A former college classmate of mine is one of my Facebook friends and one of the most Right-Wing people I know on in my group of FB friends. When I say "Right-Wing", it is because of his constant citations from sources such as The Right Sphere and breitbart.com, plus he genuinely believes what he's reading and, as he most recently pointed out last week when I posted a link to a DKos blog, views Daily Kos "[as] a joke", further adding to his credentials as a dyed-in-wool Conservative.
Speaking of the breitbart.com, in a recent Facebook comment in, he said "Why haven't we been doing this all along?" while posting a link to this article by Jedidiah Bila. I think it is a good question to ask, but I think the lessons of the stinging election results this past week might have been lost on him. It is obvious that the establishment and pundit class has still not come to grips with the core reasons they lost.
(follow some links and read more below the fold)
This article is equally as blind to reality. Take the quote from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) in the first paragraph:
I don't think it's about the Republican Party needing to become more moderate. I really believe it's the Republican Party becoming more modern. And whether it's Hispanics, whether it's women, whether it's young people, the Republican Party has to make it a priority to take our values, take our vision to every corner of this country, to every demographic group.
The author asserts that she is '100% correct' and the 'better, smarter...outreach' to all the groups that did not vote for Republican Candidates this election past cycle will change the fortunes of the GOP. Of the broad constituency of voters between 18-29, the author had this to say:
Talk to young people about freedom. Remind them that their ability to control so many aspects of their lives is on the line. Remind women what many founding feminists fought so hard for--independence and opportunity--and talk about why the Left is a phony ally of both of those things. Talk about big-government policies, and why they are keeping poverty up--not down--in all communities, including Hispanic and African-American ones.
Just today on the
Huffington Post, Tyler Kingkade wrote about how the GOP was on the verge of loosing an entire generation of voters. I like to fancy myself as a critical thinker despite my obvious Liberal leanings(which disqualifies me in some circles, I know), so don't try to sell myself as some political wonk. However (and I know this has been pointed out so much over the last few days), it seems that The Right has decided to treat their hangover from Conservative Koolaid by putting it on ice, adding some tomato juice and a celery stick, and turned into a Conservative Bloody Mary. Cures the headache in the short term, but is still doing damage to your (electoral) body short and long term.
Now, I must admit that I am having a little schadenfreude this past week (like most folks in my social circles), but I think the premise by Bila is wrong headed. Hey, I live in Washington state and their is no shortage of reasons to celebrate in my state this week, but the sober, practical side of me is emerging again and looking to the future. Rachel Maddow had it right in her synopsis the day after the election: we're going to need all of the people of this country working together to fix our myriad of problems, but it seems that the GOP thinks all they have to do is change the wrapping paper on the package in the form of applying some videos and graphics to convince youth voters that their ideas are superior. They either have not seen or or not capable of admitting that the core principles of the GOP are the problem, not the presentation. I've also noticed that the rhetoric has not changed: they are still using the same old vitriolic lines to stoke fear and loathing within their constituency, politicians and pundits alike. If this election proved nothing else, it is that that approach not only didn't work, but was damaging to the party as a whole and also to our country.
But once you're addicted, it is hard to stop without serious behavioral changes and admitting ones own responsibility. So we're still seeing them suck down Conservative Bloody Mary after Conservative Bloody Mary, leaving them drunk and angry, still not being able to see the reasons for the results as their fault. In my experience, having the hair-of-the-dog to cure your hangover usually leads to drinking more of the same stuff that made you ill in first place once night falls. Not a good thing, for the most part. Let's hope that their is a collective intervention that will allow for healing and movement forward. We have a lot of problems to deal with, so we need all the clear heads we can get.