After visiting FaceBook's headquarters the other day to consult with "tech experts,"
take a picture of the front door, and sign their office "wall," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus continued his infiltration deep into enemy territory for another stop on his West Coast blue state "listening tour,"
here in Seattle, Washington.
The Republican Party has been on a mission since another lopsided loss in the polls in November. The party is trying to figure out how to reinvent itself and give itself a fighting chance in upcoming elections.
The head of the Republican National Committee was in Seattle to get some ideas on Thursday. RNC chair Reince Priebus admitted his party has a lot of work to do to win over new members and regain some popularity. [...]
And with friends like Justice Scalia, also known as Mr. "racial entitlement," ready to help lighten his workload, he really does have his work cut out for him. Ever the optimist, he remains confident that the Republican version of the "50 state strategy" is the way to go, and he promises not to ignore us anymore:
He said the party must pull from the Democrats' playbook and be more aggressive in promoting campaigns, starting earlier and pushing for every vote, especially in states like Washington that have vote-by-mail where votes are cast weeks before election day.
[...]
He admitted that ignoring blue states like Washington is really impacting the local races. He cites Rob McKenna's loss to Jay Inslee in November. "So you have Rob McKenna, who by all rights should have won, with no help from the national campaign," he said. "Just a tiny bit of help would have made the difference, but because Washington gets written off in a presidential campaign he's rowing all by himself. That has to change."
He seems to think a little more help from him or whoever else was holding the purse strings for Republican gubernatorial races last election would have made a difference here. It was a bit of a close race, but it's been that way for at least the last few elections — where was all this extra election-winning support then?
Perhaps it's because Washingtonians end-up realizing how frightfully close they are to electing known-quantity Republicans like Dino Rossi or Rob McKenna, and come through for Democrats at the last minute.
The reality, despite the half-baked efforts of Republicans so far, looks like it will get worse before it gets better. The intraparty warfare, changes in voter demographics favoring Democrats, increasingly out-of-touch policy positions, and, of course, the jaw-dropping insults, like "celebrating" Black History Month as Republican-appointed Supreme Court Justices mock the Voting Rights Act, seem destined to turn our blue states even more blue than they already are.
But Priebus wasn't interested in addressing these very real reasons for Republican failure, of course:
Priebus didn't talk about the policy changes the party will likely have to make to win back the Asian-American vote which has bolted from the party in the last three Presidential races and to appeal to Latino voters and moderates and independents.
How about that? Who could've guessed that Priebus would be a little short on answers when it comes to how the Republican party intends to change it's policy into something voters might want to vote for?
Nothing more than smoke and mirrors, photo-ops, and lip service by the GOP's propaganda-peddling champion of "growth," "opportunity," and "outreach," Reince Priebus.
I'm sure he'll be back to visit us real soon.