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
Bye Bye Cheesy Grits
November 8th, 2012
2:02 pm
Good for you MD
All minorities and poor people are asking for is the same opportunities you had.
Alot of them dont have those options.
Lil' Barry Bailout - Vote American
November 8th, 2012
2:05 pm
In what way do minorities not have the same opportunities as everyone else?
Jay
November 8th, 2012
2:05 pm
MD,
I apologize for the lateness of this response, but I was out for a team lunch.
You missed my point on the environment completely. If it’s part of the Earth’s natural cycle, it’s MORE important that we start preparing for the inevitable superstorms and disasters on the horizon.
The time for arguments over the cause is past. Now is the time to prepare for what’s coming or, more precisely, has already begun.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
November 8th, 2012
2:08 pm
We have gone from the 60’s where Kennedy told us to ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, to today, where people say there is no reason in a great country like ours that the poor shouldn’t have healthcare, food stamps, and cell phones.
As I said earlier, it is what it is. You can debate the wisdom of why we let ourselves change, but you can’t debate the change. The GOP can no longer continue to deny that change, they have to find a way to deal with. You can’t rewind a spring.
spaceman109
November 8th, 2012
2:10 pm
matz….my sentiments exactly!! i can remember a time when companies large and small thought of their rank-and-file employees to be just as important as the upper management. now the attitude toward the rank and file seems to be “you scum should be thankful that you are permitted to work here”
td
November 8th, 2012
2:10 pm
Bye Bye Cheesy Grits
November 8th, 2012
1:39 pm
I can’t feel too sorry for anyone that chooses to remain in a lower level position and then also chooses to complain about it………….they always have the power to do something about it.
Spoken by someone who isn’t a minority or been poor.
Sometimes its not that easy to claw your way up.
My family was poor and I grew up poor. My wife came to this country as a teenager, poor and did not speak English. We both worked hard in the classroom, received a college education and now have good careers and are no longer poor.
Being poor is not an excuse to receive and education and succeed.
Rafe Hollister, suffering through Oblamer's ineptocracy
November 8th, 2012
2:13 pm
Now is the time to prepare for what’s coming or, more precisely, has already begun.
Jay, are you the new Farmer’s Almanac? How do you know what is coming? Someone said the other day that the Atlantic is warming, but it is a cycle, and soon, it will reverse and the Pacific will warm. How long do these cycles last, all we have is a guess, based on past activities. You seem to imply that we are in some permanent doomsday climate event, based on what?
td
November 8th, 2012
2:15 pm
md
November 8th, 2012
1:49 pm
Very well said and I agree with you 100%.
Aquagirl
November 8th, 2012
2:17 pm
You seem to imply that we are in some permanent doomsday climate event, based on what?
The next time Goopers wonder why they got their @$$es kicked, I’ll just send them right to this comment.
carlosgvv
November 8th, 2012
2:17 pm
Watching the Republicans self destruct in a frenzy of name calling, finger pointing and insane scripture quoting will be priceless.
Hillbilly D
November 8th, 2012
2:17 pm
There was a time when you had conservative & liberal Democrats and conservative & liberal Republicans. Somewhere along the way, both parties have become litmus test parties. If you aren’t in lock step with the true believers, you aren’t welcome. That’s why we’re screwed.
Jay
November 8th, 2012
2:19 pm
Rafe,
That would be based on all current climate models that don’t involve miracles.
gLENN
November 8th, 2012
2:23 pm
I’m just baffled Kyle . Really all you said that you need to change is that you need to target minorities better . This state is so anti-immigration and fearful of illegal aliens its silly how hard it is to get a drivers license . I was told by the social security office that if I was to attempt a name change I wouldn’t be able to get a new drivers license . That’s not less government . That’s not more freedom . That’s not going to help attract minorities .
Kyle when your talking heads call President Obama Osama right after he is elected do you honestly believe you have a shot at minorities going to the red side . I’m stunned by this article Kyle. This is bubble mentality .
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right
November 8th, 2012
2:25 pm
Kick the religious right to the curb.
Sponsor and pass a modified Dream act as Rubio has put together.
Start lying as much about liberal positions as liberals do conservative ones.
That’s it. That’s all.
Gen. MacArthur
November 8th, 2012
2:26 pm
1. Show women more respect, and stop trying to control what they do with their bodies. to have a white male only
panel decide such matters is beyond insulting.
2. Stop trying to convince a woman whose been raped and becomes pregnant that it was a legitimate rape.
3. Stop electing Nathan Deals and Sonny Perdues
4. You’re not losing your base, your base is a bunch of Dinosaurs with old ways of thinking. embrace the young,
embrace change you’ll fare better.
5. Stop demonizing Hispanics, it does nothing but lump the legal one together with the illegal ones, most are here
to stay, not much you can do about it
Truth Squad
November 8th, 2012
2:28 pm
The truth is that the Republican Party has lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential cycles. The party’s issues started long before President Obama came on the scene.
The voting majority isn’t going to suddenly fall in love with the same message just because the messenger has changed. Reading the comments and listening to conservative punditry, the party still ignores another fast-growing demographic group: Asians/Pacific Islanders. Native-Americans just provided the margin for the North Dakota Senate seat. The party has a demographic problem and will continue to have one until it stops pandering to the likes of those who post belligerent, fact-averse comments on these blogs.
Those who believe Senator Rubio is coming to the rescue obviously do not know there is a difference between Cubans and those whose roots are from Mexico, or Puerto Rico.
Policies matter. Actions matter. If the Republicans in Congress continue doing what they have done the last two years, then 2014 and 2016 will not go well for them.
Liz
November 8th, 2012
2:28 pm
Kyle, you don’t think minorities can recognize “brilliant ideas”? Really? Only white people can?
Hmmm, you sound a lot like Mitt Romney, on that infamous tape about the 47%
PROUD NAVY VET
November 8th, 2012
2:30 pm
I don’t understand why the right drinks the Kool-Aid of Rush, Rove, Norquist, The Kock Bros and the rest of the GOP “leaders”. Talk radio is bad. Canada has a law that says if you can’t prove it, you can’t broadcast it. Sounds great!! What the GOP “leaders” did was become very, very wealthy and more powerful. They want the country to stay the way it was in the 60’s & 70’s. There are some things that are great from that time, respect being at the top of the list. Nothing wrong about watching you money. Why does the right in Congress allow norquist get away with blackmailing them? That’s illegal. I truly feel it’s blackmail. Blackmail if you don’t sign and blackmail if you break away. Run those people off, expose them for what they are. As a Dem, I wonder why it even got started. The right wants Americans to be honest, but that secrect was hidden for many years. I truly hope and pray that there is give on both sides. It’s what we have to have in order to heal. Nobody gets everything they want. Just some of what they want. The Koch’s will go back under a rock and wait. They are not done. The only one that can stop them is God. They have way too much money. Why the highest court in the land allowed PAC’s does not make sense. Major mistake. How can money from unknown sources be injected into a democratic process? Bad things will and did happen. That needs to be stopped. I pary for our nation, the greatest nation the world has ever known.Unity.
gLENN
November 8th, 2012
2:31 pm
@ Liz
Brilliant
bu2
November 8th, 2012
2:31 pm
Per JF:
“Only one thing needs to be done. Stop being hateful. That goes over well with the base, but flops with everyone else.
Here is you message (from outside the echo chamber) on minorities:
Black people are stupid and vote Democrat only. In addition, they are all lazy and want government assistance. Latinos are all criminals and need to be deported. They are also stealing our government services. Women aren’t smart enough to figure out what’s right for them. We need to tell them, and back that up with some rantings on Jesus. Young people are also stupid because they are young. They’ll turn Republican when they get older.
It comes off like, “We are smarter and better than everyone else, but they don’t realize it. What’s wrong with you people.””
Well lets rephrase that to see what Democrats say:
White people are stupid and don’t vote for their own interests by voting Republican. In addition, they’re bigoted and want to continue to get preferential treatment over minorities. Businessmen are all criminals and need to go to jail. They are freeloading off government infrastructure. Everything successful people have needs to be taken away because they didn’t earn that. Republican women aren’t smart enough to figure out what is right for them. We need to tell them they are narrow minded if they believe in religion and should never let anyone know if they do believe. Old people are stupid because they are stuck in their ways. They’ll die without health insurance and regret they didn’t vote Democratic.
How many times on this blog are Democrats talking about how much better educated they are than Republican voters. Of course, what the real data (USA Today) showed was Obama won those with no college by 6.4%, those with some college by .8%, lost those with a degree by 4.5% and won by 12.7% among those with advanced degrees. What that shows is he won among people with too little or too much education. Democrats keep thinking government knows better than the people. There’s no group more hateful, arrogant and condescending than “progressive” Democrats.
4 more years
November 8th, 2012
2:31 pm
Basically, if human misery increases under Obama, an election will be difficult to win for the dems otherwise they will win again. That said it is not looking good because spending always leads to higher taxes. America runs the risk of slipping into shared-poverty.
Dems say, “tax the rich!” I say, “Do I look like an ATM? I choose my charities and it is not Uncle Sam.
My husband is a brilliant mathematician, and he works with people of many (foreign) backgrounds. If we can make more money somewhere else we will be on the first flight. We have lived in Wales. What is the point of being a genius if you don’t get any rewards? It will be a sad day when Russia surpasses America in opportunity.
oldfart
November 8th, 2012
2:33 pm
Kyle,
You are not proposing that the Republicans budge a micrometer from their current positions and that is guaranteed to get the same results. The only difference would be to try to convince minorities that conservative principles could work for them without making any changes to the platform that they have been wholeheartedly rejecting. I’m sorry but if you want any hope to gain a majority there has to be some change.
RF
November 8th, 2012
2:40 pm
“even if a successful tea-party candidate needs more polish”
like the “trade chickens for medical care” lady?
like the “legitimate rape doesn’t cause pregnancy” guy?
like the ” pregnancy from rape is God’s will” guy?
like Gov. Ultrasound?
As John McCain, once a champion for immigration reform found out, when you suddenly move to the far-right and begin touting border fences, you LOSE elections. The far-right, far-fright agenda appeals to a certain part of the conservative base, but overall doesn’t play well at the ballot box with independents and conserva-dems who would likely vote for a more moderate republican.
Face it, you moved the party WAY to the right, and you’ll have to balance that with the more moderate, broadly supported republican principles if you hope to survive.
kevin
November 8th, 2012
2:42 pm
Media and some of the journalist reporting on the downs of the President see what a fool they have been. In fact, they were moving toward Mitt from the onset. Gloria Borger, and the rest of the CNN journalists never move forward to defend President Obama, rather, they continue to talk about the first face off where President Obama was not good; well, Mitt assume he had him in the bag and so did the rest of the journalist for CNN and the rest of the station who were reporting negative comments about President Obama. Now, when you put a person in a room and try to contain them, he find a way to get out………President Obama knew what he was doing and when he came back he put Mitt and the negative journalists in to their place. Many of those who have pounded and put the President down now knows he is a professional campaigner….he never got ugly, he held his ground and we now know that God don’t put up with all of this evil and racism values. It would have been the death of America had Mitt and Ryan won this election. Many whites would be outside looking in more than anyone because that was what they were planning on doing to make a statement. He was about to break the upper class rich folks. 12 million jobs who can do that and that was where Mitt broke his own run for the office of the President of the United States of America!
J. P. Jones
November 8th, 2012
2:49 pm
I think the use of sophisticated statistical data was the difference in this election. The Obama campaign understood the demographics of the electorate better and was able to get their voters energized and engaged. Romney’s campaign was depended on a system called ORCA that as late as 9 pm Tuesday night was still predicting a Romney win…having said this, the GOP has real demographic challenges that will require a serious deviation from the typical GOP rhetoric to win in’16…social wedge issues and lower taxes w/o spending cuts will not work anymore…
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
November 8th, 2012
2:50 pm
6 pages and only 1 mention of Benghazi?
Great job! Don’t let the talk radio and Fox pundits define the narrative!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
November 8th, 2012
2:51 pm
I believe they are still counting ballots in Flori-duh
Tsu Doh Nimh
November 8th, 2012
2:53 pm
How the GOP needs to change, and how it doesn’t
Stay the course, you’re doing just fine.
Rogue Republican
(snipped)
I have been a card-carrying Republican all my life. A signed picture of President Eisenhower hangs over my desk. I’m a veteran of the regular US army.
But today’s Republican party is no longer my Republican party. Back in the day, the GOP was run by East Coast elite of well-educated, sophisticated internationalists who exercised America’s great power with restraint.
Alas, they have been replaced by rural politicians from the deep South and West with no knowledge of the outside world and no sense of history or culture. America’s closet fascist neocons write the GOP’s foreign policies.
http://bit.ly/TopZQb
Bye Bye Cheesy Grits
November 8th, 2012
2:53 pm
If we can make more money somewhere else we will be on the first flight.
Delta is ready when you are.
They have over 1000 flights a day to all sorts of places. Im sure one will suit you.
southern white boy
November 8th, 2012
2:54 pm
here is something novel for republicans: stop with the hypocrisy. people see right through, whether it is a romney talking about how he cares about the middle class, repubs decrying governmental interference but supporting intrusive moral legislation on individual liberty, talking about the sanctity of the vote and then making voting as difficult as possible for certain populations, opposing govt spending and then wanting fed money for port dredging, for $2 trillion in unnecessary defense spending, for farm support programs, etc., screaming about obama and benghazi after being silent about bush and iraq and the lies that got us there, trashing government as all bad and then using it for personal gain, the list goes on and on and on. if the repubs want credibility and votes, they’d best start by looking in the mirror and asking some very fundamental questions about their positions that are inconsistent with a vision of freedom for all and smaller, effective government.
Jay Money
November 8th, 2012
2:54 pm
Rescums are burnt toast because their followers are stupid redneck gap tooth goobers..
Bye Bye Cheesy Grits
November 8th, 2012
2:56 pm
I’m just baffled Kyle . Really all you said that you need to change is that you need to target minorities better . This state is so anti-immigration and fearful of illegal aliens its silly how hard it is to get a drivers license
My Dad needed a new one and it took him 4 trips. I’m not kidding.
All because of other peoples Xenophobia.
Kyle Wingfield
November 8th, 2012
2:56 pm
Liz @ 2:28: Not at all. I was saying Republicans can’t simply think to themselves, “Our ideas are brilliant,” fail to reach out to people who traditionally haven’t voted for their party, allow Democrats to distort and caricature their ideas, and expect those people to suddenly start voting Republican. The “recognize their brilliance” part was sarcasm, directed at the GOP.
Now What?
November 8th, 2012
2:57 pm
Republicans are right on a whole bunch of issues but are blind to many others. I can’t for the life of me understand why these are not Republican issues except that narrow lobbying and interest groups took over the RNC at the expense of common sense.
Energy – If you are conservative, promote conservation and let the market pick the winners and losers.
Abortion – let it go
Gay Marriage – let it go
Immigration – increase legal immigration and enforcement. charge a big fine to those already here and let them become citizens. pass the dream act to provide good role models for new immigrants.
Big Business – banks, agriculture, defense, oil – this is not capitalism, it is corporate welfare. if you believe in the free market, set it free.
ObamaCare – it was a Republican idea. we’re paying anyway so making people buy their own insurance is a good thing. just make it less generous.
Election Reform – support independently-drawn congressional districts that are geographically compact and competitive
Eliminate the Electoral College – if the candidates had to compete for everyone’s vote they couldn’t pander as much to particular groups
Isreal and the Middle East – Isreal is our friend but not everything they do is right. Get the hell out of the rest of the Middle East and let them grow up.
Taxes – fix the damn tax code including the loophole allowing hedge fund managers to game the system. eliminate all deductions – they are bad social engineering.
Tsu Doh Nimh
November 8th, 2012
2:57 pm
Imo, the only minorities the R party will ever attract are those toothless, bible-thumping trailer park residents. Good luck.
Carving them up
November 8th, 2012
2:57 pm
Same “do do” being sold by right wing commentators and websites then spewed on these blogs are the same exact talking points that freely flowed from the tongue when Clinton was elected the 1st time, the 2nd time and now Obama being elected………………………. twice.
Scare tactics and fear mongering
whatever floats your boat and makes you happy, I’m cool with it
love the laughs and comedy
It is awesome BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@
November 8th, 2012
2:57 pm
There’s a columnist at the NYTimes who disagrees with purging of moderates within the dem party.
The near-apoplectic level of agita within the liberal screeching class over President Obama’s tax-cut compromise has exposed a seismic crack in the Democratic monolith — outspoken liberal Democrats on one side and barely audible moderate Democrats on the other.
The lopsided optics raise the question: Is there a future for moderation, and especially conservatism, in the Democratic Party or is the party experiencing the beginnings of a purging akin to that seen on the right?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/opinion/18blow.html?_r=0
I believe it was the far-left agitators that Rahm Emmanuel called effin’ retards.
He and I were in agreement on that. Rahm didn’t like them and they didn’t like him for speaking the truth.
I’m outta here.
Carving them up
November 8th, 2012
2:59 pm
Kyle
The distortion is a two way street. Nothing new. Each side makes the same claims each election and each side is guilty each election. Best each side might be able to say during or after any given election, is that the other side “did it 1st” or “did it more”.
Kyle Wingfield
November 8th, 2012
3:02 pm
Carving @ 2:59: “The distortion is a two way street.”
Sure it is. That’s politics. It ain’t beanbag. But I’m making a broader point about how you win over voters who historically haven’t voted for you.
If Democrats, for instance, decided after 2004 that they needed to fare better with evangelicals, what would have been the best approach? Continuing to describe the same proposals in the same ways in the same forums — or reaching out to evangelicals to explain why Democratic proposals were better for them than they might have realized?
Cutty
November 8th, 2012
3:03 pm
I’d like to see McConnell, Cantor, and the rest apologize for the Bush years of deficit spending, unfunded mandates, and the wars. You can’t accuse Obama of being a big spender if you approved every budget Bush put in front of you.
At least make an effort for the black vote. On certain issues we align more w your party, but you don’t even try for our vote then call the President a muslim, Kenyan, Marxist. You bring up the constitution so much, but nowhere in there does it say you have to be a certain religion to be POTUS.
Stop listening to Hannity, Rush, et al. They’re in it for the money.
Everyone that didn’t vote for you isn’t a moocher. A good majority or better educated and make more money. You only make your party look like rubes when you argue this point (see Rubin’s article in the WashPo).
Carving them up
November 8th, 2012
3:03 pm
Kyle
Thanks for the reply and clarification. We do have some agreement there.
Hillbilly D
November 8th, 2012
3:04 pm
Rescums are burnt toast because their followers are stupid redneck gap tooth goobers..
Imo, the only minorities the R party will ever attract are those toothless, bible-thumping trailer park residents. Good luck.
Ah, the enlightened, tolerant side has shown up.
@@
November 8th, 2012
3:04 pm
If Democrats, for instance, decided after 2004 that they needed to fare better with evangelicals, what would have been the best approach?
Calling them toothless, bible-thumping rednecks?
schnirt
James
November 8th, 2012
3:05 pm
The haters are sure out in force today
@@
November 8th, 2012
3:05 pm
Hillbilly:
Great minds think alike. I’m not offended, are you?
@@
November 8th, 2012
3:06 pm
Wasn’t Jimmy Carter a goober with oversized teeth?
Cutty
November 8th, 2012
3:07 pm
Keep with the opinions and thinking of I Report, td, md, and Dusty. See where that gets you on two years. Minorities of all hues are more engaged in the political process than ever before.
Matz
November 8th, 2012
3:09 pm
“You know your party is in trouble when people ask did the rape guy win, and you have to ask which one?” Alec Baldwin
Andisheh Nouraee
November 8th, 2012
3:09 pm
Kyle, you wrote: “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?”
Answer: Because these laws are actually about suppressing voting.
wallbanger
November 8th, 2012
3:14 pm
If there was any way for Republicans to appeal to the grifters on welfare we could have it in the bag. Or if Republicans really spoke the truth about what is happening to the country heading rapidly toward totalitarian socialism, maybe the grifters would understand that the golden goose is dying and that if they kill it, there won’t be enough money to spread around, then maybe Repubs would get their vote. Ah well. Maybe in time, we will be the United States of Mexico anyway and I will be dead.