Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Monday, June 3, 2013

The GOP: "Close-Minded, Rigid, Racist, and Old Fashioned"

That is not my assessment of the Republican Party; that description comes from the College Republican National Committee's report on today's GOP.

After last fall's presidential election, the GOP acknowledged that it had to do some soul-searching and some reaching out to minorities--those groups whom the Republican Party often disparages, dismisses, and denigrates on a regular basis.  

When Republicans are labeled as anti-women, their reaction has often been "Who, us?"  And then they turn their radios on and listen to demagogues like Limbaugh who revel in depicting women as "sluts," or listen to politicians like former Representative Todd Aiken talk about "legitimate rape."  Who, US?!  Where on earth did people get the idea that the GOP is anti-woman? HINT:  Maybe from the people who belong to the party and from people who are seen as leaders of that party.

Where on earth did people get the idea that the GOP is racist?  Who, US?!  Yeah.  We're looking at you and your local pols who delight in passing around racist jokes and photos of the First Family; and we're looking at dimwits like Donald Trump and his Birther Brigade, a group of relentless partisan hacks who have not let go of their insidious idea that this president is not a legitimate one, even when there is incontrovertible proof that he was born in Hawaii.  There are still GOPers out there who dismiss the evidence and continue to believe Mr. Obama is not a real American.  And yes, we who, for the most part, support the president, believe that idea is based in racism, since no other president, but this one, has had his citizenship doubted with such ferocity, despite evidence to the contrary.  The GOP has allowed hacks like Trump to keep this doubt alive, and then it wonders why African-Americans support the Democratic Party by almost 100%.

How will gay and lesbian Americans ever feel welcome in a party that refuses to acknowledge their constitutional rights to be treated equally under the law?

Why would Hispanic and Latino voters want to belong to a party that is anti-immigration reform?--a party that pretends that the 11 million people who are here will somehow just go away--self-deport, and that their children who are here through no fault of their own do not deserve the chance to become citizens?

And what about a party, whose presidential nominee, dismissed 47% of the American voters as "takers" who only want "free stuff?"

Then when fewer and fewer people are attracted to this party, their answer, instead of reaching out, is to double-down on the alienation of these groups?




The College Republican National Committee on Monday made public a detailed report — the result of extensive polling and focus groups — dissecting what went wrong for Republicans with young voters in the 2012 elections and how the party can improve its showing with that key demographic in the future.



In the report, the young Republican activists acknowledge their party has suffered significant damage in recent years. A sampling of the critique on: 

Gay marriage: “On the ‘open-minded’ issue … [w]e will face serious difficulty so long as the issue of gay marriage remains on the table.” 

Hispanics: “Latino voters … tend to think the GOP couldn’t care less about them.” 

Perception of the party’s economic stance: “We’ve become the party that will pat you on your back when you make it, but won’t offer you a hand to help you get there.” 

Big reason for the image problem: The “outrageous statements made by errant Republican voices.” 

Words that up-for-grabs voters associate with the GOP: 

“The responses were brutal: closed-minded, racist, rigid, old-fashioned.” “

[The] Republican Party has won the youth vote before and can absolutely win it again,” the report says, pointing to presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush who were competitive with that demographic. “But this will not occur without significant work to repair the damage done to the Republican brand among this age group over the last decade.” 


Here is the news the GOP wants to ignore or pretend isn't reality:



GOP Survey Of Young People Reveals They Support Progressive Policies 

31 comments:

Jerry Critter said...

The state of today's republican party mirrors the state of America under tea party rule. Beware, be very aware!

Shaw Kenawe said...

A political party that needs to be told by its younger members how to become relevant is a party in trouble. The GOP, and it TPers, believe they represent America and Americans because they scream the loudest on political blogs, trashing liberals and anything they don't understand.

The facts are that we are becoming a more liberal nation, not more conservative.

But we do need an opposition party.

Too bad the extremist malcontents on the right are the only opposition.

Even their young GOPers can't stand their slash and burn politics.

I've seen up close and personal how they love to go for the jugular whenever they have a chance to trash a liberal.

They come off looking mostly like loud-mouthed, ill-mannered boors whose only interest is in scoring political points, and not in finding common ground.

This post is a perfect example of where that's put them.

Their own young people don't like them.

Dave Miller said...

Unless and until the GOP understands that it is now how the message is delivered, but the message itself, they will continue as a regional party and one that exists for a declining asset base of middle aged white folks.

While many GOP supporters decry their shrinking influence among almost all demographic groups, no one is proposing and solutions aside from get the Muslim, racist, entitlement loving socialist out of office.

And before folks chime in, I mean real solutions that can see the light of day politically, not pie in the sky ideas with no chance of passage.

Shaw Kenawe said...


2nd June 2013

America is becoming more liberal on social issues

According to Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll, ideological attitudes in the U.S. are shifting to the left.

While economic liberalism remains stagnant, the percentage describing their social views as "liberal" or "very liberal" has achieved a new peak of 30%. This is 6% higher than in 2001.

Of those who already consider themselves Democrat or leaning Democrat, the trend is even more pronounced, with 50% now having liberal views on social issues, compared to 35% in 2001.

The percentage of Democrat or leaning Democrat voters with "conservative" views on social issues has dropped from 20% in 2001 to just 14% now.

Gallup conducted telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,535 adults, aged 18 and older, in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The interpretation of what qualifies as "social issues" was left to the respondent; the question did not define or provide examples of these types of issues. However, the survey results are in line with Gallup's recent finding that Americans are more accepting on a wide range of moral issues – including gay marriage, abortion, having a baby outside of marriage, divorce, polygamy, human cloning and the use of stem cells in medical research. These trends appear set to continue until at least 2020."



This is NOT good news for GOPers and TPers who continue to bury their collective heads in the sand, pretending that it is THEY who represent "real" Americans.



Jerry Critter said...

The republican attacks are sort of like indiscriminate drone attacks against terrorists. They create more new enemies than they kill. Keep it up republicans. You are making the Democratic Party stronger.

LOL Anonymous said...

shaw...AOW likening President Obama to Hitler. If there's no smoking gun to link Obama to the scandals, that means he's JUST LIKE HITLER.

No wonder young people dislike the Rethugs so much. this is about as awful as it get: Obama=Hitler?

Embarrassing.


AOW: "Of course, there will be no smoking gun with regard to the Obama administration. After all: Very few people are aware of this, but there is no document -- not one -- linking Adolf Hitler to the Holocaust. Why not? Because Hitler didn't need to sign a document ordering the slaughter of six million Jews. All he needed to do was to demonize his enemy in speeches at the Reichstag, on the radio, and from one end of Germany to the other -- then hire thugs like Herman Goering, Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Eichmann, and Josef Goebbels. They knew what der Fuhrer wanted, and der Fuhrer knew he could trust his henchman to get the job done -- no matter how, no matter what may be the law -- and to not bother him with the gory details."

Infidel753 said...

Amazing how much even many rank-and-file Republicans are in denial about these problems. Most are convinced the war on women is purely a figment of Democratic propaganda and can't connect it with their party's actual misogynistic policies.

Voters can forgive a party for a few ideological disagreements. They'll never forgive a party that's bigoted against them.

Always On Watch said...

Anonymous,
A correction here...

I did not pen those words from "Very few people" to the end of the quotation. I cited this source.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

Perhaps the College Republican National Committee should rename themselves. How about YAWN (Young Adults With Narcolepsy).

LOL Anonymous said...

the quoted texts about Hitler, the Holocaust and the smoking gun come right after you say there will be no smoking gun found in the Obama administration.

You equate the fact that a smokng gun will not be found for Obama to how Hitler got away with not giving orders to kill Jews. you intention couldn't be any plainer. Obama = Hitler.

What you imply is that even if no evidence is found to connect Obama to scandal he's still GUILTY because HITLER!

you imply he guilty no matter what the truth ism you are a conservative afterall, so facts don't matter. You come to a conclusion first--Obamas guilty-- and then work in some b.s. about how Hilter never gave a direct order to kill Jews to prove how obama will still be guilty.\fekkin' amazing how twisted that logic is.

FreeThinke said...

___________ On the Floe ___________

The sun is setting in the east these days.
The north pole traveled southward long ago.
The penguins in the tropics now wear leis.
The roses in the tundra sweetly blow.

The tides receding come in nevermore.
The geese now migrate from the south to north.
The ocean vast is nothing now but shore.
The semen towards the egg will not come forth.

Negativity we worship now as god.
Perversity is wholesome; Virtue’s vile.
Normality’s regarded now as odd.
Whatever’s queer is welcomed with a smile.

Darkness has become the Guiding Light.
To stay alive we must not fight the Blight.


~ FreeThinke (6/3/13)

At least that's the way the Left's understanding of Reality appears to me right now. But please let's not yell and scream and call each other names. It doesn't help anyone on either side.

CONSIDER THIS:

We may both look at a sphere. From where I sit it may appear to glow with light. From where you sit it may appear entirely dark -- or vice versa.

Both of us would be both right AND wrong in our perception of that sphere, because how each of us sees it depends entirely on our individual position regarding the direction of the source of light.

In TRUTH the sphere is neither light NOR dark. It only seems that way because of the way one source of light happens to strike it. Move yourself to the other side of sphere, and you'll see it differently. Move all the way around it, and you'll see its identity is more complex than you had imagined.

A simplistic analogy, perhaps, but one, I hope, that at least points in more reasonable, less intransigent direction.

CURIOSITY is the best antidote to COMBATIVENESS.

LOL Anonymous said...

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also pushed back on Issa's "liar" charge during a TV appearance Monday morning. But Graham took things a step further and disagreed with Issa that there was any conclusive evidence linking the Obama administration directly to the tax agency's actions.

"At the end of the day, the IRS scandal really is scary. How would you like your own government to turn on you?" Graham said. "I don't believe this was something thought up in the Cincinnati office, but I have no evidence that goes to the White House."

but AOW's blog seys even if there's no evidence it still means thet Obama's guilty because he's behaving just like Hitler.

Perfect example of the paranoid style in rightwing politics.

Anonymous said...

Your funny, as the Democrats lead us to illegal behavior, obstruct justice (the investigations) and have done nothing to make America financially healthy.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Anonymous@6:22:

No, YOU'RE funny!

And a political hack.

Shaw Kenawe said...

LOL Anon,

The Paranoid Style in American politics is evident in the post featured on AOW's blog.

It implies, as you rightly state, that even if not one jot of evidence is found to connect the White House with the IRS scandal, that means the Obama administration is still guilty.

How does one deal with something as insane as that? You can't, so you have to ignore that sort of craziness.

Those sort of people want the president to be guilty, even when he is not. And they will not accept anything that is contrary to their world view.

It's a perfect definition of paranoia.

You don't deal with it; you just ignore it.

djchefron said...

As much as I want sanity to return to the republican party I hope they continue down this path because Conservatism is a zombie ideology. It’s still walking, but it’s dead.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

"At least that's the way the Left's understanding of Reality appears to me right now. But please let's not yell and scream and call each other names" (Free Stinke).

First, you insult us in doggerel and prose. Then you follow up with, "Don't hit me back, bro!"

Good luck with that, you arrogant twit.

Les Carpenter said...

Free Thinke

Perhaps if the day ever arrives when a majority of people view thing from the same or similar perspective as you so aptly described, and the pure partisans recede into obscurity maybe, just MAYBE the nation stands a chance.

I'm not going to hold my breath

Unfortunately tis true the rEpublican party has become tone deaf. What the College Republican National Committee reported is largely correct. More and more rational people view the GOP is in a negative way. Yet they continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

Time to get back to REAL fiscal responsibilty and embark
on a more realistic social agenda. It is time for the party to put individuals in leadership positions that can think outside old box.

Anonymous said...

Anon@6:22 how has Obama obstructed the investigations?

Ema Nymton said...

.

""The GOP: "Close-Minded, Rigid, Racist, and Old Fashioned"""

Profound sense of the obvious. (Full disclosure: I am not a member of any political party because any group that would have me as a member, I will not join.)


The GOP: "Close-Minded, Rigid, Racist, and Old Fashioned"

But one can come to the conclusion from being on the outside, that the inner power players of the GOP would respond, "Of course this (Close-Minded, Rigid, Racist, and Old Fashioned) is true; why is anyone surprised? It is who we are!"

The GOP is in its final death-throes as a national party in USA.

The Democratic Party, Liberals, Progressives, and sane people in USA may think being "Close-Minded, Rigid, Racist, and Old Fashioned" as negatives and reactionary traits but to the GOP - pure gold. GOP will not change; why should they? As long as they have money they will not have to change.

__________~

It is hilarious watching the likes of AOW, FreeThink, Rational Nation USA, etc running away from the GOP. After how hard these and other like blogs worked to back the GOP, hating and hoping to destroy Mr Obama.

Ema Nymton
~@:o?
.

FreeThinke said...

If I am "running away" from the Republican Party, Ms Not-My-Name spelled backwards, it is only because the party did not try anywhere near hard enough to defeat [NOT "destroy" DEFEAT, there is a difference] Mr. Obama and the initiatives of Democrats in general.

You're correct in your assumption that I do not support the Republican Party, but that is because they are entirely too wishy-washy and COMPLICIT in the Statist Agenda favored by far too many people in my never humble opinion.

In other words the GOP is nowhere near conservative ENOUGH. Most of their people engage in drafty duplicitous doubletalk which is why the party is floundering and possibly moribund.

They have ceased to function as an OPPOSITION -- not that Marxian-Liberal-Progressive-Socialist-Statists would give them a scintilla of gratitude for their soft support.

Opponents need to OPPOSE -- not COOPERATE with -- one another.

From where I sit the Democrats' definition of "bipartisanship" is UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER on the part of Republicans.

What people of your ilk appear to be manfully striving towards is de facto ONE-PARTY RULE.

Sorry, Ema, I don't buy it. I find it depressing that, according to the report Ms Shaw has given us, young people appear to have "bought" the Statist Agenda. They -- and you -- will live to regret it once the triumph you seek with such bitter, acrimonious passion has been realized.

Even so, I wish you good luck. I beieve you -- and this poor, fragmented country of ours -- will need it.

Ema Nymton said...

.

Free Thinke, projecting are you? "... such bitter, acrimonious passion ...", "... drafty duplicitous doubletalk ..." only in your saddest nightmarish dreams.

The reason for political parties in USA democratic society is to govern. To govern is to work with people with whom one may not always agree.

You see people who do not agree with you as ENEMIES. Just because a person does not agree with another person does not necessarily make them enemies. Your all or nothing approach to political discussions has left you depressed, bitter, and cranky.


You are not talking about governing when you are working to defeat/destroy (and for the TeaBagging RepubliCanT's there is no difference) your political "enemies".

You are not my enemy; just somebody I do not agree with.

USA is not fragmented in any serious long-term manner. The current hate filled public discourse is being instigated by professional paid 'snake-oil salesmen'. Most people in USA do not have it all that bad, know it, and are capable of working through life's issues without 'hating' others.

Perhaps you could learn something from the people who are not "all ate up by the hate"

Ema Nymton
~@:o?
.

Shaw Kenawe said...

FT: "In other words the GOP is nowhere near conservative ENOUGH."

The facts are that the GOP has embraced and encouraged their politicians to oppose women's right to choose and to support opposition to contraception. Have you forgotten that a former US Senator and candidate for the Presidency--he was not some obscure local pol-- said that contraception is WRONG? and that the very conservative Catholic Church has consistently tried to use public shaming for those politicians who support choice and contraception?

I'm afraid you have it backwards, Mr. FT, the exceedingly conservative agenda supported by a minority of Americans has marginalized the party.

The country has moved on from the days when it was sport to demonize gay people to the point where they had to remain in a closet or risk being black-mailed--even killed for who they were. Yet the conservative wing of the GOP will NOT adopt a position in their party's platform that recognizes equal rights for gays. That is a very, very, very conservative position.

The GOP has also willfully ignores the fact that President Obama is reducing the deficit. Remember it was Conservative Republican Dick Cheney who said deficits don't count, and then it is conservatives who hammer on and on about the deficit under Obama.


FT: "They have ceased to function as an OPPOSITION -- not that Marxian-Liberal-Progressive-Socialist-Statists would give them a scintilla of gratitude for their soft support."

Liberals are NOT Marxian/Socialist/Statists, and the continual use of those labels to define liberals is part of the problem you say is keeping our country in a continual state of confrontation. It serves no useful purpose except to keep us divided.

Every conservative blog I visit labels liberals as Communists! Of course it's idiotic, and it's a symptom of the right's inability to face the fact that they have lost support from women and minorities because of the way they TREAT THEM; it is not because the Democrats are Communists.

But the longer the GOP keeps up their delusional excuses for why they're losing support and blames "Communism" the more people will reject them.


FT: "From where I sit the Democrats' definition of "bipartisanship" is UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER on the part of Republicans."

You know very well that is NOT true. Mr. Obama has been vilified by his base for negotiating away what his base hoped he would support in the ACA--single payer. Mr. Obama DID NOT get his way when he wanted to close GITMO, the GOP saw to that as well.

Mr. Obama has had many of his cabinet and judicial appointments blocked since he took office in 2009. What would you call that?

And remember what the rallying cry for the GOP was in 2008 just after Mr. Obama was elected?

I HOPE HE FAILS! Brought to us by none other than the former drug addict (you know the big guy who sent his housemaid to score oxycontin for him), Rush Limbaugh.

Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell publicly announced to the country that the most important work before the GOP Congressional delegations in the House and Senate was to make Obama a one-term president! This was proclaimed while America was in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression.

This and much, much more--including the racist wing of the GOP-- is why so many young people find no reason to be associated with the GOP.

You've tried to blame the GOP's woes on the Democrats. It isn't the Democrats the young are running away from. It is the GOP.

Some self-reflection would reveal why that is so.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"Andrew Rosenthal found another tidbit in the 95-page document that party officials should also take to heart.

The most damning conclusions lay in the survey's examination of how people view the two major parties in terms of broad attributes. For Democrats, young voters chose "tolerant," "diverse" and "open-minded," while for Republicans they often chose "rich" and "religious."

In focus groups in January, the report said, young voters were asked to list leaders of the Democratic Party. "They named prominent former or currently elected officials: Pelosi, the Clintons, Obama, Kennedy, Gore. When those same respondents were asked to name Republican leaders, they focused heavily on media personalities and commentators: Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck."

When making a list of Republican troubles, this should be right up there among the more serious areas of concern. When younger voters think of Democrats, for good or ill, they immediately mention prominent Democratic leaders. When they think of Republicans, their minds turn to far-right pundits, none of whom are especially popular with the American mainstream.

I suppose GOP officials can take some solace in the fact that focus group participants did not mention George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as much as Fox News hosts, but that's probably cold comfort."

Jerry Critter said...

FT,
While you speak of compromise, what you want is tyranny of the ultra-conservative. It is your beliefs or nothing.

LOL Anonymous said...

conservative Ronnie Raygun was involved in huge scandal, was responsible for deaths of 240 marines in lebanon, raised taxes, allowed millions of undocumented immigrants to become citizens, and believed in banning assault weapons...and he worked with the democrats...the repubs would kick his ass to the curb if he was candidate for prsident now...ronnie raygun would be too librul for the rethugs who control the party...they believed sarah palin, michele bachman, rick perry, and herman cain were qualified to be president...no wonder young people do not want to be part of the present repub...party...who in their right mind would...

Les Carpenter said...

Guess my comment of yesterday got ate up by blogger once again.

FreeThinke said...

There really isn't much I can say to all that beyond my original statement. I'm a little flattered frankly that a few words of mine in which I merely tried to clarify my honest feelings about the Republican Party would inspire such an enormous response.

If you remember the little parable I offered yesterday about the lighted sphere and how different it appeared depending on the angle and direction from which it was viewed, you might understand me better.

The fact remains, however -- and this IS the truth, whether you want to accept it or not -- the Democratic Party fervently believes that an ever-increasing reliance on GOVERNMENT has the capacity to solve social and economic problems in the best way possible. Conservatives do not believe that.

Unfortunately, despite what you would insist, conservatives have no meaningful representation in government.

What I, personally, don't appreciate is the way any failure to support supposedly humane Democratic initiatives with fervent enthusiasm is interpreted as a de facto ENDORSEMENT of wickedly inhumane policies that deprive designated victim groups of the supposed benefits of ever-increasing government intervention.

That's really all there is to it. I think by now you should know me pretty well, Ms Shaw, and I'm sure you realize that I am anything but a redneck, a religious fanatic, a vicious bigot or an ignoramus. The only material difference between us is my belief that these human needs can and should be met by local, mostly private, means.

I certainly have no desire to establish a Christian theocracy, and no wish at all to harm ANYONE. I just don't believe the "solutions" you advocate are in fact SOLUTIONS. I believe Statism puts us firmly on the road to tyranny, BECAUSE too much power concentrated in any particular location is bound to be a corrupting influence on those who weld it.

You don't have to agree with me in order for us to be friends. But I'm unlikely to change my understanding of reality in order to win or retain ANYONE'S good opinion.

Anyone who knows me, however, will be glad to tell you tell you that I DON'T BITE. ;-)

Try to remember the SPHERE, and see if we can't build a better understanding of one another from that admittedly imperfect analogy.

Dervish Sanders said...

My view of the sphere FreeThinke describes leads me to believe Mr. Thinke sees things that are the exact opposite of reality. Reality as I see it, at least, because, from where I sit, it is the rePublicans' definition of "bipartisanship" that is UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER on the part of Democrats. And I believe corportism puts us firmly on the road to tyranny, BECAUSE too much power concentrated in the hands of the wealthy is bound to be a corrupting influence on those who weild it.

I'd be fine if the Repub party went the way of the whigs. We could get an opposition party by spinning off the Conservative Dems... who could call their new party the Blue Dogs. The Repubs are crazy Conservative. Way way too Conservative IMO. Their Conservativeness is significantly out of line with that of their voters.

In regards to the IRS scandal, I want to know when the connection to the rePublican party is going to come out. It most likely will not, and THAT is what I find really scary... because I think the facts show they are quite guilty.

Shaw Kenawe said...

D.S., thanks for the link in your comment. I think everyone should read it, especially people on the right.

Ema Nymton said...

.

"The fact remains, however -- and this IS the truth, whether you want to accept it or not -- the Democratic Party fervently believes that an ever-increasing reliance on GOVERNMENT has the capacity to solve social and economic problems in the best way possible."

The fact is, this is your OPINION and an overly simplified generalization. One might be more accurate in one's articulation had one stated so dramatically and emphatically proclaimed,"The truth remains, however ..."

Free Thinke seems to be having a problem discerning 'fact' from opinion.

"Conservatives do not believe that." Who knows what 'Conservatives' believe?

Given the "all or nothing" reactionary rhetoric of today's 'Conservatives', who cares what 'Conservatives' say they believe today. It is a certainty 'Conservatives' will be against anything USA is for.

"Unfortunately, despite what you would insist, conservatives have no meaningful representation in government." If this statement were true, then USA would be better off.

Ema Nymton
~@:o?
.