"What? Not again!"
It seems like just last month—oh, wait, it
was just
last month—that Republicans did a intra-party autopsy and decided that the cause of death wasn't their incredibly unpopular policies, it was the way they talked about them. And so the great rebranding effort of 2013 began. And
failed. And
failed. And
failed. But did they give up? Hell, no! They've moved on to
Plan B. (Not to be confused with the "morning after pill," which, in this case, may have been more helpful.)
After several days of debating how to restore their party’s brand, Republican leaders left a party confab in Los Angeles last week in agreement that they can no longer be “the party of no.” But they were less clear on what to say “yes” to.
While GOP officials at the party’s spring meeting in Hollywood had plenty of ideas for changing their public rhetoric, however, positive new policy ideas were in shorter supply.
In other words, it's (still) not their incredibly unpopular policies, it's (still) the way they talk about them. And yes, it does seem like Republican rebranding should be listed under that
classic definition of insanity.
To be fair, Republicans aren't completely off base when they say they have a problem with how they talk about issues—like the Republican congressman calling undocumented workers "wetbacks" and party chairs taking to Facebook to sob about "filthy homosexuals"—and they are aware that it's causing them problems:
“The lack of relationships in these communities is getting in the way of us talking about the issues,” said one RNC official here this week.
Yes, that's it. It's not the hateful policies (that give rise to the even more hateful rhetoric) that's standing between them and electoral nirvana. And if Republicans can just figure out how to maintain their racist and bigoted positions without all the name-calling, the relationships are sure to follow.
But, hey, if that doesn't work out, they did have an "upbeat" session on "Winning the Women's vote," which worked out so well for them in 2012 ...