Blogs and Stories
Why Republicans Don't Get the Internet
The Daily Beast’s Meghan McCain talks to Republicans about the party’s crippling technology disconnect—and the new conservative Web zealots who can save the GOP.
When I first suggested launching a blog chronicling my experience on my father's campaign for president, I was met with confusion and resistance. A few people even asked me what's a blog. Throughout the campaign, I did everything possible to showcase the fun and interesting parts of the campaign. I posted pictures. I wrote posts. I even included a playlist of my favorite songs. But often, I got the sense that people on the campaign thought I was wasting my time.
But denial only amplifies the stereotypes about Republicans being disconnected from the problems residing within the party.
The Republican party isn't exactly Internet savvy. That's no secret. This has been a source of personal frustration for me for a very long time. Unless the GOP evolves as the party that can successfully utilize the Web, we'll continue to lose influence. I think nothing confirms this fact to be more true than this recent election. I don’t claim to be an expert on mobilizing voters, but a significant number of the readers on mccainblogette.com, my blog, were between the ages of 18 and 30, a key demographic that either party would want. Many of the established Republican strategists told me that young people would not visit my web site. I used to categorize many of the advisors in my father's campaign into one of two groups: those that "respected" the Internet and those who didn't. It was a running line between me and my friends who worked on my site.
I remember explaining this to former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman (who was also an advisor to my father), and having him share his concerns about my father's campaign effectively using the Internet. It's often suggested that because the GOP was in power the past eight years, it became lazy and content with its success. So the party did not see the need to utilize the web as the Democrats did.
I wanted to ask some of the people who have been doing online work for the Republican party if they could somehow explain—or even admit—what has gone so wrong. But when I started calling around asking for people to comment, I discovered most did not want to talk to me. Instead, they told me that not having enough money was a huge factor in our loss—not our misuse of the Internet. Others were just plain angry, blaming the liberal media, and not the party's shortcomings online. Of course, there is truth in some of this. But denial only amplifies the stereotypes about Republicans being disconnected.
Two people who were happy to talk to be me were Becki Donatelli, founder of Campaign Solutions and Rob Kubasko, a Republican online strategist and designer who has been working in the field for almost fifteen years. (Rob helped me with the mccainblogette.com when it first launched before going on to try and fix some of the branding issues my father's campaign had in its final months.) He sees a major gap between Republican strategists and the web designers working for the party.
"I've always been an anomaly in this business, for a lot of reasons," he says. "I only became a Republican in December after being a lifelong independent. I think the problem is that we just haven't been able to get many Republicans to obliterate the box they've been working in for years. But we have to understand what drives success. In some ways we continue to put the cart before the horse. Technology does not drive success. Message (especially a well crafted one) drives success."
The Right Dumps Carrie
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
Sarah Drops the Act
Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.
Palin's Gold Mine
Duff McDonald is a contributing editor at New York magazine and a former contributing editor at Condé Nast Portfolio. His book, Last Man Standing, about Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, was published by Simon & Schuster in October.
Do Sex Tapes Matter?
Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
Hillary and Sarah's Common Theme
Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
Joe's No Traitor
Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Meghan,
I agree with your premise about the internet and technology in general, however I think the comments touch on the core issue. You and other young "conservatives" have an uphill battle against the same OLD white males as the rest of the country. As a Libertarian I am missing more voices like yours, not these old guys hanging out with their mistress' talking about the sanctity of marriage, and praising GOD as they kill for oil and lie for profits.
The "party" needs to ditch these old guys, AND more people need to step up that are intelligent and political not reliqous. It definately does not help your cause that the "young republicans" are now tainted as racists because of what was done on the internet.
The Democrats are bumbling centrists, the Republicans are grumpy old white guys. That is why I remain a Libertarian. And sorry Palin was the nail in the coffin of why your dad, a man I respect, read all his books and followed closely and supported the year Bush was disgusting in his bid. That in itself sums up what is wrong with the republican party. It is not conservative principle, it is Republican Reliqous greed and power.
Sad, sad times of lies, deceit and ignorance on both the Rep and Dem side.
Meghan, a much better question to ask would be "Why don't old people get the internet?" I am 27 years old. I was born in the information age. I grew up with technology. Unless of course you believe that most Republicans are old people in their 60's or 70's like your father and are too stuck in their ways to learn about new technology, then it doesn't apply to the Party. Now, I also realize that I also brought up a sterotype that old people don't get the internet, but it seems to fit much better than republicans. Then 73 year old Ron Paul raised more than 4 million dollars in a single day. So no, your view on the Republican Party is entirely stereotypical.
Hey Meghan... Don't think me a complete jerk- I read your blog religiously during the campaign as part of my news intake, and I really liked it. You did indeed manage to put a human face on things. Something your post fails to address however-
Part of the reason why the Republicans SUCK at the internet is that when you get information to the people in a timely fashion, they see the real situation, and this is something Republicans in their current incarnation can't hope to win at. For every lie, deliberate misstatement, or downright hypocritical utterance from someone on your dads campaign, there was the immediate ability to call it out. That is the power of the internet... and that is why the Republicans suck at it. It calls them out.
The Democrats are bumbling fools when it comes to messaging. The fact that they managed to win the online war so thoroughly does indicate that the Republicans suck at the internet. However, its not a technology gap, its an idea gap... and until the Republicans learn to see the modern world for what it is, they will continue to "suck."
Perhaps having the gop nominee for pres completely clueless about how to even get on the internet wasn't a red flag to you Meghan?? For god sakes he's a US Senator and rich to boot but just too damn lazy to change with the world around him but yet we were suppose to elect this guy.
"I even included a playlist of my favorite songs. But often, I got the sense that people on the campaign thought I was wasting my time."
Does the first sentence not explain the second?
This user is no longer registered.
Actually, Meghan, the real issue about why young people don't join the Republican party is what they see of it in the media: lots of angry, old, white, ignorant, poorly educated people. The same people who screamed, "Terrorist! Kill him!" at your dad's rallies and would just spout Fox News lies about "palling around with terrorists" or say stuff on camera about Obama being a Muslim or him not being foreign or not "like us." Just take a look at the Republican National Convention (in comparison to the Democratic Convention) which was a lot of white, rural, southern, bible-beating, old people. The Democratic party is becoming younger, more diverse, better educated, and more urban with each year. The Republican party is committing demographic suicide.
Article is partly correct but I feel you are missing an important key maybe because you do not have the ability to view this as a true outsider. I reside in a suburb that was solid GOP in 1980 but is now very solid Democrat. This population is too old to be convinced by just SNL, too old to stay up and watch. The sites you plug here comfortably fall in line with what the current majority(or maybe noisy minority) GOP agrees.
Voter registrations revealed this cycle clearly indicate that something about the agenda is not appealing to a majority necessary to elect. Maybe this could partly be attibuted to SNL but then again we did nothing to nip this in the bud like clarifying the message then to disipate the Church Lady and the GOP connection. The American majority heartily embraces the separation of church and state but somehow we confused this with Patriotism. The election results too portrayed a frustrated GOP.
No doubt in 2007 & 2008, Republican's were techo clutzes. From my personal experiences, this also transends into the business world and may explain why the GOP has lost tremendous connections with various sectors of the US business world and the educated. Turning your back on technology at this late stage of the game also indicates excessive old money - how afterall could you run an organization today and not employ the productivity that technology brings. In most industries profit margins are so tight, digitizing is essential.
I was certain this 2008 bath would occur, I'm on the outside reporting in.
Meghan, Honey, it has become pretty apparent over the last eight years that Republicans not only don't get the internet, they don't get the economy, they don't get taking responsibility for their actions, they don't get critical thinking and they don't get having respect for others--even those who disagree with them.
What they do get is talking points, spewing dysfunctional right wing dogma, evangelicals, padding the pocketbooks of the rich, the joys of deregulation (a la Bernie Madoff) and pandering to the "base," which, thank God, seems to be rapidly shrinking.
Carouzer, you're pretty much spot on. No matter how intelligent and reasonable Miss McCain is, she just represent the typical out of touch Republican. They will have to wait a generation at least.
Keep at it, Meghan, you are a voice of reason that this democrat can at least stomach reading (unlike that awful Nicole Wallace whose snarkiness turns me off within two sentences)
@carouzer Truth is, neither party 'gets' the economy. You keep going on about deregulation when we've been engaging in an orgy of Keynesianism. Then the new administration prescribes more Keynesianism to get us out of the mess caused by Keynesianism.
You can't stimulate the economy by taking money from the economy and putting it back in the economy.
And it's rich you going on about "having respect for others - even those who disagree with them" when you disrespect the author by calling her honey.
The problem with the Republicans is that they don't get what the problem is.
It must be advertising and technology because people for some reason are not drawn to the party of racist fear-mongering, unlimited defense spending (for contractors and not the troops), religious fanatacism, neglect of the infrastructure, coddling of the obscenely rich. Anti-science, anti-freedom (unless you are rich or a corporation) anti-environment, pro-big oil, pro-torture and anti-middle and working class.
Your father was not a victim of the "liberal media" as you seem to think he was, he chose to embrace an immoral philosophy which he used to oppose and many people who used to respect him saw through the hypocrisy. It is pretty hard to watch someone who was a staunch opponent of torture suddenly embrace it with his other Republican opponents just so he can become president.
He sold out and leaned far right and embraced George Bush to get the nomination and, in doing so, lost the respect of a lot of objective, independent people. Give credit where credit is due, the Republicans earned their defeat through flawed philosophy, not flawed technology.
Just because you hang out a shingle doesn't mean people are going to flock to your site and love you.
Your big disadvantage (I think) was that your blog wasn't seen as being particularly relevant or useful. Your efforts were in the shadow of the senator's election run, but there was no reason to think the things you posted were representative of his views, or that comments would be fed back to him for consideration.
I submit you might not get it either, though you get it more than many others do. Pushing opinion, rather than encouraging dialogue, is a track often taken by conservatives and right-leaning people, many of whom either totally moderate comments -- even to the point of deleting dissenting views without discussion -- or not allowing comments at all.
But that's not how it works. Blogs are not declamatory platforms, and simply posting a playlist doesn't earn blogging plaudits or status. I don't think you quite understand that yet, and I'm proximally certain you're right that few others in the Republican party do either. They're too busy reviling, fearing and wanting to control the internet to try to actually use or understand it.
If you want an example of how a single individual can keep blogging real, personal, vital, active and meaningful, google Wil Wheaton sometime.
carouzer
Meghan, Honey, it has become pretty apparent over the last eight years that Republicans not only don't get the internet, they don't get the economy, they don't get taking responsibility for their actions, they don't get critical thinking and they don't get having respect for others--even those who disagree with them.
What they do get is talking points, spewing dysfunctional right wing dogma, evangelicals, padding the pocketbooks of the rich, the joys of deregulation (a la Bernie Madoff) and pandering to the "base," which, thank God, seems to be rapidly shrinking.
Nice post. Did you read you "respectful comments" before you posted them? More importantly do you know anything about economics other than what you are told? I didn't think so. There is a lot more to the problems here than the last 8 years but I don't want to confuse you with the truth.
Meghan Mccain, despite the fact that I dissagree with most of what the Republican party stands for, I still think you look stunningly beautiful in your little square box pic at the top left corner of this page. Please consider becoming an independent again. Maybe we can hook up.
Servius, at the end of the day, stimulus funding isn't taken from our economy but rather is bankrolled by the Chinese (among others) via the sale of Treasury bills and other government debt instruments. The only portion that is immediately "taken" from the economy is the interest on those bills, which can be deferred by the issuing of more bills, ad infinitum - so long as other countries are willing to fund our debt.
This situation is of course a problem in its own right, but the premise that stimulus removes money from the current economy simple isn't true. In fact, because stimulus funding doesn't have to be supported from current tax revenue, its positive effects now on a faltering economy should more than outweight its future costs in a more robust economy that it would hopefully foster.
@Servius
Kudos, mate.
----------
Ms. McCain, Republicans these days have nothing to do with Jefferson. Or Friedman. They are quite the opposite of both. Which means they're crap. So they're ideologically bankrupt and completely disconnected from both new ideas and old traditions. They are a homogeneous mass of bumper sticker slogans and feeble bluster.
While it's not affiliated with the GOP, the #dontgo movement (www.dontgomovement.com) is a great example of conservatives and libertarians getting a strong handle on the use of the internet to promote grassroots activism. There's also the brand new RFC Radio (www.rfcradio.com) which combines free-market, liberty-oriented thought with popular music and culture. The right won't remain in the internet wilderness forever, and the Democrats deny that at their own peril.
"Message (especially a well crafted one) drives success."
Bingo. in 2008 the gop didn't have a well-crafted message and the Ds did. That says it all.
@PurpleHerman When government spends money it must raise the money from somewhere.
If by taxes, it removes the money directly from the producers which stifles the economy.
If by borrowing, it competes for capital with the producers raising their costs and stifling the economy. Even if the money comes from China.
If by printing the money, it devalues the money used to acquire capital which stifles the economy.
Furthermore, the debt that's piled up must be paid back by raising taxes, borrowing, or printing money which stifles the economy in the future. Besides, after taking the money from the producers government then uses it to bid capital away from the producers once again stifling the economy.
As they say, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch."
@picopallasi, thanks.
Greetings, Ms. McCain, it's a pleasure to read your Post. [just wanted to put some distance between me and the 'Honey' guy or gal, up there...]
imho, as long as the GOP gathers around hate, they can have Ethernet cables up the wahzoo and they still won't explode onto the Web. The free exchange of ideas on the Web requires a tolerance simply not demonstrated by the majority of die-hard Republicans. Just as the twit-tweet example about the person on the tarmac, when new technology provides an avenue for the same ol' thing, it does not 'spread' online. The online audience for GOP misinformation ("a true bipartisan Stimulus Bill would mean half Republican"), self-righteous opinions ("support everything we say or you're not patriotic"), and insults ("he's a Muslim - kill him!") resides on hate-sites which are and will always be on the fringe of the Web. Novelty is self-generating online, but novelty is the enemy of the conformism and the restricted thinking that is demanded by the rigid neo-cons. It's the thoughtful conservatives who ran over to Obama - those in march-step were busy agreeing with each other and hating everyone else.
And look at Steele - we all looked him over, hoping he might bring a fresh start to the GOP, and what does he do? He begins with a cheap put-down (the Stimulus Bill's Bling).
As long as the message is negative, it will never sustain enough continued interest to go viral. When Limbaugh /O-Reilly /Hannity /[hater's name goes here] lose their grip on the Party, the GOP might have a chance. When Statesmen and women lead the GOP with respect for the other sides, then their message will burst the seams of any media available, including online.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Someone asked the question on RedState recently about how the GOP can use the Internet more effectively, but I think that's the wrong question. We learned with eCommerce 1.0 that the Internet is not the end, but a new means to an end. We need to redefine what our "end" is and leverage all tools to get there. I think the GOP's "end" has been a segmented strategy that left out young folks and Blue States, hence no need to focus on new technologies. Now the GOP needs a 50-state strategy, so this question is coming to the fore. But to Meghan's point, let's not embrace Technology A and try to jam it into a campaign like Twitter. Instead let's set goals around aspects of campaigning, measure them, and then find ways to improve.
@like-mind Who's gathering around hate? Who spent 8 years calling President Bush a chimp? Who is hunting people who supported Proposition 8 in California? Who threw cement bags at buses at the other party's convention?
You're own post decrying negativity and crying for tolerance was intolerant and full of name calling. "GOP misinformation ... self-righteous opinions ... he's a Muslim - kill him! ... hate sites ...". If you want a real hate site check out Kos or DU. If you want reason and thoughtfulness come have a discussion at #tcot and check the snarkiness at the door.
Great article Meghan :) Ron Paul is a good example of taking the internet as far as it can go; I'm glad you mentioned it.
I am in the 18 -30 year old demographic and a former Republican. I do not think the internet was the problem it is the party. It is a party of old white men who reached where ther are through Nepotism.
The party does not seem inclusive and as a Hispanic do not feel comfortable. It has nothing to do with illegal immigration because I was STRONGLY against your fathers Amnesty Bill. At any rate it seem slike the party is made up of out of touch old white men and "red necks".
I went to one McCain/Palin event and left because it felt like a a Klan rally. It is inevitable that the GOP, as it is, will cease to exist, just on demographics alone which is sad because most blacks and hispanics share alot of their values, Abortion, Marriage, No Amnesty...
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.
Please log in to leave comments.