Throw Out Atwater, Rove Playbook: GOP Can Only Re-Brand with New Voices

Cheney likes Limbaugh and didn't know Powell was a Republican. Ron Christie says Powell does not represent the Republican party on MSNBC this morning. No one even says Senator John McCain's name any more, which could have a little something to do with why he lost as badly as he did after ending up the GOP Nominee.

The lack of GOP discipline, something they spent a long time being better at than the Democratic Party, is getting pretty extreme when this is what Republicans are saying. The ad asking whether it is 1996 or 2009 is a question Republicans should be asking themselves before they position leaders or say things that will only alienate the very voters they are losing.

I agree with the David Brooks philosophy, that Republicans need the center more than the far right, and won't create a winning formula until they do. But apparently Brooks doesn't have a lot of say in this.

Pollster.com looked at the major national polls as they relate to party identification and found an 11-point margin for Democrats: 37 percent for Democrats, 26 percent for Republicans. Independents did 8 points better than Republicans, a trend that has been playing out for ten years in New Hampshire, as well as in other bellweather states.

The era of the Silent Majority, and Lee Atwater's playbook are over. Karl Rove's assumptions for winning worked in 2000 and 2004, but don't apply anymore. The Republicans don't just need to rebrand, they need new ideas and new voices.

The real action is in the 2010 Senate races. Pickups there are a more realistic focus now than trying to rebrand when there aren't any suitable spokespeople being listed by Republicans themselves. Imagine if a Democratic talk show host on the far left of the party who had been treated for drug abuse and said the kinds of things Limbaugh has were the titular head of the party?

If Florida Governor Crist becomes Senate-candidate Charlie Frist, that could be a good start for the Republican party. If Sen. Judd Gregg were to run for re-election in 2010 (mind you he didn't say he wouldn't, just that he probably wouldn't). In a recent UNH Granite State poll, Gregg leads Rep. Hodes, the only announced Democratic challenger, 52-36. Gregg's favorability rating is 57%. This is revealed in a different way in recent polls which show President Obama's approval rating in the mid-60s, about twice that of the approval rating of the Democratic-led Congress. That indicates an opportunity for Republican pickups.

If the GOP is intentionally positioning Limbaugh as its titular party head, or if he is simply the only person Republicans can think of, then the GOP's best chance for movement is clearly outside the beltway.

Comments

[steppenwolfsayshi]

My last comment needed more clarification. My point was that obviously Republicans have to moderate to win. There is some odd paranoia that the base will not vote Republican if they moderate. That's ridiculous. They will not vote Democrat. People saying it sound stupid. And unlike moderates, who make up 60% of the electorate and really could make a third party, the base are 20%. The only possibile explanation is that the base is responsible for so much of the lobbying, that the Republican Party is unable to loosen that stranglehold. In that case, they will soon cease to exist. And I would be happy to have Colin Powell in the Democratic party.

[steppenwolfsayshi]

The fact that only 21% of Americans are true Republicans means that true Republicanism is dead. As someone who has done polling research, 20% is about the normal percent you should expect of people to give the crazy/dumb answer-its only important when its 40% or higher.

[dirtfarm]

Agreed, "throw out Atwater playbook", but step back a moment, take a closer look at who the playbook plays to. The *on-message* repetition of the Big Lie stays true to form following not only Atwater, but also Goebble's guidelines for *good propaganda*. Sorry, the *era* is not over. As long as the audience supporting the market share stays around, what, 21% of our population, the Hate Base remains alive and well. The sick underlying assumption by Atwater players is if anything *really bad* (economic collapse, food shortages, disasters, etc), happens, they can proudly point to the event and smugly trumpet their justification for hysteria. Good journalism exposes *and* dissect the methods and the history of their use. The era may be over, for the moment, swaying the larger body politic with hysterical propaganda, but don't stop reporting on it and exposing it for what it is.

[irhona]

The issue for Republicans is not branding, it is the truth. They have lost their ability to recognize reality even as it hits them in the face. They must realize that America has moved on. Everybody has finally recognized how the rich have "gamed" the middle class for almost a generation, that healthcare is essential to allow people to live and work and for businesses to survive, that a woman's right to choose is sacrosanct, that global warming is a real phenomenon, that waterboarding is torture and is a criminal act..... the list goes on and on. Until some leader steps out and acknowledges what the rest of America finally woke up and realized, the Republicans will be stuck in "the lie" and never recover. I hope somebody in their party does have this realization soon so that the Democrats will have somebody to logically argue with, rather than have them continuously say "no" because they have no logical argument. This back and forth is what America is all about. They are being unpatriotic by continuing to accept "the lie" and prevent substantive discourse.

[Chip W]

Judging by those on the right who are making noise, the Republican party has become the party of fear. Fortunately for them, there are lots of folks who like to be afraid.
Maybe they'll find their way back to Mom, apple pie, and Chevrolet.

[Arion]

Republicans seem to be arguing whether fiscal conservatives or culture conservatives should take the lead. In actuality both wings are in pretty poor shape. The fiscal crowd has run us off the cliff and even after the debacle has no real national interest. I agree with Douthat and Brooks that the party should be the guardian of tradition (as embodied in community and family) but that means a program that isn't obsessed with abortion and gay issues. Trustworthy banks, sound education and a robust justice system do a lot more for family and community that the fundamentalist favorites As a liberal, I'd like to see a rebuilt Republican Party with some real ideals and platform. Then there could be meaningful debate.

[ramblin jack]

Oh the repubs will be back after Obama maybe

[applecider10]

"The ad asking whether it is 1996 or 2009 is a question Republicans should be asking themselves before they position leaders or say things that will only alienate the very voters they are losing."

I was 7 in 1996. And they wonder why they're losing votes and no one young is interested.

[MichaelMcKLA]

You gave them a clue but they aren't listening. Meanwhile, I'm leaning up against a wall watching this slow-motion crash. And enjoying it.

[LREKing]

"The Republicans don't just need to rebrand, they need new ideas and new voices."

They tried that with Jindall, Palin, (not) Joe the (not) plumber, and the rest. They are all, without exception, dreadful.

The centrists will need to retake the party, which seems unlikely now that so many are deserting.

As for new ideas--almost by definition, conservatives cannot have NEW ideas. Only old ideas, rebranded. Which is what they're trying to do.

[danonchalant1]

The party is shedding centrists like a snake sheds it's scales. They don't need to rebrand, but a cold reboot. Won't happen 'till the last of the true believers dies out.

[jsgaetano]

I'm actually getting tired of hearing all these "What the GOP needs to do" articles.

Stick a fork in it- they are done. What they should do is dry up and blow away. America will be WAY better off without them, and that goes double for all the conservatives.

[Kaviraj]

Jazabelz thinks the people will see they are duped. Who is duped remains to be seen. So long as the House and the Senate don't live up to expectations we may see a shift towards repubs there, if they don't clean up their act.

[oldgeek1]

Rebranding the Yugo would have been futile.
The other while meat did little for Pork
Usually a new package or new name will not sell a failed product.

As soon as a spoke person for a product has a public personal problem the PR company drops them almost instantly. The GOP is stuck with Cheney, Rush who people have no respect for and whose association with the Party does serious damage.

The GOP needs more than a new playbook, it needs new players and then a fan base. You can't shine dirt nor can you sell it.

[trunk65]

The fear that gripped us after 9/11 was played to the hilt by the GOP, and it worked well for them for eight long years. What does it say about them that people are more afraid of their lunacy than they are of a purported imminent threat of attack? FDR said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Repubs say "fear us or else."

[dwright]

Gov. Crist? Are they kidding? He is not only gay, which I myself could care less about, but he stumped about for Obama's stimulus and that is something that Rush will simply not allow.