An Opening for the GOP?
Funny and depressing article in Politico today about recent polling data that reveals the GOP’s best hope for 2010: tell the public they should vote for us just as a check on the Dems.
What this article doesn’t say, but is obvious to any concerned Republican, is that we really can’t run on too much else at this point, at least in this political climate. So far, everything put forth by the Democrats and the Obama administration is pretty popular in the rest of the nation. We claim to have alternate plans for getting the economy back on track, upholding traditional values, keeping pressure on the bad guys around the world who are still taking aim at us, but the public doesn’t seem to notice.
I was speaking with a up-and-coming Republican operative the other day about the party’s woes. This is a guy who can’t stand Hannity, Levin, Rush (although he– like me– has some respect for the druggie), and agrees that the party needs new blood, but even he didn’t think that our problem was a lack of a message. Even he was focused on tactics– more aggressive organizing, and the like.
I didn’t feel like embarrassing him, running through all our party’s contradictions and mixed messages, but not once did he talk about why the party is so unpopular in honest terms. He really thought that if we just knocked on more doors or held more rallies, the tide of the nation could turn back into our favor.
The Democrats were saying the same thing in 2000 and 2004, that their problem was that they were getting their message out there. Even though the majority of the media was tilted in their favor, and they had a significant presence on the up-and-coming blogosphere, somehow their message wasn’t being relayed to the American people.
In this election, there is no doubt that a Democrat would have won anyway, whether it was Hillary, Obama or even Richardson. Somehow, I seriously doubt that Hillary Clinton could have mustered up 300 electoral votes. The reason why Obama was chosen to lead his party and the country was that he championed ideas, he focused less on ideology and more on pragmatism.
As long as the Republican party continues to focus on ideology, and a failed one at that, we will continue to look back after every election, blame the “liberal” media and make the same absurd claim that our message isn’t reaching the American people.
Speaking about liberal media… I heard someone make a great point a while ago that (for whatever reason) I didn’t realize myself–
Fox News keeps on talking about how the mainstream media is so biased, but then in the next breath they talk about how they’re the #1 cable news station.
Wha’…?
@John: That’s probably Jon Stewart. The “media is so liberal” meme is beaten so much, it’s a crater in the ground where the horse was.
I think it was Stewart. Funny– growing up, I saw Rush as the anti-bs’er. Now, the people who really tell it like it is are Stewart and Colbert. They call out everyone.
and Maher, don’t forget him.
I actually think Maher has his own agenda (which isn’t necessarily bad). S and C’s agenda seems to just be “don’t bs us.”
Maher may have his own agenda, but nobody cuts through the bullshit like he does. Not only does he cut through bullshit though, he destroys anyone who comes on his show and tries to bs him. Take a look at this:
That’s awesome. Believe me– I like Maher. I think Religulous should be mandatory viewing for every American.
BTW… I also happen to believe that Terry McAuliffe is the dirtiest politician around. That ass has a different personality every time you see him. Everything about the dude is phony.