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
saywhat?
November 8th, 2012
7:06 pm
Shorter Kyle: The Republican Party needs to change by staying exactly the same, except for reaching out to nonwhite voters and telling them THEY have to change.
Michael H. Smith ~ The Socialist Monster no longer hides under the bed in Greece...
November 8th, 2012
7:07 pm
Exit, I haven’t lost anything. I broke even with one win, one loss.
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:08 pm
How about the blatant lie that there was no gender gap with women voters?
md
November 8th, 2012
7:08 pm
Here Am, I’ll stick to the NY Times since it is so heavily dominated by the right
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html
Again, Bush was trying to reform F&F which had huge increases on their books……it never happened as the other party of no said ……no.
md
November 8th, 2012
7:09 pm
My post got eaten w/ 2 links, here’s the other:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/new-agency-proposed-to-oversee-freddie-mac-and-fannie-mae.html
The Final Solution
November 8th, 2012
7:10 pm
@Lynnie Gal @ 5:58 p.m.:
A very good list to begin with.
Here is my two cents worth of addition:
- Stop throwing peanuts at African-American camerawomen. In nationally televised conventions, to boot. (And even otherwise.)
- Even if you do not personally throw peanuts at African-American camerawomen (at your nationally televised conventions or otherwise), don’t just take it in your stride (as business as usual or all in a day’s work) if some of your fellows do (at your nationally televised conventions or otherwise). You are known by the company you keep.
- Whether the peanut-throwers were your fellow partymen or gatecrashers is irrelevant. It happened at your convention, and your reaction was not strong enough. Shows your attitude about respect for minorities as human beings.
- When your fellow delegates from Puerto Rico (American citizens!) arrive at the podium at your nationally televised conventions, refrain from drowning them out with shouts of “USA! USA!” They may be Hispanics, but they are as American as you are.
Talk about minority outreach! Seriously, why should any minority ever vote for the GOP? And how do you propose to reach out, when you cannot even respect them as fellow Americans? All that talk about why Conservative ideas (if any exist) are good for minorities is useless, if you cannot think of minorities as fellow Americans, but rather as “them”, i.e. “others” who you need only because you need their votes, but otherwise not your fellow Americans (except by legal definition), and certainly not worthy of basic human respect, “freeloaders” by default and what not.
Remember, the minorities do not need you. You need them. (Not because you think – or even can possibly think – of them as fellow human beings let alone as fellow Americans, but merely for votes. And by the way, nobody needs your compassion. You can keep it to yourself.)
But the only possible way to achieve that, it appears unfortunately, would probably be to get rid of approximately 99.99999% of the current adherents of the party as it exists now. The only way the GOP could possibly reach out to minorities would be to totally replace the entire current membership of the party with minorities – and not just token MINOs.
The current membership of the GOP is such that it simply cannot coexist with minorities (other than tokens). Nor can minorities be comfortable with them. (And before someone tries to make the usual race accusation, let me assure you that the other party does have white members, and the minorities and the white members are mutually comfortable with each other. So, whatever your fancy ideas be about why the GOP might be “good” for minorities, we are perfectly happy and at ease with the other party, and do not see the need to entertain you, thank you very much.)
- Also, refrain from allowing the likes of Mr. Clint Eastwood to make impromptu speeches at your nationally televised conventions. Not only is it painful to watch a doddering old fool make an idiot of himself in front of the entire nation, but it also raises severe doubts about the seriousness of the party’s intentions (let alone competence) in governing the nation.
Thank you very much. And God Bless America.
Dave
November 8th, 2012
7:11 pm
Careful Michael, I think I’m in love with Aquagirl. Brains, compassion, snark, the whole package. I can cook, kinda. And I probably can do better with arguments; but, the passage of time and demographics is very real, see all the past civilizations. The current majority in our country will certainly not stay in power, see our 200 plus year history. Be ready!
saywhat?
November 8th, 2012
7:11 pm
Anybody need a good laugh? Read this http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2012/11/02/poll-position-who-will-win-the-presidency/
Michael H. Smith ~ The Socialist Monster no longer hides under the bed in Greece...
November 8th, 2012
7:11 pm
How about the blatant lie that there was no gender gap with women voters?
That would be your lie Exit, I never said anything about a gender gap.
Read what I said, not what you want me to say.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:11 pm
“Very easy brucie wilcox, the GOP let you socialist DEMwits define them into the extreme narrative of a nut-job who said in the case of legitimate rape nature will abort the fetus and into the extreme narrative of those who would deny abortion under any and all conditions, which I do not support and never have, never will. ”
LET them define them, Michael?
When you have the willing media dominating the airwaves, there is no “let”. They will do whatever they need to discredit the GOP in any way.
So get rid of the frikkin’ issue altogether.
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:11 pm
How about the sham that Democrats were not enthused and the Romney supporters were on fire?
Talk radio, Fox, right wing websites and the like sure sold you people a bill of goods.
Aquagirl
November 8th, 2012
7:11 pm
Run-on sentences, strange grammatical errors, and babbling about the 1917 Committee on Public Information ….looks like Teh Scaree Gayz have sent Michael over the edge.
md
November 8th, 2012
7:12 pm
“A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.”
And bear in mind that was in 2003…..5 years prior to the collapse……..
JamVet
November 8th, 2012
7:12 pm
Tibby, tibby, tibby.
You asked for a reason. I gave you one.
Now you want to parse and pirouette and spin.
So do your dance.
But it will be no pas de deux.
Since 1992, you have garnered, 37%, 38%, 43%, 48%, 43% and 44%.
That is six straight times you gotten pretty much clobbered by the ladies in this country. And at this rate, you may go another sixteen.
That is a HUGE problem for your beloved GOP.
Looks like those lazy slut, prostitute and FemiNazi takers are stuck on the Democratic plantation, huh?
LOL!
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:13 pm
MHS
Didn’t say you said anything nor can you show where I did?
But that lie sure was being spewed by many on the right.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:13 pm
“How about the blatant lie that there was no gender gap with women voters?”
How about the blatant lie that anyone thought that, Exit Polling?
Make a point if you can, but don’t lie to make one, OK?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:14 pm
AmVet, your ignorance is noted and logged.
On Lilly Ledbetter, and on my party affiliation.
And on just about everything else.
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:15 pm
Tiberius
Don’t be so lazy. Look it up. I will do not homework for you, little angry man.
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:17 pm
How about the oversampling conspiracy (TALL TALE) that was being pushed by many conservative media outlets?
People on the right, including this blog, were eating it up like it was the best thing they ever put in their mouths.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:17 pm
“How about the sham that Democrats were not enthused”
They weren’t. 2 1/2 percent margin ain’t enthused, Exit Polling.
They were bought and paid for with deficit spending however!
Michael H. Smith ~ The Socialist Monster no longer hides under the bed in Greece...
November 8th, 2012
7:17 pm
Careful Michael, I think I’m in love with Aquagirl. Brains, compassion, snark, the whole package.
Again Dave, you can do better than that
Oh and I haven’t denied population changes, if you troubled yourself to read my earlier comment on blacks and those of the Hispanic culture you’ll find I’m very well in tune with the current ditty that is playing in the nation. The GOP has to stop letting the DEMwits get away with defining them into the extremes by using the extremest they have within their ranks. You can have values, you just can’t have inflexible values.
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:18 pm
Tiberius
Pulling excuses from his behind and other behinds on the right
Michael H. Smith ~ The Socialist Monster no longer hides under the bed in Greece...
November 8th, 2012
7:19 pm
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:13 pm
I just showed where you inferred it you big liar!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:19 pm
“Don’t be so lazy. Look it up.”
Sorry, Chuckles, but you made the statement that someone claimed there was no longer a gender gap.
Prove it.
Not that I expect you, as a liberal, to do anything but lie to make your case, you understand.
JamVet
November 8th, 2012
7:20 pm
md, five administrations. D &Rs. Thousands of public sector employees. Tens of thousands of private sector employees. Forty plus years. Trickle-down poverty. Record criminality in board rooms and imperious sell outs in Washington DC.
This is the magnitude and scope of the crushing of the American middle class.
And for four years all I’ve heard you cons say is “Obama did this and obama did that, Obama screwed up this and obama screwed up that.”
Yet the very first mention of the Bush administrations’ VERY sizable role in the 2008 meltdown is met with Republican dance moves that would impress the viewers of a 1973 Soul Train dance-off.
THIS is why you cons are hemorrhaging credibility these days.
Michael H. Smith ~ The Socialist Monster no longer hides under the bed in Greece...
November 8th, 2012
7:20 pm
Goodnight to all.
Georgia
November 8th, 2012
7:20 pm
Nixon: I am not a crook. McConnell: I am not a witch. Romney: I am not a conservative.
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:21 pm
I type Tiberius reacts.
Pavlov’s theory in action.
Too easy. My dobermans took more work than this.
It shows his bitterness, pettiness, anger and loneliness after being crushed on Tuesday. He took it personal. Funny and sad at the same time
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:25 pm
FL is still too close to call.
Hang in their Tiberius and stay tuned to Fox This could be the moral victory you need to pick up the pieces.
Maybe Fox will have Rove on again tonight. Let’s hope they have him on Valium just in case FL is called for Obama.
JamVet
November 8th, 2012
7:28 pm
Like I said, tibby, pull your own tail!
Keep on keeping on with your successful
War on WomenGOP Full Scale Legislative Assault on Women’s Rights!BTW, I forgot. As you are always reliable about reminding everyone how bad theirs were, what was your prediction regarding Tuesday night?
Schnort.
The Final Solution
November 8th, 2012
7:30 pm
@ld @6:28 p.m.
[The evangelical zealots readily understand that Islamic fundamentalism as government is tyranny;]
And yet, their darling, their greatest leader, the Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan once called the Taliban “the moral equivalents of America’s Founding Fathers”. Go figure.
(Not only that, the great Reagan also pumped all sorts of money into and armed to the teeth with US weapons one Mr. Osama bin Laden. Apparently thought it was a great idea at that time.)
It is said that the Republicans want to take the country back to the 1950s. If that is true, and if there is ever going to be a Republican administration again, that might actually be good for them. For Mr. Eisenhower was about the last decent (and truly great) Republican ever. After that, all the Republicans have ever been able to produce is self-serving crooks and/or clueless, ignorant idiots.
(Eisenhower was from the 1950s, wasn’t he?)
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:30 pm
Your surrender is noted, Exit Polling.
As usual, you got nothing.
And I do take Romney’s loss personally. I never sit back idly while an exceptional person is diminished through a constant barrage of lies, innuendo and personal attacks. I suspect that following another four years of mediocrity and failure, many people will be saying, “I wish I had voted for Romney”.
He’s a bigger, better, more successful person than each and every one of you liberal clowns will ever be. He didn’t run because he needed the title or the fame, or the money that comes afterwards; he ran for love of country.
In a just world, the small, petty divider in the Oval Office for the next 4 years couldn’t hold a candle to Mitt Romney.
md
November 8th, 2012
7:32 pm
And yet Am, not a single mention of the american consumers 40 year quest to buy the cheapest thing they could find regardless of where it came from……….simply amazing.
I’m guessing you never read that chart that showed the correlation between imports and real wages …..did you?
Here it is again, maybe for once you can see that the consumer played a very large role in establishing wages…..
It is NOT coincidence that wages flatlined in the exact same period in which we went from an exporting nation to an importing nation……the graph….. does…..not……lie.
http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_snapshots_archive_02282001/
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:32 pm
AmVet, unlike you, I always admit my errors, and have done so already.
But continue your classless posting and spiking the ball.
It suits you clowns to a T.
Linda
November 8th, 2012
7:32 pm
*FOX News is the only cable news source that hasn’t tanked for Obama. All the rest are nothing more than propaganda, omissions, distortions, lies, etc.
*There was NO surplus under Clinton. His adm. added to the nalt. debt each & every year.
*Obama’s strategy to garner Hispanics worked. Just circumvent the rule of law, go around congress & use executive fiat to implement amnesty. The GOP doesn’t use those tactics. We demand our borders be secured first.
*Blacks have been voting for & supporting their leadership despite the content of their character & based on the color of their skin, totally opposite of the teachings of MLK, Jr. & their own best interests.
*Senators & governors are no more qualified to run for president than anyone else. A community organizer who used Chicago tactics to be elected to his state Senate, then to the US Senate & then to president of the US has been the least qualified individual to ever be elected to our highest office. Serving in the military should be a requirement. Creating a single job would be a nice bonus.
Exit Polling
November 8th, 2012
7:35 pm
Is the AJC and Kyle going to send you a tinfoil hat for your self professed win?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:43 pm
Amazing that the all-knowing AmVet (sarcasm here) can bloviate about the vaunted Lilly Ledbetter Act, but cannot actually say what it did.
Progressive Humanist
November 8th, 2012
7:47 pm
saywhat @ 7:06- Beautiful summary of Kyle’s argument. And exactly what we’ll probably see from the GOP. So Tuesday’s results will likely be repeated over and over for that very reason.
cc
November 8th, 2012
7:48 pm
Interesting Op-Ed piece in the Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=291096
Don't Tread
November 8th, 2012
7:49 pm
“I like … my side having control of the country”
I’ve said for years that Democrats want one thing…control. Control of your money, what values you raise your kids to have, control of your healthcare (and by extension, control over whether you receive life-saving treatment or are left to die). I’m sure the voter rolls will be checked to make sure the “right” people get the care they need.
Democrats want “what’s best for the people”, my eye. They want CONTROL, the same as any other despotic regime that has ever existed. Gaining “control”, of course, involves getting rid of individual rights of people you don’t like, which is what Democrats have been attempting for decades.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:51 pm
Democrats believe in individual rights, Don’t Tread.
They just want to be the individuals that tell you what yours are.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 8th, 2012
7:55 pm
Liberals on this blog know as much about what the Lilly Ledbetter Act did as they know about what happened in Benghazi.
Or about economics.
They are the smartest people on this earth (and will tell you so all day long), but remain as ignorant as a stump on issues they don’t agree with.
clem
November 8th, 2012
7:56 pm
maybe it can start by relying on facts ie
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/11/08/cbo-letting-upper-income-tax-cuts-expire-would-barely-hurt-economy/
TheOracleOfGA
November 8th, 2012
8:01 pm
@Tiberius
You’re a voice in the wilderness, I’m afraid, based on what’s being posted here. Those rejoicing in Obama’s win clearly didn’t vote on the salient issue-the economy. If they had, Romney would have won walking away. Instead, issues largely non sequitur by comparison were the criteria-and we will all pay the economic price. Shame.
cc
November 8th, 2012
8:06 pm
CBS News – March 16. 2012
“The latest posting from the Bureau of Public Debt at the Treasury Department shows the National Debt now stands at $15.566 trillion. It was $10.626 trillion on President Bush’s last day in office, which coincided with President Obama’s first day.”
It took Obama three years and three months to top Bush’ entire eight years!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57400369-503544/national-debt-has-increased-more-under-obama-than-under-bush/
Hillbilly D
November 8th, 2012
8:06 pm
Progressive Humanist @ 5:51
I lived through the time when blacks went from not really being able to vote, to obtaining it (the vote) so you’re underestimating the demographic shifts that I’ve seen.
cc
November 8th, 2012
8:07 pm
If anyone is interested, the national debt now exceeds $16.25 trillion.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Archibald Leach
November 8th, 2012
8:07 pm
“To be frank, we’re a Mad Men Party in a Modern Family world.” – Chuck Warren, GOP strategist
I agree with Mr. Warren. Kyle, you and many other conservative talking heads are completely wrong when you say that all you have is a messaging problem. Republicans dont have a messaging problem, you have a policy problem.
They BOTH suck
November 8th, 2012
8:08 pm
Dedicated to Thurston Howell and Eddy Monster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_8KR-n2fBQ
Gimme Gimme Gimme
November 8th, 2012
8:10 pm
Finn – “Rachel Maddow last night begging Cons to embrace more reality-based news sources because the country needs them to be informed so they can operate in the democratic process.”
That is pretty funny since MSNBC was just named the most partisan news source by Pew.