There's an interesting article today from The Wall Street Journal regarding the Republican Party moving forward. The Republican National Committee released a report issuing a tough self-analysis as to why the party has struggled so much with its message in the last two elections and why it continues to lose ground nationally on the federal level.
As the article notes, the report outlines the public perception of the party as the main obstacle to breaking through and winning in presidential elections. The RNC has conducted focus groups to find out from the people exactly why they left the GOP, and they described the Republican Party as "scary," "narrow-minded," "out of touch," and as the party of "stuffy, old men." The report cites the success of many of the party's gubernatorial candidates as a model despite the struggles on a national scale. In the report, the RNC admits a weak message, insufficient ground-game, and the need for improvements in the primary and debate process among other things. To remedy these problems, the party proposes greater outreach to areas they wouldn't normally go (minority neighborhoods) and a greater focus on grass-roots efforts going door to door.
Full article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323415304578367311933111522.html?mod=e2tw
I agree with this but don't agree with this at the same time. I agree that the party needs to reform its approach. They need a stronger ground-game for sure; a more grass roots approach going door to door. Democrats are killing Republicans in the get out the vote campaign. They are organized and aggressive. They talk to people and get them to the polls; especially the poor, elderly, and minorities. In the last two elections, the Republican primary candidates have done more damage to themselves than Obama did. By the time the eventual nominee was elected, he had already been torn to shreds by his own party and Obama really didn't have to make much of an argument. The nominees' debate tactics have been downright awful. Romney was outstanding in the first debate and really had Obama back on his heels and looking flustered, but in the subsequent debates he took a passive approach and Obama stole the election from him. McCain quite frankly just sucked in 2008.
What I don't agree with is the perception of the party as being true. The perception that the GOP is only for the rich and only includes old, white men is 100% predicated by the media's propensity to portray the party that way. The bias in the mainstream media drives this perception. The GOP is full of young and rising stars, many of which are minorities, but the media purposefully excludes them from the public eye. The media also drives the perception that if you're a minority and conservative, you have abandoned your race. You aren't "down with the cause" as is said of black conservative candidates. Black conservatives are constantly called names like "Uncle Tom," "puppet," "token," and even the disgusting term "house ni**er." By doing this, the media makes it appear as if the GOP is nothing but white elitists that the poor and minorities should run from.
In reality, the African American and Hispanic communities are conservative by the nature of their values, but the scare tactics and constant pandering keeps them glued to the hip of the Democratic Party. As a Republican in New Mexico advised last week about his ability to keep winning in a primarily Hispanic district, Republican candidates just need to "show up everywhere, all the time." Minorities generally believe in conservative values, but the GOP absolutely must make an effort to reach them. People have to feel like you care about them and in the last two presidential elections the GOP has done a piss poor job of that.
George W. Bush as recently as 2004 received over 40% of the Hispanic vote. In the last two elections, the GOP candidates both received under 30%. I don't believe that in just four year's time the Hispanic community changed that much; the messaging has just been way off. If the GOP can improve their grass roots efforts and stop the lynching of candidates in the primaries, I believe they can regain prominence in Washington. I still believe this is a Center-Right country in its majority.
The public polls described the GOP as 'scary, narrow-minded, out of touch'. Neither the article nor you have addressed these issues. The answer is that they need to have a better ground game, etc. "Scary, narrow-minded and out of touch" has nothing to do with getting the message out. That has to do with the message.
ReplyDeleteJust as Pelosi shook her head when she lost the House and said that the Democrats needed to get their message out better, my first thought was that they had the message accurately delivered, people just did not like the message.
If you want to look not so scary, stop saying stupid things like 50% of Americans don't pay taxes. That statement is only true if you include children under 18 and seniors. Now, I ask you, is that intellectual honesty or scare-mongering?