Slog Comments
Newt Gingrich Says the Republican Party Is Doing It Wrong
1
"...we are currently a mid-level college team floundering around."
Oh, please. They've connived and stolen and gerrymandered their way to a majority in the House. We all know that Democrats received more than a million more votes for House members than Republicans did. In what universe does that equal a majority? This is just their latest cheesy little ploy to look like the downtrodden little guy. They continue to be all guns, and Bible, and fuck-the-poor...I need five Hummers and will remain that until we can make districting more representative of the populace.
2
It just occurred to me that the way Team Rape is modelling the Reagan years must that he was a 'complete conservative' that was able to present himself as a moderate, thereby taking over the coveting 'middle ground.' Instead of what he actually was, a middle-of-the-road conservative who was an actor. So they continue to look for a 'true believer' who can somehow make their crazy ideas sound 'folksy.'
I think the Dems learned far more during the 80's than TR. To win the WH you use your slick PR to play to your base while keeping your policies to play to the middle. TR seem convinced that it's best to use the appearance to play to the middle while keeping your policies to play to the most extreme parts of your base.
I think the Dems learned far more during the 80's than TR. To win the WH you use your slick PR to play to your base while keeping your policies to play to the middle. TR seem convinced that it's best to use the appearance to play to the middle while keeping your policies to play to the most extreme parts of your base.
3
I think Republicans are just acting the way their constituents want them to act. Newt isn't facing a teabagger in his next primary. And so the country continues to move beyond them while they pick petty fight with Obama. Something that is becoming increasingly unattractive.
4
Technology doesn't work for them because technology follows physical laws, describable with mathematics and logic. Accepting logic, math, and physics makes technology work for you, but it also torpedoes their ideology.
5
The Republicans have a lot of problems, and Newt Gingrich has been one of them for thirty years. He doesn't get that his "shut down the government" strategy was a body-blow to the party.
7
"But technology alone can't win a presidential race"
Hm. I thought that the 2000 and 2004 elections proved you could.
Hm. I thought that the 2000 and 2004 elections proved you could.
8
This is so true and it gets to the core of the matter.
It's still difficult to appreciate how deeply this last loss has shaken the Republican Party. They didn't merely lose an election. They were wiped out in every single battleground state except NC (where it was close - again). They even lost FL, which was supposedly in the bag. Even though Romney was barely trailing in nearly every battleground poll, Republicans and quite a few Democrats (such as myself, I'll admit) were realistically considering the possibility that Romney would pull it out, just by a hair. I mean, he had mammoth leads with white males, married women, and even big leads with independents! How can you have all that and still lose? It's impossible! Black people don't vote. Hispanics don't vote that much. Young people definitely don't vote. Poor people and immigrants don't vote. Obama was relying on all these groups that don't vote and Romney had the people that mattered.
And have you seen the enthusiasm at his rallies (Meatloaf notwithstanding)?
Or do I spend too much time listening to talk radio?
And then all those minorities and poor people voted, even if they had to wait five hours to do it (eat it, Rick Scott!), and the women, plus a decent chunk of the white vote, and the zombie look at the Republican Election Night parties was that of a group that felt like it'd been hit by a train. Republicans put all their chips on conservative ideology - anti-spending, anti-immigration, anti-regulation, anti-Obamacare, anti-reproductive rights, anti-education, anti-taxes, anti-welfare (unless you're rich), anti-Occupy/99%, just about everything - and they lost on every single count. The country at large rejected everything they stand for. They didn't really want to talk about gay rights, because they knew they had already lost that battle, but they got smacked with it anyway, for good measure. To put an exclamation point on the night. The (so very precious) zombie look was that of a group of people just suddenly realizing how small, lonely, and unpopular they are, after a quarter century of believing that they were the life of the party. Rush Limbaugh summarized it best the following day: "We're outnumbered." (And you bet I was listening to Rush Limbaugh the day after.)
So they know they have to change, deep down, if they want to stay relevant, but they're finding it really hard to accept it. Somehow, someway, they still want to think that bigoted, greedy, heartless, and ignorant can still win elections outside of the shrinking Red State America. So they're looking at _everything_ else because they can't bare to contemplate what is actually broken. "It's not what we said! It's how we said it! It sounded too mean! And the media was all behind them! Candy Crowley! The Dailey Show! Letterman! Twitter! Plus they had a better GOTV plan! It's the 47%! People really do want to throw out the Mexicans, get rid of birth control, go back to the old healthcare status quo, live in austerity. We have the winning message, guys! We just have to know how to express it!"
Sure.
More...
It's still difficult to appreciate how deeply this last loss has shaken the Republican Party. They didn't merely lose an election. They were wiped out in every single battleground state except NC (where it was close - again). They even lost FL, which was supposedly in the bag. Even though Romney was barely trailing in nearly every battleground poll, Republicans and quite a few Democrats (such as myself, I'll admit) were realistically considering the possibility that Romney would pull it out, just by a hair. I mean, he had mammoth leads with white males, married women, and even big leads with independents! How can you have all that and still lose? It's impossible! Black people don't vote. Hispanics don't vote that much. Young people definitely don't vote. Poor people and immigrants don't vote. Obama was relying on all these groups that don't vote and Romney had the people that mattered.
And have you seen the enthusiasm at his rallies (Meatloaf notwithstanding)?
Or do I spend too much time listening to talk radio?
And then all those minorities and poor people voted, even if they had to wait five hours to do it (eat it, Rick Scott!), and the women, plus a decent chunk of the white vote, and the zombie look at the Republican Election Night parties was that of a group that felt like it'd been hit by a train. Republicans put all their chips on conservative ideology - anti-spending, anti-immigration, anti-regulation, anti-Obamacare, anti-reproductive rights, anti-education, anti-taxes, anti-welfare (unless you're rich), anti-Occupy/99%, just about everything - and they lost on every single count. The country at large rejected everything they stand for. They didn't really want to talk about gay rights, because they knew they had already lost that battle, but they got smacked with it anyway, for good measure. To put an exclamation point on the night. The (so very precious) zombie look was that of a group of people just suddenly realizing how small, lonely, and unpopular they are, after a quarter century of believing that they were the life of the party. Rush Limbaugh summarized it best the following day: "We're outnumbered." (And you bet I was listening to Rush Limbaugh the day after.)
So they know they have to change, deep down, if they want to stay relevant, but they're finding it really hard to accept it. Somehow, someway, they still want to think that bigoted, greedy, heartless, and ignorant can still win elections outside of the shrinking Red State America. So they're looking at _everything_ else because they can't bare to contemplate what is actually broken. "It's not what we said! It's how we said it! It sounded too mean! And the media was all behind them! Candy Crowley! The Dailey Show! Letterman! Twitter! Plus they had a better GOTV plan! It's the 47%! People really do want to throw out the Mexicans, get rid of birth control, go back to the old healthcare status quo, live in austerity. We have the winning message, guys! We just have to know how to express it!"
Sure.
9
“This is a fundamental re-thinking on how you relate to the American people.”
Just take the word "the" out of that sentence, and he just might be describing what the Republicans need to do.
Just take the word "the" out of that sentence, and he just might be describing what the Republicans need to do.
10
Listen to Newt.
You do it in a parking garage after you've served your wife divorce papers when she's in her hospital bed suffering from terminal cancer.
You do it in a parking garage after you've served your wife divorce papers when she's in her hospital bed suffering from terminal cancer.
12
"That's just what they'll be expecting us to do." ~William Shatner as Buck Murdock, Airplane II: The Sequel
13
Yeah, what everyone else wrote, because the Democrats have out-FDR'd Roosevelt with their unceasing aid to the poor and attacks on the unaccountable wealthy and corporations.
With friends like those, Newt Gingrich seems only half the butt puppet he actually is.
With friends like those, Newt Gingrich seems only half the butt puppet he actually is.
Comments (13) RSS