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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
November 6, 2008
The G.O.O.P - The Grand Old Obsolete Party
In the aftermath of Barack Obama's stunning mandate of a victory this past
Tuesday night, the general consensus of many of the cable news channel talking
heads is that the Republican party is the Party of the South and only the South.
Sure there are pockets of Republicans in the North and the West, especially in
more affluent areas, but their numbers have dwindled. The Reagan Democrats have
given way to - do I dare say it? - Obama Republicans. In this past election,
John McCain won the GOP vote, but not by the landslide he should have, and other
than winning the 65-and-over age group (also just barely), he won no other
group.
In short, the Republican brand is damaged. Can a national political party in a
two-part system fix their brand?
There are three types of customers - or in this case, constituents - which a
political party or company has. The first are their base, the regular customer
who gives the company (party) business (votes) on a regular basis. The GOP can
count on the very, very wealthy and the Religious Right as their regulars.
Next is the new customer looking for a reliable company to spend their money
with. In the case of the Republican party, the new voter gave their business to
other vendor (the Democratic Party) by a count of two-to-one.
Then there is the lost customer. Once you damage a relationship, in business or
in politics, repairing that relationship and regaining that trust are very
difficult to get back, even more so than gaining those new customers.
That was the task of the Democratic Party beginning in 1980 and today, it's the
task in front of the new Republican Party.
As it sails now the Republican Party and brand is a ship that's rudderless.
There is no captain and there is no navigator.
Many in the party are looking towards Sarah Palin as their new leader and, to
say the least, that would be a mistake. By assigning Palin that responsibly or
allowing her to hijack the GOP, they will be stuck in the mire of pandering to
the Religious Right while serving the very wealthy for years to come. They can
forget about the sons and daughters of the Reagan Democrats because they won't
fall for the "you betcha's" and "golly gees" as a substitute for political
policy.
Anonymous sources in the McCain campaign, as reported by none other than Fox
News Channel, Sarah Palin shouldn't be considered smart enough to be her party's
leader. Carl Cameron stated, as he appeared on Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly
Factor, that Palin didn't know the nations in the North American Free Trade
Agreement were the United States, Canada and Mexico. What's more, she couldn't
name all the countries in North America. Additionally, Cameron reported, Palin
thought that Africa was a country, not a continent, and she assumed that South
Africa was a country inside of the country of Africa.
How bad is it in the GOP? Moderate Republican Congressman Chris Shays of
Connecticut lost his seat. If there was any seat in New England that was safe,
it was Shays'. And now it's gone. The more moderate Republicans who leave, the
more to the Right the GOP drifts.
There are no moderate Republicans because the party itself doesn't want them.
They want legislators who peddle hate and fear and use the word "Liberal" as a
curse word. Issues aren't on the agenda unless they can be brought to bear in
the context of how the Democrats will destroy the economy, the armed forces or
the country itself.
It is all they left themselves to talk about and it isn't fooling anyone north
of the Mason-Dixon line, or west of Route 66 anymore.
Those who would take the helm of the GOP aren't worthy of the party of Abraham
Lincoln. All one has to do is take a look at those Republicans in charge of the
Senate and House minorities to see that their leaders, Senator Mitch McConnell
and Rep. John Boehner, are only in it for themselves and not the good of our
nation or even their party as a whole.
The GOP has sacrificed their collective soul for the 50-plus-one philosophy of
Karl Rove. Sure they gained the White House, the senate and House for awhile
with that strategy (or is it called "strategery"?), but at what cost?
The Republicans need a makeover, if not for their sake than for our nation's.
They need a transfusion of young candidates who aren't afraid to be moderate and
vocal. They need to move from the far Right and act for those they pretend to
serve and truly serve them.
The question is, will they do it?
-Noah Greenberg
In response to, "There are but a few places which would have been acceptable
places for probably the most hated political figure in our nation today to make
such an endorsement, without a series of boos and cat-calls and Wyoming is on
top of that list," Pat Thompson writes:
Wyoming is perhaps the most beautiful state in the US. The Grand Teton Mountains
and National Park are just amazing. I have never understood why the most
horrible characters in American politics hide out in places of such amazing
natural beauty. Cheney had/has a home in Jackson Hole Wyoming. Of course he
actually lived and worked in Texas, but it would have been unconstitutional for
both candidates to be from the same state of Texas. So he used his vacation home
address.
Along the same lines, former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld lives in Taos, New
Mexico, not only naturally gorgeous, but also a very culturally unique place
with hundreds of art galleries, the Taos Indian Pueblo, and a Hispanic
population who have been there since the 1600's. The big hero of the first Gulf
War General Norman Schwarzkopf lives high in the Rocky Mountains in a small town
above 8000 ft. in a box canyon called Telluride. It rivals any place on earth
for the most beautiful -- and safe. These guys know they'll survive a nuclear
war or insurrection or invasion hiding in these wonderful mountain places. I am
very happy to think that Colorado and New Mexico "went blue".
Send your comments to: NationalView@aol.com
-Noah Greenberg