Rubio Can't Save The Republican Party

[flamingdem]

Andrew Sullivan - The Dish

George Will, after incorrectly predicting a Romney landslide, is now touting Marco Rubio as the solution to the GOP's demographic problems. Samuel Goldman pushes back:

[T]he premature elevation of Rubio as frontrunner for 2016 is precisely the wrong strategy for building a Republican majority. Rubio is young and charismatic. But he’s a vocal supporter of the Bush-era policies that voters have twice rejected, especially on foreign policy. One lesson of this election is that Americans do not want another war. I doubt their appetite for confrontation will increase over the next four years.

Larison piles on:

The bigger flaw in that statement from Will is the assumption that this is something to be fixed by nominating the right sort of person, as if a party’s demographic appeal depended mainly on the personal history of its presidential candidates or other political leaders. If a party has little or nothing relevant to say to a certain constituency or group, the people at the top of the party won’t make any difference.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/rubio-cant-save-the-republican-party.html

[msongs]

1. it wasn't about obama or romney as people, it was about the values and policies nt

[flamingdem]

2. The MSM has trouble covering "values"

and "policies" because they require depth and an attention span

[Polldancer2012]

11. Im going to disagree

I think Romney was so damn unlikeable and stiff and filthy rich he turned people off on a personal level. I dont believe most voters yesterday knew much about policy.

[mick063]

3. Rubio will help as much as West did.

Token politicians are not the answer.

Policy and position is.

[nakocal]

4. Not all Hispanics are alike

The other problem with people thinking that Rubio can appeal to Hispanics is that all Hispanics are the same.

[gkhouston]

19. +1. He also comes across as phony. n/t

[tblue]

5. Do not help them. Let them figure it out.

They can run with Rubio or whoever they want. Let them keep going down the same path. I could not care less. I am not lifting a finger to help them regroup or even identify the problems they have attracting voters. That's their problem and I am not about to help them split our party or threaten our broad coalitions. Nope.

Why did they lose so badly? Beats me.

[reformist2]

6. Repugs are guilty of the tokenism they always accuse Dems of. It's really disgusting.

[flamingdem]

7. They are so shredded demographically

They lost latinos, blacks, women, seniors, youth...what's left? I don't want to pick on older white men but that is really all they have now.. meaning they can only hope for tokenism.

They do have some women but none are that stellar, and after the anti-woman tirades they'll never attract women, imo

[Art_from_Ark]

15. They are down, but not out

They still control at least 30 governorships, numerous state legislatures, and had a net loss of just a few seats in the House, where they still have a commanding majority.

In 1974, there were pundits saying that the Nixon/Agnew scandals were the death knell for the Republican Party for a generation. But guess what? After only 6 years, the R's were back with a vengeance.

Voters have VERY short memories. Even people on this site seem to have forgotten just how horrible Obama's predecessor was.

[flamingdem]

16. hmm. I believe it but wonder what they're next angle

will be.. not much left for the pivot

[Art_from_Ark]

17. Ashes and sackcloth would be my guess

At least, the appearance of it.

Either that, or make sure the economy is in bad shape for the next election.

[marlakay]

8. Rachel just showed a poll that said

66% of Latinos are pro choice only 22% thought it should be illegal.

[flamingdem]

9. Really? That's remarkable

I thought they had the Catholic thing hanging over their heads

[marlakay]

12. I thought the same thing

but exit polls showed less and less people are going to church or go very seldom. I think if I was to guess its more of a tradition with them and not something they really believe like learning that most catholics use birth control.

[southmost]

10. "latinos" embody a large diverse demographic

I don't know many catholic latinos personally

[marlakay]

13. Latinos are not stupid

but they will try to trick them. I heard the next thing Obama wants to do is immigration and the republicans know they need to get on the band wagon if they ever have a chance again. I have heard what they will do is pretend to fight it but let it pass with a few republican votes including Rubio or someone else they want to win next time.

[CakeGrrl]

14. It's going to be a while before they get it. That's the same

'reasoning' that made them think that Palin would siphon Hillary voters, or that Herman Cain would take the black vote from POTUS.

[K-Matt]

18. nothing can

They are going the Way of the Whigs.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. "If we can just find the right spokesmodel maybe we can sell this piece of shit product"

[dem4ward]

21. You can paint a house any color, but the cold hearted family still lives inside.