In an Ideas piece at Politico, former RNC national press secretary and White House spokesman Alex Conant penned the rather specious The 5 Biggest Myths about Barack Obama.
It got me thinking about the most common myths put forth about the Republicans as a whole.
So without further ado...
1. They are conservatives. Not given years of GOP-Gone-Wild spending, they're not. The leader of their party, George W. Bush, never vetoed a single spending bill. And as social conservatives, some of their most prominent voices have multiple marriages (Gingrich, McCain, Rush), dalliances with prostitutes (Vitter), an unhealthy interest in Congressional pages (Foley), and a tendency to make new friends in airport bathrooms (Craig). Where does the "conservative" part come in?
2. They believe in less government. Yet they want even more laws - and even federal amendments - controlling marriage, abortion, who can have sex, when they can have sex, what types of sex they can have, and even if anyone has the right to know anything about sex. How is this "less" government? And after 17 court rulings, was a private family dispute in the case of Terri Schiavo really "the people's business"? They also want more laws so that someone can spy on you wherever you go and whoever you communicate with. Less government, yet more laws? How do they reconcile that?
3. They believe in moral values. Yet they enthusiastically supporting bombing civilians, frying convicts (some of whom are later proven innocent), and torturing people. Where in the Bible does Jesus say it's okay to do any of these? Oh, that's right - it DOESN'T. They knowingly protect a pedophile in their own ranks (e.g., Hastert and Foley), and dump their wives for younger, prettier ones (McCain), while slamming the devoted dad on the other side who still has only one wife. (And interestingly, despite all their high-toned rhetoric about 'options', they don't even consider adoption when it's clear there's an out-of-wedlock baby on the way for an unmarried teen who has a full-time working mom.)
4. They lost because they simply failed to get their message out. No, Americans heard their message. After all, they dominate talk radio and Fox News. And we heard that same message in 2001. And in 1994. And in 1984. Voters are looking for new ideas, not a rehash of the last century.
5. They believe in personal accountability and responsibility. Yet their standard responses when they get caught doing something at least morally questionable if not downright illegal are either (a) it's the media's fault, or (b) it's the fault of [insert name of most recent Democratic administration here]. Case in point: Obama is blamed for the economy after 6 weeks in office, yet Republicans feel Bush should not be held accountable for 9/11 failures after 9 months in office. Just admit you screwed up and take your punishment like a grown-up. Want some cheese with that whine?