Wither thou now, GOP?
November 8, 2008 at 8:51 am by Scott Henry in News, The BlotterEven worse than losing an election, the national Republican Party has lost its way. The party that worked so hard at dividing America with one cultural wedge issue after another now finds itself divided, split into two camps: those who realize they need to reform the party and those who don’t.
At this point, I’m hoping only the most blinkered partisan would deny in his or her heart that the GOP somehow ended up being the party of ignorance, fear and intolerance. At least, those have tended to be the tools that party strategists have used to rally the troops.
By ignorance, I mean the systematic attacks on book-learnin’, evolution and competence reflected in the personality cults surrounding Pres. Bush and Gov. Palin, and in the ridiculous war on “elites,” whatever that means. Fear-mongering – over terrorist attacks, Iran, etc. – was, of course, the Bush administration’s default position. And the intolerance shown against gays and immigrants is hardly in keeping with real American values.
In the waning days of the presidential race, David Frum and other Republican leaders and strategists acknowledged that their party was floundering and that the Rovian tactics of smear and knee-jerk social conservatism won’t work anymore.
In order to regain its standing, the GOP must distance itself from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity. It must quit questioning the patriotism of anyone left of center. It’s got to broaden its appeal to reach beyond the Bush base of rural, white, xenophobic, fundamentalist Christians – and hedge fund managers
It must, in other words, go mainstream. John McCain has often cited Teddy Roosevelt – my own favorite president – as a role model. That would be a good place to start. Teddy was a populist, but also a scholar; he was strong on defense, but also a progressive social reformer.
Historically, the GOP’s core values have favored limited government intrusion into citizens’ lives, free-market economic policies and a governing philosophy based on personal responsibility. If Republicans can make a return to be a party of ideas, they could find a way to rebuild their party.
The McCain campaign’s most damaging legacy is that it unleashed Sarah Palin, who looks to become a new standard-bearer for much that is wrong with the GOP: the unabashed ignorance, the closed-minded religiosity, the implied bigotry, the “culture war” approach to civics. Unfortunately, the Republican Party has spent so much time and effort over the past decade appealing to the basest instincts of its supporter, that genie will be difficult to get back into the bottle.
And so we have a national party divided between would-be reformers who realize the GOP needs to overhaul its message and those who favor digging themselves deeper into the trenches of social conservatism. Which side will lead the party into the next election?
Here’s some food for thought.
November 8th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Hon, some (Rs) are so lost they’re calling for Newt to run for Chair of RNC. Leading ‘em all even deeper into da wilderness, eh?!
Oh this is fantastic. Oh this is terrific.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
scott, shakespeare could not have said it better.