to see more in the future.
It is one thing for the person in the street to think without saying out loud that Republicans are total assholes.
But it is another thing and not acceptable for Scary Emineth, the head of the North Dakota G-Old-P to say "if we don't get it together, Barack Obama is going to be ripping us a new one for eight years."
One could hope for politics to involve a serious-minded exchange of idea, and diplomatic compromises reached in the wakes of the exchanges.
Or, answering to the GOP's eloquent Emineth, one could gleefully exclaim "Let it rip!"
Well, hey, at least the RNC is open about their ignorance. The Dems are full of them too, they just hide it well and couch it in politically correct terms.
The VCR blinking 12:00 ....
is it that bad?
Mary50, as a Dem who frequently finds his patience stretched thin by the BS of both sides, I'm afraid their won't be much for the left to hide behind in the next four/eight years. I'm hoping they're wise enough to clean up their acts before it costs them severely.
I am so sick of the RIGHT..and the LEFT..good grief what about the flippin' 80% of us in the MIDDLE.
All we want is a decent job, access to medical care that doesn't bankrupt us, a safe way to plan for retirement, modern technology (WHY are we still living in 1992 exactly) fiscal accountability from BOTH the government and businesses..(at least as much fiscal responsibility as WE have to have.)
Seriously..is it that freakin' hard??
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The republican party - a bunch of old racist white men with old ideas.
Ana Marie Cox is hot, in my opinion, but that's beside the point. Like the economy of ours, it will take time for the Republicans to find their stride again.
I see them finding their strides in newer generations not these old bigots.
The answer to many of the GOP's woes is pretty obvious. Either the GOP starts cleaning house or suffer a slow and somber death trying to cover-up their fallacies.
I agree with Crappola's first sentence.
What is glaring absent from the leadership struggle in the GOP is any notion that the party plans on addressing anything substantive about platform or policy. You can sell reactionary racist horseshit on eBay, but that doesn't make it anything other than reactionary racist horseshit.
Anuzis' name is spelled two ways in the article. On first reference, you have it as "Anusiz."
Aren't the Anuzis the Native American people who lived at Mesa Verde? Duh? WTF?
How did the "Magic Negro" controversy begin the technology gap? The LA Times first used the term with no notice from the gatekeepers of morality. Ann Coulter and Alan Keyes are "old white guys?" Republicans are Nazis? Democrats express vile hatred as they condemn intolerant Republicans. Democrats are poor persons of color like George Soros, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Chuck Shumer, Barbra Streisand, Susan Sarandon, Bernie Madoff? Ahem! Self scrutiny anyone?
"Barack the Magic Negro"!?! This is the party of Lincoln and Douglass? This party, if it can be called that anymore, has just been dealt a severe blow politically for espousing racist tripe for generations in the guise of conservative thought cannot deal with the reality that the nation has just told them that we no longer want to deal in devisive politics. We hunger to come together as Americans to cure our own social ills. We thirst to heal the divisions that separate us from one another, and from our place as the supreme super power in the world. We want to reclaim our place as the beacon light of the world. We must improve the standard of living of our citizens. We want healtcare, education, and national security reform. We will have national security when we no longer engage in policies that creates enemies. We will once again be the leader in innovative technology and medicine when we invest in education. We will be the leader of the worlds fight against injustice whe we begin to practice it at home. The GOP only seeks power to keep it. Nothing more. They watn to be in power to subjugate the world to it's will and to force it's evil idiology upon the populous of the globe. The backwards thinking Good Ole Boy party has no clue regarding how to apppeal to a new generation. Their first answer is to become more conservative. We as a nation have just rejected conservatism with vitriol. We don't want that tripe. We want new solutions to old problems. We want fresh thinking. We want foreward looking solutions. We want to be a great country, united under the flag, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This GOP is so far to the right, and so stuck in the past, that they cannot even see this. They have no clue. It is only poetic justice that McCain and Palin, when they ran for the White House campaigning across the nation using tried but true GOP tactics got trounced at the polls. THe American people have outgrown you. Redefine, not refine yourselves. Become what the American people are looking for, not what you want us to have. Abandon the the very things the people have just repudiated. Too bad these are the things that drew you to that party in the first place. Retire to the caves that you have just been banished, and do some serious soul-searching, and you will see that it wasn't the finacial meltdown, a bad campaign, or even George Bush that just beat you, but you yourselves. Your outdated views gave rise to outdated methods. America just does not want any thing to do with what you are selling anymore.
Ms Cox writes of "ripping us a new one." Is it possible for her to write an article without a reference to the anus? Her preoccupation with the poop shoot and its sexual uses was all very good for Gawker, but I think the Daily Beast is aiming higher.
Make that "poop chute." Ann knows.
I've seen enough. Let's just resign ourselves to the obvious that the GOP has no clue why they lost the last two elections and will definately lose the next two by similar embarrassing margins. 2014 is gut check time for the GOP. Can they outperform Democrats in a mid term election where they have no hope of gaining control of either house of Congress? If the answer is yes they might rebuild to fight hard in the future. If the answer is no that would be five a$$ whoopin's in a row and they can hang it up. The Federalist and Whigs have been looking for someone to join the on the ash heap of history.
I've seen Anne Marie Cox on Maddow's show and she is delightfully cute. But the photo that accompanies these posts is that one in a billion glamor shot. Hot does not even begin to describe it. Nice job photgrapher and model.
I'm with Thevail - 100%
Until the GOP realizes that they're spinning their wheels pandering to polarizing social issues while the average law abiding citizen is concerned about earning more than a 3rd world living, educating their children and planning for a retirement that most likely is a fantasy.
Get practical - seek leadership from the small business world where the foolish shenanigans (or crimes) of plush corporate life is non existant. This would also direct the GOP to a realistic useful embrace of technology compared to spending tons of $ chasing a silly trend. No women RNC members???
Get real men because like the 3 Martini lunch, your are beyond oboslete for reasons far beyond technology.
Great article and attempt to unmask the ridiculousness of some, in the GOP.
I think your wrong though about them not appearing like an ensemble cast on television. They are definitely an ensemble in the living theatre, but they're the unfortunate characters to a theatre of cruelty.
Characters to a grand guignol script missing only a giant portrait of P.T. Barnum over the dais with a banner swinging from a proscenium arch saying, "there's a sucker born every minute", while they meander aimlessly gorging themselves on donuts puffing relentlessly on cigarettes, singing to the tune of, "Barack the magic negro".
Unfortunately I can't help thinking while reading your fine article that humor while making their antics tolerable, it's just the tip of a greater malignancy like the underbelly of an ice berg hidden beneath the surface; the fact that some of them without conscience do seem to believe there is a sucker born every minute, which this implorement reveals; "If we don't get it together, Barack Obama is going to be ripping us a new one for eight years." High or Low theatre, this stuff is ready for prime time.
Thank you.
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