Anyone Can Have A Listening Tour
From today’s Politico:
GOP Leaders Launch Listening Tour
With the party at its lowest standing in several decades, Republicans on Saturday launched a listening tour in the heart of the Democratic suburbs, where several of the party’s leading voices steered clear of hot-button issues and instead emphasized the need to advance new policy ideas to revive the party’s prospects.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and former Republican governors Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney – both frequently mentioned as potential 2012 GOP presidential candidates – spoke to about 100 attendees at a pizzeria in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Va.. The event was the first held by the newly launched National Council for a New America.
They “emphasized the need to advance new policy ideas,” without really advancing any new policy ideas. Mostly they just listened.
We don’t need these guys to listen. Everyone knows what the employment rate is, that manufacturing jobs continue to be sent overseas, that healthcare costs are still skyrocketing, that working class families still worry about not being able to pay for Junior’s college, etc., etc. We all know this stuff! How many suburbanites do Mitt, Jeb and Eric need to hear from?
Apparently, Mitt touted his efforts in creating universal healthcare as Governor of Massachusetts. Quite frankly, I didn’t hear Mitt bragging about his universal healthcare plan during the campaign. Why? Because he was afraid of being labeled a moderate (or worse!)
Jeb apparently threw out some education proposals during the sit-down. This is a good start, but everyone knows that Republicans are (correctly) for vouchers and some other tweaks. How about you go after something a little less safe than education next time, Bush.
What we need from these guys is brand spanking new stuff. Surprise us one of these days. Stop listening and give us something to get excited about for once.
I think the Republican Party and its current leadership needs to do a lot of listening. The current leadership is so far to the right; they can’t even see the middle. What really bothers me is Rush Limbaugh blasted the whole idea of listening and touted that the Republican Party needs tell people what to think. The arrogance of the party is the biggest problem the party has going against it. The day after Limbaugh’s remarks, Eric Cantor retracted on his remarks about listening. I guess the Republican Party is being run by Rush Limbaugh.
Don Rector