Your moment of schadenfreude
The AP carries an article on the status of the GOP, unpopular, perceived without leaders or message, and facing an uphill battle in 2010....
posted by mikevotes at
2:09 PM
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This is not the America I was brought up to believe in. This blog seeks to highlight abuse of power, deception, corruption, and just plain bad ideas in government and corporations. Updated several times a day.
Previous Rantings
- Quickhits
- The NYTimes lances Michael Steele
- Obama's support
- Picture of the Day
- Crisitunity
- Quickhits
- Picture of the Day
- Boehner, insane.
- Newt starts running for 2012
- Trouble for Specter?
7 Comments:
Just to amplify here:
When that Newsweek poll shows that 42% of Republicans say that their own Party does not have “a plan of their own for turning the economy around” it shows that the GOP is seriously derailed.
By my calculations, Limbaugh's 20M listeners constitute only 9% of the nation's adult population - and that is taking Limbaugh's numbers as gospel truth and assuming that no one under the age of 18 listens to him. Now, that is big for one person, I concede. But in The Big Picture it doesn't show significant support.
In fact, the link gives a figure of only 13M Limbaugh listeners, so my back-of-the-envelope calculations are highly optimistic.
The Republicans are still living in some 2002 dream world where "rallying the base" means electoral gains. I see no reason to believe that strategy can translate to gains in 2010. The Obama campaign's phenomenal registration efforts have created an enormous counter to the "base appeal". And the GOP is still tied to the anchor of the social conservatives and fundamentalists, which is pushing younger votes away.
"Socialism" and "Obama hatred" failed to gain any traction beyond the "base" during the Presidential campaign. Idealising Ayn Rand is likewise a sure path to irrelevance. "Ideological purity" is another sure way to thin your ranks.
What else can one conclude but that the idiot powers behind Bush now have control of the GOP? It's political incompetence to go down this path.
Aside from that, when and if the Republicans turn around, they will not only have to throw the Bush cronies under the bus, but also everyone associated with this insane strategy. Everything these pundits, politicians, and Party hacks have said is all on record and available to be used to discredit them in 2010. It's staggering, really.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 3:05 PM
Oh, definitely, Limbaugh caters to a slice. (And I don't know the real numbers.)
The difference is that it's a huge number in radio/advertising terms, but relatively small in political terms, especially since its a locked vote.
As for a Republican "base vote" election, that really is over in the midterm as that base is dispirited and many on the fringe no longer want association. It's still a force, especially in certain geographic areas, but that 2004 election was the mid term zenith.
And, I'm not sure the Bush cronies are really running the Repubs. It's more those that were outside and were seeking to curry favor. One of the reasons there is the big gaping hole is that the Bush core left, discredited, and nobody's filled in the space.
By
mikevotes, at 4:54 PM
And, I'm not sure the Bush cronies are really running the Repubs.
Yeah. I meant it more in terms of leadership competence, not directly calling the shots.
For the most part, the Bush cronies are already thrown under the bus. Nobody is defending them on the Right. Two terms of Republican administration have now been virtually "purged" as "not one of us". That's big just in itself.
But Boehner, Jindal, McConnell, Steele, etc. are all on board this high speed rail to disaster. The Party will probably have to disown them in a grand "Ooops!" re-branding, if and when they ever turn around. The rank-and-file can denounce and disavow the current insanity and pretend they never supported it (much like they are doing with Bush), but the big fish will not be able to dodge the blame.
That is one major reason why I believe the Republicans will not lose "the crazy act" until after the mid-terms; the leadership is too invested in it to back down. I'm sceptical that the GOP can really even back away from the "birthers" without paying a considerable price. They can't afford a split on the Right because the centre is a lost cause.
Who among the Republicans is going to the first to admit that a <5% increase on the wealthiest is not a catastrophic descent into a socialist Hell? Who will be the first to say that "The Fountainhead" is not a user manual for running the country? Anyone with that much courage left the Party long ago.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 7:40 PM
They did try to rebrand in 2000. W pandered to the moderates with the "compassionate conservative" BS.
What's left after that? Neo-Fascist Ein Volkers have run their course and "compassionate" is just a rim shot in a bad stand-up routine.
I assume they're going to do a hard right for quite a while.
By
Anonymous, at 8:22 PM
Todd, I tend to agree that none of the current leadership has "it," and whatever comes out of this mess, any who maintain will probably be following rather than leading.
And, I don't know how they lose the crazy act at all. They can't win anything without the crazies combined with the moderates, and you can't have the crazies not turn out. Plus, you have geographical politicians who need to pander to the crazies for their local politics.
In the end, the only way I think they bring the moderates over is if there is a perception, created or genuine, against the Dems.
....
Matt, they really did burn their crdibility on that compassionate claim. Really tough to make that claim again.
I would guess we might see some reach with Pawlenty-style Walmart Republicans although that might be tough with the current recession forced anti rich sentiment and the GOP so closely associated with rich tax cuts.
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mikevotes, at 10:13 PM
The phrase 'Walmart Republicans' is very descriptive and apt, for the rightist coalition as it currently exists. Your own?
++++++
By
r8r, at 9:06 AM
I dunno. It kinda describes one segment of their coalition. I think they like it because it brands down and works against their image as the party of the rich.
By
mikevotes, at 10:42 AM
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