Cruising through news stories today, it strikes me that the Republican Party is tripping itself up by being too geezer-ish (couldn’t think of the right word) and too juvenile at the same time.
Robert Draper’s “Can the Republicans be Saved From Obsolescence?” covers the geezerness of the Republican Party. Draper documents that establishment Republicans are not not dealing with change — technical, demograpic, or cultural.
They are light years behind the Dems in technology. They are oblivious to recent cultural shifts. Some of them are still talking about building new coalitions of white people. Even when the Party organizes a committee to find out what it’s doing wrong, the Same Old Farts who have been running the GOP for years are put in charge of it.
Younger (and more tech-savvy) Republicans want the GOP to back off divisive social issues. Ed Kilgore comments, “if you had to choose one theme that underlies the arguments Draper’s hearing from the cool kids of the GOP, it’s that the Christian Right has gotta go.”
Even James Joyner admits that “the Republican Party is still running on a platform designed to solve the problems of the Carter Administration.”
For the juvenile side of movement conservatism, see David Corn’s “FreedomWorks Made Video of Fake Giant Panda Having Sex With Fake Hillary Clinton.” Apparently Matt Kibbe, President and CEO of FreedomWorks, has been running the advocacy group/Super PAC with all the seriousness and gravitas of a frat house jello wrestling party.
Sorta related — Haley Barbour is telling Republican insiders to stop donating money to Club For Growth Make of that what you will.
Cantankerous?
Haven’t read the Draper yet, but before we declare victory over the GOP we really ought to see if we can get past 2014 without losing the Senate. Right now it seems to me that the GOP’s strategy for the entire Obama presidency — destroy the economy and let Obama take the blame — is still in force. It didn’t work in 2012, but midterm elections turn out older, whiter voters. I see no evidence that Dems can win the midterms; we’re mostly counting on the GOP to lose them (which may very well happen, given the nature of GOP primaries). But Dems aren’t really in a strong position.
And I’m not terribly optimistic about 2016. The press really, really wants to go with the “revived GOP” story, especially if an ethnically non-traditional GOP candidate (Rubio, Jindal) runs. I worry that the bro’s in the press will actually favor young studlet Rubio even over Hillary Clinton (eeeuuw! old frumpy castrating Hillary!).
So sorry, I’ll pass on the champagne — way too soon.
“Can the Republicans be Saved From Obsolescence?â€
Maybe…
But not before they try to take the entire country back to the ’50’s.
The question is, which “’50’s?”
The 1950’s – before Civil and Women’s Rights?
The 1850’s – before the Civil War?
The 1750’s – when the King still ruled?
Or the 1150’s – before the Magna Carta?
As for the giant panda and Hillary story:
Conservatives, please realize the fact that you have absolutely NO sense of humor!
And that, if YOU find something funny and laugh at it, your best bet is to DESTROY IT IMMEDIATEL!!!
Absolutely no one finds anything you think, say, or do, is even the slightest bit funny.
And if you show them what you laugh at, they will think that you are stupid, cruel, and sociopathic @$$holes – AND ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU’VE BEEN TRYING TO HIDE FROM PEOPLE FOR WELL OVER A HALF A CENTURY?!?!?!?!
I disagree. Most of us consider anything the Republicans try to do to be funny. Often tragically funny, but funny, nonetheless.
Just not intentionally so.
I’m wid’ ya, Steve!”
After North Korea just exploded a mini-nuke, the Republicans want to hold-up the candidate, formerly from their OWN PARTY, for the head of the Defense Department.
And this is what, supposed to prove to the people their “national defense” bona-fides?
Everyone who has anything but the mind of a Conservative mentally-deficient moron, has to know that THIS is a case of cutting-off the nations nose, to spite its face!
Their entire mission right now, is, fuck the economy, fuck the country, and fuck the nation’s defense – WE GOTTA WIN AT ANY, AND EVERY, FUCKIN’ COST IN THE FUTURE!!!
Their entire purpose now, is, was, and ever-more shall be, to, not only do whatever they can do to undermine President Obama’s 2nd term (after doing what they could to his fuck-up his 1st term – which gladly didn’t work out) in whatever way they can – AND to set-up the least optimal circumstances for the Democratic Presidential candidate – whether it’s Hillary Clinton or some other Democrat, in 2016.
THIS, isn’t just clearly ‘Party Over Country!”
THIS IS, ‘PARTY UBER ALLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Republicans; Mr. Magoo gone septic.Good luck changing that!
cund: “Destroy it immediately”? Actually, that’s a rule for writers in general. Whatever you write, review it, identify the parts that you find particularly fine, and delete those. Don’t give yourself away.
paradoctor,
I wish I could destroy my typo’s immediately.
Just back from reading krugman in the Times for last several posts. He is dissecting Rep positions and anti Keynes junk with verge. V e r v e . Damnable. Kindle predictive spelling.
“if you had to choose one theme that underlies the arguments Draper’s hearing from the cool kids of the GOP, it’s that the Christian Right has gotta go.â€
Amen to that!.. It’s clear that the majority of Americans don’t have a desire to engage in Holy Wars, or drive homosexuals back into the closet,or reduce women to chattel.
” If the bible is true than every fossil is a perjurer.”
gulag …Typo’s are the least of my problems…I have a habit of leaving out conjuctions. Boy, do I feel dumb when that happens. I wish I could speak into the comments so I wouldn’t come off as such an idiot. Sometimes I want to issue a disclaimer that I communicate much better through the spoken word..But then again, no pain no gain . So I contunue on like Homer Simpson… Oh,Duh!
And maybe Joan might offer me some pointers; on punctuation.
Swami,
I have reconciled myself to the fact that, no matter how many grammar guides I read, and have read, and no matter how many nice people have tried to help and teach me, I have a better understanding of Theoretical Physics than I do of what to do, and when to use, an apostrophe.
I get the possessive aspect of it. But it’s basically idiotic in its other uses. Other languages that I know, and knew before English, like Russian and Ukrainian, don’t even use the damned things – they have other, simpler ways of doing what an apostrophe does. And German has a very, very limited us for them.
Damn!
English is one fecked-up language. When Russian is easier than another Western language, then that language has issues.
Oh, and btw – written Russian, on top on not having any stupid apostrophess, has the advantage of being phonetic (try to explain to a Russian why it’s spelled “phonetic,” and not “fonetik,” and he or she will tell you that your English sucks!). And don’t try to do that over the fone… er, uhm… phone.
Of course, they also want to know why we drive on a parkway, and park on a driveway? That’s ANOTHER thing that boggles newbie Russian’s minds when they arrive here.
Actually, Mr. Gulag, we oftimes refer to the Palmetto Parkway in Miami as the Palmetto parking lot. Yeah, at “rush hour” not much is moving. Go figure.