How the GOP needs to change, and how it doesn’t
Tuesday was a brutal night for Republicans.
Incumbent presidents are tough to beat, but Barack Obama was about as vulnerable as they come. The economy is stagnant; his signature legislative achievement is unpopular; his party weathered sharp losses in the midterm elections – by now, you know the litany by heart. Yet Mitt Romney appears to have flipped only two states Obama won in 2008 (pending the final result in Florida).
When political parties lose brutally, a lot of new conventional wisdom crops up. Some of it’s right, some of it’s wrong. Here’s an early take on which is which:
1. Republicans have to move toward the left.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. There are two major political parties in this country in large part because they represent two sets of durable, mainstream beliefs. Sometimes one or the other does a better job of representing its beliefs, but neither ideology will be permanently defeated. Which leads me to …
2. The GOP has to ditch the tea party.
Wrong. Just two years ago, the GOP stopped Democrats’ congressional super-majorities in their tracks thanks to tea partyers. America hasn’t changed dramatically in that time, even if a successful tea-party candidate needs more polish than we’ve seen out of some of them (hello, Christine O’Donnell) to attract a broader audience.
The original animating concern of the tea party — halting the rapid growth of the federal government, from bailouts to debt to Obamacare — could have been a political winner Tuesday. (We don’t have to wait for the historians to marvel that the GOP in 2012 nominated the only guy who couldn’t capitalize on Obamacare’s lack of popularity.)
Romney might have made up for that failing if he’d joined the growing ranks of conservatives who support breaking up the biggest banks to ensure none is too big to fail. His comment during the second debate about his party’s devotion to Big Business at the expense of small businesses was his chance. He didn’t take it. A Republican with 2016 ambitions might, soon.
3. The GOP has to reach out to non-white voters.
This one’s absolutely true. There is plenty to criticize in Romney’s lack of minority outreach, but this is not his problem alone. Nor will it go away if the GOP merely highlights the promising, young, non-white stars they already have, such as Nikki Haley, Bobby Jindal, Susana Martinez and Marco Rubio.
Republicans have to explain why conservative ideas are good for minorities. They can’t simply trot out their ideas and expect minorities to recognize their brilliance when those voters have been told by Democrats, many of them for generations, that those ideas are intended to benefit other (read: white) people. When Republicans fail to engage minority voters, they effectively reinforce the Democrats’ argument.
It will take more than talking, though. It will take action. Here’s an idea about one policy that makes minorities most skeptical about the right: voter ID laws. Why not fight the notion these laws are about suppressing voting, rather than reducing fraud, by taking proactive steps to help put IDs in the hands of the people who think they’re being targeted?
4. Republicans must drop social conservatism.
Wrong. Social conservatism isn’t wholly out of the mainstream. Gallup’s long-term tracking of public attitudes about abortion, for instance, show the pro-life position is as strong as it’s been since Roe v. Wade. What’s out of the mainstream is a social conservative who can’t talk about opposing abortion without sounding as if he’s endorsing the act of rape. That cost the GOP two Senate seats and surely hurt Romney’s standing with some women.
Gay marriage may be different. Older voters who oppose it altogether are being replaced every day by 18-year-olds who couldn’t care less — and who don’t seem to change their stance as they get older. There was a time when Republicans could have pushed civil unions to make all couples equal before the law without changing the traditional definition of marriage. That time may have passed.
5. Georgia Republicans are a few years away from facing some of the same issues as the national GOP.
True, true, true. I’ll explain how they can avoid the same fate in a column coming soon to a blog very, very near you.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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883 comments Add your comment
Del
November 8th, 2012
5:38 pm
No he didn’t,
I’m indeed flattered that you follow my posts so closely that you even keep a scrap book.
Did Anyone Notice?
November 8th, 2012
5:41 pm
Did any of you guys see the article about Karl Rove’s failures? Ohhhh that is priceless. The GOP lost 9 out of 10 senate races that his PAC donated to.
No he didnt
November 8th, 2012
5:41 pm
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer’s ineptocracy
November 2nd, 2012
9:24 am
Oct numbers, 7.9% unemployment overall, and his most loyal supporters AA unemployment rose to 14.3, up a percentage, yet they act like addicts hooked on their unreliable and untrustworthy supplier.
Romney wins by a larger margin than predicted. The 2010 voters just went home for a lemonade and will return in a foul mood. I heard one standing in line, yesterday, say he has been waiting for 4 years just for that moment, and he didn’t mind the long lines.
I know that four years from now, we will still be debating the accuracy of the polls, but it seems that with all the emphasis and complaints on reliability, that this time we could sort out what works in polling and what does not. I am sure nothing will change next time, but we can always hope that someone goes to school. Rasmussen was the most accurate last time and probably will be this time, but yet he is disparaged.
@@
November 8th, 2012
5:42 pm
AmVet:
How many did your loser get?
I couldn’t tell ‘ya. Woke up to the results and haven’t thought about it much since.
I told you, but you wouldn’t listen!
I’m not in the habit of listening to blowhards like you.
Now you shall live in the Rush Limbaugh’s Fake Conservative Land of Nod
Obviously it’s you that doesn’t read. I don’t listen to anything radio…music or otherwise. After spending a day among noisy children, I cherish the sound of silence.
Michael H. Smith ~ The Socialist Monster no longer hides under the bed in Greece...
November 8th, 2012
5:42 pm
FACT: The trend is against social conservatism. Gay marriage are getting closer and closer to passage. The GOP needs to get out of, and stay out of, people’s private lives.
First of all you are wrong because it is a state license you are talking about so it is not the State GOP getting into anyone’s private life, it is quite the opposite, these individuals are getting into the rights of the State when they demand a license to officially sanction their private lives. And a so-called gay marriage is a long ways from being termed “getting closer and closer” to any societal or legal norm.
Social conservatism is defined by a broader measure than the small extremes you are using in your eye’s model, particularly on abortion, as well.
I SEE RED PEOPLE
November 8th, 2012
5:42 pm
I would say allowing the word “compromise” to repopulate your dictionary might be helpful. Standing on principles is one thing, but allowing principles to outweigh pragmatism at all costs has turned the American people against the Republican Party. You may say that the Dems are intransigent, and to an extent that’s correct, but an obstructionist House has been our greatest foil, and that’s in the hands of the GOP.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
5:42 pm
unfair and unbalanced, there is a HUGE difference between speaking about polls and speaking about positions.
The media harped on every parsed comment Romney or Ryan made, and blew them all out of proportion.
All in the name of saving their mistake from getting booted from office.
Del
November 8th, 2012
5:43 pm
Tib,
I didn’t say that the Republicans shouldn’t rethink some positions or that they shouldn’t consider ways to improve. I’m saying that this loss wasn’t a blow out that should require abandoning conservative principals and tacking left.
md
November 8th, 2012
5:44 pm
“Dems have all but dropped the gun control rhetoric.”
Yes….because they didn’t want it in the news during an election. I hope you noticed Obama waited less than 24 hrs to throw his support behind the UN treaty on guns……..time will tell if it is an end around or not.
cc
November 8th, 2012
5:45 pm
Michael H. Smith:
“forced to accept with the Republicans giving him increased revenues via deduction eliminations in lieu of tax rate increases.”
I do not disagree with this at all, but depending on the depth of the cut in the home mortgage interest deduction, this may result in many more homeowners walking away from their outstanding mortgagees thereby further depressing the housing values and industry. It certainly may bring about more bankruptcies placing increased pressure on lending institutions,
yuzeyurbrane
November 8th, 2012
5:45 pm
It’s only a marketing problem says Kyle. Da Nile is not just the name of a river in Egypt.
blackbird13
November 8th, 2012
5:48 pm
Kyle:
Agree GOP shouldn’t abandon the original Tea Party mission. Even I though don’t agree with many of their solutions, I share their concern over deficits. Unfortunately, many of the same old social conservatives took up the banner of the Tea Party after having ignored the debt while Bush was in office.
Along with the need to appeal to non-whites, I see a growing consensus among Republicans that it’s time to reduce focus on the social issues as policy matters and leave them to the realm of personal beliefs.
Did Anyone Notice?
November 8th, 2012
5:49 pm
The biggest mistake that the GOP made was scheduling those 15 debates. The country got to see over and over again what kind of wackos that drive the party. And Romeny had to compete with each one of them to see who could be the most conservative. I really do think that Romney is a moderate republican but he had to sell his soul to get nominated.
Also, the choice of Paul Ryan was questionable at best. Romney was trying to satisfy the right wing conservatives of the party. Those people were going to vote for him anyway so why pander to them.
I could vote for Chris Christy. But I don’t know if he could survive the rigors of year long campagn. The guys has to be close to 400 lbs.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
5:49 pm
“First of all you are wrong because it is a state license you are talking about so it is not the State GOP getting into anyone’s private life, it is quite the opposite, these individuals are getting into the rights of the State when they demand a license to officially sanction their private lives. And a so-called gay marriage is a long ways from being termed “getting closer and closer” to any societal or legal norm.”
Michael, never have I seen such a tortured explanation for continuing the losing proposition of national GOP candidates, and given the fact that such luminaries as JDW, Finn, and AmVet post here, that’s saying something.
Where do you think that stupid War on Women came from, Michael? It didn’t come from FEDERAL proposals by the GOP, but STATE proposals which were then exaggerated and extrapolated into Federal issues that didn’t actually exist.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
November 8th, 2012
5:50 pm
It sure is great to have folks who hate half the country giving it advice about how it needs to change.
vimeo
November 8th, 2012
5:50 pm
First, the GOP needs to cut taxes on the top 1%. Then, they should adopt a stance that not only bans abortion and supports the personhood amendment, but also bans any birth control other than the rhythm method, so they can align with the church. Then, the GOP needs to support candidates who want to cut taxes on the top 1%. Only candidates that understand that rape is sometimes not legitimate should be nominated. Also, the GOP needs to support candidates who will cut taxes for the top 1%. Paul Broun’s positions on evolution science need to officiallly be included in the party platform. Cutting taxes for the top 1% is a must do. Plus, they need to continue to deny that man made CO2 is impacting the climate. If, and this is a big “if,” the climate is changing, it needs to be acknowledged that it is just something intended by God. The GOP needs to make sure that those who do not earn enough to owe taxes are just moochers and should know (or be shown) their place. Finally, they need to support candidates who will cut taxes on the top 1%. That ought to do it.
md
November 8th, 2012
5:51 pm
“the people with advanced degrees voted for O, but not overwhelmingly.”
These are the 45 year olds that have lived all their lives on liberal college campuses….
They are basically smarter students……….or soon to be liberal professors.
fair and balanced
November 8th, 2012
5:51 pm
Tiberius – you said the GOP needs better liars, not me. That means that you are admitting your boys were liars but not clever ones.
Pretty dumb to write the administration asking for green stimulus money for your district and then say you were against the stimulus and never requested any stimulus money. Did the pork fairy sign those letters?
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
5:51 pm
Hillbilly,
I understand your sentiments and agree that the Republican party won’t disappear completely, but while you’ve lived through multiple “demises” you’ve never lived through demographic shifts like you’re seeing right now. The Republican base is getting more exclusive and it’s shrinking at a steady rate. While the demographics will make it increasingly difficult for a Republican to win a national election, there is nothing in the party’s platform that suggests they have any policies that will reverse that trend. In order to compete in the next two decades they will have to be able to pick up 50% of Hispanics and upwards of 30% of African Americans. There is no indication that they will be able to make that transition in the next 4-8 years as those populations explode relative to the shrinking white one. So the Republican party won’t go away and will likely continue to win some seats in the midterms for at least a few years, but their ability to win a national election may be gone for half a generation.
Did Anyone Notice?
November 8th, 2012
5:52 pm
blackbird, i agree with you there. If the GOP would get away from the social issues, they would most likely dominate the democrats.
Del
November 8th, 2012
5:52 pm
independent thinker,
Obama isn’t a popular president with a mandate from the electorate. The national vote tally pretty much supports Obama’s less than stellar standing in the polls on subjects like the country’s right track, wrong track and his standing on his handling of the economy, the majority’s dislike for Obamacare. Your party should be congratulated for the outstanding ground game in the swing states but your party did not win a mandate.
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
5:53 pm
I don’t think the GOP should change at all. I like winning by electoral landslides and my side having control of the country.
Did Anyone Notice?
November 8th, 2012
5:55 pm
Humanist,
Amen brother.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
November 8th, 2012
5:56 pm
I guess since your “side” is in charge, we know who to blame our various messes on.
Deficits, debt, poverty, unemployment…four years of failure going on eight.
Congrats!
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
November 8th, 2012
5:57 pm
Ron Paul quote
“People do not want anything cut,” he said. “They want all the bailouts to come. They want the Fed to keep printing the money. And they don’t believe that we’ve gone off the cliff or are close to going off the cliff. They think we can patch it over, that we can somehow come up with some magic solution. But you can’t have a budgetary solution if you don’t change what the role of government should be. As long as you think we have to police the world and run this welfare state, all we are going to argue about is who will get the loot.”
Read more: Ron Paul: Election shows U.S. ‘far gone’ – Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/nov/8/ron-paul-election-shows-us-far-gone/#ixzz2BftIkylb
@@
November 8th, 2012
5:58 pm
On the eve of the election, Rocky Anderson was protesting in front of the WH?
Anderson, a lawyer who served as mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000 to 2008, says people support an image of Obama that is not consistent with his voting record.
“There’s this us vs. them phenomenon, where you attribute all the good virtues to those on your team and all the bad ones to the other,…
Sounds like AmVet, don’t it?
even when it’s shown that people on your team are doing the kinds of things that you would be up in arms about.
Rarely does AmVet say anything specifically negative about the dems.
“And because it’s President Obama doing this, it really makes him not the lesser of two evils but the more effective of the evils
More effective of the evils? That oughta rile AmVet up BIG TIME…but it doesn’t.
because now the Democrats line up silently behind him, accepting these abuses because Obama’s a member of their team. They’ve sacrificed principle for partisanship.
We never hear AmVet ridiculing his liberal friends. To the contrary, he’s more often than not, in agreement with ‘em.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/rocky_anderson_decides_not_to_get_arrested_20121106/
Go figure.
Lynnie Gal
November 8th, 2012
5:58 pm
Republicans want to change so they can win a national election? They should:
–Stop trying to give tax breaks to the rich while cutting services like education, health care, housing for the rest of the people.
–Stop talking about rape
–Stop lying
–Stop posing for phony photo ops in soup kitchens when you didn’t serve anyone soup
–Stop trying to start another war
–Get rid of Bill O’Reilly and his “takers” talk about people of color. It’s racist
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
5:59 pm
Winning the popular vote by 2.5%, as Obama ultimately will in 2012, is not a small margin in a presidential race. No Republican has won by a larger margin than that in a generation, since GHW Bush in 1988.
Did Anyone Notice?
November 8th, 2012
5:59 pm
But Rafe,
Where does Alabama, Mississippi, Louisanna, Kentucky, Tennesse, Georgia and South Carolina fall in the rankings for education in this country?
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
6:00 pm
Lynnie,
Add-
stop allowing themselves to be indoctrinated into Faux News’ bs
stop trying to push their phony religious bs on the rest of us
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
November 8th, 2012
6:01 pm
No he didn’t.
What Del said so well at 5:38!
bluecoat
November 8th, 2012
6:02 pm
Yes heard they will be coming after your guns,just after you get the new ones for Xmas.Got to by more stock in glock.
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
6:04 pm
lil barry- You have no credibility when it comes to analyzing the condition of the nation. All you’re good at is being wrong. But you do that so well. Your opinion means nothing so just go back to complaining for the next four years while the adults run the country.
Del
November 8th, 2012
6:05 pm
” I like winning by electoral landslides and my side having control of the country.”
Hate to rain on your parade but your party doesn’t have control of the country for more than just a few reasons, but here’s one it’s called the deficit and it’s going to loom very large very soon with your party in control of the executive branch and one chamber of congress. It’s called being under the microscope to produce solutions and thus far your party hasn’t been very good at producing solutions.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
November 8th, 2012
6:06 pm
Where does Alabama, Mississippi, Louisanna, Kentucky, Tennesse, Georgia and South Carolina fall in the rankings for education in this country?
That just means that blue state Democrats are better educated and informed than the southern version.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
6:07 pm
Progressive Humanist, 2 1/2 % is an insignificant number in ANY conversation.
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
6:10 pm
My side makes its living by cleaning up the messes of your side. The President won by such a relatively large margin because the nation as a whole rejected your ideology, as it was viewed as a return to the GW policies that caused the mess we’re still dealing with.
Regardless of what you think or why or think it, my side will determine the policies that drive this nation, and the majority of us are quite happy about that.
blackbird13
November 8th, 2012
6:10 pm
“Why not fight the notion these laws are about suppressing voting, rather than reducing fraud, by taking proactive steps to help put IDs in the hands of the people who think they’re being targeted?”
That seems like a reasonable idea, but I don’t see it happening. And you didn’t mention the fact that Republicans in some swing states were also trying to limit early voting, and it was obvious why. I think there was a backlash against this that probably cost Romney the state of Florida (not that it mattered to the end result).
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
November 8th, 2012
6:11 pm
“the next four years while the adults run the country”
——————–
Still waiting for that to happen. Adults running the country would have done something about unemployment in the four years they had to accomplish something.
Aquagirl
November 8th, 2012
6:12 pm
2 1/2 % is an insignificant number in ANY conversation.
Mitt Romney might disagree with your statement.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
November 8th, 2012
6:13 pm
Regardless of what you think or why or think it, my side will determine the policies that drive this nation
——————
That’s been the case for four years.
Record deficits, record debt, record unemployment, record poverty.
Heckuva job!
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
6:13 pm
Tib, I would say your opinions are an insignificant addition to any conversation, and if you knew anything about statistics you’d know that 2.5% is often a statistically significant margin, and it always is if you have a sample size of more than one million.
Buzzy
November 8th, 2012
6:13 pm
This is the second time today I’ve seen an analysis similar to Kyle’s. It’s dead wrong.
I’m sorry to inform the Republicans that most of the country is moving on to the year 2013 and beyond, we will not move back to the year 1850.
So have fun with your fairy tales Kyle. You won’t attract younger voters with your ideas. You won’t attract women or other minorities either. Why? Because many people have seen behind the mask of the Republican Party and it’s bigotry, religious extremism, and ignorance; and it keeps getting uglier and more extreme as it goes along.
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
6:15 pm
And in this case we have a sample size of more than 100 million, so your idea of “significance” is just another one of your silly and inaccurate opinions.
JamVet
November 8th, 2012
6:15 pm
NEVER does @@ say anything even close to being negative about Republicans. (She’s a good little 11th Commandment Reaganbot in that regard.)
Which is not just OK by me, it is great!
Just keep trotting out more and more losers like that those two slates of absurd little men in 2008 and 2012!
And better luck in
20162024!I’ll keep flaming Obama for being a pro-war, pro-corporate Republican-lite and you can keep kissing an endless line of Republican asses! (But not donkeys!)
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
6:16 pm
Progressive Humanist, your incorrect opinion is noted.
Take the win on Tuesday with some kind of grace and class that your President and most of the liberal posters on here lacks.
md
November 8th, 2012
6:16 pm
Life is a cycle…….do you think all the old hippies voting gop today voted gop in their youth?
I think some of you are too young to understand the cycle, and foolish to write off an ideology. Neither ideology is going away anytime soon…….
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
November 8th, 2012
6:17 pm
Speaking of significance, Obozo’s deficits are significantly larger than any other in history.
Del
November 8th, 2012
6:18 pm
“Republican Party and it’s bigotry, religious extremism, and ignorance; and it keeps getting uglier and more extreme as it goes along.”
Don’t buy into all of that but even if it’s true, it sure beats socialism. The only ones who’ll be enjoying themselves when we’re on world news looking like Greece will be the OWS crowd.
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
6:19 pm
Lil- And all those things are results of the 8 years of Bush, and the country knows it, which is why they rejected the Republican brand once again. All of those have improved and are improving under the President, but you’re too brainwashed to realize it. But your side is irrelevant now, so you might as well put on the tinfoil hat, sit in the closet, and just rant to yourself.