Some top Republicans went to a pizza place just outside Washington today to start a "listening tour" to re-brand the Republican Party. And Alabama was nowhere to be seen. Considering the fact that GOP Nominee Sen. John McCain did better in Alabama than almost any other state, you would think a Richard Shelby or Jeff Sessions or Bob Riley would have been invited to share a slice of pie and wisdom. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich were absent as well. Present and accounted for were former Republican candidate Mitt Romney, former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and House of Representatives Minority Whip Eric Cantor. Though he wasn't present, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is a member of the new group, as is Sen. McCain. None of them would be considered left of center, but there's concern that the Grand Old Party is headed toward becoming a regional political entity with strength only in the old Confederate States like Alabama. And there simply aren't enough votes there to win elections. Based on those involved, and those MIA, will the "brand" that emerges from this marketing effort be less to the right? And if that disenfranchises Alabama's GOP faithful, where will they go? Is this the first step toward a new "old" party?
[UPDATE: Politico.com report: "The party leaders notably avoided any discussion of issues that have motivated the GOP base – gay marriage, immigration, and abortion. Indeed, several protesters from an anti-illegal immigration group stood outside the pizzeria holding signs complaining that the party was sidestepping crucial social issues."]
[UPDATE: Frank Rich, certainly no fan of the GOP, describes what's left in a colum this morning: "... the former party of Lincoln and liberty has now melted down to a fundamentalist core of aging, rural Dixiecrats and intrusive scolds — as small as 20 percent of the populace in the latest polls. Its position on the American spectrum of ideas is somewhere between a doomsday cult and Scientology."]
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May 2, 2009
What About 'Bama?
Some top Republicans went to a pizza place just outside Washington today to start a "listening tour" to re-brand the Republican Party. And Alabama was nowhere to be seen. Considering the fact that GOP Nominee Sen. John McCain did better in Alabama than almost any other state, you would think a Richard Shelby or Jeff Sessions or Bob Riley would have been invited to share a slice of pie and wisdom. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich were absent as well. Present and accounted for were former Republican candidate Mitt Romney, former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and House of Representatives Minority Whip Eric Cantor. Though he wasn't present, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is a member of the new group, as is Sen. McCain. None of them would be considered left of center, but there's concern that the Grand Old Party is headed toward becoming a regional political entity with strength only in the old Confederate States like Alabama. And there simply aren't enough votes there to win elections. Based on those involved, and those MIA, will the "brand" that emerges from this marketing effort be less to the right? And if that disenfranchises Alabama's GOP faithful, where will they go? Is this the first step toward a new "old" party?
[UPDATE: Politico.com report: "The party leaders notably avoided any discussion of issues that have motivated the GOP base – gay marriage, immigration, and abortion. Indeed, several protesters from an anti-illegal immigration group stood outside the pizzeria holding signs complaining that the party was sidestepping crucial social issues."]
[UPDATE: Frank Rich, certainly no fan of the GOP, describes what's left in a colum this morning: "... the former party of Lincoln and liberty has now melted down to a fundamentalist core of aging, rural Dixiecrats and intrusive scolds — as small as 20 percent of the populace in the latest polls. Its position on the American spectrum of ideas is somewhere between a doomsday cult and Scientology."]
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Those multimillionaire Republicans hold a meeting in a pizza joint?
ReplyDeleteIs this like Pat Nixon's phony reference to "cloth coat Republicans?"
What!?! Republicans pretend to actually listen to the people?
ReplyDeleteHoly Moses! Yeah... and that's just the place to do it, at at Beltway pizzeria. Hope you got a giant slice of "real" America there, you big doofuses!
Go home. Get REAL jobs! Sleep under a bridge, a car, or in a homeless shelter for a night or two. Drive a tractor in the rain in a muddy field. Fix a PTO in the middle of it.
Go punch a clock in what's left of American manufacturing... or send yourself to CHINA, instead.
Buy a gallon of milk... heck, do all your shopping at Wally World. Scarf down a Mickey D's at lunch with the rest of the M-F crowd, or hang out at the construction site in town. Wear a hard hat. Get your feet dirty. Sit with the elderly lady or man who can't figure out to buy food or medications. Live in the REAL world of the United States.
THEN! Return to Washington.
You MIGHT start to figure it out.