Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

TALK RADIO, AND HOW IT HELPED THE REPUBLICANS LOSE


Senator Chuck Hagel:


"We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh," said Hagel, sarcastically referencing the talk radio host who once called him "Senator Betrayus."


"You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like that would run for office. They have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly," he offered. "[The truth is] they try to rip everyone down and make fools of everybody but they don't have any answers."
And...
Kathleen Parker tell us why the Republicans lost:
As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit.
Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.
I'm bathing in holy water as I type.
To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.
Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that.
The choir has become absurdly off-key, and many Republicans know it.
But they need those votes!
So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

Short break as writer ties blindfold and smokes her last cigarette.
Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle.
Here's the deal, 'pubbies: Howard Dean was right.
Read the rest here.

6 comments:

dbackdad said...

Great cartoon and more truth from Mr. Hagel. One could almost see a place for him somewhere in an Obama cabinet.

Handsome B. Wonderful said...

They claim to be Republicans but Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt and Barry Goldwater would probably be Democrats if they were alive today.

Barry Goldwater had his issues but he spoke out against religion infiltrating political parties. He was Mr. personal liberties and the Republicans (now mostly Neo-Conservatives) have sold that legacy down river.

Patrick M said...

I missed something here. Most of the talk radio was hesitant to get behind McCain until the end, unable to support McCain and his half-ass pseudo-conservatism, and frustrated by the idiocy of the McCain camp.

Talk radio had no real ideas from the McCain camp to work with, so if they seemed inordinately focused on tearing down Obama, it was out of necessity.

I know this because I was reduced to it, so misguided the McCain debacle was. And since I was bouncing similar ideas to what I heard on those radio shows, I know they were gritting their teeth and hoping McCain didn't say anything they would have to criticize (which he did) or do stupid things for which there was no defense (can you say bailout?).

It reminds me of the day after the 2006 election when Rush (and when you talk conservative talk radio, you have to cover Rush) essentially ripped the GOP and vowed not to "carry water" for them anymore, essentially because they had abandoned the conservatism he espouses to this day and lost control of Congress. And come 2008, he did his best to defeat Obama with McCain's liberalism constraining him.

To put it another way, you can only make a shit sandwich look better. You can't make it stop being a excrement.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Patrick,

The two Republicans quoted in my post are talking about how the base of the Republican Party has embraced low brows and uber-religionists. They say nothing about McCain running away from conservative issues.

The evangelical, righ-wing of the party is basically anti-science (no global warming), anti-intellectual, anti-evolution, anti-environment-"Drill, Baby, Drill!--that's the problem and that's why young people are not attracted to the Republican Party--it's also very, very white and very male--hardly inclusive.

Facts are stubborn things. The base of the Republican Party is the old south, sparsely populated western states, and Appalachia.

Those areas also tend to be the most undereducated and poorest as well.

Check out who voted for Obama and you'll understand that unless the Republicans stop pandering to the base, it will remain a second-class party.

BB-Idaho said...

"To put it another way, you can only make a shit sandwich look better. You can't make it stop being a excrement." .. one of the better descriptions of Rush L. I've run across. :)

Patrick M said...

BB: I'd say you suck so very much, but it was too funny of a misquote. :)