After the 2012 presidential defeat at the hands of Barack Obama many Republicans were calling for change. Republican National Party Chairman Rince Priebus said, “There’s no one reason we lost. Our message was weak; our ground game was insufficient; we weren’t inclusive; we were behind in both data and digital; and our primary and debate process needed improvement.” Priebus also talked of a 10 million dollar campaign to target Asian-Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics. Moreover, he said, “The party will make a concerted effort to elevate more women.” He admitted focus groups see the Republicans as narrow minded and the party of the rich.
So how has the GOP been doing with this newly changed attitude. Recent evidence suggests not very well.
Citizens viewed them as the party of the rich. It’s hard to see how that perception has changed when one of their fist congressional acts was to begin work towards repealing the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reforms. These were the reforms enacted after the financial crisis to limit the ability of mega-banks to place huge bets and incur massive losses. This hurts everyone except the “banks to big to fail.”
Priebus said the party would elevate women. However, in the 2014 state of address Obama mentioned that men make 77 cents more an hour than women and that this needed to change. Both sides of the aisle cheered. Even Republican House Chairman John Boehner made sure he was on camera standing and clapping supporting the idea. But in 2015 when Obama said virtually the same thing not one Republican member of congress cheered or left their seat. This doesn’t sound like elevating women, it seems to represent the status quo.
The Republican Chairman also talked of a 10 million dollar campaign to target Asian-Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics. But when you look at immigration, the Republicans rejected President Obama’s executive order to try and fix immigration despite the fact congress had six years of an Obama administration to repair it themselves. Then when the president takes charge, they call it amnesty and want no part of it. Some Republicans are actually for complete deportation. As far as African-Americans, the Senate Chairman of the sub-committee named Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights changed the name to simply the subcommittee on the Constitution. Naturally civil rights leaders were upset. But Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) doesn’t seem to care. While what it accomplishes is more important than what it’s named, this could foretell more of the same for African-Americans. For instance the Supreme Court gutting the Civil Rights Act which lead to 20 red states immediately making it harder for African-Americans to vote.
So already the GOP has made it more difficult for women to receive fair pay, they have turned their attention away from finding a solution for immigration, they have angered civil rights leaders, and they still practice politics that indicate they are the party of the rich. I ask you, where is the change?
Part of the problem is Republicans face several obstacles when they try and change.
Possible presidential candidate Mike Huckabee wrote a book about it. God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy. Many of the Republican base cannot see past the barrel of their shotgun. The notion that another idea may be acceptable does not fit in their God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy world. They see America as Mayberry and the problem is Sheriff Taylor has left. They aren’t looking for a person who can be president, they are looking for Ronnie Reagan or worse, Andy Taylor. Unfortunately, they keep coming up with Barney Fife.
Another issue is they cannot find a candidate who can win the general election. The Republican Party says they want change, but this election cycle has the same tired lot as before. Chris Christie, who is a thug and a liar. Ted Cruz, who said he didn’t shut down the government, but he did. Mike Huckabee, who wants to create a Christian theocracy. Rand Paul whose a less scary incarnation of his father. Scott Walker who wants to get rid of Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) so he can protect his friends. Lindsey Graham who has a serious anxiety disorder, (they’re gonna’ kill us all). And Jeb Bush who we are told is the smartest Bush, but we have yet to see any concrete evidence of this. He always looks to me like he’s about ready to cry.
The final problem for the Republicans is they still have some bat shit crazy politicians. Michelle Bachmann said the vaccine to prevent HPV can cause mental retardation. Politi-Fact says “Pants On Fire.” Louie Gohmert said “eighty percent of Wall Street executives and their spouses’ donations go to Democrats.” As with most things, Louie has it backwards. Rick Santorum said, “The reason Social Security is in big trouble is we don’t have enough workers to support the retirees. Well, a third of all the young people in America are not in America today because of abortion.” The way Rick’s obtuse mind works, you can get two problems solved for the price of one. Make abortion illegal and viola, Social Security is solved.
The Republicans talk of inclusion. However, their definition of inclusion is warped. To them it means we’d like to include you in degrading women, impeding the progress of African-Americans and Hispanics, and have you join in our efforts to erode the middle class by continuing to feed the rich.
America, please help Rince Priebus in welcoming the Republican change. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.