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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumReince Priebus’s Terrible Case for GOP Reform
by Michael Tomasky Jun 17, 2013 4:45 AM EDT
The RNC chairmans weekend speech to a teavangelical convention demonstrated why Republican efforts to moderate are going nowhere. By Michael Tomasky.
Occasionally, I lose my bearings and permit myself an ounce of sympathy for Republican chairman Reince Priebus. I mean, thats quite an asylum hes trying to run. Then I remember (usually in about four seconds) that no one is making him, and I resume the normal contempt posture. I went through this ritual again over the weekend as I watched Priebuss speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition. The speech made headlines for the chairmans promise to shorten the primary calendar and move the convention forward, but it was actually noteworthy because it was painfully clear that Priebus is scared to death of Ralph Reeds teavangelicals, a fact that does not bode well for his much-publicized movement to build a less intolerant GOP.
Priebus took the stage to the kind of applause one might associate with a Broadway understudy filling in for the stara vague curiosity, a few dollops of encouragement from the kinder souls, but mostly suspicion. This is because, to the rabble-rousers Reed can manage to convene these days, Priebus is Da Man. Mr. Establishment. A sellout, a puller of strings, a molly-coddler of the Roves and other consultants who would have the party sell its soul in exchange for a softer image. He twice had to reassure the audience as he made his case and listed his points that this is not an establishment takeover, its just common sense or some such.
I loved the way he started: I just wanna let you know. Im a Christian. Im a believer. God lives in my heart. And Im for changing minds, not changing values. Are you with me? That was intended as an applause line. To call the response indifferent would be so kind as to be irresponsible.
And that one sentence, about changing minds not values, was as close as Priebus ever got to saying to this caucus of 17th-century minds that the Republican Party ought, to use the preferred euphemism, to modernize. Think of that for a moment: Priebuss great crusade, supposedly, is to show America that his party is not stuck in the 1950s (or sometimes 1850s). When he is speaking to mainstream journalists and others outside the movement, this is what he tends to emphasize. But here he spoke to a right-wing audience. The truth is that this audience needs to hear that message a lot more than mainstream audiences do. But it is precisely to this audience that Priebus chose not to say one clear word, only one vague sentence.
full article
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/17/reince-priebus-s-terrible-case-for-gop-reform.html
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Reince Priebus’s Terrible Case for GOP Reform (Original Post)
DonViejo
Jun 2013
OP
wandy
(3,539 posts)1. I don't feel sorry for Reince Priebus, in fact at the moment I sort of envy him............
It is his job to change the republican "image" to change minds not values.
He has been given a gold mind.
What quicker way to improve you're "image", than by taking advantage of the rather poor "image" currently held by the other side.
The republican echo chamber hasn't quit gotten their act together on exploiting this latest scandal.
But it is just a matter of time.
If Reince Priebus and Karl Rove can't turn this to their advantage, their dumber than I thought they were.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)2. I'm delighted that Rancid Penis is in charge of the Repukes. They deserve him.