A fish flopping around on the shoreline.
That's my suggestion for a new mascot for the "new" GOP, since it already looks and smells very much like the old GOP.
About the best one can say is that its transition was seamless -- or at least it will be if the party carries out the profoundly unrevolutionary ideas of its leading candidates for party chairmanship, published over the weekend in the Politico.
"Some say Republicans were too conservative," wrote Katon Dawson, chairman of South Carolina's arm of the GOP, "and that we’re clinging to an old playbook." But that wasn't the problem, he continued, even as he confessed a need for "new ideas … and a new focus in order to move forward as a party."
Now that's a bit problematic, right off the bat: There was nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with the old ways, but what the party desperately needs are some new ways.
In delivery and execution only, it turns out. The party simply wasn't sincere enough, in Dawson's opinion. It was saying one thing and doing another. So what's needed now is the "[renewal of] our commitment to our Party’s timeless principles," which he defined as …
the party of smaller government, lower taxes, individual freedom, strong national security, respect for the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, the importance of family and the exceptionalism of America.
But as defined by Dawson, many of those "timeless principles" are, of course, nothing but chestnuts from the grab bag of the "New Right" of the 1970s.
Some of the principles stated do indeed lurk from a time before -- smaller government and lower taxes, for instance -- but in general what Dawson proposes is a new emphasis on the relatively new ideology -- "movement conservatism" -- which just recently knifed the GOP.
But what struck me even more than Dawson's insistence on retaining certain elements of the new ideology was his general insistence on retaining any ideology.
He just doesn’t get it. And among GOPers, he's far from alone.
They can't accept that although ideology may not be dead, it is, for sure, crippled and useless for quite some time to come. Because politically it's a one-size-fits-all religion in a time when only secular practicality can help.
And that critique applies to the old ideology -- smaller government, lower taxes -- as well as the new.
And in fact Dawson isn't alone. Here, for instance, is what Maryland's former lieutenant governor, Michael Steele, a competitor for the RNC chairmanship, had to say as his political pitch for the job:
Return to timeless Republican principles…. Retool our message, but base it on those proven conservative principles for which our party has always stood: Our freedom is from God, not government. Our prosperity comes from a free people in a free market, not overtaxing, free-spending bureaucrats. We celebrate and protect life, born and unborn. And our best hope for a brighter future is in the empowerment of individuals and families, not in the constraints imposed by a bloated bureaucracy.
The first thing I'd suggest to these gentlemen is that they take an introductory political history course, since "free markets" weren't exactly among the "timeless principles" of the keenly protectionist Republican Party of the nineteenth century.
One could easily dissect the rest of their ahistorical gibberish in a like manner, but it really is just too easy, so I won't. I would observe, however, that any party so out of touch with its own history is also a party likely out of touch with contemporaneity.
And in adhering to ideological ways, it is proving just that.
Buzz this on Buzzflash.net
There's nothing for these people to learn
Reign On Their Parade....
Barack's centrist tendencies are reflected in today's appointments. He demonstrates an interest in governing the entire country by appointing qualified candidates from both parties to achieve that goal. While riling some of us on the left, this policy is plucking off that reasonable minority of the GOP and independent voters that helped put him over the top this year by almost 10,000,000 votes. If he is successful, it will secure their support for years to come, which is something we need right now.
The recalcitrant GOP surviving November's historic trouncing and the demographic tsunami to come is left with two options; 1) face the facts and moderate their thinking (called rational behavior); or 2) rely on double-speak to lie about the facts - a GOP tradition. Their coveted 'Golden Age' is really limited to Reagan's 8 years in office, a presidency which shamefully rode into power on the coat tails of Jim Crow – but also in the leadership vacuum and failing economy of a naive but decent Democratic President who failed. Barack should be take heed of Carter's lesson and govern based on creating a unified power base inside and outside WA DC. That means making some moves that will rile us on the left, to secure the center. This is a case where the left needs to exercise those lazy "faith" muscles....because on some issues I'm convinced Barack will test that faith in some of his choices along the road to "Real Change". I think Barack could embody the decency of Carter, the intellegence of Wilson, and the cunning of FDR, a Presidency the world can use right now.
Progressives need to consider the example of the failed GOP of 2000 – 2004, and their current malaise for insight in how we exercise power now. We should be cautious about hubris, a lesson the GOP never seems to get.
Slow learners
It's a 2-headed monster
I can see the future, and it says...
The breakout
It's The Followers
In an unscientific personal poll of known Republicans, I have cause to believe that the reason the GOP leadership is mouthing all of these tired platitudes has to do with a knowledge of their followers' lack of changeability. In other words, the followers don't do change. Period. Their minds were made up long ago, and it is pointless to attempt to change them.
Therefore, to remain with a party to lead, the GOP leadership has to pretend to change without actually doing so. This is done through bold assertions that have nothing to do with facts. Government is larger and more intrusive than ever thanks to Bush, but the party will continue to claim they seek smaller government. The inflation tax from years of deep deficit spending has yet to hit, but since the followers don't understand the connection between this and reduced taxation, the leadership can still claim the party is for lower taxes.
It's all image over substance. Actions don't matter to the followers as long as the language is politically correct, and the GOP can thus remain as it ever was since the dawn of creation when Ronald Reagan declared "Let there be Right!"
Nothing else matters.