Republicans: We're Boxed In By Conservative Commentators

Politico:

Many top Republicans are growing worried that the party's chances for reversing its electoral routs of 2006 and 2008 are being wounded by the flamboyant rhetoric and angry tone of conservative activists and media personalities, according to interviews with GOP officials and operatives.

Congressional leaders talk in private of being boxed in by commentators such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh -- figures who are wildly popular with the conservative base but wildly controversial among other parts of the electorate, and who have proven records of making life miserable for senators and House members critical of their views or influence.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[wisdomisthekey]

pretty soon, beck, lumbaugh and palin will be picking who should run on the republican ticket in your district...... no more home grown politicians...

[liberal54]

Well, boo hoo for he republicans. What goes around comes around - the GOp leaders should distance themselves from Beck, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, et al, and rejoin the real world. If they don't they'll continue to become more and more irrelevant - which would be a good thing in my opinion. It's one thing to be true to your ideals, but the repubs are just voting against Obama to vote against Obama.

If the repubs want to get back in the race they need to get back on board working for the good of this country!

[proud2bemoderate]

O'Reilly? I assume you never watch his show. He is much more of a centrist than Limbaugh or Beck...

[carpdd]

You reap what you sow !

[haywoodjabomie]

Is it me , or is Hufpo the slowest site in existence? Slower than dial-up.

[Clay Barham]

WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD DEMOCRATS GONE?
I wrote a book called THE CHANGING FACE OF DEMOCRATS, on Amazon as well as my site www.claysamerica.com. I compared 19th century Democrats, beginning with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, to Grover Cleveland with the 20th century Democrats. 19th century Democrats were libertarians. The 20th century Democrat is in lockstep with Rousseau and Marx, rejecting the Jefferson crowd. They believe a few elite like themselves should rule the many. Marx, and those like him who condemn capitalism and individual freedom, say the interests of the community, which they define, are far more important than are the interests of individuals. I have developed a soft spot in my heart for the Jefferson Democrats of libertarians who fought so hard to retain the sovereignty of individuals, their local governments and the rights of the states that formed the Union. How can we get those early Democrats back?

[lungfish]

Republicans are in a perfect storm... They are trying to distance themselves from extremists yet their own positions are extreme. We hear something whacko out of their corner every day.
Meanwhile the GOP are running right wingers against their more moderate voices and purging any remaining true conservatives... the base has shifted far right and the commentators and the successful politicos are the ones who are riding that wave.
You have to be really right wing just to stay popular with an increasingly compact and hardened core of right wingers.
There is no such thing as "conservative" at this point. All of them, from Boehner to Bachman are far out of touch with the mainstream.

[JaneK13]

More than half of the voters in the country identify themselves as "conservative." Limbaugh is conservative...Beck is more libertarian. They're both easy for conservative people to identify with -- that's why they're so popular. Pew research says Limbaugh's listeners are among the most well-informed and intelligent in the nation.. Not my opinion -- Pew Research findings.

The problem for both major parties is the group that identifies themselves as "Independent" is becoming larger...especially inthe past 9 months when people disgusted by the extremism in BOTH parties, just quit party affiliation. The Independents will be the deciders in future elections. Neither party can count on their votes -- they will become more knowledgeable about what's going on and they will vote for what they feel is right -- not for any particular party.

[Ken Freedom]

"Pew research says Limbaugh's listeners are among the most well-informed and intelligent in the nation.. Not my opinion -- Pew Research findings."

No, that's not what Pew says at all. Please, if you're going to lie about the findings of group, choose one that doesn't publish those findings on the web.

[Shadow08]

Election 08, the newly written electoral map and a shoody 20% of the nation identifiying themselves as republicans point out the dishonesty of your comment.

[Shadow08]

Not to burst your bubble, but on lection day you're going to see how silly that post is. You want to paint booth parties with the same brush to give yourself false hope...politics does not work that way.

[aintnogod]

I have no idea which galaxy you're getting your information from, Jane.

[surfcitysteven]

Yeah, half the voters really voted conservative last time around, didn't they. Listen, when sean hannity says something like "America is mostly conservative" it is caca de toro. You need to turn your bs detector up a notch.

[Joakim]

Thank you for bringing Pew to attention,
conservatives 35% moderates 35% liberals 20%.

But seriously overall only 42% knew who the sec of state was last year??? Really? ROFL
I started laughing at the research when the requirement for having high knowledge was "who has the majority in the house of representatives, who is the sec of state, who is the UK prime minister" and the highest number of regular readers who could answer all 3 was The New Yorker with 48%.
It got really funny when I saw that it was not only the UK pm causing problems...

Oh well, good fun all round. Thx for sharing.

[AwakenYoshikawa]

Jane you cannot believe everything you hear on talk radio. They have a tendency to distort and manipulate the truth that can easily be found with a google search. Actually, Pew research found rush listeners had the least knowledge by New sources with the Daily Show coming in number 1 followed by Major newspaper websites.

The independents may not be the deciders or as our former leader used to say, the deciderers. It may be the sleeping giant Hispanics. Their political power is increasing at a very fast pace (remember Sotomayor ?) I am sure they appreciate the non-stop attacks by conservatives and conservative talk show hosts who main concern is running to the bank cashing those million dollar checks. Funny how your media leaders are ex addicts and ex alcoholics, go figure...

[PepperzMom]

"Many top Republicans are growing worried that the party's chances for reversing its electoral routs of 2006 and 2008 are being wounded by the flamboyant rhetoric and angry tone of conservative activists and media personalities, according to interviews with GOP officials and operatives."

Gee, ya think so? What took some of them so long?

I say: keep boxing 'em in, making them smaller and smaller as the 2010 elections get closer.

[Shadow08]

The GOP's self imposed box began when GW Bush ran an threw the door open for the radical right wing and and unstable christian coalition. Once in they went wild with right wing agendas, and it just did't work. Neo-cons full of rovianquotes, arrogance and moral terpitude took the second term apart, piece by piece.
Now, the GOP is like a guy in a junkyard charged with putting the republicans back together again. No ideas, no solutions, and no candidates, just fox and the radio radicals. Then they had the summer of hate which will lead to the winter of obstruction which will lead to democratic victories in 10, 12 and beyond.

[Apov]

Republicans failure to work for the people that elected them but instead for corporate and special interests makes them irrelevant.

Just how much time has been wasted by this party in resolving the issues that face our nation today?

[Shadow08]

Aside from starting 2 wars and bankrupting the nation, all the gop is; is a waste of time. In 2010 when they see the nation is moving well beyond anything they can do, they will have only 2 choices, be a part of the problem or a part of the solution. And only the latter is acceptable.

[Rog49Thomas]

Sorry, Politico, Rush and Dr. Beck are the sober voices within the Republican Party.

Or at least the more sober voices among the flock.

[PepperzMom]

Huh? Beck/Rush are the "sober voices"???

I heard that they both have trouble holding their liquor....not to mention Rx problems.

Sober they ain't....

[Shadow08]

Sober?...(joke of the day)

[carpdd]

HMMM me thinks you are sharing the Dr. Beck's prescription drugs

[AwakenYoshikawa]

You made a funny!!!, Fantastic. Doctor pain killer shoppers and ex alcoholics. Ya gotta love our country!

[VikingQuest]

Republicans are boxed in by their own crappy actions.

The Becks & Limbaughs don't support these people in the R seats except a few.

[ilse]

Oh well and boo hoo to the poor republican crybabies. You certainly didn't seem to mind in August when you seemed to work with them and the teabaggers. The townhall disruptions, the republican mudslinging and disrespect shown to our president, all the lies and hate spread by not just fox, but republican politicians were equally to blame. They all joined in on the fun. Now it's not so fun for them anymore and they want to distance themselves from crazy fox and teabaggers. Now that elections are getting nearer, the pathetic repubicans want to distance themselves from the crazies like fox and teabaggers. You're all cut from the same rags.

[Shadow08]

Repubicans cant see past the 2nd window of a fast food drive through. They never see the repercussions or the consequences of radical right wing words and deeds until it's to late and they try to stuff the genie back in the bottle. There isn't a day that goes by that they done show how childish and inept they are,

[Whinger]

The enemy within, destroying GOP from the inside and making Republicans untouchable!

[okila]

You have propagated these myths. When beck and limbaugh et all talk, no conservative comes forth and says these are not our views for fear of losing votes. So now you made your bed, lay in it. And as i do everyday, thank you for finally allowing the ignorant of America to shine and Hand us a couple elections. Thanks Gopers. No presidential campaign and no one standing out out of fear of association. You Guys are winners!!!! :)

[sposton]

Sure, Republicans have morphed into pure obstructionists but that is not their biggest problem. Their biggest problem is that they always take the side of the Big Business regardless if that is good or bad for the country. They have so closely identified themselves with those who the majority of Americans see as responsible for their troubles - bankers, insurance companies, military industrial complex, oil companies and corporations in general. Republicans have absolutely zero criticism of the current order ruled by corporations which are not acting in convergence with national interests. They continue repeating their old tired mantra, "government is the problem". Republicans are increasingly seen as they are - corporate representatives in our political system. There is plenty to criticize from the traditional conservative viewpoints. Republicans better relearn how to frame what they are proposing in national interest. If all they do is to say what is in the best interest of corporations is also what is in the best of the nation, they will wonder in the wilderness for the next three decades and may degrade entirely into a regional party of primitive religious conservatives, with hate and fear as the prime movers. No political force can exist on a national level for a long time without a positive and optimistic message.

Having said all that, Democrats aren't much better. ;-)

[Kamenskiy]

True that.

It has recently occurred to me that the main difference between the Repubs and the Corporate Dems is how they plan to keep the people from eventually rising up against their corporate overlords.

The corporate democrats want to provide the people with various programs and safety nets to keep them from becoming so desperate that they revolt.

The Republicans believe it is more efficient to have a theocratic police state and keep the people down by force and misinformation.

At least there are some democrats who actually care about the people more than about their corporate sponsors. Can't say that about the Republicans; they even side with corporations against rape victims.