...at least they are simple to have as goals--not always simple to live up to them.  The way the GOP can resurrect itself is mainly through:

1.  Being nicer to everyone--not treating every cultural or ideological difference as a threat or a contemptible action or thought to be ridiculed, hated or feared.  Being happy if a few people other than those in their base actually get some good news in their lives.  Remaining classy in defeat, rather than spiteful, nihilist, thuggish and obstructionist.  Being less severe to the tiny fringe of their party who may occasionally stray from the talking points.

2.  Being much more honest--telling their base (and the pundits who parrot their message) news it may not want to hear, and attempting some genuine measure of impartiality when discussing programs and policies, including un-sugared assessments of the wars we are fighting and non-poisonous assessments of typically Liberal agenda items like health care, the environment and medicine.  Less spin and less completely irrational-but-expedient blame of Liberals for every problem in the world.  Less blatant hypocrisy in the way they act, the charges they file against others, and the positions they take as depending on which party is running Washington.

3.  Being more competent.  The reason Republicans lost Congress in 2006 was not because America fell in love with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and 40 other Democrats.  The Democrats remain shrill, corrupt, lazy, and generally poor at framing issues and at gathering their ranks for shows of solidarity on important issues.  The Republicans lost because it was jaw-droppingly obvious that they could not govern.  They didn't do anything well.  If Republicans seemed like a viable alternative that could solve some of the country's problems, they would not be polling at 21%, essentially, across the board.  Obama is the epitome of calm and nuance (sometimes maybe to a fault).  The Republicans are the party of constant panic and paranoia;  every issue is a slippery slope toward a nightmare, every country is a grave and growing threat, every Democratic president mandates an armed revolt or an impeachment or means the end of Western civilization.  Competence in a crisis may fall somewhere between astonishing calm and lunatic over-reaction, but the Republicans are WAYYYYYYY too far away from neutral.

Voters want for Democrats to be the "nurturing mother" of the family--caring about health, women's rights, education, bridging social and cultural gaps, etc.  Voters want for Republicans to be the "benevolent, responsible father" of the family--making sure that the finances are in order, providing security, being dependable and mature and offering wise advice.  Would anyone want this current bunch of Kim Jong Il's as their father?

While I agree that the GOP would also need to change some of its policies to be at least somewhat compatible with moderates who favor abortion rights or gun control or gay marriage or more unionization or less policiing of the world, since unless this happens, that swath of voters is permanently gone, the Republican party does not have much left if they swing to the Left.  Too many Senate Democrats in 2002 were basically "Republican-lites" ; on the issue of the war.  They not only got demolished in the election (why choose a Republican-lite when you can choose an actual Republican?), but they demoralized their base, and sold out their own credibility on the war and thus got demolished in the NEXT election also (2004).   So the way for Republicans to win, rather than becoming Democrat-lites, is to actually make the brand marketable and palatable while staying with at least some of their core beliefs.  "We are honest, we are benevolent, we are reasonable, we are competent, we will restore your faith in government." &nbs p; Luckily for Democrats, the Republicans are trending just as far away from competence and honesty and public service as they are from ideological sanity.

by Milltycoon on 05/05/2009 03:56:11 AM EST

...prove they don't suck anymore?"  Parties _have_ resurrected themselves before.  The Democrats were DOA in 2002 and 2004.  Politicians have resurrected themselves before also--Nixon, Howard Dean, Al Gore, Trent Lott come to mind (I know, not all textbook examples).  Celebrities have made-over their images also, from Rob Lowe to Marv Albert to Mickey Rourke to Robert Downey, Jr.  So it can happen if the entity in question is honest about what they have done, is humble, and shows that he/they can do a professional, helpful job.  The Republican party isn't continuing to meander in exile because there is no blueprint for success, but because they don't have any intention of following (or don't know how to follow) the blueprint.  Instead of humility and competence, they are putting up terrible candidates with hostile and/or lunatic ideas whose resume does not imply a professional, problem-solving term of governance if they are elected.  Why are they masochistically doing this?  Because they apparently believe that adherence to the shrill, exclusionary agenda of their movement is the most important thing--more important than knowledge of issues, aptitude, communication skills or politesse.  In short, the Republicans in leadership positions suck because...they suck, not because they don't have boundless opportunities to get their acts together.  Maybe they didn't tie themselves to the anchors of the worst administration of all time and then the worst VP candidate of all time out of political convenience or an overdeveloped sense of solidarity or even out of bad habit--maybe they just don't know any better.

by Milltycoon on 05/06/2009 02:08:03 AM EST