So I decided to drop by Politico's Arena today for the first time in like, forever. Today's subject for discussion is:
Does the GOP need to cut ties with Fox News, Limbaugh?
Since this presents quite the conundrum for the GOP, it's understandable they would call upon the greatest minds in politics to debate it.
A very important person, one Roger Pilon, who is Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Cato Institute, whom I will subsequently refer to as Smart Dude, posted a comment with some good advice, which I will proceed to mock. And encourage...
One could as easily ask, "Does the Democratic Party need to loosen ties with the mainstream media?" But that's not asked because the denizens of that media who live in the very cocoon POLITICO notes today on the GOP side are the dominant cocoon, where insularity is every bit as real as at Fox News - no, more so, because of that dominance.
Problem is,
Smart Dude, Republicans lost. Fox pushed a completely alternate reality. Limbaugh was on board, too. That liberal media ain't as accommodating to Democrats as your false equivalence implies.
Thus, the counsel coming from folks like David Brooks and Ross Douthat - New York Times "House Republicans" - is hardly surprising. We're invited to believe that if Republicans only become a bit more like Democrats - "Democrat lite" -they'd win more elections. Why? If voters want what Democrats are peddling, they'll buy the real thing. Republicans took that course in the 1970s. They became "the permanent minority."
And "buy" they certainly did. And
will. So you're fucked either way,
Smart Dude, because if you keep up the way you're going, you'll end-up back in a "permanent minority." Maybe even more permanent than last time.
There were many reasons Republicans lost (though not by much), but with some exceptions (immigration), it was less the message than the messengers. Let's face it, given the alternatives, the party "settled" on Romney: However decent and accomplished a man, he was never at ease with his message. And down ticket there were some real losers. But the tactical mistakes were greater: the endless primary debates, the unanswered attacks last summer, and the reliance on "old media" are just a few.
So it wasn't your packaging after all, it was your
salespeople. Your actual policy positions never even entered the equation. That's what we thought.
But change the message? To what? Tax the rich? Pretend that entitlements aren't bankrupting us? Or that Obamacare will succeed? If we're going to hell in a hand basket, let's have one party explaining why. At least that gives us a chance that eventually enough Americans will wake up and have a real choice, not an echo.
Please proceed,
Smart Dude. And while your at it, tell all your friends to join you on your sinking ship. Such chivalry would be admirable if it wasn't so comical. And potentially
catastrophic for the country, should the people taking your advice manage to win elections.
Now, what was it you were saying about echo?