Politico interviews a stable of prominent Republican strategists about "what went wrong" for their party last year, which is, as is easily imaginable, the party's chief strategic topic these days.
The result is stunning.
Mentioned are the issues of poor "candidate quality" and failures to address America's changing demographics and the amplified role of political technology. Just barely mentioned is the matter of the party's policies. And mentioned not at all is the party's toxic primary system, which chooses the candidates, who set the party's policies, which inextricably loop back to the party's primary voters, who are consigning their party to the ideological fringe and electoral toxicity.
The rot is at the core--the party's primary system of Fanaticism First--and yet not one GOP strategist thought to mention it, even anonymously.
Which is why Jeb Bush, for one, decided not to wait; it's why he preemptively flipped on immigration reform and decided, as United We Dream's managing director notes, to "put [himself] to the right of Sean Hannity."
On immigration Bush is prejudging the base's prejudices, probably correctly. His preemptive cowardice will move--or keep--other presidential wannabes to the right on immigration reform, just as the other wannabes will move Bush farther to the preening right on, say, fiscal matters. And before the party knows it, its presidential field will be one big, privately unhappy and entirely undifferentiated family kowtowing to the backward base and alienating most of America.
And the party's doing nothing about it. In fact its top strategists don't even mention it. And that's stunning.
Sorry, PM. That's not stunning. That is utterly and depressingly predictable. The GOP hasn't hit bottom yet. They are going to need another 4 to 8 years in the presidential electoral wilderness before they begin to come to their senses.
Posted by: DMc | March 05, 2013 at 08:46 AM
Stunning--yes.
Completely predictable--yes.
Preventable--probably not.
Abetting extinction--wait and see.
Posted by: shsavage | March 05, 2013 at 08:49 AM
"Predictable" is key for the current situation. I am confident that Obama and his advisors predicted this response to the election they accurately predicted.
His every move since election night has been an implementation of a response plan that was already in place. This is why there is an Organizing For Action. It is why Robert Gibbs and Axelrod already work at MSNBC.
Predictable indeed.
Posted by: Robert Lipscomb | March 05, 2013 at 09:04 AM
Maybe they know and just don't care. They don't bother to try and change their policies, they just pass voting laws that make it harder for anyone to vote for a democrat to vote. If the Voting Rights Act is struck down, all the better for them. They got their way with Citizens United but in the end that really didn't help them much. Or as I've said before maybe they don't care as much about winning elections right now, they are having too much fun being the obstructionist majority in the house and the tyrannical minority in the senate. Or maybe it's just one more example of the party of personal responsibility showing their complete lack of ability to take responsibility for themselves.
Posted by: AnneJ | March 05, 2013 at 09:25 AM
Maybe it is the action of the gun? Needs cleaning perhaps? Could be the magazine size too. Or the type of ammunition. Something is just not right. But it can't be that the gun is aimed at their own foot. Nah. That can't be it.
Posted by: Peter G | March 05, 2013 at 10:28 AM
The GOP has had their Mondale (McCain) and Dukakis (Romney). They don't yet have their Clinton.
Posted by: Chris Andersen | March 05, 2013 at 10:48 AM
On the bright side, if this keeps up, Hillary won't even need to leave the comfort of her la-z-boy to win the presidency in 2016, provided Obama's 2nd term goes even reasonably smoothly (which of course is no given considering the GOP caucus's taste for terrorism).
A bunch of morons talking only to the braindead teabaggers, the only "electable" one is a Bush (I really don't think W's reign of error will be far enough down the memory hole by then)? Obama's penchant for choosing combustible opponents will have been handed down to his successor.
Sheesh, I might be able to win that election as the Democrat.
Posted by: Turgidson | March 05, 2013 at 11:44 AM