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Yikes, What Does the GOP Do Now?
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As the GOP's troubles escalate into panic with no sign of a turnaround on the horizon, Daily Beast contributors weigh in on what it will take to rebuild the party.
David Frum, editor, NewMajority.com
What the GOP needs to do immediately is simpler than what it needs to do in the long term. What it needs to do immediately is to hold together what remains of the Republican caucus in the Senate by allowing some leeway to Republican senators who have to represent more liberal states. For sure, we need to see an end to this unproductive tactic of running primary challenges against Republican incumbents in liberal districts. There’s an example of this in three cycles: Joe Schwarz in Michigan; Wayne Gilchrest in Maryland; and now Arlen Specter. It’s really easy to defeat a moderate incumbent in a Republican primary. In the first two cases, the more conservative replacement went on to lose the general election, and I don’t think many people are holding much hope that the person who replaces Arlen Specter will do well in 2010.
Over the longer term, it needs to retool itself so it can become competitive in the Northeast, Midwest, and California. In my view, that means four things: 1) a more-relevant economic message with health care at its core; 2) an environmental policy based on science; 3) a softer tone on social issues; 4) a renewed emphasis on competence in government.
There are people in the party who are pointing in this direction, most notably Gov. [Jon] Huntsman of Utah. It’s not a message the party wants to hear right this moment, but I think it’s the direction we will see the party taking.
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
Republicans should stop thinking about the Republican Party and focus on thinking about America. If Republicans focus on developing and clearly communicating better solutions than the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Democrats, than the country will take care of solving the Republicans’ electoral woes.
Mark McKinnon, former media adviser to President Bush and Daily Beast columnist
Eight years ago, the question was “How to Save the Democrats?” They were in the desert without water. There was talk of GOP domination for decades ahead. The media sounded the funeral dirge and the Democrats formed circular firing squads. The fun and interesting thing about politics is that it is unpredictable. Conventional wisdom gets turned on its ear. Shit happens. And it happens more and more. And faster and faster. The party in power has to take responsibility for events in an increasingly complex and dangerous world. And support will erode. The party out of power, the GOP in this instance, just has to be opportunistic and smart. And needs new leadership. More woman, more Hispanics, more African American, more diversity generally. And immigrant, environmental, and gay-friendly policies.
Nicolle Wallace, White House communications director under President Bush and Daily Beast columnist
The Republican Party needs to relax and take one day at a time. We have plenty of time to pull ourselves together and get behind a few effective messengers and leaders to the party. All the handwringing is counterproductive.
Republicans always worry. I think any Republican telling the truth would say they’re still worried, but what’s happening is Michael Steele goes out and there’s a lot of finger-pointing. We spend all of our time in a circular firing squad. It would be more productive to get behind Michael Steele.
Also, I think we should keep it simple. I think at its core, it’s a party about freedom and advancing freedoms and individual freedoms and smaller governments, and I think all those discussions and debates are relevant, particularly if we’re going to have a Supreme Court battle.
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Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.
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All pundit wisdom aside, here's the real problem with the GOP: I don't believe any of you speaking here.
Example: Nicole Wallace says The GOP is about "freedom and advancing freedoms and individual freedoms and smaller governments."
How does she say that with a straight face?
The GOP has been about larger, more interventionist government; colonialism and a dramatically expanded military presence throughout the world; enforced religious points of view and exclusion of non-Christian thought, particularly hatred toward Eastern faiths (or, really, any non-Western faith); a pseudo-moralistic enforced definition of social standards; a de-constructionist view of the Constitution ("Constructionists" my butt); a regressive and politically charged activism toward the Judiciary; and, perhaps more important, a newly established tradition of saying the opposite of doing, as if words could somehow gloss over what's real.
There's not a single person commenting here who has any intellectual, political or social integrity. Maybe they actually believe this nonsense. Maybe they have lived so long in the art of BS that they can no longer differentiate between "truth" and the stuff they spout in the public realm.
But the heart of the growing problem with the GOP is simple. It's no longer a party of truth or values; it's a party of idle slogans.
I completely agree with almost everything you said here. But, to play devil's advocate, are the Democrats generally much better at avoiding "idle slogans"? I think part of the problem with the GOP is that they are not doing anything inparticular that most every politician doesn't, it's just that they are doing it to a gross extreme and in a direction that American no longer has a taste for.
For example, I think that Nicole Wallace (though I personally think she is an insufferable idiotic hyprocrit) is right in saying that she and most other Republicans believe that smaller government, fiscal responsibility, and "freedom" (whatever the hell that really means) are priorities for the party. However, when the elected officials get in, or the pundits start talking, they throw that base of opinion out the window and focus on pointless social issues that get them riled up, focus on delaying whatever they don't absolutely agree with, blindly follow party, and in the end completely ignore whatever their original purpose was. This shifting focus is a typical human fault, but it has reached a level and direction in the GOP that is completely unacceptable.
I personally feel that it is really a sympton of poor education and ignorance. A calm, educated person will never get as fired up and obstinate over certain issues as some Republican pundits (and representatives) seem to get. Which is why America fell so in love with Obama. So Republicans, take a hint from Obama. Remain calm, coherent, and intelligent, stop mudslinging, offer alternate ideas rather than just bashing others', and focus on aspects of your party that appeal to most Americans, and let the other aspects rot away and die. Reading that again, that's not "acting like Obama," that's just common sense.
That being said, I kind of hope the GOP dies.
I agree with what is written here.
The rather superficial view from my armchair:
--a lot of 'yesterdays' people--old white men and women trying hard to look with-it and modern
--most show righteous indignation over simply every little thing
--people who feel they have the right to dictate our morals,our freedoms, our beliefs--in general they feel they have a right to tell us how to raise our children,how to live and how to die.
--you can easily identify them in a crowd--standing stiffly upright,not a hair out of place,slicked down tightly with a well defined part, lips compressed into a thin line of judgement and disapproval.
--they feel they have a right to be 'in our bedrooms'--no freedom of choice here..no birth control,no abortions,no same sex,etc.etc.
--they are a political party that do not do as they say.
--they created a massive debt and expanded government
--they tried to remove support programs and privatize others irregardless of the needs of the majority of american citizens
--they promote racial divides
--Rush Limbaugh. Fox.
--the rich did get richer under deregulation--now everyone has to tighten their belts very tight and pay for years and years to 'right the ship' while the favored few jet off to vacationland to enjoy their ill-gotten gains [and bonuses].
--Grande Old Party ? No..they are not. They should be called Republicans--for that is what they are.
--I don't see them renewing their party anytime soon. They actually don't seem to know how--they seem lost and confused.
--clearly an effective opposition party is needed for good government and they need to learn how to become a little more bipartisan to be effective. Not everything has to be a fight to the death.
Irregardless is not a word. -5
Regardless means "without regard." "Irregardless," then, is a nonsensical double-negative.
You are correct. The current party lives in some sort of alternate universe and has no grip on reality. The internet is proving to be their demise and anyone who can use "the googles" can find error in most everything they claim.
Maybe, just maybe, if they returned to having an honest debate about ideas rather than perpetuating fallacies and half-truths, people would take their positions with more than a grain of salt.
Well stated. Completely agree. The GOP doesn't try to have any real progress. The GOP try to argue over petty things so nothing gets done when they are not in power, and when they are in power they try to talk about petty things to hide what they are really doing.
Ha! The Republican commentators for this article: white man, white man, white man, white woman, white woman, white woman, minority, white man, white man, white man.
Yep, that about sums up the party.
Blacks vote 95 percent for Democrats because it's the party of welfare paternalism and wealth redistribution. The Republicans couldn't make inroads in that community without surrendering certain beliefs, including in smaller government -- yes, Dubya betrayed that principle as well as many others -- and lower taxes. Look at what Democrats have done to California for a preview of what's in store for the rest of the country. The Latino vote will migrate naturally to the GOP in time because they are also opposed to illegal immigration, believe in hard work and family values.
"Blacks vote 95 percent for Democrats because it's the party of welfare paternalism and wealth redistribution."
Since when did all black people end up on welfare? I'm certainly not. And how many white people are on welfare? Numbers wise, I'm absolutely sure there are more white people benefiting from government assistance (considering you all still outnumber everyone else).
Black people vote Democratic because of their views on Civil Rights, the party shifts of the 60s, and the overall makeup of the party.
Banjo1, you are exactly the reason most black people don't vote Republican. You are an ignorant, arrogant, white male who represents the Republican Party. Black people really don't like ignorant, arrogant, white males. We kinda have a sordid history.
Exactly! I'm a white woman but I've known for years that the largest group on welfare is white.
VCU:
You're absolutely right and I'm white.
And I'm guessing you're implying that black people will forever vote in a bloc, but the Republican party won't get our votes because we support illegal immigration and don't believe in hard work?
Excuse me, but I'm sure I remember something about us being brought here (illegally and immorally), and we built this country by the hard labor of our backs and the sweat of our brow...literally.
OK Banjo, I think I have you figured out. Your'e just stirring the pot. Right??You make extreme, obtuse, and closed-minded statements just to inflame and provoke the liberal left. You don't really believe these absurd diatribes. You just take pleasure in aggravating others. This must be the case. Otherwise, one could only come to the conclusion that you're a disconnected, live-in-the-basement-of-your-mothers-home, Rush-listening, white, dillusional buffoon. One way or the other, I've got you figured out Banjo.
....and no, I'm not a Democrat
Oh dear, time to put the banjo down, turn off Glenn Beck and go check 'the google'. Your ignorance of facts dovetails nicely with your latent racism.
WOW Mr Banjo.....Blacks are misrepresented at the top...been that way for ever, conversely, basic math tells you that whites MUST be misrepresented at the bottom (i.e. check the statistical disproportion in states like W. Virgina in regards to welfare) - bottom line.....The one key factor the GOP fails to reconcile it self with....the majority of African Americans (note the trite pumped in hourly by the "news") hold and live by the principles that party claims to value...so wake the hell up and get competitive again.
I don't have
Anything to add
Banjo-
I just wanted to
Hop on the
Diss train.
its also the party of David Dukes, and a southern strategy orchestrated by Kevin Phillips to flip the southern democrat to republican.
"In American politics, the Southern strategy refers to a Republican method of winning Southern states in the latter decades of the 20th century and first decade of the 21st century by exploiting racism among white voters".
Voters who now resemble the last girl in the parking lot, after last call at the bar, that you couldn't possibly bring home or explain to your parents.
And welfare my friend, is not the result of paternalism; it's the best of what can seldom be glimpsed in you or me or most knuckleheads I know, and when seen, it is most often the result of -- maternalism.
Nicholle Wallace
All the good ideas
Always seem to come
From you.
Get behind
Michael Steele.
Single file or
How about a
Conga line.
Right now Nicole Wallace - most of the GOP gets it, unlike bluedog dems;
"we should keep it simple. I think at its core, it's a party about freedom and advancing freedoms and individual freedoms and smaller governments, and I think all those discussions and debates are relevant, particularly if we're going to have a Supreme Court battle."
I think the problem w the dems, is someone forgot to tell them the Conga line dance is over. Ooops. Really?
If your party is about freedom how come to want to take away the "freedom to have an abortion, or the freedom for gay people to marry?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????/
Nichole Wallace sez, through her lying teeth:
Also, I think we should keep it simple. I think at its core, it's a party about freedom and advancing freedoms and individual freedoms and smaller governments
...then WHY does the Republican party want to dictate to ME regarding my body? They WHY does the Republican party elect someone who signs the biggest government entitlement in history with the Medicade Drug Act? Then WHY does MY party put up a KNOWN Liar for VP during the most important election year in my lifetime? Then WHY does the GOP let people like Rush Limpdong become the defacto face of the GOP when he has been married 3 times, been charged with drug charges, been in rehab for drug abuse and is a known racist?
Until you can answer these Ms. Wallace? who by the way kept quiet while her bosses broke law after law after law in this country, then go dribble your spittle down your chin somewhere else.
Republicans are on a listening tour. Really? Or is this a rehabilitation tour? Either way, they don't really see or hear very well. I have voted republican since 1974 until this election and they lost six votes in my household. The reason? They defend the 5% of the welthiest, who will pay a slightly greater taxe rate, while my young adult children work hourly as permanent part-timers while their employers avoid offering benefits. This trend has been going on for quite some time. Republicans will never address this issue. They prefer to villify the working poor. Until they really feel empathy, they will keep sounding like the teacher's voice on the Peanuts cartoons...waw waw waw. No one is listening to them..
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Wow, I am going to quit reading this kind of thing. We hear this all the time, nothing new ever seems to be injected. It sounds like a management book: "pay attention to the core ideas".
Heck, I think republicans DO need to soul search, but it isn't like they're going to listen to me.
Also, that Wallace woman needs to change her picture. She looks like a child on a trampoline.
Wow!!!! What brilliant ideas!!!.
Grover Norquist has equated the Killing of Jews to taxation... ( Listen to his interview with Terry Gross ).
Newt only has an idea long enough to get him into the spotlight.
So the talk is of Rebranding, I.E. repackaging, I.E. sugar coating the G.O.P., back to life, good luck...
What the Democrats went through and what the G.O.P. is going through now is different. The corruption and lying that has gone on in the last 8 years will take along time to erase, this economic mess and two wars was pushed like a pimp pushing drugs on a street corner by the brilliant mind trust of Rove and Co..
In one of the most important elections in decades the G.O.P. inserts a bumbling fool for VP. Drug addicted, lying, Rush Limbaugh is the undisputed "Leader" of the party, you have whack jobs like Michelle Bachman, Anne Coulter, Bill O Riley, Glen Beck etc etc etc.. This is what the party is defined by, vile, racist thugs.
Until the party can act like real human beings and accept that the country is NOT right of center, that is is a lot more grey, then and only then will the G.O.P. become remotely viable in the future.
Smaller government to a Conservative is tax breaks to the wealthy, whether or not that it snoops on your phone conversations, tells you who you can marry, tortures, tells you what to do with your body,
Sorry folks, you have your work cut out for you and don't forget, not only did Obama win the US OF A but he also has the RESPECT of the rest of the world and that you cannot buy with cheap slogans...
muddog, you are ON it! Proud to share your surname...
I haven't heard the Terry Gross interview w/ Norquist yet, but I'm going to be looking for it.
Grover (who the hell is named "Grover" these days?) Norquist is a no-neck monster, and is one of the coldest sunsabitches I've ever seen.
Since 1964 I have been reading about the anticipated death of one party or another, and I have always taken such predictions with a grain of salt. But this time might be different. As the GOP bleeds moderate Republicans, the party becomes ever more ideologically pure and ever more hostile to people who have any difference of opinion with Limbaugh, Hannity, or Glen Beck. I do not see how this group will ever appeal, or even want to appeal, to the majority of people who are not true believers.
I agree... I was one of those moderates who took a lifeboat because a plague hit the island. Has anyone ever read the book "The Wave"....
Got some insight into what's fundamentally wrong with the GOP when I took Morton Blackwell's campaign management course at the Leadership Institute. Taught by top level political operatives the underlying message was voters are fools who can be easily manipulated by campaign trickery. Came away with a sick feeling the Republican Party stood for absolutely nothing and would stoop to anything to win.
It's astounding that the GOP has let the Club for antiGrowth march through the US on its mission to extinguish appealing Republican representation.
If the report card for their efforts isn't enough to convince the base that purity isn't a valid strategy - clearly someone in the leadership circle should intervene before many more defect and leave the rest to sip the Guyana punch.
Another thing they could try? When Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush go on their next "Listening Tour," maybe they could actually try, I don't know, listening?
I know politics is cyclical, but I don't believe that the democrats returning to power is just a trend. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that there is a cultural shift going on in america right now, and, quite frankly, republicans just don't fit into it.
Furthermore, most of these "ideas" just involve republicans adopting democratic policies towards hot issues. If we all know what has to be done, then why do we have to split into stupid parties?
I really don't care what "club" you belong to, just try to work for the little guy. Republicans do not. The only way I can see them coming back to power is if we all wake up one day as wealthy middle- aged white guys.
Also, all of these ideas are super lame and boring. There is absolutely nothing concrete or exciting about any of this.
doko-
Your first
Paragraph is
The essence of
All that's being
Said here.
Right to the heart
Of the issue.
Ms. Wallace,
"One day at a time" is a classic addict's mantra. We just spent 8 years at the whims of a Born-Again recovering addict, so spare us. We're off the dope.
You want calm? How about a brilliant President who listens to both sides and to the people instead of a self-righteous frat boy paying heed to the gasses in his head as some 'higher power'? That will make us calm. Watch and learn.
Amen and hallelujah, Caradog! Nice to see that a lot of people commenting today seem to "get it." Well put!!
I agree with the majority of the posters here. If the GOP doesn't head to the center... it's going to die. The more right it swings... the more moderates it will lose. Even a good spouse will leave you if you abuse them long enough.
I'm so sick of one issue voters.
The Republican party needs an intervention, the true believers are in purge mode, only big election losses will force a change and even that might not do it.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Yeah, I got that impression too. I feel almost dirty agreeing with Gingrich...
Bobby Jindal is a very compelling
figure who could represent and lead
conservatives, minus the republicans
politicians who are disingenuous traitors to
less government.
If he could only lose that awkward dorky
body language he might get somewhere.
He needs to do a lot of work on personality
because he's no match for
Barack Obama's charisma.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
sophia-
Your comment
Is a perfect illustration
Of the GOP's problem.
You still think it's
How he says it.
Not
What he's saying.
When sophia?
When?
Ritarita-
Maybe never.
Jindal has a message about smaller government,
but who's going to buy any republican
message at this point when Republicans
have betrayed the concept of conservative spending,
wasting so many taxpayer dollars for
wasteful pet projects.
Let's be honest, we live in a 24/7
media culture and image is important,
and Jindal is an awkward unpolished guy.
Very smart, but very awkward.
Whereas Obama is brilliant, charismatic
and telegenic, a hard combination
to beat.
I live here in The Banana Republic (Louisiana), and I'm here to tell you that Bobby Jindal is not a compelling figure. He's a secretive little opportunist who got his start as a policy wonk.
As I've said before, if his Mom & Dad had wound up in Connecticut instead of Louisiana when they emigrated from India, he would have eventually emerged in tweeds and leather elbow patches with the name "Schuyler" with a membership in the Unitarian Church.
I'd love to hear the Repub-Nabobs diatribe against becoming moderate and accepting. Fox Noise in general, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, in particular, all froth at the mouth against moderation and acceptance. If the GOP wants to see a change, then they need to tell their cultural ring-leaders to sing a different tune/ haha like that's ever going to happen. Revving-up the 'hate-reponse' in their audience is what grabs ratings for these disgusting pigs. How many Conservative people are going to tune to a radio or TV show that spouts moderation? hahaha nobody.
What a bunch of losers. Oh, and to the toothless banjo player who left the racist comment about welfare. Did you know that more whites are on welfare than blacks? Of course, if you knew that blacks only make up 13% of the population, you may have been able to do the math. It's ignorant people like you and that dead party you clearly represent that will keep you wingnuts in the "wilderness" as Rachel Maddow puts it for years to come. The idea here is not to parrot what the Demacrats are saying. We all already know what the Republican Party principals are. This is why we find them so distasteful. They couldn't car less about those who are less fortunate. So no matter how much they pretend to give a dam what America is thinking, their only real interest is in saying what they think we want to hear long enough to vote for them again. It's not going to happen. Get used to irrelavancy. The Republicans are DEAD!
like-mind is so right. One of the strongest wings of their party is the Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh fox noise wing. These disturbed lunatics are what scares away independents. Keep up the good work losers. We Dems are really enjoying watching you losers squirm.
"For sure, we need to see an end to this unproductive tactic of running primary challenges against Republican incumbents in liberal districts."-David Frum
There you have it in a nutshell. This crap about ideological purity the GOP is so crazy about. They seem to have reduced party membership to this litmus test and that has completely driven away the center-right. I know Massachusetts Republicans who are feeling awfully lonely and left out.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
The problem on both sides is it is always the same tired old hacks. I was dying laughing this morning on two counts. They had Jeb Bush "listening". Jeb, listen to this: Get the hell out. I have a better chance of winning than a third Bush. Then, I almost fell off my elliptical machine when I saw Obama come out and talk about tax cheats after being introduced by Geithner.
Any artifact Repbulican is going to get smeared with Bush and in a couple of years there won't be many Dems who will admit they ever knew Obama. We need new blood in both parties.
Thank you.
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