I Think Calling It a "Strategy" Is Giving Republicans Too Much Credit
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/2/15/144542/404I Think Calling It a "Strategy" Is Giving Republicans Too Much Credit
by Steve M.
Wed Feb 15th, 2012 at 02:45:42 PM EST
David Frum looks at President Obama's increasingly impressive poll numbers and concludes that the Republican Party has made an error in planning:
That was never a very plausible assumption....
Whether it is the Ryan plan or the debt ceiling showdown or -- now -- contraception, Republicans have spent three years talking to themselves. It has been a narcissistic self-indulgence -- and may soon prove a very costly one as well.
I think it's a stretch to call what Republicans have come up with a "strategy." The people who are taking on these fights in the GOP aren't shrewdly and carefully assessing the percentages of liberals, moderates, and conservatives in America, and planning accordingly -- they're drinking their own Kool-Aid and concluding, at least on a subconscious level, that they don't have to worry about non-conservative voters because non-conservatives aren't really Americans.
Ann Coulter says Democrats would never win if we took away women's right to vote. Rush Limbaugh says Obama is pursuing an electoral strategy of trying win the votes of "the takers," not "the makers." These are rhetorical flights of fancy, but I think a large percentage of Republicans actually believe them, and have started to think that voters who don't pull the (R) lever aren't actually voters at all, because they shouldn't be. The ultimate example of this is the tea party's claim that its members are "taking our country back" -- as if it exclusively belongs to them. And hey, look: there's Rick Santorum, in the upbeat ad he just released this week, being described as "a trusted conservative who gives us the best chance to take back America."
"Republicans have spent three years talking to themselves," Frum writes, which is accurate -- although I'd say that's been true for a lot longer than three years. But what's more important is that Republicans have spent three-plus years assuming that all the people in America who aren't Republican are so depraved that we don't deserve to be called American. They've made political moves based on the notion that we don't really exist -- or at least that we couldn't possibly continue to maintain our beliefs when confronted with the self-evident wonderfulness of what they have to say.
And now they're paying the price.
= new reply since forum marked as read
one has to wonder what exactly he gets out of continuing to be a member of the modern day Republican Party that not only fails to hold such critical thinking in high esteem but actually seems to promote anti-intellectualism and obedience to the party above all else. I guess that he has decided that it's more profitable to be seen as somewhat of a GOP "maverick" than to seriously examine whether or not it might make more sense for him to change his party affiliation to something more consistent with his beliefs?
I love your statement or whatever that is called at the bottom of your post!
Frum has been very critical for a long time, and I think it started when he was thrown out of one of those r/w groups (Heritage?). He should just go towards the light. 
for your compliment regarding my sig line. 
fail to understand is that "cutting taxes" doesn't translate in most people paying less because, of course, when they "cut taxes" that money is no longer available to fund programs/services that most average people rely on and then politicians have to either raise other taxes/revenue to make up the difference (more money out of your pocket) or cut services resulting in more unemployment and/or people paying out of their own pockets for things that used to be paid for out of your taxes (or simply not getting anymore). No matter how you slice it or dice it, "cutting taxes" is not always the wondrous thing that it is always portrayed as being, especially, of course, if it means that it helps the 1% get to avoid having to pay their fair share and the negative consequences fall back on the average person. We really need to figure out a way to get this message across to these people IMHO.
