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Battle for the GOP's Soul
Talk Radio Titans Don’t Win Elections
Early after the election, some prominent Republicans sought to court new voters by adopting more centrist positions: National leaders held up moderate freshman Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) as a model for future recruiting, Governor Charlie Crist sided with President Obama on the stimulus bill, and the Republican governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman Jr., was making waves with his technocratic approach. Now one year later, Cao is largely forgotten by the national party and faces a difficult reelection; Crist is tacking to the right to fend off a tough Senate primary challenger in conservative Marco Rubio, and Huntsman has left electoral politics to become ambassador to China. And far-right voices like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have emerged as the party's “center of gravity,” as Republican strategist Bill Kristol described them in a recent Washington Post column, complete with their own army of grassroots supporters.
“To the extent that radio and television talk-show hosts are leading a political party, that party is in deep trouble,” Sabato said. “You need political figures who can actually govern leading a party and it doesn't matter which party.”
It’s Hard to Love the Party of ‘No’
Opposition to Obama has been the glue that's held the party together over the last year, but that strategy is not without its own risks as the president remains generally popular and Democrats have hammered the GOP as the “party of no.” One recent poll by Public Policy Poling found that the president has won over twice as many people who voted against him as he has lost people who voted for him. Popular perception that Republicans are not making a good-faith effort at bipartisanship, especially after no House Republicans voted for the president's stimulus plan in February, could also get him off the hook for pushing through partisan legislation, as the health-care bill is expected to be in the end.
McKinnon cautioned that obstructionism could only win back so many seats for the opposition.
“It's not enough to just be the party out of power and get default support when the party in power doesn't deliver. In order to regain majority status, Republicans can't just be the party of 'no', but need to a party with plan and vision for the future.”
Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.
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Dolmance
I finally heard that wingnut speak tonight on the John Stewart Show. If you close your eyes and listen, it sounds like "Bub," in "Day of the Dead," like a zombie trained to mouth words. A complete imbecile. I hope he wins.
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spittingoutteeth
That's a nice bunch of nonsense that you just spouted there, with no factual or logical evidence to back it up. Congrats!
AlanD2
squareyellowpaper: Minor elections are almost always determined by which base happens to be worked up at the time. And older voters - generally more conservative - tend to have the biggest turnout in off-year elections.
So Republican victories today should be no surprise.
As for Obama being an "empty suit", consider his successes:
-- Legislation Signed --
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus Bill)
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act
Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act (SCHIP)
Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act
Helping Families Save Their Homes Act
Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act
Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
-- Executive Orders --
Reversed Bush Administration policies on stem cell research
Ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay
And health care reform is looking pretty certain of passing too. Not exactly the work of an "empty suit", is it.
franjen
Alan:
Please look at who authored the bills SIGNED by President Obama.
Make me out some blank checks on your personal account, and I'll forge your signature all day. Anybody (who is preseindent) can sign legislation.
Sorry, but President Obama's complete lack of experince is so apparent.
By the way, make sure you watch HBO tonight.
AlanD2
franjen: The stimulus bill - an Obama creation - was one of the most important bills - if not the most important bill - in the last 50 years, as it was instrumental in avoiding America's Great Depression II. Obama will be a great President for this alone.
George W. Bush should be very thankful for Obama's success. He would otherwise be associated with Great Depression II as Herbert Hoover is associated with the Great Depression.
Now it is true that Obama had little to do with writing some of these bills, but as you well know, Presidents always get credit (or blame) for anything that happens during their administration.
khepri
Obama has squandered his mandate and fulfilled progressive's worst fears. Obama and his cronies need to be sent to the electoral woodshed for a sternly democratic comeuppance. Cross the base and pay the consequences. Funny they didn't figure that out.
polako1
Oh goodie!! The lunatics are taking over the asylum!!
LucieLee
Like "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest"! And that would be Pres. Obama who leads unscathed.
ThinkAgain
What about all the alienated democrats? It's hilarious how the liberal media thinks that ignoring them makes them non-existant.
spotted
TA - The D's are used to internal arguments. Nader's group of disaffected voters in 2000 was the reason why the Bush/Gore elected had to be decided by the Supremes.
opedanderson
TDB is always posting articles about the demise of the Republican party and the conservative movement......
Does anyone really think that they are gone for good?
diamondgirl
They only wish the Republicans would go away! But what that dont know is the conservatives are Republicans and Democrats as well...
AlanD2
Have you considered using English in your posts, diamondgirl?
AlanD2
opedanderson: No. But it will be at least a generation before they are back in power.
Metrodeco
Now look here, what the Republican Party is failing to realise is how your economic policy over there (in the USA) is affecting small business over here (in the UK). I've blogged about some changes I'm making in my small tea shop: http://tiny.cc/s4tOG
eelstak
I am more disappointed with Congress than I am with our President. I believe he wants to put forth an agenda that would benefit all of us but when he has to deal with congress with obstinate dems as well as republicans it's that much harde to accomplish what he needs to do.
Baddchild
simple question, maybe all the brain surgeon libs on TDB can put their heads together to come up with an answer.
Q: The media keeps telling us how Conservatives, tea parties and Rush are driving moderates and independents away how could they even stand a chance in NJ, VA or NY without them?
spotted
Bad - You're blurring the fiscal conservatives ("RINOs") with the social conservatives ("Bible Thumpers"). The latter are driving the former out of the R party and the RINOs now self-identify as "Independent".
Baddchild
not at all... again, are trying to say that there are so many conservatives that they are competitve in these races? Because we are being told that they are driving them away in droves. Or, is it in fact that they are drawing in moderates and independents otherwise they would be getting their ass kicked today.
spotted
Bad - What do you think is the current registration rate of the Republican Party? It's running about 28% nationwide. If the registration rate is down, QED people are leaving the party.
That said, there are RINOs who will vote for a Bible Thumper if it means saving tax dollars (VA, NJ).
The battle between the RINOs and the Thumpers is NY 23.
goldgoose
GOP soul?
Colonel-Burton
Though I am a Republican and quite proud of it, I am entirely disgusted with it. The move to the right is actually counter-productive as Republicans lost the last election because they were too conservative.
Republicans do not deserve to win this election, and, while it is still a lifetime away in political terms, they do not deserve to win the 2012 Presidential election. I no longer even call it the GOP, as it is a proud name that must be earned and maintained, something the party has failed to do. It is my own humble opinion that a resounding defeate in 2012 will slap some sense into the base and create a drive for moderation. We do not deserve to win unless we can actually offer something, and right now, that is not the case.
The future of the party lies in moderation. People like Eric Cantor and Megan McCain (I know she is not in office, but her moderate stance is inspiring) are the right way to go. Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin are fools and we must rid ourselves of them. They do not speak for me, nor should they speak for the Republican Party.
I say again, I am proud to call myself a Republican, a member of the party of Lincoln, of Teddy, of Eisenhower, and of Reagan. We are can not be the party of No, the party of Limbaugh, the party of Bill O'Reliey, or the Party of Palin. We deserve to lose, but we must learn the lesson we failed to learn in 2008.
AlanD2
Colonel-Burton: I agree with much of your analysis of Republicans.
However, I doubt that a presidential loss in 2012 will turn the party around. My best guess is that it will take losses in 2016 and maybe even 2020 before the party kicks out conservative extremists and moves back toward the center of the political spectrum.
By the way, if Lincoln were alive today, I'm pretty sure he'd be a Democrat. The same with Ike, who almost became a Democrat before finally joining the Republican Party. I think Reagan would be at odds with both Lincoln and Eisenhower.
Thank you.
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