Nov. 12, 2012
Driving the Conversation:
Arena Ref:
David
Mark
Does the GOP need to cut ties with
Fox News, Limbaugh?
xxx
David Boaz Executive VP, Cato Institute :
The first thing Republicans should do is stop reading only the
conservative media.
The conservative echo chamber apparently convinced them that Romney was
winning the election. Romney himself is reported to have been
"shell-shocked" by his loss. I wasn't, because I'd been reading
the polls, including the swing-state polls. If the conservative media are
going to tell Republicans what they want to hear, then smart Republicans
had better start looking at a broader range of media.
My colleague Roger Pilon can't think of much the Republican Party should
change. I'll try to think more creatively. Let's see . . . the Republican
Party might have avoided running up federal spending by a trillion
dollars during the Bush administration, alienating libertarian and
tea-party type voters in the past few elections. It might have avoided
miring the country in two endless wars, undermining its advantage on
national security issues. And it might come to grips with its
decades-long alienation of black, female, Hispanic, and gay
voters.
During the civil rights era, conservatives - including party-switching
Democrats such as Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms - adamantly resisted the
push for equal rights and equal dignity for African Americans. When women
began to demand an equal place in society, politics, and the economy,
conservatives said that a woman's place was in the home. After those
positions were no longer tenable, conservatives and Republicans came to
accept race and gender equality, and they don't understand why they still
face a gender gap and overwhelming opposition from black voters. In our
own time Republicans have sent hostile messages to Hispanics on the
immigration issue and to gay voters on marriage and other issues. And
they are in the process of permanently alienating those voters, too. As
former Reason magazine editor Virginia Postrel says, "Policy aside,
people rarely vote for pols they think despise them."
Conor Friedersdorf
blames Rush Limbaugh for Republicans' image problems among minority
voters. Maybe so. But it's a problem that began before Limbaugh, and
certainly can't be blamed entirely on him or other pundits. The idealized
Republican/conservative message of individual liberty, limited
government, and economic growth ought to appeal to most voters. But
Republicans have to accept, as even Dick Cheney saw, that "freedom
means freedom for everyone," and then they have to be consistent in
delivering and applying that message. The hole they've dug with voters
outside their straight white male base will take time to climb out of.
They'd better get started.
http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/David_Boaz_51A29F7E-486A-46B4-9972-2B1221997CD3.html
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