Tuesday, May 05, 2009
When Sen. Arlen Specter left the Republican Party for the Democrats last week, “good riddance” was uttered near and far, particularly on the AM radio dial.
Specter was a RINO —Republican in Name Only — said partisan puritans. He was pro-choice. He supported the Obama stimulus package. The party is stronger for the purging of him and his ilk, they said.
Yes. And a team that’s stubby-legged and pasty-faced will reach the NBA finals.
Actually, the correct answer: no. The GOP is not stronger. In fact, it’s a lot weaker, and not just because a skinny-legged senator with much seniority took his game elsewhere.
It’s weaker because of Rush Limbaugh. It’s weaker because of Karl Rove. It’s weaker because of rhetorical bombs and bombast. It’s weaker because warring words, rather than consensus-seeking actions, have come to define it.
While the Democrats have a speechwriter’s dream, Barack Obama, serving as their face, and the nation’s, the increasingly minority party has the cigar-chomping Limbaugh serving as its own.
Obama projects hope and competence. Limbaugh projects bile and comeuppance.
While Obama projects healing and inclusiveness, Limbaugh thrives on divisiveness and innuendo (yeah, let’s blame illegal aliens for an alien strain of flu, if we can’t blame Democrats).
Once upon a time in politics, this worked. Wedge issues did their job. That’s why Rove had a job in the White House.
Increasingly, these days, wedge issues simply drive centrists away.
Specter long was a target for refusing to play the hyperbole games of the religious right. If you aren’t for banning abortion, something most Americans say they don’t want to do, then you are “pro-abortion.”
Actually, most polls show Republicans are decidedly ambivalent about how far they want government to go relative to reproductive rights.
If you think gays and lesbians have human rights by virtue of being human, then you “want to tear down the family,” says the GOP party line.
Say what you will, but a recent Washington Post poll found that 49 percent of Americans support gay marriage (a 13 percent surge over three years), compared to 46 percent who don’t.
A poll by the same paper found only 21 percent of Americans identifying themselves as Republicans. Maybe the Republicans need to identify themselves with other things.
They didn’t identify themselves with fiscal responsibility when they were in a position to act it out in Washington. They put tax cuts and military spending first, and everything else last.
Now they’re talking about debt and runaway spending. But when in a position to do something about it, they pooh-poohed deficits. They were like CEOs of leveraged businesses who were turning just enough profit to keep their bonuses coming.
Meanwhile, the Roves and the Limbaughs kept hammering at those old wedge issues — immigration, abortion, gay rights — and more and more political moderates who once felt comfortable in the Republican Party started feeling queasy.
For the lack of someone to lead it away from its baser impulses, the party of Eisenhower, Goldwater, Dirksen, Rockefeller and Taft has become the party of Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Beck and Boortz.
John Young’s column appears Thursday, Sunday and occasionally Tuesday. E-mail: jyoung@wacotrib.com.
Comments
By Mark
May 9, 2009 10:10 AM | Link to this
John you have got to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and srating thinking for yourself. Do you really want President to tell you what to write ?
By YoungWatch
May 6, 2009 11:58 AM | Link to this
Get a grip, John, you're coming unhinged! Are you trying to convince your readers or yourself of this Democrat talking point? How much do you make on the side as the local PR man for the Democrats?
By "stubby-legged and pasty-faced" I presume you meant "white boys." Cool, John! You might want to rethink using racial stereotyping in your verbal meanderings.
"Obama projects hope and confidence"? Horse laugh!! What closet have you been hiding in for the past 4 1/2 months? Come out!! They're not called "current events" for nothing. Stay current, why don't you! By the way, the GOP isn't dead so long as our opposition includes "deep thinkers" such as Michael and BDDH.
By Michael
May 6, 2009 7:32 AM | Link to this
The republican party isn't quite dead...yet, but it sure is wheezing. It's music to my ears. Not meaning to gloat, mind you, but if ever a brand of political dogma deserved an early retirement it's the one held dear by so many of my Waco brethren and sistren. I say, if the golf shoe fits wear it. Enjoy your retirement. Clip your coupons. Count your money. Evade your taxes. Keep going to church and keep wearing out your knees praying for your god-given right to a disproportionate slice of the pie. There will be more defections. I predict Ah-node out in sunny California will be the next to jump ship. The status quo don't work no mo'.
By BDDH
May 5, 2009 6:01 PM | Link to this
I agree that thinking people are tired of the GOP talking heads that you name. They repeat, repeat, repeat talking points. Sadly, when I have written my Senators and Representative (all 3 are Republican), they respond with similar talking points. It's obvious they are still adhering to whatever someone at the top is sending down through the hierarchy.
I'm hoping voters have finally caught on to the "wedge issue" strategy where every time the GOP influence appears to be weakening even more, someone brings up the same old same old issues.
By mec
May 5, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this
Another recent poll found a fairly even split between those who prefer capitalism to socialism. The free marketers still had a slight lead but the don't knows/dont cares could tip it either way.
Since the country as a whole had become normless,the major political parties may be loosing their importance. This is evident in the recent round of "tea parties" where the participants railed against both political parties. It has also brought about a new States' Rights movement invoking the Tenth Amendment to defy the federal government.
By KDF
May 5, 2009 9:17 AM | Link to this
When the democratic party begins to operate with morals, I just might vote for them. Even verbal morals sound better to me than no morals. OH, and don't forget this nation is under constitutional law, not international law.
If we follow God's loving guidance, our nation will regain it's place with God. If not, well... If you don't profess God and believe in Him (Romans 10:9), there is nothing I can do for you but pray. <
By Steve
May 5, 2009 5:01 AM | Link to this
"Say what you will, but a recent Washington Post poll found that 49 percent of Americans support gay marriage (a 13 percent surge over three years), compared to 46 percent who donýt.
A poll by the same paper found only 21 percent of Americans identifying themselves as Republicans. Maybe the Republicans need to identify themselves with other things."
And that is why this poll is garbage. Anyone who believes the partisan chasm supported by this or the recent CBS News/NY Times poll is in need of mental assistance. It is irresponsible for this article's author to quote a poll that has radically oversampled Dems like the Washington Post/ABC News did.
Consider that the Quinnipiac Poll found opposition to gay marriage running 55%-38% opposed while a just-released CNN poll shows Americans opposing gay marriage 54%-44%. But the voters even more resoundingly say no way to same-sex marriages.
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