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Political Hay
Navel Gazing for the GOP
What the RNC’s autopsy gets right and wrong.
The GOP lost the 2012 election, and in the bleak December that followed, the Republican National Committee decided to figure out why. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus saw off an expedition force of operatives, dubbed the Growth and Opportunity Project, to speak with Republicans and determine the source of their discontent. Among the 2,600 people they interviewed were consultants, pollsters, elected officials, and even voters, which compelled these modern-day Lewises and Clarks to venture outside Washington. In the end, the explorers returned to the Beltway with 219 recommendations and two reported cases of cholera. These findings, called an “autopsy” by Priebus, were released earlier this week.
It’s tempting to ascribe value to their report based on its size alone: 219 recommendations! But a closer examination of the prescriptions shows a lot of bureaucratic bumbling — lots of listening sessions and new councils and minority group committees. Anyone searching for meat will have to chew through a lot of fat first.
But that’s not to say the report doesn’t make substantive points. There’s an underlying argument being made by the Growth and Opportunity Project, however myopically and clumsily. Much of it is wrong, with a few bright spots sprinkled in. Let’s take a look at both the bad and the good.
THE BAD
Where in the world is Mitt Romney?
The report contains a brief section on candidate recruitment. But it fails to address the single most important reason that the Republican Party lost in 2012: Willard Mitt Romney. According to the Real Clear Politics poll averages, Romney consistently ran 1-6 points behind Obama in the polls from the day he secured the nomination, and caught up only briefly after his stunning debate performance in October. Voters just didn’t like our guy, as evidenced by his stagnant approval ratings throughout the campaign.
The comfortable explanations — that Romney lost because of Todd Akin or his notorious 47% comment — don’t hold water when you look at the data. But the RNC’s autopsy never engages in a serious analysis of Romney’s flaws; in fact, Romney is barely mentioned in the report at all.
Governors vs. everyone else
“The GOP today is a tale of two parties,” the report declares. “One of them, the gubernatorial wing, is growing and successful. The other, the federal wing, is increasingly marginalizing itself.”
But really, what are the differences between Republican governors and Republican members of Congress, other than Republican governors have been politically successful? If anything, conservative governors like Scott Walker and John Kasich have made more risky and potentially marginalizing decisions than Congress, loudly taking on labor unions and making painful budget cuts.
The report calls GOP governors “America’s reformers in chief” who show the need to “modernize the Party.” But it’s difficult to think of a big decision made by a Republican governor that hasn’t been on the conservative radar screen for a long time. GOP governors succeeded by applying long-held principles, not by throwing those principles overboard in the name of modernity.
Young voters and social issues
Naturally the Growth and Opportunity Project is worried about losing young voters. But its recommendations for connecting with today’s youth are both shallow (“Establish an RNC Celebrity Task Force”!) and shortsightedly focused on social issues.
That isn’t to say that social issues aren’t a factor. I was shocked by how many of my young friends fell into Obama’s lap after his transparently opportunistic flip-flop on gay marriage last year. But the overall picture is much bigger and includes two topics that the report doesn’t address: foreign policy and national debt.
We may be three months into Obama’s second term, but for the young, Iraq still matters. As Daniel Larison convincingly argues, “The [Iraq] war was instrumental in driving younger voters away from the GOP and into the Democratic coalition in 2006 and 2008, and most of them have remained there since then.” Rand Paul’s recent filibuster, which energized young people across the spectrum, demonstrates that war and civil liberties issues can have a galvanizing effect on Millennials. If the GOP wants to win young voters, part of the solution will be coming to terms with the Bush Administration’s foreign policy.
About the Author
Matt Purple is The American Spectator’s assistant managing editor.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (104) | Leave a comment
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Von Mises Jr| 3.20.13 @ 6:32AM
The report was probably organized and written by Karl Rove and Bill Kristol. It should be called the "GOP Surrender Document" and the theme song should be “Fifty Ways to leave your Voters."
Let's face it, Rove and Kristol are just mad because Obama and Reid became the dictators and their team didn't. We now have two Parties in DC: The corrupt "crony capitalist" dictatorship and the "how the hell did we lose our cronies to those guys" Party of the inept.
Rand Paul electrified the youth on Twitter with his Filibuster and Ted Cruz mesmerized the nation with his hard and direct questions in the Senate Hearings. But let's not try any more of that!
Jack in Wi| 3.20.13 @ 7:11AM
Amen to Matt Purple, Von Mises, and Miss Appleby, excellent comments. I have nothing to add today.
Doctor Right| 3.20.13 @ 9:14AM
Thank God.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.20.13 @ 10:33AM
Dittos
Quartermaster| 3.20.13 @ 9:29PM
Now if we could get you two morons to shut up, all would just be peachy.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.20.13 @ 11:57PM
So you think the anti-Semite Jackboot should have a free hand to spout his poison?
Mike W| 3.20.13 @ 8:14AM
Rand came in favor of amnesty yesterday. He even spoke half of his speech in Spanish. Perhaps there is a method to his madness but right now it looks adios to Rand. Support for amnesty is simply not acceptable for any Republican that wants to preserve his party and his country.
And, this little man that now heads the RNC does nothing to inspire confidence.
JimH| 3.20.13 @ 9:28AM
Is anything short of deportation to be labled amnesty?
loulou| 3.20.13 @ 9:29AM
What a loose cannon Rand Paul is! Buh-bye.
Derek Leaberry| 3.20.13 @ 10:45AM
Rand Paul, like his father, is a libertarian and not a conservative. That makes them three-quarters right and one-quarter wrong, more or less. Libertarians are cultural nihilists and economic utilitarians. The Pauls come down on the wrong side of immigration because a libertarian does not believe in borders or organic nations, counties, towns or neighborhoods. For instance, if 50,000 Mexicans plopped down in a chicken -processing town on Maryland's Eastern Shore and radically altered the traditional spirit of the town, that would be a good thing in the libertarian's mind because the economic value of the town would have more utility. Libertarians have no natural roots and for that I feel sorry for them.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.20.13 @ 11:21AM
Well said....
PolishKnight| 3.20.13 @ 10:49AM
I've had an epiphany about amnesty recently. Many of the same Republicans here who oppose amnesty love the idea of handing over all of our high tech jobs to H1B's with fake diplomas from India and China who will quickly get citizenship and later vote Democrat because of race entitlements.
Simultaneously, Republicans here hate the idea of a minimum wage and work conditions beyond what's in India and China for workers in private industry. This drives the "Hank Hills" to wonder whether Republicans have concern for their interests. Yes, I know the left plays on the "politicians who care" nonsense too much, but the basic reason we go to the polls is to vote for a candidate who protects our interests.
Yes, it's fun to worship the Constitution but that's little better than worshiping a copy of Das Kapital. Politics is about PEOPLE and both churches seem to have forgotten that. The left only cares about buying voters for their cronies by feeding them other voters and the right seems to care only about their cronies.
Here's our future free market capitalist paradise. Enjoy: tinyurl.com/d2mbmje
Quartermaster| 3.20.13 @ 9:31PM
H1Bs are a bad idea in the first place. There are many Tech types that have been displaced by H1Bs who aren't treated much better than illegals.
Connection Not Compromise| 3.20.13 @ 12:37PM
Yes, Mike W, I agree. Amnesty is not acceptable!
However, to Rand's larger point, we Conservatives need to start having a conversation about the Mexican immigrants that are in this country and still coming over our borders.
As an American living in a state that saw heavy immigration during the last decade, I have several perspectives on this:
1) We need to be careful not to lump all Hispanic immigrants into the "taker" group. Yes, many are here to mooch off the system. At the same time, just as many are hard working and perform heavy manual labor jobs for very little money.
2) It isn't true that all Hispanics don't want to assimilate. Yes, some want to create a "little Mexico" right here. At the same time, there are just as many who want to assimilate. Unfortunately, this has been severely hampered by the zealots in the teacher education programs of OUR own universities who have used our Federal tax dollars to spread their Gospel that America is Evil and that it is cruel to make Hispanic children assimilate and learn English. Until just recently, school districts in our state that subscribed to this multicultural philosophy railroaded Hispanic children into low quality bilingual and segregated Spanish speaker classrooms even AGAINST their parents wishes. (Many wanted their children learning English.) The result was the creation of a generation of Mexican immigrants who are neither literate in their native language or that of their adopted country-- new Takers.
Connection Not Compromise| 3.20.13 @ 12:39PM
So what is to be done about this problem?
We as Conservatives need to actively dialogue through this question and then clearly articulate our position: Is the problem with Hispanic immigrants 1) that they are coming into our country to work and provide for their families or 2) that these people who are now in our country working illegally want citizenship with all its associated rights and social welfare benefits.
America is the land of opportunity. At some point, unless we trace our roots back to the Indian tribes or original colonists, each of our ancestors came to this country as an immigrant (hopefully legal) seeking freedom and/or a better way of life. What made immigration different back then was that there was NO government welfare safety net. Immigrants made it on their own with the help of previous immigrants or private groups who offered charity. Without Social Security, stolen identity just wasn't an issue. Without Medicare and Medicaid, mooching off the system just wasn't possible.
Connection Not Compromise| 3.20.13 @ 12:45PM
So as it comes to the Amnesty debate in Congress, perhaps our GOP congressmen and women should take a bold approach to the bargain. Here it is:
We believe that America is the land of opportunity. As such we will allow Mexican immigrants to come over the border as legal guest workers who can work down a pathway toward legal citizenship. One of the requirements for obtaining legal citizenship will be the ability to read and speak English.
However, we will make this concession in exchange for and ONLY after the following have happened:
1) Medicaid and all Federal welfare programs will be defunded immediately. If the states want to take on their cost and maintenance so be it; that choice belongs to the states.
2) Medicare for all those 55 and under will stop immediately. Those 55 and over will be given the option of remaining in the system or not.
3) Obamacare will be defunded immediately.
4) Social Security for those 50 and under will stop immediately. Those currently receiving social security benefits will continue to do so at their current level. For those over 50 but not yet receiving benefits, the amount received at retirement age will be prorated. (Most companies have already gone through processes to dismantle their pension systems.)
Connection Not Compromise| 3.20.13 @ 12:48PM
--Continued--
5) English will be the official language of the Federal government. As such, all documents and phone conversations will be available only in English. States may provide state documents and phone calls in other languages; that choice belongs to the states.
6) Children born to legal guest workers will remain legal guest workers. They will have to go through the same process as their parents to become legal citizens.
By dismantling the Federal entitlement web, not only will we shrink our Federal government, but we may also take care of a large part of the immigrant problem. Those who continue to come will be incentivized to come for the right reasons-- a better life for themselves and their children.
GobBluthe| 3.20.13 @ 12:51PM
I didnt realize a Sen from KY knew spanish that well.
Derek Leaberry| 3.20.13 @ 1:02PM
Rand Paul grew up in southeast Texas.
AlanAnti-RoveCheneyBrooks | 3.20.13 @ 11:51AM
"Rand came in favor of amnesty yesterday"
I wish Jack in Wi. would add something on this today. 'Course, Rand Paul can be inconsistent, politicians often are-- yet so can the rest of us; so can anyone in the Kennedy clan; anybody.
At any rate, Paul has a v. low chance of ever being president.. even Palin has better odds: remember: Palin made it to a veep candidacy-- Rand Paul has not.
Appleby| 3.20.13 @ 6:43AM
The first point was the salient point: WE DID NOT LIKE MITT ROMNEY. Despite the howls of people who demanded that we support him no matter what he believed or what he said he'd do, else we were not worthy to continue to live in this world, a very large percentage of us simply didn't want to vote for an East Coast Liberal masquerading as a Republican. And guess what? If you shove another one of these guys in our faces next time, we won't vote for him either. Read our Lips. Send us a candidate we can support.
CJW| 3.20.13 @ 7:51AM
Since you are too pure to vote for Romney, I hope you are happy with Obama.
Doctor Right| 3.20.13 @ 9:13AM
You don't get it, do you?
No. You don't.
SUBVET| 3.20.13 @ 10:29AM
The queen.....ran out of zoloft she can't help it.
Send us a candidate we can support.....they did but you wanted bath house boy instead.
choices....choices....sometimes we don't get "exactly" what we want.....but "anything" is better than ole barry.
YOU.... dear and the rest that decided to stay home are part of the problem.
Now everyday you comment here about how you don't like this and that.... I say tough sh*t that's what you voted for.
CJW| 3.20.13 @ 10:57AM
Skip the psychobabble.
I get that you stayed home, did not vote, and now complain the Catholic Church . Jack compains about Jews and you complain about the Catholic Church. Real helpful since our country is being destroyed by Obama.
Since the names on election ballot were Obama v. Romney, what was there not to get, genius?
But keep up your anti-Catholic bigotry, that is relevant to the 17 trillion deficit, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and Obamcare.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 1:46PM
Are you talking to Appleby? Or, Doctor Shit fer Brains, as he, too, sat out the Election.
And, Proudly so, if you read his Drivel, below.
CJW| 3.20.13 @ 2:06PM
I thought it was obvious. Appleby is not an anti Catholic bigot. Have you missed Doc's anti Catholic rants for the past couple of years?
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 4:24PM
Sorry.
Quartermaster| 3.20.13 @ 9:35PM
But not quite as sorry as CJW.
CJW| 3.20.13 @ 10:25PM
QM
Your'e the guy who wrote that you felt bad about church burnings EVEN if they were Catholic churches.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.20.13 @ 10:35AM
CJW, you and the Establishment Republicans at NR and AmSpec are the problem. You still don't get what a disaster Romney was.
CJW| 3.20.13 @ 11:04AM
So you prefer Obama to Romney? That was the choice in the Novemeber election, remember?
The problem is people like you who live in fairyland who think not voting for Romney or McCain was preferable, and allowed Obama to win.
You got Obama, so don't complain about Obama. You guys helped elect him.
You are confusing primaries with the general election. Once the primaries are over, there is no way on earth you should have helped Obama win.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 1:47PM
You can't argue with these people.
They're better than us, don'tcha know.
CJW| 3.20.13 @ 2:12PM
They only think they are better, they are not better, T. They are dumb and the Dems love them. With their low info voters, and the dumb ones who sit it out or vote third party, they have a winnng combo.
I know someone who voted for Virgil Goode, and he brags about it, and is always complaining about Obama. They refuse to accept that not voting for Romney or McCain helped Obama win.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.20.13 @ 8:17PM
On the contrary, I think the you are the ones the Dems love. You continue to offer up moderate GOP candidates, and keep losing every time. What's not to love?
CJW| 3.20.13 @ 10:23PM
Evidently you do not understand how elections work. Candidates run and voters vote. You must have a low opinion of conservative and Rep primary voters because they did not vote for whomever you supported. Your guy lost, so you sit the game out, let Obama win , and blame the "establishment" for selecting a candidate when it was the primary voters. You guys sound like whiny Dems when they lose. Grow up, if you cannot see a difference between Obama v. Romney or McCain then you are hopeless.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.20.13 @ 11:58PM
What does it matter if your moderate candidate always loses? Same difference.
DG in GA| 3.20.13 @ 10:08AM
If my elderly parents are any indication, Appleby is correct. My folks are lifelong Goldwater Republicans. They had never missed voting in an election until 2012. My mother did not vote this time, not because she is an invalid - because she had her absentee ballot well before the election - but because she was angry that the GOP was running yet another RINO. She liked Paul Ryan, but he was not at the top of the ticket, and that's the slot that matters. My father did not vote because the mainstream media kept associating Todd Akin's and Mourdock's comments regarding abortion and rape with Romney. My dad was convinced that the man who made those stupid remarks to the press was Romney, not someone else.
My folks watch several different news sources, and since almost all of them were in the tank for Obama, I can't blame them for thinking Romney was no different. The GOP needs to spend less time chasing after the "youth vote," which they will never get because it is not now nor has it EVER been cool to vote Republican, and shore up their base by running actual conservatives. If 3 MILLION conservatives had not stayed home in protest, Mitt Romney would be President.
GobBluthe| 3.20.13 @ 12:56PM
""If 3 MILLION conservatives had not stayed home in protest, Mitt Romney would be President."" Yeah, except Romney lost by more than that/ If 3m conservatives voted I guess, FL and VA would have flipped, but nothing else.
Conservatives need to grow up and stop acting like victims. There is such a huge difference between the successful grassroots conservatives on the mid and late 1970s versus the whiners of today.
There were a number of conservatives running in 2012 but each faction found the other factions unacceptable. And conservative darling Bachman launched suicide attacks on one conservative after another. The result was Romney won. Not only to present day conservatives dislike RINOs, they dislike one another.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 1:51PM
You're just too stupid.
Depending on where the 3,000,000 lived, they could've turned this Election in the Swing States.
Are you always this Stupid?
Cause, I'm thinking that you probably are.
PolishKnight| 3.20.13 @ 10:19AM
Hello Appleby,
The critical thing missing in the report seems to be reaching out to YOU and ME personally. The report bragged that after GW pandered to Hispanics, he got 44% of their vote which means that without his white and/or male base, he still would have lost.
Republicans claim to be able to run businesses and this is often true. One sound business principle is customer retention. It's easier and more profitable to sell to an established customer than it is to try to win over a new one.
You and I are interesting examples because we're on the opposite sides of an issue: women's equality. The Dems love goodies for career women because they tend to wind up as unwed mothers and helpless Democrat voters. But what we have in common is that we're both white. So while you haven't left due to the right not throwing goodies to women with both hands (just with one hand) to certain women as the left does, you would respond well to an aggressive defense of rights for white males.
What also was missing from the report was addressing the interests of men. Many minority men feel left out by the left and rightly so. The left has put more minority men into prison since the civil rights movement than BEFORE the civil rights movement.
All wasted opportunities by folks who claim to be able to run businesses well.
AlanAnti-RoveCheneyBrooks | 3.20.13 @ 12:01PM
"The first point was the salient point: WE DID NOT LIKE MITT ROMNEY."
But "we" liked Ryan- that's what it was all about; same in '08 with Palin; in 96 with Kemp.
Actually, as George F. Will pointed out, nothing wrong with Romney. However when GOP vice presidential candidates are more respected by you than the top half of the tickets, then you are more perplexed than you would be if they were both equally conservative; or in the case of Romney, centrist-liberal.
"a very large percentage of us simply didn't want to vote for an East Coast Liberal masquerading as a Republican"
Exactly, Romney was a Rockefeller liberal. George Will tactfully left out that fact, because he didn't want to make waves. I'm quite happy Obama was re-elected merely to keep McCains in Arizona, and Romneys in Massachusetts.
Pseudo-Macarius| 3.20.13 @ 6:45AM
Romney's mistakes:
1) Paul Ryan...Never won a state election...His proposals about Medicare and Social Security would never pass the Senate, and only served as campaign fodder for Democrats.
2) Convention blunders: Not allowing primary opponents to be nominated and to get their moment of glory...Their speeches would have necessarily been attacks on Obama & support of Mitt...Freezing out our best speakers like Newt, Sarah, and Ann Coulter in favor of the tubby liberal from Jersey, who later supported Obama.
3) Coming out for abortion in response to Todd Aiken's blunder....He should have supported a write-in candidate and condemned Aiken's remarks.
5) Not going for the kill in the last debate, when he had Obama on the ropes after Debate One.
6) Not wanting to win, as his son revealed. How can we win if our candidate doesn't want the job?
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 9:30AM
How do we "Fix" the GOP?
How about we get an RNC Chairman who's NOT named after the Rinse Cycle on my Washing Machine, and a Toyota Hybrid? What kind of a Man walks around with the name of the Prize Winning Airedale Terrier from last year's Westminster Dog Show?
How do we "Fix" the GOP?
We Fix it like it was an old Truck, or an old Tractor. We identify what Parts need replacing, and REPLACE THEM. 99 times out of 100, that means Parts that are OLD, TIRED, and WARN OUT. (Everyone over 65)
We Fix it like we do an old House. And that means getting rid of any and all Dead Wood, and checking the Foundation for Cracks. (Again: Everyone over 65)
Our Principles are Sound. It's the our Politicians who are Full of Shinola. We all know that Power Corrupts, and with that, comes the root of all Evil: The Single Minded Pursuit of Money.
We can "Fix" the GOP by INSISTING that they Sign On to a Self Term Limit, wherebye they're allowed 2 Consecutive Terms in the Senate and 4 in the House. If they can't agree to that, then they won't get any support.
Trust me. The People will remember. Just ask Charlie Crist?
As far as "Reaching Out" to Minorities? Give me a call. I have Blacks living on either side of me. I have Blacks in my Family. Blacks in my Wife's Family. I was in the Military and all of my Black Friends were my Brothers. Blacks in my Church. Blacks that worked for me, cutting Lawns.
And, no, none of my best friends are Black, but my Glasses Case is.
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 9:40AM
The talent pool was on display at CPAC. Where is the talent pool of the GOP? The Conservative Movement remains the sole depository of political theory and intellectualism in American politics. The ideas of Conservatives stand as a bright light against the victimhood and resentment passing as philosophy from The Left.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 9:53AM
The only "Pool" I have around here, is the one that Ol Tim just left beside the Statue of Albert that we have here at The Contest Compound.
Did the Mailman come, yet? (That's what Purp said)
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 12:47PM
TLP:
Nothing in the mail yesterday or as of yet. Looking forward to it and will let you know when it arrives. Thanks again. It is undeserved but welcome.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 1:52PM
You spelled "Undeserved" correct.
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 2:13PM
LOL :)
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 5:16PM
Mail arrived about an hour ago TLP. Very nice indeed.
PolishKnight| 3.20.13 @ 11:06AM
Al Adab, bright lights and pretty ideas are great and all, but in the end what matters are people and taking care of them. Not necessarily handouts but protecting and defending the interests of your electorate.
I continue to receive the Imprimis journals from Hillsdale and they're fun to read and all but it comes across as Ivory tower. The stuff that matters to me and a majority of the people they need to vote for them isn't there. Sometimes, the simple ideas are best:
1) Civil rights for white males.
2) End the marriage penalty and create a bonus to match or exceed that given to unwed mothers.
Not very complicated, is it?
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 12:55PM
PK:
In many ways I fear you are right. Most voters expect their government to "care about them" rather than put its energy into defending the citizens rights and the national interest and security. We expect the federal government to act like the big city ward heeler machines and pass out the goodies. That expectation is what will lead us down the road to tyranny.
BTW, I also enjoy Imprimis. Philosophy though should be common. The national debate is really about the purpose and meaning of freedom and government. Does government exist to provide or to defend?
PolishKnight| 3.20.13 @ 1:14PM
I'm not asking for goodies to be handed out though. It's amusing and tragic that conservatives can squawk over "taxation as theft" of raising taxes on the wealthy but simultaneously not be outraged at white males and married people being treated as second class citizens.
Who knows? Perhaps in the long term free market economics will work hunky dorey but you have to get to the point where there is enough political will and infrastructure support for that to work. Pretending like it will magically happen if you open the borders to the South and import a bunch of diploma mill H1B's who will suddenly discover the wonders of free market capitalism as compared to cronyism and racism where they came from is as unrealistic as anything the left has pitched.
Philosophically, I have found that sometimes the only way to get through to bullies and power hungry people is to beat them. Then maybe they are willing to explore the merits of cooperation and getting along. Playing nice in the sandbox and preaching The Holy Constitution (that originally allowed slavery) is now working.
PolishKnight| 3.20.13 @ 1:15PM
Er, not working.
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 2:15PM
My usage was of a collective "we". It was not aimed at you personally. You and I agree on more than we do not.
crankitup| 3.20.13 @ 8:12AM
Today' republican party is the party of two faces and too much BS. The mainline republicans are progressives in a different colored suit. Now since obamao is still running the show the republicans want to come out of the closet and join the obamaonists in the rape of OUR COUNTRY. No thanks GOP.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 9:33AM
Who is this, and where did you get the Quaaludes?
Quartermaster| 3.20.13 @ 9:41PM
And he's wrong how? The GOP has long been a progressive party, from it's inception, actually. It was a crony capitalist party from the beginning. It is mainly all about being in a position to hand out the taxpayer paid goodies to their guys. They only whine when it isn't them handing out the goodies.
The GOP is just as much a probem as the Donkies.
Derek Leaberry| 3.20.13 @ 8:18AM
Basically, this rump Bush family clique is telling conservatives, especially social conservatives, that their views are not desired by the Republican Party and not their votes. The Bush establishment Republicans wish to surrender on immigration and homosexual marriage. One has to surmise that this will backfire and that the Republicans will suffer huge losses in 2014 as dispirited conservatives stay home on election day.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.20.13 @ 10:48AM
I think you are right Derek. Nobody will support a wobbly political party.
Sjccoach| 3.20.13 @ 8:54AM
300,000,000 conservatives, i.e. the party's base, did not vote in the presidential election. Until that issue is addressed nothing will change in presidential elections for the Republican party
Doctor Right| 3.20.13 @ 9:13AM
I think you mean 3,000,000???
You typed 300,000,000. That's "3 hundred million."
Anyway, as one of the proud 3 million, I wanted to say that I will NEVER ever vote for another GOP mush candidate.
He/she must be a Reagan-type Conservative, or they're NOT getting my vote.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 9:35AM
I rest my case.
Quartermaster| 3.20.13 @ 9:43PM
What case? You have no case to rest. Why support something that just takes you to perdition at 90mph, instead of 95? The one that makes no sense are people like yourself that are satisfied to reward stupidity this time in hopes you won't have to next time. You're playing a losing game.
TNcracker | 3.20.13 @ 3:59PM
Agree. GOP is dead to me. And now with voter fraud accepted, total corruption in D.C. including courts, it's OVER unless & until there is something so earth-shaking that we turn back to what worked in the beginning, i.e., moral leaders & the Constitution. And I'm not holding my breath.
Seek| 3.20.13 @ 11:47AM
Three hundred million? You're hallucinating, Coach. Even 3 million stay-at-home conservatives ("the base") is too high an estimate. The vast majority of conservatives (myself included), however dissatisfied with Romney, still voted for him.
Politics isn't the place for purity. You make compromises because that's the essence of politics. The real secret is knowing when you don't compromise. Purists ("the base") see compromise, even a bit of it, as evil. They should stay in church and be as pure as they wish.
Quartermaster| 3.20.13 @ 9:45PM
These days compromise is about caving to someone that simply wants to destroy what you work for and hold precious. Mittens was just another cave to teh leftist clique that runs the party. You're welcome to ride the bus, but you will never win by rewarding the people that stab you in the back repeatedly.
Podesta| 3.22.13 @ 5:57AM
The population of the U.S. is 311 million, so what he is doing is beyond hallucinating. Suffice it to say the GOP suffers from a surfeit of stupid people.
GobBluthe| 3.20.13 @ 12:59PM
If you dont vote, youre not in the base. The base changes to something else.
Doctor Right| 3.20.13 @ 9:10AM
The GOP and the RNC are a joke.
They do NOT represent their voters and supporters; they represent themselves.
We have one party (the Democrats) who are dedicated to destroying the fabric and foundation of this very nation for pathological reasons; and we have another Party (the Republicans) who are too gutless and too afraid to stop them because:
a) They're more concerned with their own power, and...
b) They don't disapprove, as long as they can be in-charge
Don't you get it, folks??? We do NOT have a representative republic anymore; we have an imperial government.
The only salve for this wound is to abandon BOTH parties. They will NOT change; it's not in their best interests.
Deny the GOP your money and your votes. Gut them. The Conservatives will reform, and the moderate/liberal quislings will jump ship.
The Democrats have ALWAYS known that this could happen, which is exactly why they have worked tirelessly to attach themselves directly to the engines of government. This allows them to fund their Party through direct Government action, in complete contradiction to Constitutional principles.
Our country is becoming a joke. Take it back: Don't play the game.
SUBVET| 3.20.13 @ 10:39AM
Really........!....Joke you say well it's your fault.
7-08| 3.20.13 @ 9:43AM
Before anyone misconstrues……..I did not read this drivel. From whatever angle you view a pile of dung it will remain a pile of dung.
Anything attributable to the RNC that appears “right" is simply rhetorical BS on their part – they will not do it. They will SAY it - but they will not do it. Even if something “good” did occur it was either accidental or an incidental manifestation of their floundering about to remain in power.
Anything that someone attributes to the RNC as “wrong” is underestimating the magnitude of their incompetence.
Anyone that believes a word they say is incapable of making rational decisions.
PolishKnight| 3.20.13 @ 9:45AM
History lesson: In the 1950's, the Fabian socialists in the Democratic party realized that mainstream Americans were rejecting communism and there was no way to dress it up while the USSR was a horrible monster on the same level as the Germans that had recently been defeated in WWII.
So the solution was obvious: Make a new electorate by feeding the rubes from their current party to it. This electorate would be made from "minorities" which also made them sound noble for protecting the interests of minorities. The biggest political electorate in the states at the time were married white males and their loyal wives. They needed to be thrown under the bus, but slowly. They probably made up their mind on this just after Dwight Eisenhower was elected.
And it's worked. They have successfully thrown white males to the wolves they're raising.
Now Karl Rove thinks he can do the same thing with the refugees that has flocked to the Republican party. If he tosses white males into the gladiator pit, maybe he can poach a few votes from the left. It won't work, obviously, since the Democrats already have the earned loyalty of their groups. All they'll do is convince many white males to not bother showing up to vote next time.
I hope the left takes away money from the wealthy elites in the Republican party and hands it out to their elites. That might get them to wake up.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 9:49AM
"Take it back."
Really? Take it back?
Thanks to the 3,000,000 Stupid Bastards, like YOU?
There may not be anything left to "Take Back" come 2016.
I told you people that this guy was a Fluckeing D*mb@ss Moron Crap fer Brains, and you all told me to go easy on him. "We're all in this together."
Obviously, after reading Doctor Wonderful's Dissertation on his Courage and the Aryan-like Pureness of his Principled stand, in sitting home last November, and J*rkin Off in the Mirror?
We are most definately NOT all on the Same Side.
Especially not this Dumbflucke.
Chazael| 3.20.13 @ 11:17AM
I am not sure if he is coming from the same angle as I do, but here is my starting point:
"It is He who changes the times and epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding,..." Dan 2:21
"Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." Rom 13:1
When there are two (or in a primary more than two) candidates in an election... and I cannot vote for either of them without voting for a stumbling block (Matt 18:7), that just tells me the direction God is taking the country. And to not be a part of it (ie, don't vote).
That doesn't change my voice or my message that the current governent is immoral and is pushing for more immorality. Nor is there any contradiction or shame in saying I didn't vote and the government is immoral and gong in the wrong direction.
As a Christian I am not posed with a question of two sides.. pick one. The lesser of two evils would be good.
I have one side (God) and if there are not any sides within a political framework that reflects that reality... then they do not have a spot for me.
TLP| 3.20.13 @ 1:58PM
Good Luck, waiting for God to pick your Candidate.
One wonders how you pick your Clothes out, every day.
You sound like an Idiot.
And, yes, you're part of the Reason we have this America Hating Muslim for 4 More Years.
Grow Up, and stop Blaming God for your Stupidity.
Are you a "Doctor" too?
Sixgun| 3.20.13 @ 8:06PM
TLP.... I have great respect and admiration for your commentary on TAS, and I often find your insight very funny, but please don't part company with us moral purists in the conservative movement over our lack of enthusiasm for a bland, non-conservative candidate like Romney, a candidate only slightly less evil than Obama. Remember, Romney created RomneyCare in his home state, was at one time pro-gay marriage (at least he allowed them to commence under his watch when he could have stopped them). He was an America Hating Mormon. Now Mormons are generally decent people, but their religious belief system is so out of the mainstream and created great concern for me. He would have governed just like Bush 1 & 2, expanding Federal government power and influence, albeit somewhat slower than Obama. Remember Bush 1 and his globalist, new world order agenda. Bush 2 and his expansion of government health care with the unaffordable prescription drug program and his unconstitutional Patriot Act. American boys and girls died in a hell-hole sand box called Iraq for a bunch of God-hating Muslims all due to Bush 2 and his neocon puppet masters. The elitist GOP party leaders are no more interested in protecting the average American than that Socialist Obama. We cannot vote for these candidates... they do not advance our cause... they harm us just as much as those crazy democrats, they just give us a kiss after they screw us over.
hoosiertoo| 3.20.13 @ 11:49AM
As someone who voted mostly 3rd party in national elections prior to 2012, I let myself get succkered into the "Obama is too ruinous to the country to allow him a second term" trope. Even though I had vowed at the beginning of the primary process not to vote for Romney if we got stuck with him, or any other squishy liberal for that matter, I held my nose and cast a vote for him anyway.
It won't happen again.
I got involved with the Republican Party with the intent of working inside for change and was shocked at how dug in the "elites" are, and how averse to any kind of change they really are.
They seem bound and determined to go the way of the dodo.
Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 1:57PM
To which I reply to them, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your exit to oblivion."
The reason for this is that the GOP knows what the Dems know - votes are purchased and no amount of other people's mony is too much to pay for re-election.
It's all about handing out freebies, and that doesn't change whether there's an "R" or a "D" behind your name.
darcy| 3.20.13 @ 2:21PM
I had a similar experience, hoosiertoo, within the GOP apparatus. I'd say maybe 10-20% of precinct committeemen are true conservatives, and the remainder are shallow thinkers seeking spoils from the government, business-owner types who expect quid-pro-quo for their efforts in getting their guy elected. And these people will actually shout down conservative dissenters.
The moral bankruptcy of the party is stunning, a mirror of the entire nation, actually: lost, confused, bombarded (and willing participants) in a hedonistic culture fueled by moral relativism.
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 2:35PM
Darcy,
I was just wondering where you have been. We need to hear from you more often.
darcy| 3.20.13 @ 2:55PM
:-))). I've been around, here and there, inserting my comments when I get really riled up. And I've been following your comments, too, even when I don't participate. In fact, I look for them. Thank you for the kind words.
GobBluthe| 3.20.13 @ 1:01PM
These were the same morons who in 2000, were so offended by GW Bush's 1976 DUI that they stayed home turning a certain Bush win into an electoral screw up
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Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 12:34PM
I'll concede the bit about technology - a savvier ground game with social media would help – as much as a Band-Aid would help a decapitation.
There are essentially two, and only two, prescriptions that always emerge on how to improve the GOP - 1) better message and/or messenger; 2) Adopt Democrat policies.
That's it.
Romney is actually a very decent, telegenic person. He is certainly no right-winger. He wasn’t hated because of his gaffes or his personality – he was hated because he is 1) rich; and 2) Republican. That's it. No other reason. End of story. What Repub would have fared better at the hands of a media whose heavy thumb was on the scale? Nobody. A woman? Ask Michele Bachman how that worked out. A black man? Ask Herman Cain how that worked out. It's not the candidate that is detested, it's the party. The Republican party is a pariah in our pop culture and that is not going to change no matter how many twitter accounts we get. Not even if we run a personable trans-gendered African American lesbian quadriplegic for office. Not as long as liberals run academia, science, media and politics (I mean, look at the ridiculous debates leading up to the GOP nomination – in virtually every instance, it was tantamount to Christians (the candidates) eagerly jumping into the arena with the lions (the moderator and the zeitgeist propping the moderator up). Did anyone doubt they’d be eaten alive?
Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 12:35PM
(cont'd)
This autopsy is only so much whistling past the graveyard. Better communicate the debt risk? Please. Like a spendaholic whose credit cards have yet to be shut off, Americans will not take seriously our debt crisis until AFTER it hits. We live in a world where voters expect debt default to carry no consequences - the mortgage guarantees, Obamacare (it's someone else's money), easy bankruptcies, quantitative easing. Our culture is one that now believes debt simply doesn't exist. When the music stops and the house of cards collapses, THEN you'll have the ears of young people. Those that are left.
Governors succeed only sporadically – all states run by the GOP are, on balance, moving leftward, despite the occasional paroxysms of sanity (Wisconsin). But the big picture with America is an inexorable striding to the LEFT. Don’t believe me? Look at governors like Ohio's John Kasich, Arizona's Jan Brewer, New Mexico's Susana Martinez, Nevada's Brian Sandoval and Michigan's Rick Snyder. All genuflect before the Leviathan’s Obamacare.
Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 12:36PM
(cont'd)
It is true that people get more conservative the more granular the political footprint, but the Federal Government is casting an ever-larger shadow over states. It's very easy to support Obamacare when you think some guy 8 states over is paying for it. It's a little harder when you see the effects on your own economic situation or that of your home town, which is why abject liberals seek tax shelters even as they ridicule others for doing the same. Nevertheless, the plan is for Obama's burgeoning State to force EVERY governor to bow before it, and bow before it they will.
It is also true that the GOP is no longer the party of big business. But the truth matters not one whit in the face of the enduring myth that the GOP represents the evil rich and heartless captains of industry – those who don’t CARE about others. That's why Obama's fascists have figured it out - if you're a member of the evil rich or a captain of industry or a wealthy movie star, all you have to do is proclaim your undying love of the proletariat and socialistm and you can go on being rich or a captain of industry or a wealthy movie star and ALL will be forgiven by the mainstream media and hence the popular culture.
Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 12:36PM
You’ve uttered the magic words. Ask WarrenBufett, Bill Gates, Michael Moore, Jeffrey Immelt, and many other high-profile successes. They’re all conspicuous consumers of more wealth than they “need.” But they’re inoculated against judgment because they say the right things. In what passes for common knowledge in today's brain-dead society, Republican = EVIL and SELFISH, Democrat = GOOD and CARING.
Conclusion: Reince Priebus is, at best, justifying his own existence, rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic long after the water has risen above the knees of the GOP and there’s not un-hitting the iceberg (this is EXACTLY what Emmett Tyrell was up to with his risible book, “The Death of Liberalism”). Changing our “message” or “messenger” is just denial; what we will do, COUNT ON IT, is adopt major planks of the Democrat platform, as we have done in a de facto sense over the last 40 years.
We don't need an autopsy on the 2012 election - we need one on the GOP. Because it is NEVER coming back (or at least the conservatism that once gave the GOP its identity is not coming back) - not until a major currency collapse leading to major outbreaks of civil unrest and a breakdown of American life as we have come to know it occurs.
And possibly not even then.
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 12:57PM
Grz:
AmSpec needs to hire you for a weekly article. That way we could enjoy your insights.
Always good to have you around.
Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 1:15PM
Thank you Al, Adab - that is very gratifying coming from you.
I just get so frustrated by the GOP's never-ending Charlie Brown syndrome - no matter how many times Lucy pulls the football away, our leaders always think that next time will be different. Talk about denial! If we just tweak our message or maybe embrace amnesty for illegals (which worked SO well under Simpson Mazzoli), the GOP will rise again!
Or, yeah, go after the youth! As if the youth is gettable with a conservative message! Their minds are already irreparably corrupted by the propaganda arm of the Democrat party. "Free love, free sex, free EVERYTHING and NO WORK! And all I have to do to get all that is pay lip service to liberal bromides! I don't even have to believe anything! In fact, it's better if all I believe in is me and my desires!"
Yeah, judeo-Christian values are going to stop THAT juggernaut that has hijacked our youth.
And so people on this site say things to me like, "where's your faith?" or "well, what do you suggest we do?" I don't know. What did people on the Titanic do? Pray? Decide they'd swim for land? Hold their breath until help arrived?
The question isn't how to save the GOP. We all know how the GOP is going to survive - by becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrat party.
The real question is how the hell we're going to survive when our one-party state destroys everything in sight.
Al Adab| 3.20.13 @ 2:18PM
Absolutely in denial. Since the days of Tom Dewey, the GOP has tried to promote better management of the administrative social-welfare state accepting thereby its legitimacy rather than challenging the underlying (and false) premises on which it is based.
Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 2:57PM
I agree - in a way, we are victims of our own prosperity; we have utterly forgotten what it is to work the earth, to forge our lives by the sweat of our brow, to live on a subsistence level, where cause and effect are obvious and the simple nobility of labor is self evident.
Our wealth has purchased us a flabby, sedentary complacency in which we have forgotten what "value" means in all its facets. We have become a bunch of well-fed monkeys in elaborate, expensive cages who do nothing but eat, gratify ourselves and hurl feces at those we don't like; we don't live in the real world anymore, and most of us couldn't survive there.
And even though we reach new heights of technological achievement with a dazzling regularity we now take for granted, human nature itself hasn't changed one iota in the hundred thousand years human beings have gathered in communities.
And like the heroes of Greek tragedies of 5,000 years ago, we are about to re-learn the meaning of hubris.
darcy| 3.20.13 @ 4:34PM
Excellent summary and insight -- and t00, too true.
Grzmlyk| 3.20.13 @ 4:51PM
:-) That is a grateful, but rueful, smile.
Podesta| 3.22.13 @ 6:02AM
The GOP is basically a Southern regional party and will become more so. The South has always been America's most backward region. The increasingly diverse electorate is eager to wash its hands of people who hold the entire nation back. After Texas, Georgia, N.C., Arizona, etc., tip demographically, there will be no looking back. The Republicans lost the popular vote in five of the last six national elections. They will lose many more.
vigilant| 3.20.13 @ 12:39PM
Chazael, I totally get what you are expressing. Now brace yourself, because you've just become a target for vicious name-calling by people who believe that if you think that way, you are lower than whale vomit. But I suspect you aren't fazed by that. As you can see by today's comments, there are many who share your point of view. We know that if God wants to preserve this nation, He will, and it won't require choosing the lesser of two evils by the voters. Quite the contrary.
Sixgun| 3.20.13 @ 2:23PM
Amen brothers... forget the GOP and their failed governance. I left them after the disaster called Bush 1. I stayed home on election day because it doesn't make any difference to me whether we get it up the keister by Obama or Romney. I didn't see a dimes worth of difference between the two except one had an R after his name and one had a D. Give me a real conservative and I'll vote for him/her, but I ain't getting dragged to the polls to vote for another single moderate, liberal, left-wing Republican (i.e., Romney and Jeb Bush in 2016) ever again. I am on God's side, and lately, the Republicans have not been with us. I have voted either American Independent Party or the Constitution Party. Let it all fall apart... it's time to rebuild.
darcy| 3.20.13 @ 3:05PM
There is wisdom in what you say. In fact, since the country's morals are swimming in a sewer, the longer there are no consequences to immorality (both moral and fiscal) the greater the number of people who will be dragged down to the pit, if you get my drift.
Mike Daly | 3.20.13 @ 2:50PM
The argument that the Iraq War drove away millenials from the Republican Party ignores that the Iraq war succeeded where Democratic policies always fail - it got to the true heart of Islamo-Arab imperialism (state sanctioned terrorist war by proxy) where Obama's Benghazi fiasco exposed the Democrats yet again as the party of defeat. The Iraq war was right, and was over long before the 2008 election.
And the idea that Republicans lost because of not being as up to date on social media ignores the Democrats won on an unsustainable surge of a slacker vote. Romney won all the debates; it was why the Democrats were the ones worried they would lose and were thus surprised by the outcome.
Some seem not to realize the Democrats are losing the fight more and more, shown in the collapse of Dianne Feinstein's gun ban and also by the true nature of Obama's policy failures.
Podesta| 3.22.13 @ 6:14AM
You must be dialing in from some alternative reality. David Axlerod was so sure the Democrats would take nearly all of the swing states he promised to shave his 30-year-old mustache if they didn't. The better political analysts, including Nate Silver, as were confident that Obama led by three to six points. He won by four. Benghazi has never caught on as something President Obama can be blamed for because most voters know presidents don't directly oversee the hundreds of diplomatic buildings around the world.
If having accomplished most of their goals, including 'Obamacare' is losing, the Democrats will be happy to lose some more.
Clearly, you do not venture outside the far Right echo chamber.
Kurt NY| 3.20.13 @ 4:15PM
The point about the GOP not being the party of big business is right on point. The outlook of big business is increasingly global as larger portions of its sales, personnel, production capacity, and profit come from outside our borders. We need to be cognizant of their needs and how they impact our economy, but their best interests are not necessarily ours.
We are in the most extended period of economic distress since the Great Depression, yet the stock market is setting new records (which the Obamaites cite as meaning their policies are working). Most Americans are employed by small business and most new hiring comes from there as well, yet our economic policy is increasingly set by Wall Street and big corporations. How does this make sense?
Joe D.| 3.20.13 @ 4:23PM
I agree with most of what you said.
1. Yes Mitt, bad candidate but because he was never a true conservative along with the people around him. He never attacked obama's lieing messages about him. He never really taught why conservatism/freedom works for jobs and good pay as well. He never hammered him on his bad foreign policies after the second debate. He never touch on social issues which make a difference on everything we do including economics.
2. The governors are doing well because they are conservatives and therefore know how to speak that to the people who will listen if spoke to them truthfully as an adult.
3. I think the Iraq war was not a bad war. We won. Fighting the peace was the problem because we had the wrong people communicating that message to America and wrong people running things in Iraq like John Brenner. I think if things were done differntly managing the peace and communicating it better around the media it would have been less of a problem with the youth. No it was not the total answer. But it may have kept more of them at home where they normally are on election days.
4. That brings me to my next point. We never had to worry in the past about the youth vote since it was none existant. obama and friends use the social media and college campuses (not mention in the article) to a great effect. He convince them that they were special and needed. And this does need to be address since most of them are still ignorant (ex: Wall street mobs).
Joe D.| 3.20.13 @ 4:24PM
PS. I think that if the America people continue to not see the Washington GOP stand up and fight for our values we will continue to lose. We need a champion to fight for us. We have them in the states but not in Washington (except for about 12 or so Senators and about 60 congressmen).
obadiah| 3.20.13 @ 8:22PM
Republicans have nothing to fear. They will be back in power soon.
It's very simply. Bush and the 2001-2009 Republicans were the most corrupt and stupidest administration in American history. The people became nauseated and are still nauseated.
No problem! Bush has been superseded by Obama. Obama and the 2009-2017 Democrats are now the most corrupt and stupidest administration in American history. The people will become nauseated and will forget the nausea they felt over the Republicans. Then it's back to trough for the GOP.